Funny Talk
In learning Norwegian you are bound to make some very funny mistakes. Like the time I said that I teach ‘all you can eat Cha Cha’ or when I whispered to Moose ‘I love me.’
One time I asked my brother-in-law at dinner what he did for a living. He replied ‘I’m eating potato’. Everyone laughed. Instead, I actually asked ‘what are you doing right now?’
Moose has become my magic eight ball as my Norwegian often requires a lot of guessing: ‘Will I go to the shops?’, ‘Did I wake up tonight?’ and ‘Am I hungry?’
Sometimes I speak Yoda: ‘Small he was.’, Hungry you are? Eat you must.’, ‘Go I shall.’
Last week I sent an ad into the newspaper that read: ‘All are welcome – and all the others are 30 kroner’.
When I first came to Norway I was attempting to do the banking all by myself in Norwegian. Moose was teaching me to say ‘Hendene i været! Dette er et ran. Gi meg alle pengene.’ I learnt the line down-pat, but on the side of Moose’s mouth I saw some mischief so I got suspicious. His plot was revealed – can you imagine me going up to a bank teller and saying in Norwegian ‘Put your hands up. This is a stick up. Give me all your money!’
But we always have a good laugh at my expense. The bloopers and misunderstandings are all a part of learning the language. And besides, I don’t mind still being considered ‘cute’ at my age.
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I love that you have a sense of humor as you learn the language. And Moose sounds like he does too! I love people who are life long learners and you certainly show that you are one of those people. Moving to a different country and learning the language are major learning experiences. You are certainly an inspiration to me, L-Jay!
I made some real bloopers when I was first learning Norwegian too.
Some of the translations can be fun. F.eks “stortinget gjorde et vedtak” – “the big thing did a wooden roof”.
I’ve been attempting to teach myself norwegian while in Australia.. with my only resources being what I can find online, & my norwegian boyfriend whom I skype with (who admits to being a lousy teacher
).. but after 2 yrs like that I’ve lost my sense of humour about it & am just completely frustrated now 
I’m a perfectionist & I thought by now things would be easier *sigh* He has “aussie” down pat, it’s no fair!
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from L-Jay:
Hi Samantha
I’m generally finding that Aussies have a tougher time learning the language. I really think it is because it is not in our culture to learn another language – we don’t really have other language programs on TV, we don’t border other countries, learning another language is optional at school (in Norway it is compulsory to learn English from 8 years old) and we are on our own continent – our own quarter of the world – with no influence from non-English speaking countries. I also find that the way Australians make sounds (especially Aussie-Okker sounds) makes it difficult for us to convert to Scandinavian sounds.
I also find that Norwegians have a knack of picking up other accents. Moose puts on a pretty mean Scottish accent…lol – I love it! I think Norwegians have been brought up in learning how to mimic other languages. In Norway there are so many different dialects that Norwegians have to be adaptable – otherwise the whole country wouldn’t understand each other…lol.
But all-in-all I admire you trying to learn the language while in Oz. It is difficult enough trying to learn it in Norway.
Lykke til!
Very funny! My norwegian teacher also told me that foreigner when saying “takk” (thank you), pronouce the word as “taaaak” and then the norwegian people start looking up because “tak” (pronouced taaaak) is the roof of a house.
Also, i liked a lot the picture of a moose you have somewhere in the blog, very funy animal.
Can you please write a post about making friendship with noregians? I hear it is very difficult..
Best regards.
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From Moose:
Writing a post about making friends with Norwegians is a great idea. We’ll get on it soon. Thanks for the tip.
In the meantime, our post A Social Norwegian might be of interest.
Just noticed a lot of spelling errors on my reply.. sorry
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From Moose:
No wories