Table Of Content

Norwegian Margaretha Danbolt Simons TEACH YOURSELF BOOKS Acknowledgements My greatest lhanks are due to myedito," at Hodder & Stoughton: lo Helen eoward, who first approached me aboul writing lhis book and gol me under way, and lo Sarah l\Iitchell, who saw me through the whole process. I am immensely grateful for all the help I have reeeived, from beginning to end, from Gillian James at the University of Surrey. Gillian also acted as my guinea pig. I would like to thank John Hart of Esher College for patiently improving my English The eneouragemenl and praetical assistanee from Gunilla Anderman and my eolleagues at The Centre for Translation Studies, University of Surrey, have been of tremendous value, and I would like to thank John Pretlove and Richard Nice (in the Departmen!s of Mechanieal Engineering and Linguisties and International Studies respectivelyL both of the University ofSurrey, for their computing help. with out whieh I would ha\"e been lost. And finally, the enthusiasm of my children, William, Steven and Pooh, Rebekka and Niek, has been a grea! inspiration. ForTom Long-renowned as the authoritative source for self-guided learning - with more than 30 million copies sold worldwide - the Teach Yourself series includes over 200 titles in the fields oflanguages, crafts, hobbies, sports. and other leisure activities. A catalogue record for this title is av aila ble from the British Library. Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 96-68476 First published in UK 1997 by Hodder Headline Plc, 338 Euston Road, London NW13BH First published in US 1997 by NTC Publishing Group An imprint of NTC/Contemporary Publishing Company 4255 West Touhy Avenue, Lincolnwood (Chicago), Illinois 60646-1975 U.S.A. The 'Teach Yourself name and logo are registered trade marks of Hodder & Stoughton Ltd in the UK. Copyright © 1997 Margaretha Danbolt Simons In UK: All rights reserved. No part ofthis publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher or under licence from the Copyright Licensing Agency Limited. Furthpr details of such licences Ifor reprographic reproduction) may be obtainpd from the Copyright Licensing Agency Limited, of90 Tottenham Court Road, London W1P 9HE Tn US: All rights reserved. No part ofthis book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form, or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, or otherwise, without prior permission of NTC/Contemporary Publishing Company. Typeset by Transet Limited, Coventry, England. Printed in England by Cox & Wyman Limited, Reading. Berkshire. Impression number 10 9 8 7 Year 2004 2003 2002 2001 2000 CONTENTS Introduction 1 Pronunciation 4 1 Hei! Hva heter du? (Heilo! What is your name?) 10 Greeting people and introducing oneself. Making simple statements and questions. 2 Jeg vil gjerne reise til Norge. (l would like to go to Norway.) 22 Talking about what you do for aliving. Counting to ten. Planning how to get to Norway. The days ofthe week. 3 På vei til Norge. (On the way to Norway.) 35 Norwegian food and saying skål! Saying what you would like to eat and drink. Norwegian driving regulations. 4 Sightseeing i Oslo. (Sightseeing in Oslo'; 48 What to see in Oslo and how to get about. Left and right. Talking about what you think of the sights. 5 John går til byen. (John goes lo town.) 63 Buying posteards and stamps. Cashing travellers' cheques and understanding Norwegian money. Asking for directions. Counting from ten upwards. 6 HalloI (Hella!) 76 Using the telephone. Using numbers in sums. Making appointments and saying please. 7 Bentes familie. (Bente's {amily} 88 Dealing with family relationships and the family tree. Talking to children. Showing irritation. 8 John kolliderer og kommer på sykehus. (John is in a crash and ends up in hospital.) 101 Expressing pain and discomfort. Describing symptoms of illnesses and pain. Parts of the body. Being in hospital. 9 Bente får jobb og John går på apotek. (Bente gets a job, and John goes to the chemist's.) 114 Buying clothes and medicines. Describing clothes, colours and patterns. Telling the time. 10 John og Bente går i selskap. (John and Bente ga to parties.J 127 Norwegian party customs. What to say to your hosts during and after a party. Months and dates. 11 God Jul! Godt Nyttår! (Happy Christmas! Happy New Year!) 142 Writing Christmas cards. Christmas in Norway. More about telling the time. 12 Kjære Kari. (Dear Kari.) 156 Formal and informalletters. The use of titles. Describing the weather and the seasons. 13 Påske på fjellet. (Easter in the mountains.) 171 Skiing. Expressing delight and fear. Winter scenery. 14 Syttende Mai i Oslo. (Seventeenth of May in Oslo.) 185 The National Day in Norway. Talking about the past, and expressing interest in something. How to say sorry. 15 Sankt Hansaften på Vestlandet. (Midsummer in the West Country.) 198 Yet another Norwegian celebration! Booking hote l accommodation. Making a complaint. Paying the bill. 16 Hva nå? (What now?J 211 Expressing thoughts and feelings, and perhaps a little nostalgia. Key to the exercises 226 Grammar 232 Norwegian-English Vocabulary 236 Index 250 INTRODUCTION The aim of this course is to enable the student to speak and read everyday Norwegian, and to gain insight into the Norwegian culture and way of life. Teach Yourself Norwegian is designed for the absolute beginner; no previous knowledge of any foreign language is required. Grammar is kept to a minimum; only what is necessary for this course is included, and grammatical terms are carefully explained. Norwegian is not a difficult language for an English-speaking person. Many words are similar. Pronunciation may at first seem a bit difficult, but there are some basic rules to follow. These are covered in the following section. The cassette is a further help. You will see in the list below that each unit has severai sections in it. To start you off, there is a list of What you willlearn in the unit; then you can work through three dialogues or texts. These are followed by detailed vocabulary boxes that list, in detail, the new words and phrases that have been introduced in the preceding dia logue or text. In this way, you can re ad through the dialogue or text, and/or listen to it on the cassette at the same time, a few times so that you can get the gist of the situation. Then, to increase your vocabulary learning, you can look through the vocabulary box and make sure you understand all of it. It is helpful to say the words and phrases out loud, and to write them out so that you memorise them more easily. Finally, the re are some TrueIFaIse? phrases to make sure that you have really understood the dialogue/text. 1 NORWEGIAN Remember that the best way to learn a language is to listen and read a little and oft en and to increase your confidence gradually - this is far better than spending long infrequent sessions poring over the books! The next section is called What to say, and this gives you plenty of new phrases relating to the situations in the unit as a whole. Language patterns and structures are the basis of the language and you need to master these so that you can express yourself freely in spoken and written Norwegian. It is not the most difficult language, but there are lots of turns of phrase and unexpected structures that are clearly and fully explained in this course. Make the most of the examples in this section because they will come in useful later when you are doing the practice section and the prompted spe aking exercise at the very end of every unit. What you need to know, the next section, gives you lots of useful information about the Norwegian way of life: just the sort of thing you will find most intriguing whenever you visit Norway, or ifyou get talking to a Norwegian abroad. Finally, it is a good idea to do the exercise section soon after reading the language patterns sections so that the grammar is still fresh in your mind. However, remember to look back at previous units' lan guage patterns sections to revise as you work through the course. At the back of the book there is auseful index to the grammar subjects. There are also lists of irregular nouns, irregular verbs and modal verbs as a useful reference once you are producing written Norwegian and you need to pay attention to the details. All the answers to the exercises are listed in the back of the book, but make sure you com pl ete each exercise, or even each unit of exercises, before looking up the answers. Listen to the cassette as much as you can. Even when you are not actually working with the book, remember to take the cassette with you in case you have a few spare moments to listen to the cassette - in the car, on a personal stereo on the train, while gardening or doing housework! It is a good idea to listen to the dialogues that you have worked on so that you refresh your memo ry of all the words and phrases used. - 2 -- INTROOUCTlON This course focuses on two central characters: an English student, John, and a Norwegian girl, Bente. We follow them through their ups and downs in a variety of situations during a year in Norway. Notes on travelling in Norway, food, illness, bookings and letter-writing are included. Norwegian festivals are covered. There are 16 units, each following the same pattern. Introduetion. This is an English summary of what you willlearn in each unit. W. Samtale Wialogue) ~ or Tekst (Text) There are three at the beginning of each unit. Use the cassette to hear the correct pronunci ation. Ill. Ordliste (Vo ca bulary) After each dialogue or text there is a list of new words and expressions in the order in which they appear in the dialogue or text. Sant eller usant? (True or false?) After each text the re are same statements which may or may not be true. The aim of this exercise is for you to check whether you have understood the text. Slik sier vi det (What to say l. A repetition of useful expressions from the text and some extra ones which may come in useful. Grammatikk (Language patterns) ~. Notes on grammatical struc tures and how to use them. il!J. Øvelser (Exereises These are for you to practise wh at you have learnt. (Answers at the back.) Hva du trenger å vite (What YOll need to knowl. Comments about the Norwegian way of life, travel facts etc. Forstår du? (Do you understand?) Another dialogue, but this time your part is in English, so you have to translate. -- 3 - PRONUNCIATION Norwegian is quite easy to pronounce, because it is usually spoken as it is written. There are some rules to follow, and some special sounds to get used to. When you have managed these, you will not find it difficult to pronounee Norwegian. It is a good idea to listen to the cassette and imitate the Norwegians you hear. Norwegian radio stations can be found, but the reception is usually best late at night. The most important thing to remember is that each letter is pro nounced. An 'e' at the end of a word is always pronounced distinctly. The Norwegian alphabet has 29 letters. There are three extra letters at the end of the alphabet used by English speakers. These are: Æ (as ø in eat), (as in first) and Å (as in awful). III A a (pronounced ah) K k (pronounced kaw) U u (pronounced 00) B b ( u beh) L l (U el) V v (U veh) C c ( seh) M m ( em) W w ( dobbeltveh) Dd ( de) Nn en) Xx ( eks) Ee ( ehl 00 o) Yy ( yew) Ff ( ei) Pp peh) Zz ( set) Gg ( geh) Qq koo) Ææ( a) Hh( haw) Rr air) ø ø ( ir) I i ( ee) Ss ess) Åå ( aw) Jj ( jod) Tt teh) The last three letters are vowels. Y is always a vowel in Norwegian and is pronounced more as in typieal than type. 4 PRONUNCIA TION Vowels There are nine vowels in Norwegian: a, e, i, o, u, y, æ, ø, å. The vowels are pure sounds as in French or Italian, and not diphthonged as in English. The Norwegian vowels may be short or long. As a general ru le vowels are long in open syllables, e.g. si (say), or if followed by a single con sonant, e.g. tak (roofJ. Vowels are short be fore a double consonant, e.g. takk (thank you). hat (hatred) hatt (hat) dit (there) ditt (yours) Exceptions: Norwegian words cannot end in a double m, so there are some words which are pronounced with a short vowel even if there is only one consonant. For example: rom (room) hjem (home) Also with a short vowel and single consonant are some common words: han (he) hun (she) den (it) The vowels are divided into two groups: a, o, u and å are hard vowels e, i, y, æ and ø are soft vowels This distinction is important for the pronunciation of words starting with gor k. Norwegian vowel Pronunciation Example a long like a in father far (father) a short hatt (hat) e long like a in air sted (place) e short like e in bed gress (grass) i long like ea in eat min (mine) i short like i in kiss sild (herring) o long like o in moor, but with tightly rounded lips bok (book) -- 5 NORWEGIAN O short like or in organ sokk (sock) u long like u in true hus (house) u short like u in full full (full) y ee with rounded lips by (town) kyss (kiss) æ like a in eat være (to be) lærd (learned) ø like i in bird dør (door) først (first) å long like aw in awful år (year) å short like o in not åtte (eight) The prolllUlciation as described is only approximate. Listen carefully to the cassette. Pronunciation exercises Longvowels Short vowels a Kari Mari Anne Hanne e Erik Eva Bente Petter i Nina Liv Nils Silje o Ole Gro Trond Otto u Rut Rune Tulla Gunnar y Yberg Tyra Yngve Yvonne æ Sæverud Træna Kjærstad Værnes ø Søren 0land Sølvi 1?jørn å Åse Åge Bård Asta Diphthongs There are three important diphthongs in Norwegian: ei as in the English mate, say. vei (road) reise (trauel) øy no English equivalent. Don't say Oi! Say '0' and then add the 'y'. høy (tall) øye (eye) au 'a' as in eat followed by 'u'. au! (ouch!! sau (sheep) 6 -