Scandinavian Studies

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Reply 80

Mumintroll

Meg_Lili

Out of curiosity, does anyone know why 'The Bible - New Testament' is on the list? :s-smilie:

C-

I guess so good as all literature in the western world dwells on themes that can be traced back to the bible. So, I'm guessing it's just for general background knowledge for the literature units. English Lit teachers always mentioned this, if my memory is right.

I've just come back from my local library. Managed to order the Derry book for the princely sum of 50p. So hopefully I can preview it before any purchase decision.

University College London

London

Reply 81

Mumintroll

This is extremely short notice, but there is a Danish film starting on BBC Four now (22.00).

Ewwwwww, manky.

i got my pre-reading list today :wink:

Reply 84

Coloringwiththerainbow

Hi there,

I have a question about Norwegian which you may be able to help me with. My Norwegian girlfriend had no idea and said that they just ''wrote it'' so, goodness knows.

Here is a question in Norwegian: Du snakker godt norsk! - I understand, but why the ''t'' in godt when nothing else determines ''et''.

Hope you can help!
Thank you!

Reply 85

Mumintroll

Coloringwiththerainbow

Jag har absolut ingen aning but that never stopped me from having a stab in the dark before. If I had to guess, I'd say that that expression must be, for some strange reason, idiomatic in Norwegian and that they use an adverb in it.. so it turns out something like "You speak Norwegian well" (rather than "you speak good Norwegian"). But truth be told, I have no clue and I'd not bet more than 50 öre on that being correct.

Let's hope a Norwegian (or perhaps even a Dane) passes through soon to enlighten us.

Reply 86

Coloringwiththerainbow

Hey there,

Aaah, indeed. Perhaps you're right, I'm finding lots of idiomatic things in Norwegian right now but it's really enjoyable! Since I am taking a working gap year I also go to work as well as study German and Norwegian and things go around in your head when you're working. Huh? Godt? God? Gode? Help! ...oh, and another weird thing: hjelpe - more like to assist ''kan jeg hjelpe deg?'' but hjelp is more like...Help! *shakes head* I'm going to try to get these into my head!

Thanks for your help!

Reply 87

Mumintroll

Yes, it's all too confusing sometimes! Grammar. But I doubt my help was actually that helpful, as it's probably wrong.
But as for 'kan jeg hjelpe' deg verses 'Hjelp', well, I guess that's the same as Swedish 'Kan jag hjälpa dig?' verses 'Hjälp'. After 'kan' it's always the infinitive in Swedish, so presumably also in Norwegian. Shouting 'Hjälp!' is always a good time for the imperative. I'm not usually this grammatically enlightened, unfortunately.

So are you applying to UCL for Scan Studies?

Reply 88

Coloringwiththerainbow

Mumintroll

Interesting, on thinking about various other questions I think we (well you) have actually worked out my question. Isn't this place great? After kan it is the infinitive in Norwegian. Aha!

No, you've been pretty good on the grammar with this to be honest; I'm not struggling with it but sometimes you have to stop and think...en bil, bilen, biler, bilene...and then where to put the adjective and to put the e for common gender or not or...*goes crazy*. Before I started learning Norwegian properly I was never a word nerd but now I just want to find out! :biggrin:

I am applying for Norwegian at UCL in 2009, yeah. I went to the interview this year and it went pretty well although I simply didn't have the grades in any language. I was not a confident person in French waaay back (well only two years) at GCSE (a disgusting and worst grade of my life D) and I didn't do it at A Level of course either. However, on picking up some Norwegian grammar book and then Teach Yourself! Norwegian I have finally found something I'm good at...I promise I'm not trying to be conceited here. They wanted to see some firm evidence that I was ''for them'' so I'm doing a fast track GCSE in German which so far seems rather easy, Norwegian has really helped in that department. They want BBB which'll be fine also.

What are you doing?

Reply 89

Mumintroll

I'm not actually a great one for grammar. I'm must just be having a good day. I tend to learn far better through doing and applying rather than learning 'rules', if you understand what I mean. Although it definitely helps to have the basics to build on. Pretty impressive that you are managing to teach yourself from the beginning. I'm not sure I could! It is strange how grammar starts to become interesting though (I'm finding this too).

Doing German GCSE sounds a good plan, glad it's going well. And you will already have a good grounding in the basics of Norwegian, so I'm sure you will find it easy to get in for next autumn '09. I'm starting at UCL in September, really looking forward to it. See you in a year!

Reply 90

klika89

hey people I found something that may be usefull

http://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/webbin/book/search?author=ibsen&amode=words&title=&tmode=words

I've already read "The Wild Duck" and " The Doll's House" but not in english and I found those books interesting and worth reading