# Norwegian bokmål



## LMax8

Hello all, I´ve been interested in studying Norwegian for a while, though I´ve had many people telling me "not to bother" since what I read in books isn´t what it´s actually spoken in Norway, is this true? is the spoken part on books based on a certain dialect?, thanks in advance.


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## Alxmrphi

I think you'd benefit from reading the following threads that deal with your exact question, and other ones that might interest you about a similarity between them both..

Norwegian: Bokmål/Nynorsk: degree of similarity
Norwegian:Bokmål and Nynorsk
Norwegian: Bokmål or Nynorsk ?


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## Dan2

The first reply pointed to threads dealing with the differences between bokmål and nynorsk, but it wasn't clear to me that that was what the original poster was asking.  (There are also some inaccurate claims in those threads, in my opinion.)

Two related languages are spoken in Norway; the one called  bokmål is the more common one and if you go to a library or bookstore and find books about learning "Norwegian", they will deal with bokmål.  bokmål happens to mean "book language" but don't let that confuse you.  It's just a more precise term for what you will learn if you study "Norwegian".

Every language has a formal written style that differs from what people actually speak, and every language has dialect variation; that's true of English and Spanish and it's also true of bokmål.  It's just part of the challenge of learning _any _foreign language.


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## Alxmrphi

> The first reply pointed to threads dealing with the differences between  bokmål and nynorsk, but it wasn't clear to me that that was what the  original poster was asking



The third one is about which one to learn, the second one isn't really helpful and I probably didn't need to include it, and the one about similarity I had mentioned in the post that it wasn't directly related, but it gave information about the linguistic situation and details about what the forms are and when to use them, it was more of interest like I mentioned before giving the links.


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## LMax8

Alxmrphi said:


> I think you'd benefit from reading the following threads that deal with your exact question, and other ones that might interest you about a similarity between them both..
> 
> Norwegian: Bokmål/Nynorsk: degree of similarity
> Norwegian:Bokmål and Nynorsk
> Norwegian: Bokmål or Nynorsk ?


 
Thanks I´m checking them out! I already heard i shouldn´t choose Nyorsk cause it´s not widely used.




Dan2 said:


> The first reply pointed to threads dealing with the differences between bokmål and nynorsk, but it wasn't clear to me that that was what the original poster was asking. (There are also some inaccurate claims in those threads, in my opinion.)
> 
> Two related languages are spoken in Norway; the one called bokmål is the more common one and if you go to a library or bookstore and find books about learning "Norwegian", they will deal with bokmål. bokmål happens to mean "book language" but don't let that confuse you. It's just a more precise term for what you will learn if you study "Norwegian".
> 
> Every language has a formal written style that differs from what people actually speak, and every language has dialect variation; that's true of English and Spanish and it's also true of bokmål. It's just part of the challenge of learning _any _foreign language.


 
I understand your point, though Spanish and English do have a standard spoken way, here in Argentina we have different accents and words in certain regions but the grammar doesn´t change, Norwegian for what i´ve heard only has a written one, for the rest they speak their own dialects, hence i was worried that i would end up learning something that I wont use in Norway.


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## Dan2

LMax8 said:


> I understand your point, though Spanish and English do have a standard spoken way, here in Argentina we have different accents and words in certain regions but the grammar doesn´t change, Norwegian for what i´ve heard only has a written one, for the rest they speak their own dialects, hence i was worried that i would end up learning something that I wont use in Norway.


It's true that there's a lot of dialectal variation in Norway, even in bokmål areas.  But to say that Norwegian (as opposed to other languages) "has only a written one" is too black-and-white.

If you travel thru the UK, the differences in the English you will hear among ordinary people are enormous.  Dialectal variations in Italy and Germany are well-known and widely discussed.  So not only in Norway, but in many or most countries, dialect variation can be a discouraging factor for language learners.  Still, if you learn standard German or standard Italian or standard bokmål Norwegian, you will be understood almost everywhere and what you hear from careful speakers in Hanover or Rome or Oslo should be close to what you learned.

> i would end up learning something that I wont use in Norway
There's a practical reason you might end up not using Norwegian: you seem to know English well, as do most Norwegians.  For the English-speaking visitor to Norway, it takes a huge effort not to "just speak English".


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## oskhen

Dan2 said:


> Two related languages are spoken in Norway; the one called  bokmål is the more common one and if you go to a library or bookstore and find books about learning "Norwegian", they will deal with bokmål.



Correction: Two related languages are written in Norway. Apart from in some mass media, and perhaps in some speeches by some official people, few or noone actually speaks Bokmål or Nynorsk.

But, as said elsewhere here: if you learn bokmål, every native Norwegian speaker will understand you. And even though some dialects may be difficult to understand, every Norwegian should be able to speak "normal" enough (or, rather, close enough to bokmål) for you to understand them.


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## Dan2

By the way, the reason I've responded in this thread (even tho there are many native Norwegians available) is that the original poster and I are both foreigners w/r/t Norwegian and I think a foreigners's perspective is important.  I've studied several foreign languages and traveled in several foreign countries, and the experience has been similar in each: the language I hear around me at first seems very different from what I studied, yet people seem to understand me and I can understand some of what they say in reply.  With practice I get better at understanding.  I haven't progressed very far with Norwegian compared to some other languages, but my experience in Oslo and Bergen was similar to what it would be for language novices in Paris, Berlin, or Rome: conversations with patient natives are possible, and that's enjoyable if you like the challenge of learning languages.  I think that's directly relevant to the original poster's question.





oskhen said:


> Correction: Two related languages are written in Norway.


Thanks.  I wrote carelessly.


oskhen said:


> Apart from in some mass media, and perhaps in some speeches by some official people, few or noone actually speaks Bokmål or Nynorsk.


What I'd like to understand is this: Let X be the degree of difference between a) official bokmål Norwegian as used in the mass media and b) what ordinary people speak in Oslo.  Is X greater than the difference between what you hear on US television news and what you hear wandering the streets of New York?  Is X greater than the difference between standard French and the language of the residents of Paris and its banlieues? I know that the latter two (and similar comparisons in other countries) are very large but I don't know how they compare with X. I'd be interested to learn.  Thanks.


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## LMax8

oskhen said:


> Correction: Two related languages are written in Norway. Apart from in some mass media, and perhaps in some speeches by some official people, few or noone actually speaks Bokmål or Nynorsk.
> 
> But, as said elsewhere here: if you learn bokmål, every native Norwegian speaker will understand you. And even though some dialects may be difficult to understand, every Norwegian should be able to speak "normal" enough (or, rather, close enough to bokmål) for you to understand them.


 
Yes that´s what I assumed.. I guess if someone learns Spanish from Spain they will be able to communicate here too even if there are many differences, but isn`t the spoken bokmål part Standard East Norwegian or Oslo dialect?.


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## Cerb

I'm from the middle of Oslo and my dialect is pretty much identical to written bokmål. Apart from some contractions, I write exactly like I speak. I'd say that applies to Oslo and large parts of Akershus (the surrounding county) as well. In other words, a lot of people speak very similar to written bokmål, but concentrated in a very small area. 

Looking at Norway as a whole the variation in dialects is huge. Even as a native speaker I've encountered dialects I've had difficulties with before I became familiar with them.


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