Tag Archives: Norsk

Language Confused: You’re hanging up what?!?!

Zack had been working with the landlord, trying to get the bathroom remodel completed before my mom and step-dad came to visit. In a process like that, you hear and begin to learn vocabulary you haven’t used before.Like the word for moldings.

We were visiting with friends, but it was time to leave. Zack was excited to speak in Norwegian as he told his friend he needed to go and hang molding (trim) on the walls. Only he didn’t say that.

No, Zack was going home to hang lust on the walls.

Life Lesson: learn to laugh at yourself!

Language Confused: learning a new language

Learning a new language is challenging. It’s even harder if you don’t learn to laugh at yourself.

In the spirit of laughing at ourselves, I thought it would be fun to periodically share some of our language mix-ups. Times when we thought we totally had it together, but were so very wrong.

So be on the look-out for more on this soon!

NWotD: Familie

Familie
(noun) Family.Used in a sentence
Familie er viktig for meg.
(Family is important to me.)

Related words
Far: father
Mor: mother
Sønn: son
Datter: daughter
Bror: brother
Søster: sister

Related to us
We are very excited that Zack’s brother and sister-in-law had their first child, a son!
Vi er veldig glade for at Zacks bror og svigersøster har fått sitt første barn, en sønn!

What happens when you squeeze a fish?

FISH OIL.Part of our morning routine right now includes a dose of Tran. English speakers would probably know it better as cod liver oil. It is especially important to ensure we get an adequate amount of Vitamin D, when we aren’t able to get enough from the sun. Tran is a great source of Vitamin D and Omega-3.

The ‘norm’ is to take tran in any month whose name has an R in it (Norwegian and English month names are similar enough that it’s the same months in either language).

So every morning, we start our day with a dose of fish oil. Lemon flavored fish oil. And don’t our faces say it all?

(photo taken Oct 2013, when we first started taking tran)

(In actuality, it is not terrible. But I also don’t find myself wanting any extra after I’ve had my dose!)

NWotD: Far

Far
(noun) Father.

Used in a sentence
Han skal besøke sin far i morgen.
(He will visit his father tomorrow.)

Related words
Pappa: similar to daddy
Bestefar: grandfather
Farfar: paternal grandfather/father’s father
Morfar: maternal grandfather/mother’s father

Liebe Gruß and Language Formalities/NwotD

When our friends Jeff & Deanna lived in Germany, they were taught the proper way to end a conversation. It included a greeting to your family, friends, etc. And they quickly learned that it was quite important and could be considered rude when not used.

So Jeff’s question was this: Is there any formal or informal greeting or salutation in Norwegian?

There are things that are appropriate to say, but so far we haven’t learned anything that would be considered rude if we didn’t say.

Here are some helpful greetings and phrases.

For a greeting you might say

  • Hei!
  • Hei hei!
  • Hallo!

Often after this, you will say

  • Takk for sist! It means thanks for the last time – basically acknowledging our last meeting. It could possibly be compared to an English phrase like “good to see you again.”

If you are welcoming a guest into your home, you might say

  • Velkommen til oss! Straight translation: welcome to us.

As you are departing, you can say

  • Ha det bra! Taken word by word, it literally translates have it good. But this is the word we would use like good-bye.
  • You can also say Ha det, a shortened form.

And many times in your departure, you may choose to say one or two of these

  • Takk for oss! (Thanks for us)
  • Takk for i dag! (Thanks for the day)
  • Takk for i kveld! (Thanks for the evening)
  • Hils familien! (Greet your family)
  • Vi ses snart! (similar to See you soon!)

NWotD: ingenting

Ingenting
(adverb) Nothing.

Used in a sentence
Jeg har ingenting å gjøre.
(I have nothing to do.)

Related to popular culture
Here is part of a children’s song that uses inventing:
Vår Gud er så stor       (Our God is so big)
Så sterk og så mektig  (So strong and so mighty)
Finns ingenting Han ikke kan (There’s nothing He cannot do)

Related to us/to language learning:
Ingenting is one of the words that we include in the “False Friend” category.

Wikipedia defines False Friend as “pairs of words or phrases in two languages that look or sound similar, but differ significantly in meaning.” You can read the full Wikipedia entry about False Friends HERE.

Spania: a quick trip to Malaga

We just returned from a conference in Malaga, Spain. Sunshine, temps around 15 – 18 C. Yeah, almost like Norwegian summer.We didn’t have a lot of time outside, as most of our days were filled with meetings. But we managed to take advantage of the breaks and explore a little bit.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As a bit of Norwegian practice for myself, I have decided to occasionally include the Norwegian translation of a blog post. (Thanks to sweet friends here for helping me with my grammar!)

Vi er nettopp kommet tilbake fra en konferanse i Malaga, Spania. Det var sol, og circa 15 til 18 grader. Ja, nesten som norsk sommer!

Vi fikk ikke så mye tid ute, på grunn av mange møter. Men vi utnyttet pausene og utforsket litt.