Team Nordic [study and support group]

[AlOlaf]

Could this be a new version of Norwegisch ohne Mühe?

[Philipp]

Hei Team Nordic, I’m looking for recommendations for books in bokmål. My Norwegian is very basic, but I can guess many words from German. I read some sample texts from Jo Nesbø and I’m able to get the gist. A crime novel would be nice, but I’m open to other genres. No children’s books or YA, please. I read a lot of Harry Potter lately and have enough of angsty teenagers for a while. Is the Harry Hole series a good choice or is there something better suited for beginners?

[Brun Ugle]

Hei Team Nordic, I’m looking for recommendations for books in bokmål. My Norwegian is very basic, but I can guess many words from German. I read some sample texts from Jo Nesbø and I’m able to get the gist. A crime novel would be nice, but I’m open to other genres. No children’s books or YA, please. I read a lot of Harry Potter lately and have enough of angsty teenagers for a while. Is the Harry Hole series a good choice or is there something better suited for beginners?

I think it would probably be as good as anything else. One advantage is that a lot of Jo Nesbø’s books have been translated to English and German, so you could consult the translations if you get stuck.

[Philipp]

I think it would probably be as good as anything else. One advantage is that a lot of Jo Nesbø’s books have been translated to English and German, so you could consult the translations if you get stuck.

Thanks. Then I'll to start with Flaggermusmannen. I'm curious how it goes.

[suomiruotsinorja]

Moi/hej/hei everyone!

This study group seems to be just the place for me! I am Finnish, studying in Sweden and dating a Norwegian guy. My biggest problem at the moment is mixing up Swedish and Norwegian. I am fluent in Swedish and I can understand Norwegian well. However, when I try to learn to produce Norwegian it ends up affecting my Swedish (I sometimes use Norwegian words by accident and confuse my Swedish friends). Any advice? The languages are so similar - which is a blessing and a curse.

[Brun Ugle]

Moi/hej/hei everyone!

This study group seems to be just the place for me! I am Finnish, studying in Sweden and dating a Norwegian guy. My biggest problem at the moment is mixing up Swedish and Norwegian. I am fluent in Swedish and I can understand Norwegian well. However, when I try to learn to produce Norwegian it ends up affecting my Swedish (I sometimes use Norwegian words by accident and confuse my Swedish friends). Any advice? The languages are so similar - which is a blessing and a curse.

Unless you really want to learn Norwegian, you might as well just stick with Swedish since Norwegians usually understand it without many problems. If you do want to learn Norwegian, then I’ve heard some people say that it helps to concentrate on the different “feeling” of the languages. That is, every language has its own personality or feel and if you can “feel Norwegian” when you speak Norwegian and “feel Swedish” when you speak Swedish, you won’t mix them up. It sounds like New Age mumbo jumbo, I know, but it is said to help.

[AlOlaf]

The 10-part Danish television series “Historien om Danmark” is back on dr.dk, now with Danish subtitles as well as synstolkning. It can be viewed outside of Denmark, and it’ll be available until August 12, 2019. Here’s the link to the first episode:

https://www.dr.dk/tv/se/historien-om-da ... -stenalder

[Elsa Maria]

The 10-part Danish television series “Historien om Danmark” is back on dr.dk, now with Danish subtitles as well as synstolkning. It can be viewed outside of Denmark, and it’ll be available until August 12, 2019. Here’s the link to the first episode:

https://www.dr.dk/tv/se/historien-om-da ... -stenalder

Thanks, that is a good show and I missed a few episodes the first time around.

[Philipp]

I just started to read Sønnen by Nesbø and I stumbled upon a construction I don’t really understand. I have seen this particular construction a couple of times now and it always puzzles me.

The context is, two old colleagues banter and the topic of having children comes up:

«Jeg tror du alt har en unge et sted, jeg, det er derfor du ikke vil ha.»

I understand the meaning, `I think you already have a kid somewhere, that’s why you don’t want another.´ What I don‘t understand is the meaning of the second jeg. What‘s the difference in meaning without it?

[SGP]

I just started to read Sønnen by Nesbø and I stumbled upon a construction I don’t really understand. I have seen this particular construction a couple of times now and it always puzzles me.

The context is, two old colleagues banter and the topic of having children comes up:

«Jeg tror du alt har en unge et sted, jeg, det er derfor du ikke vil ha.»

I understand the meaning, `I think you already have a kid somewhere, that’s why you don’t want another.´ What I don‘t understand is the meaning of the second jeg. What‘s the difference in meaning without it?

The following isn't a complete answer, but maybe it still is of some use:

- When a word is repeated in just any language, it is often done for simply emphasizing it.

- Apart from that... could it be that this colleague calls himself/herself the unge of the other colleague? Not sure about the book's context, but it could be a metaphor or a joke.

- And no, I didn't forget that for sentence objects, there are other words like mig/meg. But even as someone with a nowhere-near-C2 understanding I still "dare" to say that I consider that meaning to be possible. Words like "I" and "me" sometimes are used interchangeably in other languages like English, so maybe here, too. Also, there are these commas. What's more, it also is an element of style of some writers to sometimes come up with a Direct Speech Citation that intentionally "deviates" a bit from the Standard Written Language.