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The Norwegian Society

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Reply 80
Original post by Luceria
It's awesome. The Viking farm. Lovely place. I so want to rent the one of the Viking houses and have a sleepover in it. It's so damn cosy! If you're ever in Haugesund, which is doubtful, haha. Visit Avaldsnes and the Nordvegen History Centre!

Yes, I know... You've actually read "Sult" ? :eek:.. I've seen the 60's film in school. Never again. I'll definitely start with The Hobbit. Really? You should go for it. I've seen the extended versions several times and all the extras. That's how I learnt Howard Shore uses a Norwegian Hardingfele in the "Rohan" theme.


Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone was released in 2001. It's indeed great. I simply must visit Leavesden Studios in 2012! In Watford, Hertfordshire.. Shouldn't be too difficult to get there.


Okay, you've sold it to me. Avaldsnes is officially on my 'to do list' (that's getting long).

Yes. It was hard. And my Norwegian dictionary (I read it in modern Bokmål, riksmål is like a different language (well, Danish, but you know what I mean)) now looks about 100-years-old. It's an interesting book and Hamsun was a literary genius but it's dull and boring at times (quite a lot of the time) I'd like to think this was intentional in some way but . . . hmm. I love the Hardingfele, fiddles in general are cool but hardingerfeler have a very unique quality (probably because it's the Devil's instrument, don't y' know? Haha.).

Yeah, I was 12 then. I'm not entirely sure whereabouts that is (I've just realised that I know more about Norwegian geography than English, heh) but most places are accesible from London so it shouldn't be hard.
Reply 81
Original post by Luceria
Why can't you post pictures (not just urls) in this thread?

And a totally random question. What's the deal with eating crisps for lunch in England? (some places anyway).. I always got served a small bag of crisps with the lunch. Crisps is something you eat on Friday/Saturday, not for lunch. Strange.

Ahahahaha my bf was always baffled by this at uni! I don't know...I guess it's one of the reasons the UK is such an unhealthy nation.
I've started having mackerel in tomato sauce on bread for my lunch, I'm becoming very Norwegian!
Reply 82
Original post by Luceria
I've said this before as well. But did you know Avaldsnes helped inspire "How To Train Your Dragon" ? Katzenberg visited the Norwegian International Film Festival some years ago (which is held in Haugesund). And was given a tour of The Viking Farm etc. The people who live in the area were some of the first people in the world to see the film, as they got a special screening.

Haha.. nice! Avaldnes isn't a very big place, and the Viking farm isn't that big. Though I really like it and the Nordvegen history centre. So if you're in the area in summer time , I do recommend it . (The Viking festival is early June). Last time I visited the Viking festival I tried archery, which was great fun! I'd love a bow. This link was a little interesting: http://en.vikingkings.com/PortalDefault.aspx?activeTabID=872&parentActiveTabID=823&portalID=116

Yes. I don't like reading old books in "Danish". It's an interesting book, but I'll never read it. Haha. I don't really read Norwegian/Nordic books. I did better at an English geography test once, compared to the Norwegian one. Which was a bit strange!
I like the Hardingfele. Shore said something about the "Nordic feel" of Rohan. That's why he used it. And that it sounds great, of course.


I've honestly never seen the film. Worth a watch?

I love archery too. I have two wooden longbows - a victorian style hunting bow and a medieval style warbow. I used to have a reproduction of a viking bow from Hedeby but it broke. I'll be in Norway in June, but no earlier than the 13th I'm afraid, probably more likely the 20th - I decided to wait a year before doing my Master's, earn some money instead working in Norway and then (hopefully) doing the Norrøn Filologi MPhil in Oslo or Bergen or do it in Iceland but my Icelandic isn't nearly as good as my Norwegian (conversational at best).

Funny you say that - Rohan was based on the Anglo-Saxons (early English). But then they were originally from Denmark and Northern Germany so . . . yeah.
Reply 83
Original post by Luceria
I'm not really into animated films. But I liked "How To Train Your Dragon". It's beautifully made and sweet film. All the grown up Vikings have Scottish accents, the children are American and they have horned helmets. But one can ignore that, haha. It's nice for a boring Sunday etc.

Interesting! I like those really simple bows. Not the modern ones. Bows seem to be rather expensive though. Nice, it's 9-12 June. But it'll always be back each year, lol. And I reckon there are probably other festivals as well. But this is the biggest one in Western Norway.

Bergen :awesome:.. Iceland also sounds brilliant (I really want to go there). Good luck with the Norrøn Filologi MPhil!


I don't really like the CGI animation, things like the Disney Peter Pan were awesome. Shame they never actually draw anymore.

I got mine from Pip Bickerstaffe, they were about £500 each which is expensive but they're beautifully made and he is the best bowyer in the world - they'll last decades.

Iceland is great. I really love that they've preserved the language so well (unlike English, ick), it's like being in the Viking Age (almost). They can still read the sagas without much difficulty.
(edited 12 years ago)
Reply 84
Original post by Luceria
The bows I saw were about 100 pounds and I thought they were expensive! 500? Wow. I guess you need to pay a lot of money for a good quality bow.

It looks very nice. Shame about all the problems though.. The touristy Blue Lagoon looks great! Indeed, it's very interesting.... I only understand some written Icelandic.. But it's a little too complicated, I think.


The most expensive on his site is £750, not including arrows or anything else (not even postage). But he is a genius with wood:

http://www.bickerstaffebows.co.uk/pricelist.php

Yeah, I've been there. Smells bad, but if you hold your nose it's okay :biggrin: . I think the Icelandic economy is getting back on it's feet. Thankfully Iceland isn't going to pay back all of the blood-sucking bankers' money (which would have crippled them financially for decades); the Icelandic people have said, in typical Icelandic style, "screw you" and it would be political suicide for any politician to go against that - it really wasn't the fault of the people, I don't see why they should be forced into poverty so some fatcats can have a few more sportscars. Yeah, it's not so hard for me because I've studied Old Norse for years and that's easy to convert to modern Icelandic e.g Old Norse "garðr" = Icelandic "garður" = Norwegian "gard"/"gård". Vestlandsk and the nynorsk skriftspråk are really close too, to a lesser degree austlandsk and bokmål, so I can't imagine you'd find it too hard to learn either.
(edited 12 years ago)
Reply 85
I like it when languages change and evolve, I think it's interesting!
Reply 86
Original post by Luceria
What I've noticed is that some people in England (London) are dropping "to". I mean, what on earth?
"I'm going store".. "I'm going cinema"

And something in Harry Potter that I find a little confusing. In Britain they say " Minister FOR Magic", in the US they say "Minister OF Magic". I use British spelling, but "Minister of Magic" sounds more natural
to me. And I've tried to beat the "Americaness" out of me for years, haha. Strange.

I wish I had grown up with mainly British television instead. All people my age are so Americanized, and I'm a crazy Anglophile! I try not to use American spelling, but sometimes I'm not even aware that I'm spelling a word the American way.

Yeah, my former flatmate is from south London and she drops the "to"....never really picked up on it that much before now. I guess it's just a way of speaking, most people wouldn't write that way. I know she doesn't!
I think the Minister 'for' Magic thing is something related to the UK political system... all the titles are "Secretary of State for..."

The americanisation of Norwegians' English is a bit annoying. I have to stop my bf from saying "candy" sometimes :p:

Where in Norway are you from?
Reply 87
Original post by Luceria
I'd like to see people's reaction if I to dropped "to" and said something like... "Jeg skal butikken". Ah, right. That makes sense, thanks!

I know, haha. I've grown up watching American sitcoms etc, and the Americaness is very "ingrained" in me. But when I was about 13, I became an
Anglophile, and now I slap myself I use an American word, to put it like that. I was one out of maybe three people in my English class who spoke with an "English" accent. The rest spoke with American accents. I'm guilty of using "candy" though :redface:.. Even if Norwegian schools teach British English!

I'm from Rogaland, west coast of Norway. (Bokmål is my main written language though. For some reason a lot of people seem to assume EVERYONE on the west coast loves nynorsk. Not true :tongue:)

But doesn't "jeg skal til/på butikken" betyr "I will to the shop"? So it's actually a short form already? That was my understanding anyway. But I am only a learner, so forgive me if I'm wrong!

Use "sweets" instead :yep: The school I work in has books that have both British and American versions of stuff.

I'll stick with bokmål for now, nynorsk is a bit beyond me at the moment! Starting a new Norwegian course today actually, level 6 of 7 woooo...
Reply 88
Original post by Luceria
I'd like to see people's reaction if I dropped "to" and said something like... "Jeg skal butikken".

...


*shudders*

Original post by Becca
But doesn't "jeg skal til/på butikken" betyr "I will to the shop"? So it's actually a short form already? That was my understanding anyway. But I am only a learner, so forgive me if I'm wrong!

...
If you translate it directly, yes, but we could say similar things about English if we translate it directly. I guess the languages have a somewhat different syntax, which isn't too weird :tongue: It's correct Norwegian though, which I guess was the point.


And by the way, I don't really mind nynorsk too much. I mean, it doesn't hurt to learn something about different parts of the country (in my opinion, and probably just because I'm done with exams and other things that could have gone bad to make me dislike it :tongue: ). Although saying it's any more "Norwegian" than Bokmål is not really that true. Languages evolve, and we have lots of different dialects. Nynorsk is mainly based on Western Norwegian dialects (and with most emphasis on the areas around where Ivar Aasen was brought up). So people saying one form is more "correct" than the other annoy me a tiny bit. Not that any of you had said such a thing, so this paragraph is kind of pointless.
Reply 89
Original post by Luceria
Err.. Anyone a member of Sunday Times? Haha. You have to pay, how silly.

I'd like to read this article. Clarkson talks about Norway etc, looks a little intersting.
http://www.thesundaytimes.co.uk/sto/public/jeremyclarkson/?CMP=KNGvccp1-sunday%20times%20clarkson

Do no one copy these articles... Print+ screen and paint? lol.

My dad reads the Sunday Times (actual paper) and cuts out and sends me ANY articles he finds to do with Scandinavia (recently he's been sending me loads of stuff about a Danish police drama series...don't ask!) so I'll probably get it in a couple of weeks. If I do, I'll type it up for you, or get it scanned in :yep:
Reply 90
Original post by Luceria
I wouldn't dislike nynorsk that much had it not been for all the bad memories. I think it's important to learn the history behind it, but I think it's a waste of time to learn nynorsk itself. I avoid nynorsk at all cost. If a book is in nynorsk, I won't read it etc. I don't care what's more Norwegian, I don't like bokmål either (but it's what I'm used to).


Do you write your dialect?
Reply 91
Original post by Luceria
What do you mean? I write bokmål.


Ah, okay. I meant you could write how you speak if you dislike both standard skriftspråk, I had a class with a woman from Trondheim who wrote her essays in trøndersk like for example e trønder" rather than "j/eg er trønder". But then there is a semi-formalised (though obviously not widely accepted/understood, not outside of Trøndelag and possibly Jamtland anyway) written standard for the trøndersk dialect. She was a bit strange though.
(edited 12 years ago)
Reply 92
Original post by Luceria
Write how I speak?

"Hei, kossen går det. Eg like ikkje verken nynorsk elle bokmål. eg skrive dialekt. Håpe det går greit!"

No, that wouldn't work! Haha.. Writing in dialect makes you look like an idiot. It's looked down upon (unless it's not very formal, like writing to friends and such).
I'm an Anglophile, and I'll always prefer English. That's why I don't like either of them. I find it strange that foreigners like Norwegian.
But of course, I have to write in bokmål.

I don't like trøndersk, at all.


Very nynorsk :tongue: .

Ah, okay. I thought it would be like someone here writing in Scots rather than standard English.

Me neither, but I thought it was cool that there was a written standard of sorts for it.

Ugh, I don't know how anyone can like modern English. It's really tragic how much the language has degenerated from Old English and borrowed wholesale from French f.eks. the OE word for language was spræc but was replaced by the ugly French word. If I was King of the English Language I'd make everyone use Old English again.
(edited 12 years ago)
Reply 93
My girlfriend's Norwegian, and she's taken me over there a couple of times. The first time we stayed in Mjondalen (sorry for defiling your language, but I can't work my way around my British keyboard well enough to get all these fancy letters :tongue:), the second we split our stay between Haugesund and Bergen. I've got to say, it's a gorgeous country.

I'm considering taking my 8-week elective somewhere in Norway at the end of my degree, if I can pick up the language before then. Reading through this thread, though, I've impressed myself with how much I actually understood, and that's without making any real effort to teach myself. It's amazing how much quicker you pick languages up by actually going to the country and immersing yourself in their language and culture. :smile:

Anyway, that was just a rant to let you all know I love pretty much everything about your country, hope you approve! :tongue:
Reply 94
Original post by Luceria
Interesting! Did you say Haugesund? I'm from Haugesund! :awesome:

I also like your user name! :^_^:

That sounds great! Lovely.


Really? Awesome! It's a really nice town. Made me completely rethink my concept of a "beach", though. :biggrin:

Haha, I'm sure you've mentioned this before. :wink: Always happy to please. :biggrin:
Reply 95
Original post by Luceria
When did you visit? It's nicest during the summer. By Norwegian standards it's a city though. According to Wikipedia, the 12th largest! Haha.

Beach?

Yes, I think so!:biggrin:


We came down in the Easter holidays, so mid-March? We were a little on the unlucky side with the weather, but 1 or 2 days were lovely.
Hehe, Norwegians and their strange idea of a "city". :wink:

Precisely. :tongue: My girlfriend's dad described it as a "beach", essentially it was a 4x3 metre patch of finely-ground shells that just about constituted sand, stuck between two big rocks. :biggrin:
Reply 96
Original post by Luceria
Haha. Eg seie nåken gånger ikke, og noen gånger ikkje. Noen like ikke at eg seie ikke! Eg syns såfall an hørres bedre ut enn Østlandet dialektår, og trøndersk!
Bergensk irritere meg litt, alt ende i intetkjønn. Solen, piken... Det hette solå! Yay for skarre r.

I've received several strange looks from Brits when speaking Norwegian. I hope it's just the Norwegian anyway! Always wondered how Norwegian sound to foreigners. Hopefully not as bad as German, Danish or Dutch. Wouldn't surprise me if they couldn't tell the difference though. I guess it depends on the dialect.

Oh, no I love English! It might have changed a lot, but I think it's lovely. But if you do ever become king, that would be very interesting indeed. tehe
Aren't some words Scandinavian? Or maybe just Germanic.. Husband, sky, skirt, window etc..


I barely understand a word of that Norwegian you've written :s-smilie:
As a foreigner, I think that the Oslo/eastern Norwegian sounds really sing-songy. Northern Norwegian for example from Bodø sounds angry (it's the intonation!). I don't think that western norwegian sounds as nice as eastern in general, but it's still nice! Danish sounds mental.

In the part of the country where I'm from (Cumbria) we have loads of scandinavian words: fell, beck, yam (= home)...I can't think of any more off the top of my head but there are more :yep:
Reply 97
Original post by Luceria
Haha. Eg seie nåken gånger ikke, og noen gånger ikkje. Noen like ikke at eg seie ikke! Eg syns såfall an hørres bedre ut enn Østlandet dialektår, og trøndersk!
Bergensk irritere meg litt, alt ende i intetkjønn. Solen, piken... Det hette solå! Yay for skarre r.

I've received several strange looks from Brits when speaking Norwegian. I hope it's just the Norwegian anyway! Always wondered how Norwegian sound to foreigners. Hopefully not as bad as German, Danish or Dutch. Wouldn't surprise me if they couldn't tell the difference though. I guess it depends on the dialect.

Oh, no I love English! It might have changed a lot, but I think it's lovely. But if you do ever become king, that would be very interesting indeed. tehe
Aren't some words Scandinavian? Or maybe just Germanic.. Husband, sky, skirt, window etc..


Ja, det er litt rart at den bergenske dialekta har berre to kjønn men eg likar det betre enn f.eks. Oslomål eller trøndersk. Eg likar vestlandske dialektar best, meir enn dei austlandske dialektane.

They're probably just wondering what you're speaking. Some idiots hold the view that you shouldn't speak anything but English in public in England, especially on transport, but most people won't mind unless you're screaming "ALLAHU ACKBAR" on the train.

Well, the base of English is Old English which is a Germanic language* through-and-through. Yes, husbondi, skyr (not the yoghurt, haha), skyrta, vindauga, et cetera (a few thousand words infact including very basic words like they, their and them - due to the huge waves of Scandinavian migration in Vikingtida) but I like the Scandinavian loans . . . they can stay :awesome: . French is icky, Latin and Greek can go away too.

*As an example, this the introduction from Beowulf:

HWÆT, we Gar-Dena in geardagum,
þeodcyninga þrym gefrunon,
hu ða æþelingas ellen fremedon!
oft Scyld Scefing sceaþena þreatum,
monegum mægþum meodosetla ofteah,
egsode eorlas, syððanærest wearð
feasceaft funden; he þæs frofre gebad,
weox under wolcnum weorðmyndum þah,
þæt him æghwylc ymbsittendra
ofer hronrade hyran scolde,
gomban gyldan; þæt wæs god cyning!

*Sigh* So much better than modern English.

Original post by Becca
I barely understand a word of that Norwegian you've written :s-smilie:
As a foreigner, I think that the Oslo/eastern Norwegian sounds really sing-songy. Northern Norwegian for example from Bodø sounds angry (it's the intonation!). I don't think that western norwegian sounds as nice as eastern in general, but it's still nice! Danish sounds mental.

In the part of the country where I'm from (Cumbria) we have loads of scandinavian words: fell, beck, yam (= home)...I can't think of any more off the top of my head but there are more :yep:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s-mOy8VUEBk Hehe, Atle Antonsson. :biggrin:

Yeah, Cumbria was settled heavily by Norwegians, Yorkshire and the Danelaw to a much lesser extent (loads of Danes though). What's really interesting is looking at the placenames, where I'm from (South Yorkshire, North Nottinghamshire) about 70% of places have Old Danish or Old Norwegian names - they'll probably be mostly Old Norwegian in your area :smile: .
(edited 12 years ago)
Reply 98
Original post by Luceria
Kamilåså! Haha. I love that video. ^

Brilliant :awesome:

Yeah, I don't go around praising Allah to put it like that. Don't speak very loudly either.

I understood very little of that. Yay for loanwords! I wish the "th" sound hadn't disappeared from Norwegian though.

Some years ago I said without thinking. "Why is Voldemort wearing a dress?" Obviously, he wasn't wearing a dress... But a suit. But suit means dress in Norwegian. Most 'amusing' mistake I've made.


Yeah, I have a pair of jeans from Dressmann. People find that funny.
Reply 99
Original post by Luceria
Haha, I forgot about Dressmann.


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