# Norwegian: a special connection to Ghana



## Grefsen

I have a good friend in Norway who is originally from Africa.  She has lived in Norway since she was a small child and even though she is fluent in English, she has been challenging me to improve my Norwegian by corresponding with me *bare på norsk*.  

I wanted to write back to her today and explain a little about why I am rooting for the West African country of Ghana to do well in the FIFA World Cup. This is what I would like to write to her *på norsk.*

Here is why I have such a special connection to Ghana.  During one of my trips to Norway, I stayed in Oslo for one month with a very nice man from Ghana, and we became very good football friends.  He arranged for me to stay with a family from Ghana in the London neighborhood of Notting Hill for one week and I had a wonderful time there. 

Mitt forsøk:

Her er derfor jeg har slik *en spesiell tilknytning til Ghana*. Under en av mine turer til Norge jeg bodde i Oslo for en måned med en veldig hyggelig mann fra Ghana, og vi ble veldig god fotballvenner. Han arrangerte for meg å bo hos en familie fra Ghana i London-området i Notting Hill i en uke og jeg hadde en fantastisk tid der.


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## Grefsen

When I looked up "connection" using tritrans.net, here were the translation options:

forbindelse, kontakt, sammenføyning, sammenheng, tilknytning, tilslutning

I went with *"tilknytning"* since it was what Google suggested.


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## basslop

You are right about *tilknytning* as the best word. 

Other comments:
Her er derfor hvorfor jeg har slik *en** en slik spesiell tilknytning til Ghana*. Under en av mine turer til Norge jeg bodde bodde jeg i Oslo for en (i) en måned med hos en veldig hyggelig mann fra Ghana, og vi ble veldig gode fotballvenner. Han arrangerte for meg å ordnet det slik (for meg) at jeg kunne bo hos en familie fra Ghana i London-området i Notting Hill nabolaget til Notting Hill i London (i) en uke og jeg hadde en fantastisk tid der.

en slik, bodde jeg: Word order IS troublesome in Norwegian. http://www.aftenposten.no/ekspertene/spraak/   (15. june 2010) 
hos: Be careful here. Using med may in some sosiolects and dialects mean that you live together in a common-law/ordinary marriage .


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## Grefsen

basslop said:


> Other comments:
> Her er derfor hvorfor jeg har slik *en** en slik spesiell tilknytning til Ghana*. Under en av mine turer til Norge jeg bodde bodde jeg i Oslo for en (i) en måned med hos en veldig hyggelig mann fra Ghana, og vi ble veldig gode fotballvenner. Han arrangerte for meg å ordnet det slik (for meg) at jeg kunne bo hos en familie fra Ghana i London-området i Notting Hill nabolaget til Notting Hill i London (i) en uke og jeg hadde en fantastisk tid der.


Tusen takk for hjelpen basslop.  

During the past several weeks I shared this information with several African friends who live in Scandinavia as well as some of my Norwegian friends who know that I have African friends.  

Here is the corrected version that I used:

Her er hvorfor jeg har en slik spesiell tilknytning til Ghana. Under en av mine turer til Norge bodde jeg i Oslo en måned hos en veldig hyggelig mann fra Ghana, og vi ble veldig gode fotballvenner. Han ordnet det slik at jeg kunne bo hos en familie fra Ghana i nabolaget til Notting Hill i London en uke og jeg hadde en fantastisk tid der.



basslop said:


> en slik, bodde jeg: Word order IS troublesome in Norwegian. http://www.aftenposten.no/ekspertene/spraak/   (15. june 2010)


This isn't a direct link and I was wondering if you happen to recall the title of this article?



basslop said:


> hos: Be careful here. Using med may in some sosiolects and dialects mean that you live together in a common-law/ordinary marriage .


Tusen takk for det!   This could be an embarrassing mistake to make.


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## basslop

Sure: http://tux.aftenposten.no/spraak/spraak?action=question&id=3967

Btw: From the link I sent in the first place, scroll down to the subject "Temaer". There you will find a lot of useful tips. For similar articles to this topic, go to "Ordrekkefølge".


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## Grefsen

basslop said:


> Sure: http://tux.aftenposten.no/spraak/spraak?action=question&id=3967
> 
> Btw: From the link I sent in the first place, scroll down to the subject "Temaer". There you will find a lot of useful tips. For similar articles to this topic, go to "Ordrekkefølge".


Tusen takk for det!


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## Pteppic

I know this is much too late, but I have one issue with the translation as it stands. I would personally never use *her* in this context ("Her er hvorfor"), unless what I'm talking about is something concrete (so it would be locatable). And the whole expression, to me, smacks of anglified Norwegian (I wouldn't be surprised to hear natives use it, though). At the very least I'd say *Dette* in stead of *Her* - and, preferrably, *grunnen til at* in stead of *hvorfor*:

*Dette er grunnen til at jeg har*(...)

I'll add that translating "special" with *spesiell* often doesn't work (in my opinion), but in this case it does.


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## basslop

I agree with Pteppic. I should have figured out that myself in the first place.


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## Grefsen

Takk  igjen til alle som hjalp meg med dette emnet!  

Thanks again to everyone who helped me with this thread!

This thread motivated me to get back in contact the my friend from Ghana that I had stayed with in Oslo and Notting Hill and this morning I received a message from him for the first time in many years.


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