Nytt på Norsk (have I got that right, Nordmenn?)

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tangleweeds
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Nytt på Norsk (have I got that right, Nordmenn?)

Postby tangleweeds » Sun Nov 01, 2020 7:45 pm

This group was inspired by the fact six !6! of us are studying Norwegian in the November 2020 6WC, but I hope the group will prove useful to anyone starting out in the language in the future. I'm going to start by (re)posting the list of resources and links I'm using for the 6WC (with brief preliminary descriptions, it's a bit early to review), and invite others to do the same.

[space for whatever might seem useful in the future]
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Re: Nytt på Norsk (have I got that right, Nordmenn?)

Postby Deinonysus » Sun Nov 01, 2020 7:58 pm

I've been watching Frozen in Norwegian with my daughter because I'm tired of watching it in English, so I'm tempted to unofficially join. I have an unread copy of Langenscheidt Norwegisch mit System; maybe I'll read it at night after Assimil L'arabe if that hadn't put me to sleep yet.
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Re: Nytt på Norsk (have I got that right, Nordmenn?)

Postby tangleweeds » Sun Nov 01, 2020 8:05 pm

After lots of reading on the forum, on reddit, & blogs (and special thanks PM & all who contributed in his logs), these are the primary resources I'm using to study Norwegian during the November 2020 6WC. I invite anyone else to share descriptions of their favorite resources (feel free to copy&edit from your log, as I did here)

Norsk, Nordmenn, og Norge
A thick textbook, very old-school, lots of black & white pages full of text. As normal for its era, it has an audiolingual feel, with lots of written exercises and audio drills (and even more exercises in the workbook). The textbook chapters are entirely in Norwegian, but there’s a compact grammar in the back, plus a glossary to define all the otherwise mysterious vocab.

The workbook's very early era computer typesetting enhances the old-school feel. There are different kinds of exercises with grammar pages at strategic intervals. One wants to be sure to get the 2nd edition of the workbook as it includes an answer key and transcripts of the audio drills at the end.

There's also a second level textbook & workbook called Antologi, which I don't have, but the name suggests plenty of reading (& more exercises) in there, but there don't seem to be audio files for the second Antologi level.

A functioning audio file purchase link for the first volume was difficult to find (the easy to find one is broken), so I'll append it here:
https://cdcshoppingcart.uchicago.edu/Cart2/Chicagobook?PRESS=wisconsin&ISBN=978-0-299-08805-7

The Secret of Nils
A story-based textbook aiming to be more engaging than the standard language course. A modern textbook with colorful pictures and grammar diagrams, antithesis of N, N, & N. The grammar sections are short, clear, and often amusingly illustrated.
There's a second volume for this one too, which, guessing by its name, Mysteriet om Nils, appears to be entirely in Norwegian.

One can listen to the audio online free, but you gotta pay to download or buy a CD.
https://soundcloud.com/skapago/sets/learn-norwegian-with-a
https://www.skapago.eu/nils/audio/

Pimsleur Norwegian
Pimsleur only has two levels in Norwegian, with 30 lessons each.

Memrise
The free version works fine, and includes decks for books like Nils, Teach Yourself, and one of the NoW courses below. I also appreciate the Learn with Locals videos and all the other study options available with paid membership, so I'll be paying them again for the 6WC.
https://app.memrise.com/courses/english/norwegian/
https://app.memrise.com/home/

Norwegian on the Web by NTNU
There are 3 versions of the basic course, plus one of level 2, and they're all free!. The third version of the basic course is the same as the 2nd one, only in a Northern dialect.

Don't forget to check out the downloadable textbook, audio exercises & corresponding PDF, as well as the interactive exercises.
https://www.ntnu.edu/learnnow/info/toc
https://www.ntnu.edu/now/info/toc
https://www.ntnu.edu/nowin/info/toc
https://www.ntnu.edu/now2/info/innhold

CALST
Very cool but available for Norwegian and English only, from the same Norwegian university as NoW above (also free!). This is pronunciation tutor, and as I'm only just learning what-all it does, I'll just quote the website:

"The Computer-Assisted Listening and Speaking Tutor (CALST) is a pronunciation training platform which currently offers exercises for English and for Norwegian. CALST will help you to acquire a basic vocabulary of 1000 words and expressions."
https://calst.hf.ntnu.no

I've also collected a number of resources that will be secondary for my 6WC but that will be another post.

[edited for typos]
Last edited by tangleweeds on Sun Nov 01, 2020 8:11 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Nytt på Norsk (have I got that right, Nordmenn?)

Postby tangleweeds » Sun Nov 01, 2020 8:08 pm

Deinonysus wrote:I've been watching Frozen in Norwegian with my daughter because I'm tired of watching it in English
LOL! I still love Frozen, as I have a thing about snowflakes* (radial symmetry x 6 + chemistry = awesome!), plus I don't have a kid who wants to watch it twice a day!

*I also compulsively crochet snowflakes when stressed. I love needlework projects so small I'm guaranteed to finish them!
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Re: Nytt på Norsk (have I got that right, Nordmenn?)

Postby PeterMollenburg » Mon Nov 02, 2020 6:24 am

Thanks tangleweeds for creating this group.

I'm also in the 6WC this time around with Norwegian.

Here are my resources:
*All of these resources have audio, which I will be utilising

Learn Norwegian by Sverre Klouman
Quite an old-school style textbook. Perhaps the most hefty of all the resources I have here.
Positives: Phonetics displayed for the learner for a good portion of the book, including tonal markings. Drills that can be appreciated by some learners.
Negatives: No feminine forms noted at all (only common gender), some slightly outdated language, dry old-fashioned textbook approach, dry drills? (depends what you like).

Beginner's Norwegian by Laura Ziukaite-Hansen
A modern book perhaps like similar to Teach Yourself, Hugo or Colloquial but also different.
Positives: Feminine forms noted, audio for vocabulary lists included (as well as the conversations), audio to the conversations comes in two speeds (one for repetition).
Negatives: Tones not marked although stress is, a minor negative but grammar and vocabulary introduced immediately after conversations, usually I prefer the other way around (I find I'm approaching each lesson somewhat backwards).

Norwegian in Three Months
A bit old school. Although my least favourite in the beginning, I suspect this one might grow on me.
Positives: Audio has two speeds in conversations. Vocab lists are recorded with audio.
Negatives: Vocab lists don't clearly mark indefinite forms. Tones not marked.

The Mystery of Nils
Follows an intriguing storyline which sets it apart from the other textbooks in this list
Positives: Good for monolingual learners who might be somewhat daunted by the task of learning a foreign language, as it uses a 'gentle' learning approach. Nice cultural information and presented attractively.
Negatives: Tones not marked, vocab introduced without audio at times contradicting the gentle approach.

Assimil - le norvégien (sans peine)
Positives: For me, I really like that it's from a French base. Tones marked in the texts throughout all the conversations!
Negatives: Not a negative for me, but course only available in from a French base. Assimil known to be light on grammar by design, although this can be a positive too. Not certain yet, but i suspect that the feminine forms might not be noted except for some more common words in which fem. form is common.

Pimsleur - Norwegian
Audio only based learning.
Positives: Excellent for developing one's ear for the language and pronunciation. Feminine forms included.
Negatives: Audio only, however that is what it's meant to be. Only 2 levels available (but used to be only one, but still two is better than none!).
---------------------
My new Norwegian log:
PM's Norwegian Plandemic
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Re: Nytt på Norsk (have I got that right, Nordmenn?)

Postby Deinonysus » Mon Nov 02, 2020 4:52 pm

I didn't know Pimsleur came out with a second level of Norwegian! That does it, I'm learning Norwegian.

Anyone with a working knowledge of German may be interested in Langenscheidt's Norwegisch mit System. My favorite thing about it is that there is an IPA phonetic transcription for every vocabulary word! Nouns are marked for gender, including feminine, which it says is used in most dialects. It has 15 lessons that each have a couple of readings including a dialog with audio, and it gives you some grammar notes, vocabulary, and a bunch of exercises. It isn't like Assimil where you're expected to go through one short lesson every day.

Thanks for pointing out that Assimil marks the tones, PM! Langenscheidt unfortunately does not mark them because they say there are very few times that getting the tone wrong will make you misunderstood. But I think it's important to get it right, so I just ordered myself a copy of Le norvégien!

Duolingo is another good resource that I don't think has been mentioned yet. Their courses can be very hit or miss, but the Norwegian course is known for being one of their best.
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Re: Nytt på Norsk (have I got that right, Nordmenn?)

Postby tangleweeds » Mon Nov 02, 2020 9:19 pm

Deinonysus wrote:I've been watching Frozen in Norwegian with my daughter because I'm tired of watching it in English
Wait, now how do I get to watch it in Norwegian? Is that hidden somewhere on the standard old DVD I have, or do I have to buy it separately? (where? how?)
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Re: Nytt på Norsk (have I got that right, Nordmenn?)

Postby Deinonysus » Mon Nov 02, 2020 11:48 pm

tangleweeds wrote:
Deinonysus wrote:I've been watching Frozen in Norwegian with my daughter because I'm tired of watching it in English
Wait, now how do I get to watch it in Norwegian? Is that hidden somewhere on the standard old DVD I have, or do I have to buy it separately? (where? how?)

I streamed it on Disney+. Off the top of my head, they have dubs for Frozen in Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Dutch, Spanish, and Portuguese, but sadly they are missing German and I don't think they had it in French either.

If you want to watch it in Norwegian but don't want to pay, you could probably do a free trial and cancel before they charge you.

Disney+ is missing a lot of dubs unfortunately. I wanted to watch Aladdin in Arabic but they didn't have it. There are also some really cool dubs like The Lion King in Zulu and Finding Nemo in Navajo that also aren't on Disney+.

I think they do have a bunch of stuff dubbed into Norwegian but I haven't really looked.
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Re: Nytt på Norsk (have I got that right, Nordmenn?)

Postby tangleweeds » Tue Nov 03, 2020 4:41 am

Deinonysus wrote:I streamed it on Disney+.
<snip>
I think they do have a bunch of stuff dubbed into Norwegian but I haven't really looked.

A big chunk of my fascination with Norwegian is that I kept having totally cool Norwegian neighbors at different places I've lived here in Portland*, and one of them translated US TV series for Norwegian dubs. The FedEx truck would come down our little dead-end street bringing her (and taking back) top-secret signature-required packages, which turned out to be scripts for the latest episodes of big series like Friends or Sex in the City.

I didn't know about it for years, and I only think she told me after she found out we didn't watch TV or even have cable, making us very unlikely candidates to steal her scripts to sell online :lol:

* I used to comment on how awesome all my Norwegian neighbors were, and that I wanted to go there. They always pointed out, with that classic Scandinavian existential resignation, that they were the ones who had left Norway.
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Re: Nytt på Norsk (have I got that right, Nordmenn?)

Postby Elsa Maria » Tue Nov 03, 2020 9:42 pm

Thanks for starting this group, Tangleweeds. I'm not really sure how much time I will give to Norwegian over the next six weeks, but I really needed something to kick me back into studying. And I have really missed this forum, too.

I'm starting with an intermediate level of Danish, but if I needed any convincing that I will have to study to earn Norwegian, I found it in the very first lesson of Duolingo with the words boy (gutt in Norwegian, dreng in Danish) and girl (jente in Norwegian, pige in Danish).

I also have Norsk, Nordmenn and Norge, which I originally discovered when reading PM's log. And I have the first 10 lessons of Pimsleur.

I am primarily interested in reading, and I do read Danish fairly well already. So we'll see how it goes.
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