Mission: B1 Norwegian by Christmas 2012 | My language mission and my log | Forum
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08:23
June 29, 2011
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I already speak Norwegian on an A2-ish level. By Christmas I'd like to improve this to B1. I was working on it really well earlier in the year but I've been focussing my energy elsewhere for the last few months--now I want to start making some progress in Norwegian again. Time to get serious!
My criteria for success:
I will use the B1 criteria from the Folksuniversitet's "Norskprøve 3 for voksne innvandrere" test (I don't plan to take the official ), which is listed here:
http://www.folkeuniversitetet.info/avd_filer/ls/spraaktest/Vurdskjema_REV_skr_B1_bkm.pdf (written)
http://www.folkeuniversitetet.info/avd_filer/ls/spraaktest/Vurdskjema_mntl_B1_bkml.pdf (spoken)
My plan of action:
I have previously had good success with a strategy of a little bit of each of reading, writing, talking and listening every single day. I also need some grammar excercises, partly because I just really like learning grammar. (I know…)
Read every day:
– Children's books every day for >= 15 min (probably on the train to work in the morning)
– At least 1 news article per day (probably in the evening on my phone or tablet)
Write every day:
– On Mondays: sample sentences for the verb of the week at Norskklassen (during lunch break or after work)
– 1 page every day in my notebook (during lunch break or after work)
– Ask my husband to correct something I've written once a week.
Talk every day:
– To husband.
Listen every day: (this is the hardest thing for me!)
– Listen to at least 5 minutes of podcast per day (while walking to/from train station or while doing dishes)
– Listen to Norwegian music (while walking/dishes)
Grammar/vocab/etc:
– Work on book "Stein på stein" a little bit every day in the evening (even if only for a few minutes). Ideally finish 2 chapters per month so as to be done by the end of the year (I have 12 chapters to go) but for now the main thing is go get into the habit of doing it every day. (Leave open on the table all the time so it's easy to get going.)
– The excerices associated wtih the "Stein på stein" book, at: http://steinpastein.cappelendamm.no/index.html (as review after finishing each chapter)
Accountability aka external motivation:
Update here once on week, probably on Mondays.
Fluent:
Learning:
07:13
June 29, 2011
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Here are how my goals went last week:
Read 15 min children's books every day: 6/7 days
Read at least 1 news article per day: 6/7 days
Write 1 page every day in my notebook: 4/7 days (only 1/2 page each day)
Write verb-of-the-week sentences at Norskklassen: yes
Ask husband to correct something I've written: yes
Talk every day: 4/7 days
Listen >5 min podcast per day: 6/7 days
Listen to Norwegian music: 6/7 days
"Stein på stein" workbook: 6/7 days
So that was pretty good, I think. I'm feeling pretty motivated, but that's normal since it's only the first week of the challenge… boy are kids books boring though. I am looking forward to moving on to some more advanced reading material.
Fluent:
Learning:
08:39
March 22, 2012
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Sounds like you're doing pretty well! You should write something in Norwegian here so we can see how you're getting on too!
And thanks for posting the B1 guidelines – very useful! I'm intending on writing about my own Norwegian mission here too, so will be a help for me. Where do you live, btw? You say your husband is Norwegian, but are you in Norway, or abroad?
11:31
June 29, 2011
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Hi Sam, thanks for commenting! I've just found your mission topic as well 
We live in Germany, but we meet up with Norwegian friends and family (in Norway or elsewhere) several times a year.
Og så skal jeg også skrive det på norsk for å øve litt… vi bor i Tyskland men vi treffe norske familie og venner flere ganger per år (i Norge eller i et annet sted).
Actually last time I was there I went to a party and I declared bravely to everyone "i kveld snakker jeg bare norsk, ingen engelsk" (tonight I'm only speaking Norwegian, no English). It was maybe a bit premature because I didn't really understand much! I guess I gave the impression I understood because no one did speak any English to me, and at the end several people told me they were glad I'd learned Norwegian because it makes things so much easier for them! So no matter what anyone tells you about how happy Norwegians are to speak English (the are among the best non-native English speakers in the world after all), I guess they still find it to be kind of a nuissance.
Fluent:
Learning:
03:33
June 29, 2011
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Last week:
Read at least 15 min children's books every day: 6/7 days
Read at least 1 news article per day: 4/7 days
Write 1 page every day in my notebook: 0 days (!!)
Write verb-of-the-week sentences at Norskklassen: no
Ask husband to correct something I've written: no
Talk every day: 6/7 days
Listen >5 min podcast per day: 4/7 days
Listen to Norwegian music: 5/7 days
"Stein på stein" workbook: 4/7 days
Yikes, I managed not to write anything this week! Except for a bit of writing required in the Stein på stein book. I did manage to speak and hear a lot more Norwegian than normal though, since we had some Norwegian guests this weekend. Actually I was really surprised by how much I could understand And I learned a bit of dialect/slang too, so that was really good.
Now that I've been at it a few weeks I'm going to refine a couple of these goals:
- I will reduce the daily writing from 1 page (which I had never achieved) to 1/2 page because it's just much more realistic for me at this point.
- Instead of just listening to Norwegian music everyday, I want to sing along with it every day. According to my experience with German, this should help my pronounciation and vocabulary… and it's something that's really fun for me too. My vague plan is to try and completely learn 1 song per week (starting with the Norwegian lyrics, translate it to English; learn what all the words mean; be able to sing along in real time; memorize it) but I'm not sure if 1 song per week is too easy/hard/boring so we'll see. I'm sure there will be some dialect and slang that I might not be able to figure out, but that's ok. This week I am going to work on the song "Møkkaman" by Plumbo.
Fluent:
Learning:
04:15
March 22, 2012
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"This week I am going to work on the song "Møkkaman" by Plumbo."
UGGGGHHHHH, NOOOOO!!!! Hate that song . BTW, when you do this, do you listen and write down the lyrics, or find them online first?
It sounds good that you've been doing a lot of speaking, and listening too – I think that's going to be as much use to you, if not more, than the writing you would have spent the time doing instead.
07:39
June 29, 2011
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Ok, I've made a mental note not to sing it to you I find the lyrics online, or a youtube version that has the lyrics in it.
I agree, speaking is more useful than writing. I like writing though because it forces me to actively think about spelling and grammar. When I speak, I just blab away as fast as I can manage and say absolutely everything wrong.
Fluent:
Learning:
04:26
June 29, 2011
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Nå kommer en oppdatering på norsk! Det er fredag og solen nesten skinner mellom de mange skyer og jeg gleder meg til helga. En venn besøker på helga. Jeg har ikke sett henne siden et par år men hun var min første venn i Tyskland og vi bodde sammen da jeg flyttet hit. Litt rart er at jeg tror jeg aldri har snakket på tysk med henne, bare på engelsk. Skjønt at hun lærte meg ja noe tysk og jeg øvde med hun, men jeg kunne ikke flyttende tysk da hun flyttet bort.
Det som jeg gjørde mest hittil i uke (for å lære norsk) er å lese. Jeg er nesten ferdig med barnaboka "Syv små Australiere". Boka er hel rar, synes jeg. Det var skrevet i omtrent 1895 på engelsk og oversatt til norsk for omtrent 30 eller 40 år, og jeg kann nesten ikke tror at den har blitt oversatt. Den er om barna some oppføre seg som vanlig barn, som faren deres som regel ikke liker, og så får barna en juling fra faren. Kansjke var det normalt i 1895…
Fluent:
Learning:
16:00
July 6, 2011
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Hei, I always think this forum lacks Norwegian! so I always pay attention to what you say, because you are one of the few people here to speak Norwegian – so I'm glad you make your mission!
My mission would some time in the future – when I have some more motivation – a norwegian husband?
so, please make updates
I think you made a good choice of the song Møkkamann – it seems he sings clearly and is very comfortable to sing . tell what are your next songs. what artists would you recommend for me to listen to Norwegian language music?
05:27
June 29, 2011
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Goshka said
what artists would you recommend for me to listen to Norwegian language music?
Hi Goshka, for lyrics that are nice and easy to understand, I would recommend Lillebjørn Nilsen. But if you want to hear the kind of stuff that plays on the radio, check out http://lista.vg.no/liste/topp-10-single-norsk/14 each week to see the 10 most popular songs by Norwegian bands (some of them have lyrics in English though) I espeically like Plumbo, Cir. Cuz., Sirkus Eliassen (which seems to be some kind of dialect) so far but I don't really know that many Norwegian artists yet. I really like the new Madcon/Timbuktu song (Kjører på) too--it's half in Norwegian and half in Swedish
Fluent:
Learning:
11:59
March 22, 2012
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I listen to a lot of Kirsti Sparboe – she's a singer from the 60s and 70s, and much of her stuff is Norwegian versions of classic songs. I find she sings very clearly and is easy to understand.
10:27
January 2, 2012
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For Norwegian music, where they sing in norwegian, I'd recommend D.D.E, Bjørn Eidsvåg, Åge Alexandersen, and Klovner i Kamp. The the first ones sing in their dialect, so might be a bit hard to understand some of the things they say, but Klovner sings in bokmål.
Advanced:
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11:51
June 29, 2011
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Thanks for the music suggestions guys! I will definitely check them out.
Last week:
Read at least 15 min: 7/7 days
Read at least 1 news article: 5/7 days
Write something: 2/7 days
Write verb-of-the-week sentences at Norskklassen: no
Ask husband to correct something I've written: no (men han sa at det som jeg skrev på facebook var godt )
Talk every day: 2/7 days
Listen >5 min podcast per day: 5/7 days
Sing along with Norwegian music: 4/7 days
"Stein på stein" workbook: 2/7 days
Jeg gjøre ikke alt hver dag, men jeg gjøre noe hver dag. Jeg er fornøyd med det hittil. (Jeg har litt dårlig tid.) Jeg leser mye og det betyr at jeg lærer mange ord. Jeg har (endelig!) oppdaget "Learning with texts" som jeg synes are fantastisk.
Jeg har øvde å synge Møkkeman, og nå når jeg singer det sammen med Plumo (eller med m3p'en, hvis Plumbo finnes ikke hos meg akkurat nå jeg vil synge), kan jeg høre hvis uttalen min er annerledes fra i sangen. Og så kann jeg prøve igjen og si det riktig den neste gangen. Jeg tror det hjelper virkelig met uttalen.
And a more-or-less translation to English:
I don't do everything every day, but I do something every day, which I'm happy with for now since I'm kinda busy. I read a lot and learn a lot of new words and I've finally discovered the Learning with Texts page of this website…
I've been singing Møkkeman and I think it's helping with my pronounciation since (after learning the song) I can now hear when my pronounciation is off and can try to fix it the next time I sing it. I think it really helps with the pronounciation.
Fluent:
Learning:
03:07
June 29, 2011
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Read at least 15 min: 7/7 days
Read at least 1 news article: 3/7 days
Write something: 3/7 days
Write verb-of-the-week sentences at Norskklassen: no
Ask husband to correct something I've written: yes
Talk every day: 2/7 days
Listen >5 min podcast per day: 4/7 days
Sing along with Norwegian music: 4/7 days
"Stein på stein" workbook: 4/7 days
Fluent:
Learning:
03:10
June 29, 2011
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Yesterday I finished chapter 3 of "Stein på stein." I like this book so far. If I work at a pace of 2 weeks/chapter, I should get it done by about Christmas. I take a lot of time to understand everything in it and answer all the questions thoroughly so it takes me a bit of time to get through a chapter.
Fluent:
Learning:
12:37
July 29, 2012
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Hi, have been reading your mission as I'm a fellow Norwegian learner (very much beginner though!) and it sounds like you're doing really well – especially like the idea of singing to help with pronunciation!
Have a question about learning the 'tone' of Norwegian. I am also a native English speaker and find the naturally musical sound of Norwegian quite difficult to imitate properly (although lovely to listen to from others!) have you also come up against this problem and do you know of any useful tips?
Good luck with the rest of your mission – og hilsen fra Norge!
Gina
07:43
June 29, 2011
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I am also a native English speaker and find the naturally musical sound of Norwegian quite difficult to imitate properly (although lovely to listen to from others!) have you also come up against this problem and do you know of any useful tips?
Well, I can tell you what I did but I'm not sure how successful it is! When I first started learning I listened to a lot of Norwegian even though I couldn't understand, to get a feel for the sound of it (I guess you get this experience automatically, since you're in Norway). I also played the dialogues from my norwegian book (CD) over and over and pressed pause all the time and tried to repeat it exactly. So far my husband says my accent is "weird" so I'm not sure…
Fluent:
Learning:
08:52
June 29, 2011
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I was in Norway on the weekend for a family party. It was great! There were a bunch of people I'd never met before and I spoke Norwegian the whole time. I ended up speaking a lot with a Swedish guy and a guy from northern Norway. I will tell you this much: the Swedish was much easier for me to understand than the northern Norwegian! As a result of this mini-immersion I have realized a lot of things about my Norwegian language process so far.
Since this is the second language I've learned as an adult I can see some of the same things happening now that also happened at some point during my German-learning time:
- When I say something characteristically Norwegian (e.g. an expression), people react like when a child does something cute or funny. Or like I'm a pet that's learned a new trick. (I don't mind; it's definitely positive feedback.)
– I can follow a conversation quite well until someone tells a joke. I can never understand jokes.
– People I know and have talked to a lot are easier for me to understand than strangers.
– I can't really express myself that well. So I start talking then realize I'm missing the vocab for, like, every 10th word. Usually I just sub in the English words.
Some of these things really frustrated me when I was learning German, but now it's like I know they're just a stage in the process and I will eventually be able to understand more and express myself better, so I don't get as stressed about it as I did with German. There is also less pressure to learn Norwegian since I'm not surrounded by it all the time, so I am never really overwhelmed by the sheer amount of stuff I don't understand. Overall, this is an easier and less stressful language-learning experience.
These are the things that need improving most right now in my Norwegian (besides the obvious "bigger vocabulary"):
- Pronounciation of "y". I'm sort of hit-and-miss with pronouncing it like a "u" or over-correcting and pronouncing it like an "i". I can't hear the difference very well either (but better than when I started learning!) I have been trying to say sentences with all those sounds (u, i, y) in them. It's pretty easy for me to do it slowly and deliberately, but I'm hoping the "mouth training" will translate into me being able to make the sound during spontaneous speaking.
- Rolling Rs. I used to be able to not do this AT ALL. I have been working on it and now I can kinda do it, but only fairly loudly and certainly not as part of a word yet. Right now I try to say out loud "ra, re, ri, ro ru, ry, ræ, rø, rå, ar, er, ir, or, ur, yr, ær, ør, år" with a rolled r on a regular basis. Ry and yr are the hardest… when I can make the sounds more consistently I will start using whole words for practice.
- Long and short vowels. I can almost never tell them apart when listening and I generally don't know if it's long or short unless I see it spelled. I have this exact same problem in German. In Norwegian though, you might actually have two different words, depending on if you pronounced the vowel long or short, so you need to get it right. For example the difference between piken and pikken, which I will leave as an excercise for the reader to translate (Yes, I have made this mistake in conversation in Norway, and no, it was not my most embarrassing foreign-language goof-up.) I am not really sure how to practice this though. Suggestions?
And last but not least, the weekly update. I added my pronunciation practice.
Read at least 15 min: 7/7 days
Read at least 1 news article: 5/7 days
Write something: 3/7 days
Write verb-of-the-week sentences at Norskklassen: yes
Ask husband to correct something I've written: no
Talk every day: 4/7 days
Listen >5 min podcast per day: 5/7 days
Sing along with Norwegian music: 5/7 days
"Stein på stein" workbook: 6/7 days (I am 1/2 way through chapter 4)
Pronunciation practice – rolling r: 4/7 days
Pronunciation practice – y, u and i: 4/7 days
Fluent:
Learning:
17:12
March 22, 2012
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AlmaLatina said
Have a question about learning the 'tone' of Norwegian. I am also a native English speaker and find the naturally musical sound of Norwegian quite difficult to imitate properly (although lovely to listen to from others!) have you also come up against this problem and do you know of any useful tips?
My advice on this would be, simply – don't be scared. I found that initially I was very nervous to really try to do the melody of Norwegian (and Swedish), because I was worried I would end up sounding like the Swedish chef, or sound like I was taking the piss out of Norwegian. But really, don't worry, that doesn't happen. You have to really embrace it, and go for the sing-song thing, and not be worried about sounding silly – you won't! The more you go for the melody, the better you will sound!
07:22
July 29, 2012
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cangirl said
Well, I can tell you what I did but I'm not sure how successful it is! When I first started learning I listened to a lot of Norwegian even though I couldn't understand, to get a feel for the sound of it (I guess you get this experience automatically, since you're in Norway). I also played the dialogues from my norwegian book (CD) over and over and pressed pause all the time and tried to repeat it exactly.
I think you're right, the more I listen to my Norwegian course audio, the more it feels 'natural' to pronounce certain words with the proper accent – still faaar from sounding native but maybe I'll get there one day!!
SamB said
My advice on this would be, simply – don't be scared. I found that initially I was very nervous to really try to do the melody of Norwegian (and Swedish), because I was worried I would end up sounding like the Swedish chef, or sound like I was taking the piss out of Norwegian.
that has been EXACTLY my problem! When I try to speak with the right accent, I feel as though I'm doing a (slightly insulting) impression of a Norwegian person! Not a problem I remember having with Spanish (although maybe I did and I'm just remembering selectively!!) Still, like you said, it's got to be better just to go for it. I'm sure I can't possibly sound as silly to anyone else as I do in my own head!
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