Here's some of my favourite things I did to help me learn Norwegian, I'll edit this over time as I write out some of the longer ones: 1. Watch Norwegian TV shows and movies WITH Norwegian subtitles. Pause every time there is a word you don’t know, and use Google translate on the word or the word plus a few surrounding words to make sure it gets the context, then resume the show. This makes watching TV and movies boring, but at least it becomes *actually* productive instead of just feeling productive (like watching with English subtitles) 2. Talk to yourself in Norwegian, plan your day out loud in Norwegian, etc, and when you don’t know a word, pause to look it up and then add it to your brain. 3. Get the TuneIn app and listen to NRK P3, or just NRK, or, well, any radio station in Norway. If you haven't figured out the theme yet, here it is: Pause and look up a word whenever someone says something you know how to spell but aren't sure of the meaning. You can also just try repeating the word into speech-to-text on Google Translate. 4. I had a bit of Norwegian knowledge before my pre-test 6-month push, but honestly 99% of my grammar work came from this book (not a referral link!) www.amazon.com/Norwegian-Verbs-Essentials-Grammar-Louis/dp/084428596X 5. This is the Memrise course I used when I first started learning Norwegian. I prefer it over the official courses because every day you use this course, you hear a new part of a story about a family moving to Norway. The vocabulary and sentences you hear are therefore extremely practical, and a bit more rewarding than learning how to say “the spider ate the cheese”. app.memrise.com/course/189711/a1-beginner-norwegian-with-audio/ To get the course to show up on your phone, you might have to first sign in to Memrise on a computer, and then open the link above and add the course that way. It should show up on your phone after that.
I'm shocked at how good your Norwegian is, and I'm not even exaggerating. I can hear a very subtle hint of an accent in your pitch every now and then, but if I wasn't aware that you weren't born here, I'd probably assume that you had slight regional accent, or something. Also, I imagine it must be a bit frustrating to learn the "neutral" Eastern Norwegian accent if you're surrounded by people from Bergen 😅 But yeah... 2 weeks? Sounds like you've been living here for several years, purely judging by how well you speak the language. Keep it up :)
I mean, as a native Norwegian speaker I can hear that you're not native, but you speak almost perfect Norwegian. You probably have a better Norwegian accent than I have an English or Spanish accent :) It's just a few weird Norwegian pronunciations you don't have 100% right and the "pitch-accent" (or whatever "tonem" is in English) is a little bit off some places. I bet I'd be able to have really complicated conversations with you though. I'm impressed that you've managed this in 6 months!
Thank you! Yeah, I can usually follow along with conversations about pretty complicated topics, but of course it's still way easier for me to express my own nuanced thoughts and opinions in English. So one of the bad habits I'm trying to break is where my Norwegian friends speak to me in Norwegian and I reply in English hahaha.
@@AlexBerish Try to find synonyms for what you're trying to say in Norwegian (or whatever other language you're trying to speak), that'll often help with language learning, and it'll help you deal with the various dialects if you ever decide to try to learn those.
Alex's video here inspired me. No norwegian experience. American, know 3 years of decent conversational German. I've been toying with the idea but I find it oddly enjoyable to speak Norsk. Like I feel happy speaking it, which sounds batshit insane but yeah.
I'm a norwegian, and your pronounciation and "tone of the sentence" is almost flawless. Like 95% of everything you say sounds 100% native. Really really impressive
As a Norwegian (born & raised) I would say that I have NEVER heard an American speak better Norwegian! That is absolutely impressive, especially the tone and pronunciation of å ø å, which are letters you don’t even have! I’d say you should start studying MORE languages, because this is definitely something you’re born to do! Bravo!
@@AlexBerish I think as long as you choose a very different language (maybe not Swedish or Danish 😉😉) you’ll be fine! Try Italian 🇮🇹 It’s one of the most beautiful languages, and hands down the most beautiful country in the world! I took Italian when going to school in Oslo.
funny you suggest italian, my family is coming to visit me out here in europe for a couple weeks and they want to do a trip to italy.... maybe i'll make some italian vids hahaha, great suggestion!
@@anyarasan8529 you planning to move to Norway, most wouldn’t learn the language unless they want to live there as you can only speak Norwegian in Norway? It’s better if you learn a more spoken language like French where u can speak it in many countries.
As a native Norwegian I get the impression that you have truly got the language under your skin. You're not just thinking in English and translating. Congrats👍🙂
I've been living here 4 years now and unfortunately haven't integrated myself much due to freelance work and friends speaking English. So to hear you better than me at 6 months of learning is a real kick for me to finally push myself more so I can be less anxious here. I have a lot of reasons now to need to get better (I live in Bergen). Very impressive!
It's difficult when you can get all of your social needs for the day through English speakers. I experienced a similar problem after I recorded this video while I was living in Tbilisi, Georgia, where everyone speaks Georgian and Russian. I didn't get much farther than "hello" and "goodbye" and "thank you" - check out reddit.com/r/norsk if you aren't already subscribed there I highly recommend it as a resource and to connect with other learners!
@@AlexBerish Thanks for your reply Alex! Yeah, I like to talk about since it shows that even living in the native country you can easily end up learning slow if you don't push yourself and integrate. My situation is quite unique but still, I want to make it work here so I'm trying harder now. I do use the reddit page but probably not enough, thanks!
@@Storyraymond Agreed. He's doing way better then someone who has lived here for 10 years. My guess would be about 20 to be honest, perhaps a tiny bit less then that, 18? Certainly many, many years.
this is fantastic . Thank you! I need to learn Norwegian , because my granddaughter is little and learning it. She lives there now with her parents. I do not want to miss out.
@@AlexBerish Jeg tror nok at du kunne klart å lure enkelte til å tro at du var Norsk om du begrenset deg til korte samtaler. I lengere samtaler vil du bli avslørt som en Amerikaner, men de detaljene som jeg plukker opp i det minste har litt avstand mellom dem.
You have made amazing progress in Norwegian! Hopefully you continue to make more videos, there is not that much content out there of those who are learning Norwegian to such a high level like you. I’m studying Norwegian too and this gave me a lot of motivation!❤
Awesome! Great sounding accent! My partner passed the written part of Bergenstest within 3 months by taking as many "example" tests as possible. Good luck to everyone taking the Bergenstest!
Wow! Det var imponerende! Du snakker jo bedre Norsk enn mange som har bodd her halve livet ! Veldig bra ! Skulle ønske jeg hadde hukommelse nok til å lære et nytt språk, men jeg er for glemsk . Ikke noe jeg bare sier;) Ønsker deg masse lykke til videre! You got this and can succeed with probably most of what you attempt! 💪👍 Hope you feel welcomed in Norway! 🥰😘
Interesting video! Many thanks to the author of the channel for the recommendations! The problem with many people is that they want to take a "magic pill" or get "secret knowledge" and immediately have skills and abilities. However, the truth of life is that knowledge, skills, and abilities do not come by themselves. You can't learn a foreign language without doing anything, without wasting your time and effort, just like you can't learn to ride a bike lying on a comfy couch, listening to lectures and watching videos about "modern methods of learning" on a bike. To really learn something, you have to really practice every day. You're going to fall down while you're learning, and you're going to get bumps - that's normal! The ups and downs of learning are an integral part of our lives. Motivation from success and depression from failure will always be your study companions. However, every student has problems in his or her studies that he or she lacks the knowledge to solve. It can be: poor memorization of words; no progress in language learning; the student can speak, but does not understand speech by ear; misunderstanding of grammar; incorrect pronunciation, etc. Agree that a problem you don't know how to solve is very demotivating. In order to find the answer to our question we have to spend a lot of time to read videos, articles and books by polyglots. In today's world, we have to solve problems as quickly as possible. I don't have time to study and analyze a huge amount of information. My goal is to master the basic knowledge of a foreign language as quickly as possible and already start earning money effectively in the international arena. I settled on the practical guide by Yuriy Ivantsiv " Polyglot's Notes: practical tips for learning foreign language". This book is always in my bag. If I have a problem while learning a language, I quickly find the answer in this book. There are many different techniques and tips for learning a foreign language in Polyglot Notes. I have made my own individual schedule and plan for language learning. Now I know what I am going to study, how I am going to study, when I am going to study and what results I am going to achieve. No problem could stop me! With an effective language learning plan my professional skills are more and more in demand internationally every day. Friends, don't stop there! Everyone has talents that millions of people around the world need! Learn the language and make your ideas and dreams come true! Thanks to the author of the channel for the informative and useful video! Your videos motivate me.
Your Norwegian is almost flawless, and in 6 months and doing it on your own, that's amazing. I think I have used English for like 35 years and still can't speak fluently or write fluently, but it's understandable for most english people. After youtube came along my english writing skills improved and I no longer have problems with english software, I even tend to read the english manual if I don't understand it in Norwegian as sometimes some useful information get lost in translation. I follow some colouring classes online and the Australian english sometimes gets me allthough I spent a lot of time watching "Home and away" and "Paradise beach" and "Neighbours" back in the 80's and 90's there's words that are slightly different than American english, and we actually learned Oxford English in school. I'm really impressed with you learning the r, the æ,ø,å sounds and so on that good in such short amount of time. . In like three years no one would tell that your not a native Norwegian and I think people would be impressed by your english 😂. We have some British popstars living in Norway that can't speak Norwegian so you can understand even one word. This person is joking about it themself, but I think they would like to speak the language their friends use. (OMG that sentence was hard for me to write and I'm not sure I got the grammar correct.) 😮
Great video, as someone who moved to Norway in March, I’m around the same level as you, and learnt almost the exact same way, Norwegian TV/Radio/News. You just have to keep going and be patient! Congrats on the test, I should probably do that soon!
I love this! I started learning Norwegian about 3 weeks ago, after deciding I also needed to get out of the US! and learning I could get my masters degree in Norway for free. I lust after those people who can filter through the languages they know when they meet someone in a different country to come to a language they both speak well. I’m traveling to Sweden and Norway in May and hope to have a better grip on the language by then. THANK YOU!
I was almost losing motivation to continue learning norsk cause I feel like I dont have progress. And your vid appeared on suggestions. Amazing. I'll take it as a sign to continue. Tusen takk! 😊
As a Dane I’ve had the pleasure of meeting many of my Norwegian brothers/sisters abroad and of course in Norway/Denmark, and had I meet you I wouldn’t be abel to tell that you where American, too me you sound like a native Norwegian and with all the dialects within the Norwegian country you would have fooled me, well done!
I'm learning Norwegian and it's been extremely difficult for me, but I understand the Spanish thing growing up in the United States, we took Spanish for 8+ years but learned nothing because we learned the same curriculum every year. This gives me a lot of hope for learning Norwegian and I hope to be as good as you soon! Thanks (:
oh my god - your section about learning spanish in school is so relatable. i’m going through that right now and it’s agonizing how little everyone in my class retains. i’m really looking forward to taking honors spanish next year, i really hope it’s better lmao. in the mean time i’ll be learning norsk on my own :) this video was really inspiring for me though - i’ve been learning norsk on and off for years, but to see an american like myself speaking fluent norsk makes me want to really get my act together with this
Wow! I've been learning Norwegian through a mixture of the Babbel app and a podcast for nearly 2 years since the beginning of lockdown in the UK. I absolutely love it but I'm waaaaaaaaay behind where you are and frustrated that Babbel hasn't encouraged me to have conversations but just added vocab continuously. I found this truly inspiring and hope that one day I can reach your level.
Thanks for posting this. Definitely encouraging. I'm American, self-taught, and fluent in Norwegian (need to broaden that though), and from the very beginning I worked hard at perfecting my tonefall, so I'm mostly confident about that along with feedback friends and locals have given. Back when I began, I made like 4,000+ flashcards of my own, because there wasn't much to reach real Norwegian fluency by. It was all the beginner / first 1200 words. I've retained most of what I learned (guess it was seared into my focus at the time) and I still listen to podcasts and watch films, chat with friends, etc and visit Norway almost every year besides the pandemic mess. But I've always felt like passing the Bergenstest would be such a much longer stretch of higher learning that felt unattainable (along with the listening / spoken parts of the test for varied accents / regions, and in general the diversity and randomness of the test along with the cost). This makes me want to push and get it done. It would definitely help me gain seasonal work in Norway to have it on my credentials (and from there, possibly full-time work?), whereas previously applying for some work, employers really couldn't be sure, even though I presented myself in Norwegian and had the references and work experience. And I've already come this far... I'm signing up for the annual subscription to Memrise, and I have a really solid university-level Norwegian grammar book to polish up around the edges. I lived in Norway a year and a half previously but had to move back to the states after applying for a zillion graphic design jobs but kept getting turned down even for an interview (probably largely from not having the Bergenstest certification, not directly having a friend in the place I was applying to, and then not having a Norwegian name obviously). Again, thanks... the video makes it feel tangible. By the way, you have a very Norwegian demeanor about your expression / facial posture haha. Very convincing. I'm sure you constantly get other people like me who can relate, but it would be neat to connect!
Definitely sounds like you're on the right track! Do you have Norwegian parents, or how were you living in Norway? I'm jealous haha. Anyway, passing the Bergenstest would definitely help with job applications in Norway for sure. I'd also suggest checking out reddit.com/r/norsk - There are lots of good language learning resources there, and also lots of native Norwegians for you to maybe get in touch with; might help with the job search! Feel free to reach out on instagram (@alexberish) anytime, I'm usually better at replying there than on RUclips comments (Also love the bit about Norwegian demeanour - I will take that haha)
I'm learning Norwegian, such videos help me stay motivated. As well as numerous films about views, culture, construction and law that interest me. I speak Polish, Russian, intermediate English and I'm learning Norwegian. Wish me luck! haha I have one year of studies left, then postgraduate studies and I'm going to Norway, I still have time, but it's still hard to understand when they talk fast!
I’ve been learning Norwegian for a few years now. I can listen, read and write norsk really well, but my speaking is VELDIG dårlig. Your speaking on the other hand is fantastisk! I can only hope to achieve something even close to your level! Keep it up!
I'm norwegian and feel exactly the same with my english. I understand english perfect and write english quite well too. But i struggle when i try to speak. Btw, so fun that people actually want to learn norwegian. Worldwide it can't be more than 10 million people that understand our language. But in total i guess there are more people studying Chinese, French and Russian.
I want to move to Norway and have been practicing the language a couple of weeks now on my app. Been doing flash cards as well. This video really motivates me. I really wanna just be fluent in it. The process of moving as I keep learning is so discouraging. Especially the job part as I have many skills but they just don’t seem to work up there. But I’ve wanted to move there for a couple of years now and I am not giving up. I hope to visit at the end of this year if things workout!
At times your pronunciation is pretty much flawless. For example, at 1:53, when you say "eller 'rød' på spansk," you sound perfectly Norwegian. Correct intonation and everything. Well done!
@@AlexBerishhaha you're well on your way though. The tonality of Norwegian (the sing-song-y-ness) is probably the most difficult part to get right, so it's kind of impressive that you're already doing this well.
I can hear you have an accent, but I understand everything you're saying. You're pronouncing a lot of words perfectly, it's honestly kind of amazing how well you speak after only 6 months. You now know how to speak like those in the capitol, but if you explore Norways regions, you'll see that everyone speaks really different, more than in most countries. Great video, man, keep it going. (Comment left at 3:26 into the video, don't know if he adresses what I said later in the video.)
Recently relocated from the states to live in Norway and have begun taking classes, etc. This video is really refreshing to see because I keep true to the American stereotype and language is a hurdle for me. It's nice to see others are able to move past that disconnect American education causes and are able to learn languages! Gives me hope I'll one day be fluent!
du klarer det haha, most important thing / best tip i ever got imo is just to pretend you are an actor, be so over the top with the accent when you are practicing that it almost seems like you are making fun of Norwegians... then when you aren't practicing you'll naturally fall back to a less exaggerated accent that should in theory be pretty good haha. check out reddit.com/r/norsk as well, good community and also there is a good channel on youtube called "ett lite bildeglimt" that is soooooo good, she uploads very regularly
As a Norwegian who has Norwegian as their 1st language, and being a fluent speaker, you almost sound native. Some words/tones are off, but overall it’s really good! Impressive! You and Norwegian with ilys are the only two I’ve seen that has suck a clear speech even though a few tones are off with certain words, for not being Norwegian or a native speaker, you’re really good! Well done😄😊😉
It's amazing how you can speak Norwegian so smoothly like It's your native language. I related to your story about "learning" a language at school over and over and yet not making any progress (in my case it was English bc I'm Brazilian), then I took a course and actually learned it. Some time later, I also tried to learn French, which I did, but only the basics and now I'm interested and studying Norwegian :)
Så imponerende. My take on it is: how deep down you immerse yourself the faster and better you learn. Read, talk, watch and play in the language you want to learn. For myself I love Japanese language but due to burnout condition my working memory is almost gone. The reason the Europeans all learn english is partly a political desire to stop the 1000 year long war cycle.
Thank you for making this video. I have been on and off learning Norsk and its awesome that you are making videos on your progress/process. I look forward to more videos in the future! Thanks again Alex!
Also, I find it weird that you guys' final exam in a secondary language is to translate simple sentences. In Norway, and probably other European countries, the final exams in both middle high and high school, in both secondary and tertiary languages, are to write some sort of short story. I still feel you though, I didn't really _learn_ Spanish until I had lived in Spain a year.
Yeah, I was very disappointed with the quality of education I got in the US, and that disappointment has only been exacerbated over time as I've learned how other countries handle language education! It is worth nothing though that plenty of people get better education than I got in America; I just happened to be born in an area of the states with a pretty poor curriculum.
Wow, du er super flink til å snakke Norsk. 6 måneder og de fleste setningene har veldig bra intonasjon og høres veldig naturlig ut. Også morsomt at du har Amerikansk bergensk tonefall . Bra jobba.
9:15 There's no way in hell that you'll fail that spoken test, you're amazing, fluent and everything. Your tonality is on point, your pronunciation is perfect. There's so few details left that I'm sure that you can have conversations where people will actually think that you're a native. You're on par with someone who grew up here, perhaps to a immigrant family or something like that, like me. Just a tiny bit unsure about some details. Your vocabular will improve with time. And there was one word order error that I picked up. I don't know. I'm not good with languages, I'm just not conscious about the details. So it's hard for me to put my finger on the few things that feels just a tiny bit off (they're few and far between, you're doing extremely well)
I hadn't liked german lessons at school so I decided to learn a different language that can be good to use in the future. So I decided to learn norwegian and I discovered how cool this language is. Now my biggest dream is to move out to this country, I haven't learnt norwegian very well and I know that there is still a long way before I learn this, but the one of the most important thing I know is to follow your dreams.
I'm Italian and studied norwegian for one year here, then 2 years later I moved to Norway (Oslo) for a 6 months exchange program with the local university. It was a fantastic chance to put in pratcice what I had been studying, my norwegian when I arrived there was already at a very good level, I could basically read just anything (I had to study law books in the local language) and also my speaking and writing were very good, but I still struggled to understand when people were talking. Many norwegians use dialects, or simply talk so fast and "eat" their words so much that in many occasions I had to ask to switch to english. It was so frustrating, because I couldn't understand the reason for that discrerpancy between my written and spoken norwegian and my ability to understand when others were speaking. Then, when I was finally starting to pick it up, it was time to turn back home. This was in 1999. At the moment being, I translate scandinavian languages into italian for a living, but I never had another chance to practice my spoken norwegian other than during short trips to the country or with the few norwegians I meet here and there in Italy or while travelling, and of course my ability to understand has only gotten worse. Such a shame.
Very interesting story! I am going through something quite similar. This video was filmed while I was in Georgia (the country) and I ended up getting sponsored to work in the UK, so naturally seized the opportunity as my number one priority is getting a second passport as soon as possible. Unfortunately this means my dream of moving to Norway is - at least temporarily - on hold. I have taken a couple trips to Norway and Sweden over the last year or so though. At least it is quite close. But I'm definitely not able to speak Norwegian as much as I used to. Ma ultimamente sto imparando l'italiano haha
I am learning Swedish and Norwegian after a long hiatus. In my 20’s I wanted to learn a language but it was hard with school. However, I got my degree and tried a bunch of different courses, I have grown tiresome of the fast pace of college and would like too be conversational in at least 2-3 languages by 35 or by the time or I hit my 40’s.
@Ólaf Sigurðsson I found that pretty quick. I am just sticking to Swedish for now. It was getting too confusing with both. And Russian but I have been learning Russian off and on since 18 years old and the languages are different enough.
Your Norwegian is really good! I hope to get to that point some day in the near future. I have run into the same problem of not having anyone to speak it with, therefore I’ve taken a little break from it…probably not the best idea. Great video though!!!
Thanks man! Speaking with other people is nice but you can still make good progress without it! If you check out reddit.com/r/norsk there are some Discord groups that do audio conversation practice as well, and there is always iTalki!
Hablo Español and it's a bummer all that teaching system around Spanish. At the end, it's all about what you like and if a language resonates with you. Language is a social, cultural, and social "skill". Spanish is my native language but I've felt lured to Norwegian for the last 3 years or so. Its music, visual art, series, and movies were key ingredients that led me to that. Espero retomes el español and keep getting better with your Norwegian.
I totally agree with this! It's a shame that school made me resent it a bit because Spanish is a beautiful language and I'd love to learn it some day (I probably will) Lykke til med norsk!
After doing LearnNow the 'Jeg heter Alex' makes me laugh ahahahah! Great video! Thanks for all the info like the Memrise course and the book etc. really helpful!
It might be because I’ve lived almost half my life outside Norway, but I would have thought you were a native Norwegian. Your accent is probably better than mine :) I’m originally from the far north so it’s a different dialect, but I’ve lived in the southeast and the west as well, which naturally resulted in a good mix. Last time I lived in Norway people thought I was Swedish :) But really, your Norwegian is very convincing and give it a year or two and I bet no one can spot the difference. I’m impressed.
Hello Alex, I am an American who would like to live and work in Norway. I have Finance and History degrees and I'm looking forward to your insights about careers for me in that dynamic and exciting country.
I wonder if Australians can study in Norway for free too? Im aussie with norwegian heritage my norwegian is pretty average these days but would love to go to study and live in my forefather's country
Yep! I misspoke a bit in the video, well, I just wasn't clear: ANYONE can study for free in Norway, it's basically enshrined in law more or less ("gratisprinsippet") / the "free" principle. So whether you are Australian, American, etc, doesn't matter. You can see your requirements to study an undergraduate/bachelor's degree as an Australian citizen here: www.samordnaopptak.no/info/utenlandsk_utdanning/ Samordna Opptak is the coordinated university admission system in Norway, so that site has all the info you'll need! You should definitely go for it imo, good luck! :)
I am a bit late to this vid. I am learning Norwegian because being Mono-Lingual is lame 😐. Here in Australia, we are isolated from many countries, to put it into perspective our closest Neighbouring countries are Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, and New Zealand. Indonesia and Papua New-Guinea are too far from our population centers and are over a large body of water, so they are too far away to make learning their languages practical. New Zealand speaks English as well. This has lead to a vast mono-lingual culture in Australia, to be honest we don't even speak English that well, I hear my Filipino Friend speak better english than people born here. Learning a new language, however far away it's native country may be, is a good thing still, that's why I started Norwegian recently. I hope one day to visit Norway, and use what I learning. For Native English speakers wanting to learn a new language, I highly suggest Norwegian as its relatively simple, and it gives you a new opportunity to break out of the mono-lingual prison.
wow, når jeg klikket på videoen, trodde jeg det var en norsk mann som snakket! Du er kjempe flink. Jeg lærer meg tysk nå, og de tipsene dine hjelper veldig!
3:57 Don't worry, you're doing great. :-) You have a bit of an accent, so it's clear that you're not native, at least in longer conversations, but it's also perfectly clear what you're saying. There's only a few minor errors every now and then, and nothing major. (I noticed one word order issue). I'm honestly impressed. :-) Your pronunciation is actually perfect.
0:44 I'm technically a second generation immigrant (lived here all my life), so I might be wrong. But I believe that the Norwegian word for "hostel" is "vandrerhjem". Other words that can also be used is "vertshus" (mainly smaller hostels kind of things, it technically means a guesthouse, so think a small tavern with a few available rooms, bed and breakfast type of deals) and "herberge" "Herberge" sounds to me like the Icelandic word for a "room", although I could be far off here... So "vandrerhjem" would be more of the cheap, multiple people in a room type thing, it means "wanderer home" or "home for wanderers"
Hostel is directly translated to hospits. Vandrerhjem usually carries a demand for membership or are much more economically favorable to members. Herberge consists of "army" and "rescue", and has an origin in middle age German, but still in use today - typically for old fashion accommodation.
@@RUclips_Stole_My_Handle_Too I'm not so sure about herberge. But who knows, maybe you are right. All I know is that the word sounds like the word used for room (regular bedroom in a regular house) in icelandic. Rooms that has nothing to do with armies or travelers. Icelandic is *not* identical with old Norse. But it's probably the most conservative of the Nordic languages. That said, I'm not a linguist, and words can sound similar without having the same origin.
@@Luredreier Først et lite tips - du burde kanskje endre navnet ditt til Lurendreier hvis riktig språk er viktig for deg? Med mindre du har valgt å utelate -n- av en spesiell grunn, selvfølgelig. Ellers kan man bruke både hospits, vandrerhjem og ungdomsherberge. Hostel er også i ferd med å bli mer vanlig brukt i Norge.
@@ahkkariq7406 Jeg bruker det kallenavnet pga at jeg var et barn når jeg laget det og det er hva folk kjenner meg som, om jeg endrer det mister jeg fort kontakten med mange fra skolene jeg gikk på...
@@ahkkariq7406 Har aldri hørt det brukt på Norsk selv. "Hostel" er engelsk og brukt som et utelukkende engelsk ord rundt meg i det miste. Jeg bryr meg ikke spesielt mye om ord er uttalt eler stavet rett. Men jeg er lite begeistret for bruken av Engelske ord når vi har Norske alternativer. Min misssnøye med Engelske låneord har kanskje litt å gjøre med min bakgrunn fra Island og Færøyene. Island hadde flere Amerikanske soldater stasjonert der enn det fantes voksne Islandske menn på det meste. Og det å ta vare på språket ble en viktig del av Islandsk identitet, med bruk av Islandske nyord istedenfor låneord ble en svært viktig del av dette. Språk er egentlig det ypperste eksempel på direkte demokrati i bruk som vi har. Men selv om jeg ikke har noe i mot endringer i språket av alle slag som følge av våre egne valg (omtrent som forskjellige partier i Norge alle er akseptable) så er utenlandske ord litt anderledes online øyne. De blir litt som når et annet land som Storbritannia eller USA kommer inn med formeninger om vår politikk her i Norden. Det fungerer simpelthen ikke helt. Og jeg argumenterer derfor for at vi bør ta andre valg enn de engelske ordene. På samme måte som jeg argumenterer for mitt foretrukne politiske parti.
8:39 I totally get that. I'm technically a Icelandic citizen and have family there, but grew up in Norway. Listening to or trying to talk in Icelandic as a non native is *exhausting*. Same with Faeroese. I'm just not used to either language even if I can sort of understand them and say a few broken sentences in Icelandic (non in Faeroese).
Du har en helt fantastisk uttale! Er helt sjokkert, du kommer til å få perfekt uttale innen noen få år her men den er allerede ekstremt god wow! ☺️ jeg forsto alt du sa uten noe problem!
Imponerende! Du snakker jo nesten bedre norsk enn meg som har norsk som morsmål! Jeg kjenner et par amerikanere som har lært seg norsk, men de har vesentlig mer engelsk uttale på norske ord hos dem i forhold til deg. Jeg hører ikke umiddelbart at du er en amerikaner når du snakker norsk, noe jeg normalt sett gjør med amerikanere. Veldig godt jobba!
I'm thinking of learning Norwegian but it's quite limited in resources. Anyway, do you have an accent? Not a native but you don't sound native, unless I'm wrong and I'm sorry if I am. You do speak clearly, enough for me to catch random words from the ones I've heard a lot.
Motivated me to finally start, I already know quite some words since my girlfriend is Norwegian so during vacations I pick up a lot but this definitely set me on track to follow a course
Hi, I have a mystery that I hope you might be able to help me with: I have a set of Learn Norwegian cassette tapes from almost 50 years ago where "jeg" is pronounced "yay". Can you guess why that would be? Has there been a sound shift, or is there one of the Norwegian dialects that pronounces it that way? I'm reluctant now to use the tapes as there might be other oddities that I might not recognize...Thanks, if you've got the time!
Hmm, I am not sure! It might be worth asking the native Norwegians on reddit.com/r/norsk to see if anyone there has an idea, especially if you can publish an audio recording of the pronunciation there.
Well I'm almost 50 so I suppose I can answer this, I can't think of any reasons why "Jeg" would be pronounced yay .... it does reminds me about how some none-native from (not to sound racist here tough) from countries like Pakistan or similar... maybe some african too .. seems to pronounce jeg with Jai .. (jai is similar pronounced as yay) ... just a tought tough. But as far as I remember bookmål it would be Jeg ... and eg on dialect ... or up here in the north we often use just Æ ...
I can't remember which region the dialect was from, but I'm certain I've heard at least a handful of folks pronounce jeg as 'yay'. The Norwegian of 50 years ago wasn't radically different from today's. The only difference I guess would be young peoples' slang.
Awesome level! Can you share specifically what sources did you used please? It's hard to find good sources besides 2 apps that actually have norsk in them.. I can't find any books here in 🇫🇷.
It's crazy how similar your story is to mine in a way but mine was with German. I'm in Germany now but was in Oslo in 2019 and decided to begin learning Norwegian. I'd also like to move and work there in the near future so starting research now. Thanks for sharing. Would really love to hear more about your testing experience and experience overall. Bor du nå i Norge?
That's funny, I looked at possibly studying in France and Germany too, but the process for Norway seemed a bit more straightforward haha. I'm not living in Norway yet unfortunately. Could have been this year but then due to corona I've had to put it off. Hopefully next year! Feel free to get in touch if you have any specific questions!
Glad to hear it! VPNs used to work on tv.nrk.no, but unfortunately that is no longer the case, at least I haven't had any luck with it anyway. There are still a few shows on their site that you are allowed to access from outside of Norway though. Unfortunately it isn't possible to sort by category, but NRK keeps a complete list of shows available outside of Norway here: tv.nrk.no/programmer/utland/ Side om side is a good example. It's quite good for "everyday language". It's basically a sitcom about neighbours. Sometimes kind of funny, but most importantly: lots and lots of episodes. "Debatten" is another good option, if you think you'll enjoy Norwegian politics. The RUclips channel "Bildeglimt" is very good for more active, practice-focused comprehensible input. The above are all good options for learning, and should be available. If you can manage to get your hands on them "Exit" and "Hvite gutter" are some of my all time favourites. SKAM is good too, as it's quite simple and not too fast-paced, lots of on-screen text (text messages) etc. I used to read the news on nrk.no and tv2.no everyday too, and you should check out reddit.com/r/norsk for some more options
hey! I'm an american and I'm about to start school in norway! however, i'm doing a masters degree, and the majority of those are taught in english, there is no norsk requirement. are you planning on doing a bachelors? there are a few bachelors taught in english but not as many as a masters, I would hate for you to delay your studies if the degree you want is actually offered in english and you could come asap!
Haha yeah sadly I’m an old man doing a bachelor’s (dataingeniør) probably most of the textbooks will be in English anyway but unfortunately in order to get a study placement I had to pass the Norwegian language requirement. Congrats on getting into Norway! Can’t wait to be there myself 😂
@@AlexBerish gosh I can’t imagine taking a degree in norsk- that is so awesome and I wish you the best of luck! No doubt that you will past the final test and be apply to apply for the program, your norsk is great :) and yes hope to see you there haha we can both have escaped the US 😂
Jeg er Skotte og boede 2 aar I Norge . Efter 1 aar I Danmark ! Sa jeg laerte desvaerre en blanding af Norsk og Dansk . But , you are good . ! Accent is excellent . And that is the most difficult thing to get right !!
Alex : if you can understand the Scottish accent then I would be really impressed. ! Actually you obviously have the " ear " which some people have for learning languages . Of course you have to work at it too but it undeniably exists . Have you tried actually speaking Danish yet ? You will have no problem reading it but the accent IS a challenge !
Here's some of my favourite things I did to help me learn Norwegian, I'll edit this over time as I write out some of the longer ones:
1. Watch Norwegian TV shows and movies WITH Norwegian subtitles. Pause every time there is a word you don’t know, and use Google translate on the word or the word plus a few surrounding words to make sure it gets the context, then resume the show. This makes watching TV and movies boring, but at least it becomes *actually* productive instead of just feeling productive (like watching with English subtitles)
2. Talk to yourself in Norwegian, plan your day out loud in Norwegian, etc, and when you don’t know a word, pause to look it up and then add it to your brain.
3. Get the TuneIn app and listen to NRK P3, or just NRK, or, well, any radio station in Norway. If you haven't figured out the theme yet, here it is: Pause and look up a word whenever someone says something you know how to spell but aren't sure of the meaning. You can also just try repeating the word into speech-to-text on Google Translate.
4. I had a bit of Norwegian knowledge before my pre-test 6-month push, but honestly 99% of my grammar work came from this book (not a referral link!)
www.amazon.com/Norwegian-Verbs-Essentials-Grammar-Louis/dp/084428596X
5. This is the Memrise course I used when I first started learning Norwegian. I prefer it over the official courses because every day you use this course, you hear a new part of a story about a family moving to Norway. The vocabulary and sentences you hear are therefore extremely practical, and a bit more rewarding than learning how to say “the spider ate the cheese”.
app.memrise.com/course/189711/a1-beginner-norwegian-with-audio/
To get the course to show up on your phone, you might have to first sign in to Memrise on a computer, and then open the link above and add the course that way. It should show up on your phone after that.
Thank you so much, I have been looking for that memrise course for ages~!
Glad to have helped you find it, I love it! :)
This is great advice!! Moving to Oslo this Jan and will have about 6 months to just learn Norwegian! After 7 years in big law I can't wait hehe 🤩
I'm shocked at how good your Norwegian is, and I'm not even exaggerating. I can hear a very subtle hint of an accent in your pitch every now and then, but if I wasn't aware that you weren't born here, I'd probably assume that you had slight regional accent, or something. Also, I imagine it must be a bit frustrating to learn the "neutral" Eastern Norwegian accent if you're surrounded by people from Bergen 😅
But yeah... 2 weeks? Sounds like you've been living here for several years, purely judging by how well you speak the language. Keep it up :)
That's exactly how I learned English, I agree
I mean, as a native Norwegian speaker I can hear that you're not native, but you speak almost perfect Norwegian. You probably have a better Norwegian accent than I have an English or Spanish accent :) It's just a few weird Norwegian pronunciations you don't have 100% right and the "pitch-accent" (or whatever "tonem" is in English) is a little bit off some places. I bet I'd be able to have really complicated conversations with you though. I'm impressed that you've managed this in 6 months!
Thank you! Yeah, I can usually follow along with conversations about pretty complicated topics, but of course it's still way easier for me to express my own nuanced thoughts and opinions in English. So one of the bad habits I'm trying to break is where my Norwegian friends speak to me in Norwegian and I reply in English hahaha.
@@AlexBerish Try to find synonyms for what you're trying to say in Norwegian (or whatever other language you're trying to speak), that'll often help with language learning, and it'll help you deal with the various dialects if you ever decide to try to learn those.
Alex's video here inspired me. No norwegian experience. American, know 3 years of decent conversational German. I've been toying with the idea but I find it oddly enjoyable to speak Norsk. Like I feel happy speaking it, which sounds batshit insane but yeah.
@@Usertrappedindatabase Doesn't sound crazy at all, yo should go for it!
@@Usertrappedindatabase Same situation with me, I'm your twin Canadian counterpart 😅
I'm a norwegian, and your pronounciation and "tone of the sentence" is almost flawless. Like 95% of everything you say sounds 100% native. Really really impressive
You made me wipe my screen!
As a Norwegian (born & raised) I would say that I have NEVER heard an American speak better Norwegian! That is absolutely impressive, especially the tone and pronunciation of å ø å, which are letters you don’t even have! I’d say you should start studying MORE languages, because this is definitely something you’re born to do! Bravo!
thank you so much! i have been thinking about trying to learn some other languages... just have to be careful not to undo my norwegian progress haha
@@AlexBerish I think as long as you choose a very different language (maybe not Swedish or Danish 😉😉) you’ll be fine! Try Italian 🇮🇹 It’s one of the most beautiful languages, and hands down the most beautiful country in the world! I took Italian when going to school in Oslo.
funny you suggest italian, my family is coming to visit me out here in europe for a couple weeks and they want to do a trip to italy.... maybe i'll make some italian vids hahaha, great suggestion!
I've been learning Norwegian for couple weeks and this video motivates me a lot man, thanks! (btw it will be my 6th language :d)
Glad to hear it was motivating! 6 languages is a lot hahaha, I am jealous!
Wow, what languages do you know?
Lykke til
Norwegian wil be my 6th language also! After uyghur turkish chinese english dutch .
@@anyarasan8529 you planning to move to Norway, most wouldn’t learn the language unless they want to live there as you can only speak Norwegian in Norway?
It’s better if you learn a more spoken language like French where u can speak it in many countries.
As a native Norwegian I get the impression that you have truly got the language under your skin. You're not just thinking in English and translating. Congrats👍🙂
I've been living here 4 years now and unfortunately haven't integrated myself much due to freelance work and friends speaking English. So to hear you better than me at 6 months of learning is a real kick for me to finally push myself more so I can be less anxious here. I have a lot of reasons now to need to get better (I live in Bergen). Very impressive!
It's difficult when you can get all of your social needs for the day through English speakers. I experienced a similar problem after I recorded this video while I was living in Tbilisi, Georgia, where everyone speaks Georgian and Russian. I didn't get much farther than "hello" and "goodbye" and "thank you" - check out reddit.com/r/norsk if you aren't already subscribed there I highly recommend it as a resource and to connect with other learners!
@@AlexBerish Thanks for your reply Alex! Yeah, I like to talk about since it shows that even living in the native country you can easily end up learning slow if you don't push yourself and integrate. My situation is quite unique but still, I want to make it work here so I'm trying harder now. I do use the reddit page but probably not enough, thanks!
Cudos on your norwegian! You sound like you’ve been living here for at least 10 years!
thank you! hopefully someday I can say that I have been living in norway for 10 years haha
Even better. My wife been living in Norway for over 10 years and your accent sounds much more Norwegian than hers. Cudos!
@@Storyraymond Agreed.
He's doing way better then someone who has lived here for 10 years.
My guess would be about 20 to be honest, perhaps a tiny bit less then that, 18?
Certainly many, many years.
I am norwegian, and to me your accent sounds almost like a swede who is almost fluent in norwegian. Keep up the good work!
this is fantastic . Thank you! I need to learn Norwegian , because my granddaughter is little and learning it. She lives there now with her parents. I do not want to miss out.
You can do it! :)
Alex, that is so impressive!!!! I feel so embarrased about my poor efforts in studying Norsk. Tuuusen takk for motivating !!!
Wow, veldig god uttale! 😀 Jeg er imponert - i flere av setningene høres det ut som du er fra Norge!
Tusen takk! Det hadde ikke vært mulig uten videoene dine! :)
@@AlexBerish Jeg tror nok at du kunne klart å lure enkelte til å tro at du var Norsk om du begrenset deg til korte samtaler.
I lengere samtaler vil du bli avslørt som en Amerikaner, men de detaljene som jeg plukker opp i det minste har litt avstand mellom dem.
Jeg også lærer norsk noen ganger fra deg og noen ganger fro noen.
Ja faktisk
You have made amazing progress in Norwegian! Hopefully you continue to make more videos, there is not that much content out there of those who are learning Norwegian to such a high level like you. I’m studying Norwegian too and this gave me a lot of motivation!❤
*Giving you some more motivation a month later* -- it's hard to maintain it.
Awesome! Great sounding accent! My partner passed the written part of Bergenstest within 3 months by taking as many "example" tests as possible. Good luck to everyone taking the Bergenstest!
Wow! Det var imponerende! Du snakker jo bedre Norsk enn mange som har bodd her halve livet ! Veldig bra ! Skulle ønske jeg hadde hukommelse nok til å lære et nytt språk, men jeg er for glemsk . Ikke noe jeg bare sier;)
Ønsker deg masse lykke til videre! You got this and can succeed with probably most of what you attempt! 💪👍
Hope you feel welcomed in Norway! 🥰😘
tusen takk :)
This is so inspiring to see what you've accomplished in just 6 months!
Wow you spoke really well and your uttale was also quite nice! As a learner myself this was quite inspiring.
Interesting video! Many thanks to the author of the channel for the recommendations! The problem with many people is that they want to take a "magic pill" or get "secret knowledge" and immediately have skills and abilities. However, the truth of life is that knowledge, skills, and abilities do not come by themselves. You can't learn a foreign language without doing anything, without wasting your time and effort, just like you can't learn to ride a bike lying on a comfy couch, listening to lectures and watching videos about "modern methods of learning" on a bike. To really learn something, you have to really practice every day. You're going to fall down while you're learning, and you're going to get bumps - that's normal! The ups and downs of learning are an integral part of our lives. Motivation from success and depression from failure will always be your study companions. However, every student has problems in his or her studies that he or she lacks the knowledge to solve. It can be: poor memorization of words; no progress in language learning; the student can speak, but does not understand speech by ear; misunderstanding of grammar; incorrect pronunciation, etc. Agree that a problem you don't know how to solve is very demotivating. In order to find the answer to our question we have to spend a lot of time to read videos, articles and books by polyglots. In today's world, we have to solve problems as quickly as possible. I don't have time to study and analyze a huge amount of information. My goal is to master the basic knowledge of a foreign language as quickly as possible and already start earning money effectively in the international arena. I settled on the practical guide by Yuriy Ivantsiv " Polyglot's Notes: practical tips for learning foreign language". This book is always in my bag. If I have a problem while learning a language, I quickly find the answer in this book. There are many different techniques and tips for learning a foreign language in Polyglot Notes. I have made my own individual schedule and plan for language learning. Now I know what I am going to study, how I am going to study, when I am going to study and what results I am going to achieve. No problem could stop me! With an effective language learning plan my professional skills are more and more in demand internationally every day. Friends, don't stop there! Everyone has talents that millions of people around the world need! Learn the language and make your ideas and dreams come true! Thanks to the author of the channel for the informative and useful video! Your videos motivate me.
Your Norwegian is almost flawless, and in 6 months and doing it on your own, that's amazing. I think I have used English for like 35 years and still can't speak fluently or write fluently, but it's understandable for most english people. After youtube came along my english writing skills improved and I no longer have problems with english software, I even tend to read the english manual if I don't understand it in Norwegian as sometimes some useful information get lost in translation.
I follow some colouring classes online and the Australian english sometimes gets me allthough I spent a lot of time watching "Home and away" and "Paradise beach" and "Neighbours" back in the 80's and 90's there's words that are slightly different than American english, and we actually learned Oxford English in school.
I'm really impressed with you learning the r, the æ,ø,å sounds and so on that good in such short amount of time. . In like three years no one would tell that your not a native Norwegian and I think people would be impressed by your english 😂. We have some British popstars living in Norway that can't speak Norwegian so you can understand even one word. This person is joking about it themself, but I think they would like to speak the language their friends use. (OMG that sentence was hard for me to write and I'm not sure I got the grammar correct.) 😮
Great video, as someone who moved to Norway in March, I’m around the same level as you, and learnt almost the exact same way, Norwegian TV/Radio/News. You just have to keep going and be patient! Congrats on the test, I should probably do that soon!
Learning this level of norwegian in 6 months is totally insane man, good job (native norwegian)
This is very inspiring, thank you for making the video and congratulations!
I love this! I started learning Norwegian about 3 weeks ago, after deciding I also needed to get out of the US! and learning I could get my masters degree in Norway for free. I lust after those people who can filter through the languages they know when they meet someone in a different country to come to a language they both speak well. I’m traveling to Sweden and Norway in May and hope to have a better grip on the language by then. THANK YOU!
I always love hearing about someone else wanting to escape America haha. Good luck, and have fun! :)
I was almost losing motivation to continue learning norsk cause I feel like I dont have progress. And your vid appeared on suggestions. Amazing. I'll take it as a sign to continue. Tusen takk! 😊
You can do it! 💪
As a Dane I’ve had the pleasure of meeting many of my Norwegian brothers/sisters abroad and of course in Norway/Denmark, and had I meet you I wouldn’t be abel to tell that you where American, too me you sound like a native Norwegian and with all the dialects within the Norwegian country you would have fooled me, well done!
I'm learning Norwegian and it's been extremely difficult for me, but I understand the Spanish thing growing up in the United States, we took Spanish for 8+ years but learned nothing because we learned the same curriculum every year. This gives me a lot of hope for learning Norwegian and I hope to be as good as you soon! Thanks (:
Du klarer det ;) lykke til!
oh my god - your section about learning spanish in school is so relatable. i’m going through that right now and it’s agonizing how little everyone in my class retains. i’m really looking forward to taking honors spanish next year, i really hope it’s better lmao. in the mean time i’ll be learning norsk on my own :)
this video was really inspiring for me though - i’ve been learning norsk on and off for years, but to see an american like myself speaking fluent norsk makes me want to really get my act together with this
du klarer det ;)
Loved this video, it'd be great if you kept sharing. Like maybe vlogs or some other content.
Wow! I've been learning Norwegian through a mixture of the Babbel app and a podcast for nearly 2 years since the beginning of lockdown in the UK. I absolutely love it but I'm waaaaaaaaay behind where you are and frustrated that Babbel hasn't encouraged me to have conversations but just added vocab continuously. I found this truly inspiring and hope that one day I can reach your level.
Thanks for posting this. Definitely encouraging. I'm American, self-taught, and fluent in Norwegian (need to broaden that though), and from the very beginning I worked hard at perfecting my tonefall, so I'm mostly confident about that along with feedback friends and locals have given. Back when I began, I made like 4,000+ flashcards of my own, because there wasn't much to reach real Norwegian fluency by. It was all the beginner / first 1200 words. I've retained most of what I learned (guess it was seared into my focus at the time) and I still listen to podcasts and watch films, chat with friends, etc and visit Norway almost every year besides the pandemic mess.
But I've always felt like passing the Bergenstest would be such a much longer stretch of higher learning that felt unattainable (along with the listening / spoken parts of the test for varied accents / regions, and in general the diversity and randomness of the test along with the cost). This makes me want to push and get it done. It would definitely help me gain seasonal work in Norway to have it on my credentials (and from there, possibly full-time work?), whereas previously applying for some work, employers really couldn't be sure, even though I presented myself in Norwegian and had the references and work experience. And I've already come this far...
I'm signing up for the annual subscription to Memrise, and I have a really solid university-level Norwegian grammar book to polish up around the edges. I lived in Norway a year and a half previously but had to move back to the states after applying for a zillion graphic design jobs but kept getting turned down even for an interview (probably largely from not having the Bergenstest certification, not directly having a friend in the place I was applying to, and then not having a Norwegian name obviously). Again, thanks... the video makes it feel tangible. By the way, you have a very Norwegian demeanor about your expression / facial posture haha. Very convincing. I'm sure you constantly get other people like me who can relate, but it would be neat to connect!
Definitely sounds like you're on the right track! Do you have Norwegian parents, or how were you living in Norway? I'm jealous haha. Anyway, passing the Bergenstest would definitely help with job applications in Norway for sure. I'd also suggest checking out reddit.com/r/norsk - There are lots of good language learning resources there, and also lots of native Norwegians for you to maybe get in touch with; might help with the job search! Feel free to reach out on instagram (@alexberish) anytime, I'm usually better at replying there than on RUclips comments (Also love the bit about Norwegian demeanour - I will take that haha)
I'm learning Norwegian, such videos help me stay motivated. As well as numerous films about views, culture, construction and law that interest me. I speak Polish, Russian, intermediate English and I'm learning Norwegian. Wish me luck! haha I have one year of studies left, then postgraduate studies and I'm going to Norway, I still have time, but it's still hard to understand when they talk fast!
I’ve been learning Norwegian for a few years now. I can listen, read and write norsk really well, but my speaking is VELDIG dårlig. Your speaking on the other hand is fantastisk! I can only hope to achieve something even close to your level! Keep it up!
I'm norwegian and feel exactly the same with my english. I understand english perfect and write english quite well too. But i struggle when i try to speak.
Btw, so fun that people actually want to learn norwegian. Worldwide it can't be more than 10 million people that understand our language. But in total i guess there are more people studying Chinese, French and Russian.
@@_Viking can I ask how to learn Norwegian perhaps!!?? 😀
@@_Viking That’s probably why like me want to learn Norwegian. Its unique and not many people speak it.
I want to move to Norway and have been practicing the language a couple of weeks now on my app. Been doing flash cards as well. This video really motivates me. I really wanna just be fluent in it. The process of moving as I keep learning is so discouraging. Especially the job part as I have many skills but they just don’t seem to work up there. But I’ve wanted to move there for a couple of years now and I am not giving up. I hope to visit at the end of this year if things workout!
At times your pronunciation is pretty much flawless. For example, at 1:53, when you say "eller 'rød' på spansk," you sound perfectly Norwegian. Correct intonation and everything. Well done!
Thank you! Hopefully one day I'll get constant perfection hahaha
@@AlexBerishhaha you're well on your way though. The tonality of Norwegian (the sing-song-y-ness) is probably the most difficult part to get right, so it's kind of impressive that you're already doing this well.
You speak my language very well! Props to you! You almost sound legit Norwegian!
I can hear you have an accent, but I understand everything you're saying. You're pronouncing a lot of words perfectly, it's honestly kind of amazing how well you speak after only 6 months. You now know how to speak like those in the capitol, but if you explore Norways regions, you'll see that everyone speaks really different, more than in most countries.
Great video, man, keep it going.
(Comment left at 3:26 into the video, don't know if he adresses what I said later in the video.)
Forgot to add that I work with a lot of foreigners who has lived here for years and you speak better than most of them.
Wow, dette er utrolig! Superimponert
Tusen takk!
Recently relocated from the states to live in Norway and have begun taking classes, etc. This video is really refreshing to see because I keep true to the American stereotype and language is a hurdle for me. It's nice to see others are able to move past that disconnect American education causes and are able to learn languages! Gives me hope I'll one day be fluent!
du klarer det haha, most important thing / best tip i ever got imo is just to pretend you are an actor, be so over the top with the accent when you are practicing that it almost seems like you are making fun of Norwegians... then when you aren't practicing you'll naturally fall back to a less exaggerated accent that should in theory be pretty good haha. check out reddit.com/r/norsk as well, good community and also there is a good channel on youtube called "ett lite bildeglimt" that is soooooo good, she uploads very regularly
As a Norwegian who has Norwegian as their 1st language, and being a fluent speaker, you almost sound native. Some words/tones are off, but overall it’s really good! Impressive! You and Norwegian with ilys are the only two I’ve seen that has suck a clear speech even though a few tones are off with certain words, for not being Norwegian or a native speaker, you’re really good! Well done😄😊😉
hahaha thanks so much for this! have just had a look at her content and yeah she’s definitely great, def better than mine haha
Sounds very impressive! I hope you managed to get into a Norwegian university in the end.
It's amazing how you can speak Norwegian so smoothly like It's your native language. I related to your story about "learning" a language at school over and over and yet not making any progress (in my case it was English bc I'm Brazilian), then I took a course and actually learned it. Some time later, I also tried to learn French, which I did, but only the basics and now I'm interested and studying Norwegian :)
I always learn Norwegian everyday with the Russian language. I love languages. I'm from Surabaya Metropolitan, Indonesia.🙏🏻👍🏻👌🏻🇮🇩🇮🇩
Cool! I just started learning Norwegian and this is super motivating haha. Tyssen takk!
tussen* Tyssen means silent! :)
Tusen* tussen means "the gobblin" 😆
@@Vetle3run Haha got it, learn something new everyday! Tusen takk!
Så imponerende. My take on it is: how deep down you immerse yourself the faster and better you learn. Read, talk, watch and play in the language you want to learn. For myself I love Japanese language but due to burnout condition my working memory is almost gone.
The reason the Europeans all learn english is partly a political desire to stop the 1000 year long war cycle.
Thank you for making this video. I have been on and off learning Norsk and its awesome that you are making videos on your progress/process. I look forward to more videos in the future! Thanks again Alex!
Also, I find it weird that you guys' final exam in a secondary language is to translate simple sentences. In Norway, and probably other European countries, the final exams in both middle high and high school, in both secondary and tertiary languages, are to write some sort of short story. I still feel you though, I didn't really _learn_ Spanish until I had lived in Spain a year.
Yeah, I was very disappointed with the quality of education I got in the US, and that disappointment has only been exacerbated over time as I've learned how other countries handle language education! It is worth nothing though that plenty of people get better education than I got in America; I just happened to be born in an area of the states with a pretty poor curriculum.
Jeg skriver på norsk jeg 😋 Du er veldig flink til å ta deg tid til å formulere deg riktig. Både uttale, ordforråd og grammatikken er bra!!
tusen takk :)
Wow, du er super flink til å snakke Norsk.
6 måneder og de fleste setningene har veldig bra intonasjon og høres veldig naturlig ut.
Også morsomt at du har Amerikansk bergensk tonefall .
Bra jobba.
Lol. I’ve been speaking and reading Norwegian on and off most of my life. Your Norsk is fantastisk. Much easier to to decode that’s my Moms Bergensk.
Alex, you're sooo good at Norwegian!
Thank you! :)
Thanks! Moving to Norway from alaska because that’s where my fiancé lives. Lot of good info! Need to start learning already😅
Best of luck, you can do it! :)
9:15
There's no way in hell that you'll fail that spoken test, you're amazing, fluent and everything.
Your tonality is on point, your pronunciation is perfect.
There's so few details left that I'm sure that you can have conversations where people will actually think that you're a native.
You're on par with someone who grew up here, perhaps to a immigrant family or something like that, like me.
Just a tiny bit unsure about some details.
Your vocabular will improve with time.
And there was one word order error that I picked up.
I don't know.
I'm not good with languages, I'm just not conscious about the details.
So it's hard for me to put my finger on the few things that feels just a tiny bit off (they're few and far between, you're doing extremely well)
Agree, dude
Det er imponerende at du har lært så mye norsk på egen hånd👏🏼Gratulerer med bestått Bergenstest!😊
I hadn't liked german lessons at school so I decided to learn a different language that can be good to use in the future. So I decided to learn norwegian and I discovered how cool this language is. Now my biggest dream is to move out to this country, I haven't learnt norwegian very well and I know that there is still a long way before I learn this, but the one of the most important thing I know is to follow your dreams.
I'm Italian and studied norwegian for one year here, then 2 years later I moved to Norway (Oslo) for a 6 months exchange program with the local university. It was a fantastic chance to put in pratcice what I had been studying, my norwegian when I arrived there was already at a very good level, I could basically read just anything (I had to study law books in the local language) and also my speaking and writing were very good, but I still struggled to understand when people were talking. Many norwegians use dialects, or simply talk so fast and "eat" their words so much that in many occasions I had to ask to switch to english. It was so frustrating, because I couldn't understand the reason for that discrerpancy between my written and spoken norwegian and my ability to understand when others were speaking. Then, when I was finally starting to pick it up, it was time to turn back home.
This was in 1999. At the moment being, I translate scandinavian languages into italian for a living, but I never had another chance to practice my spoken norwegian other than during short trips to the country or with the few norwegians I meet here and there in Italy or while travelling, and of course my ability to understand has only gotten worse. Such a shame.
Very interesting story! I am going through something quite similar. This video was filmed while I was in Georgia (the country) and I ended up getting sponsored to work in the UK, so naturally seized the opportunity as my number one priority is getting a second passport as soon as possible. Unfortunately this means my dream of moving to Norway is - at least temporarily - on hold. I have taken a couple trips to Norway and Sweden over the last year or so though. At least it is quite close. But I'm definitely not able to speak Norwegian as much as I used to. Ma ultimamente sto imparando l'italiano haha
@@AlexBerish sounds great, I'll wait for a video about my language then. :D
Thank you so much for suggesting Memrise! I like it a lot. I'm just starting studying Norsk.
Hello from Georgia ( the country where the Borjomi bottle is from :) ). I am learning Norwegian. Thanks for the video. It is very inspirational.
გამარჯობა! i was living in Tbilisi when I made this video haha, now I am in the UK, good luck with Norwegian!
I am learning Swedish and Norwegian after a long hiatus. In my 20’s I wanted to learn a language but it was hard with school. However, I got my degree and tried a bunch of different courses, I have grown tiresome of the fast pace of college and would like too be conversational in at least 2-3 languages by 35 or by the time or I hit my 40’s.
@Ólaf Sigurðsson I found that pretty quick. I am just sticking to Swedish for now. It was getting too confusing with both. And Russian but I have been learning Russian off and on since 18 years old and the languages are different enough.
Your Norwegian is really good! I hope to get to that point some day in the near future. I have run into the same problem of not having anyone to speak it with, therefore I’ve taken a little break from it…probably not the best idea. Great video though!!!
Thanks man! Speaking with other people is nice but you can still make good progress without it! If you check out reddit.com/r/norsk there are some Discord groups that do audio conversation practice as well, and there is always iTalki!
@@AlexBerish Awesome, I’ll check the two out. Thank you!!! 🙏
Hablo Español and it's a bummer all that teaching system around Spanish. At the end, it's all about what you like and if a language resonates with you. Language is a social, cultural, and social "skill". Spanish is my native language but I've felt lured to Norwegian for the last 3 years or so. Its music, visual art, series, and movies were key ingredients that led me to that.
Espero retomes el español and keep getting better with your Norwegian.
I totally agree with this! It's a shame that school made me resent it a bit because Spanish is a beautiful language and I'd love to learn it some day (I probably will) Lykke til med norsk!
Ååå gud, det er bra, det høres ut som om du er fra Norge!
Du er eksepsjonelt god i å snakke norsk! Det er nesten helt perfekt! Og interessant historie
After doing LearnNow the 'Jeg heter Alex' makes me laugh ahahahah! Great video! Thanks for all the info like the Memrise course and the book etc. really helpful!
Some Norwegian people on the internet told me that the standard accent is "cringe". What do you guys think? Where can I learn the not-cringe accent?
It might be because I’ve lived almost half my life outside Norway, but I would have thought you were a native Norwegian. Your accent is probably better than mine :) I’m originally from the far north so it’s a different dialect, but I’ve lived in the southeast and the west as well, which naturally resulted in a good mix. Last time I lived in Norway people thought I was Swedish :) But really, your Norwegian is very convincing and give it a year or two and I bet no one can spot the difference. I’m impressed.
Your norwegian is close to perfect! Way better than my english.
Hello Alex, I am an American who would like to live and work in Norway. I have Finance and History degrees and I'm looking forward to your insights about careers for me in that dynamic and exciting country.
I had problems hearing you foreigner accent, so great job! With 6 months you did a speedrun it seems like
I wonder if Australians can study in Norway for free too? Im aussie with norwegian heritage my norwegian is pretty average these days but would love to go to study and live in my forefather's country
Yep! I misspoke a bit in the video, well, I just wasn't clear: ANYONE can study for free in Norway, it's basically enshrined in law more or less ("gratisprinsippet") / the "free" principle. So whether you are Australian, American, etc, doesn't matter. You can see your requirements to study an undergraduate/bachelor's degree as an Australian citizen here:
www.samordnaopptak.no/info/utenlandsk_utdanning/
Samordna Opptak is the coordinated university admission system in Norway, so that site has all the info you'll need!
You should definitely go for it imo, good luck! :)
@@AlexBerish tusen tak,
You're a bloody legend
Wow dette er imponerende! Sjekker ut de andre videoene dine!
I am a bit late to this vid. I am learning Norwegian because being Mono-Lingual is lame 😐. Here in Australia, we are isolated from many countries, to put it into perspective our closest Neighbouring countries are Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, and New Zealand. Indonesia and Papua New-Guinea are too far from our population centers and are over a large body of water, so they are too far away to make learning their languages practical. New Zealand speaks English as well. This has lead to a vast mono-lingual culture in Australia, to be honest we don't even speak English that well, I hear my Filipino Friend speak better english than people born here. Learning a new language, however far away it's native country may be, is a good thing still, that's why I started Norwegian recently. I hope one day to visit Norway, and use what I learning. For Native English speakers wanting to learn a new language, I highly suggest Norwegian as its relatively simple, and it gives you a new opportunity to break out of the mono-lingual prison.
Very inspiring video!
wow, når jeg klikket på videoen, trodde jeg det var en norsk mann som snakket! Du er kjempe flink. Jeg lærer meg tysk nå, og de tipsene dine hjelper veldig!
3:57
Don't worry, you're doing great. :-)
You have a bit of an accent, so it's clear that you're not native, at least in longer conversations, but it's also perfectly clear what you're saying.
There's only a few minor errors every now and then, and nothing major.
(I noticed one word order issue).
I'm honestly impressed. :-)
Your pronunciation is actually perfect.
Veldig bra! Du kommer til å bestå muntlig test lett som en plett!
Håper du har rett! :) Tusen takk!
Uttalen din er jo fantastisk! Og grammatikken også. Er det vanskelig å lære seg substantivenes kjønn? At det heter et brød, ikke en brød?
0:44
I'm technically a second generation immigrant (lived here all my life), so I might be wrong.
But I believe that the Norwegian word for "hostel" is "vandrerhjem".
Other words that can also be used is "vertshus" (mainly smaller hostels kind of things, it technically means a guesthouse, so think a small tavern with a few available rooms, bed and breakfast type of deals) and "herberge"
"Herberge" sounds to me like the Icelandic word for a "room", although I could be far off here...
So "vandrerhjem" would be more of the cheap, multiple people in a room type thing, it means "wanderer home" or "home for wanderers"
Hostel is directly translated to hospits. Vandrerhjem usually carries a demand for membership or are much more economically favorable to members. Herberge consists of "army" and "rescue", and has an origin in middle age German, but still in use today - typically for old fashion accommodation.
@@RUclips_Stole_My_Handle_Too I'm not so sure about herberge.
But who knows, maybe you are right.
All I know is that the word sounds like the word used for room (regular bedroom in a regular house) in icelandic.
Rooms that has nothing to do with armies or travelers.
Icelandic is *not* identical with old Norse.
But it's probably the most conservative of the Nordic languages.
That said, I'm not a linguist, and words can sound similar without having the same origin.
@@Luredreier Først et lite tips - du burde kanskje endre navnet ditt til Lurendreier hvis riktig språk er viktig for deg? Med mindre du har valgt å utelate -n- av en spesiell grunn, selvfølgelig.
Ellers kan man bruke både hospits, vandrerhjem og ungdomsherberge. Hostel er også i ferd med å bli mer vanlig brukt i Norge.
@@ahkkariq7406 Jeg bruker det kallenavnet pga at jeg var et barn når jeg laget det og det er hva folk kjenner meg som, om jeg endrer det mister jeg fort kontakten med mange fra skolene jeg gikk på...
@@ahkkariq7406 Har aldri hørt det brukt på Norsk selv.
"Hostel" er engelsk og brukt som et utelukkende engelsk ord rundt meg i det miste.
Jeg bryr meg ikke spesielt mye om ord er uttalt eler stavet rett.
Men jeg er lite begeistret for bruken av Engelske ord når vi har Norske alternativer.
Min misssnøye med Engelske låneord har kanskje litt å gjøre med min bakgrunn fra Island og Færøyene.
Island hadde flere Amerikanske soldater stasjonert der enn det fantes voksne Islandske menn på det meste.
Og det å ta vare på språket ble en viktig del av Islandsk identitet, med bruk av Islandske nyord istedenfor låneord ble en svært viktig del av dette.
Språk er egentlig det ypperste eksempel på direkte demokrati i bruk som vi har.
Men selv om jeg ikke har noe i mot endringer i språket av alle slag som følge av våre egne valg (omtrent som forskjellige partier i Norge alle er akseptable) så er utenlandske ord litt anderledes online øyne.
De blir litt som når et annet land som Storbritannia eller USA kommer inn med formeninger om vår politikk her i Norden.
Det fungerer simpelthen ikke helt.
Og jeg argumenterer derfor for at vi bør ta andre valg enn de engelske ordene.
På samme måte som jeg argumenterer for mitt foretrukne politiske parti.
8:39
I totally get that.
I'm technically a Icelandic citizen and have family there, but grew up in Norway.
Listening to or trying to talk in Icelandic as a non native is *exhausting*.
Same with Faeroese.
I'm just not used to either language even if I can sort of understand them and say a few broken sentences in Icelandic (non in Faeroese).
Du har en helt fantastisk uttale! Er helt sjokkert, du kommer til å få perfekt uttale innen noen få år her men den er allerede ekstremt god wow! ☺️ jeg forsto alt du sa uten noe problem!
I think norway offer degree programs in English as well
Imponerende! Du snakker jo nesten bedre norsk enn meg som har norsk som morsmål! Jeg kjenner et par amerikanere som har lært seg norsk, men de har vesentlig mer engelsk uttale på norske ord hos dem i forhold til deg. Jeg hører ikke umiddelbart at du er en amerikaner når du snakker norsk, noe jeg normalt sett gjør med amerikanere. Veldig godt jobba!
я недавно начала учить норвежский и ваше видео очень мотивирует продолжать учебу, кстати это мой четвертый язык
hei, jeg begynner akkurat på språket, noen tips?
I'm thinking of learning Norwegian but it's quite limited in resources. Anyway, do you have an accent? Not a native but you don't sound native, unless I'm wrong and I'm sorry if I am. You do speak clearly, enough for me to catch random words from the ones I've heard a lot.
Motivated me to finally start, I already know quite some words since my girlfriend is Norwegian so during vacations I pick up a lot but this definitely set me on track to follow a course
Nice man, you can do it!
Congrats 🎉👏🎉
Impressive. Very good pronunciation
Thank you! 😃
Wow ! Impressive! I am just starting to learn Norwegian
Hi, I have a mystery that I hope you might be able to help me with: I have a set of Learn Norwegian cassette tapes from almost 50 years ago where "jeg" is pronounced "yay". Can you guess why that would be? Has there been a sound shift, or is there one of the Norwegian dialects that pronounces it that way? I'm reluctant now to use the tapes as there might be other oddities that I might not recognize...Thanks, if you've got the time!
Hmm, I am not sure! It might be worth asking the native Norwegians on reddit.com/r/norsk to see if anyone there has an idea, especially if you can publish an audio recording of the pronunciation there.
Well I'm almost 50 so I suppose I can answer this, I can't think of any reasons why "Jeg" would be pronounced yay .... it does reminds me about how some none-native from (not to sound racist here tough) from countries like Pakistan or similar... maybe some african too .. seems to pronounce jeg with Jai .. (jai is similar pronounced as yay) ... just a tought tough.
But as far as I remember bookmål it would be Jeg ... and eg on dialect ... or up here in the north we often use just Æ ...
I can't remember which region the dialect was from, but I'm certain I've heard at least a handful of folks pronounce jeg as 'yay'. The Norwegian of 50 years ago wasn't radically different from today's. The only difference I guess would be young peoples' slang.
At least here in the southeast normal pronounciation of "jeg" still is precisely "yay".
@@Muchoyo Thank you! It's good to know that somewhere at least it is/was a real thing!
Wow impressing👏🏽👏🏽 which app did you use to study Norwegian
Utrolig god uttale! Godt jobbet :)
Awesome level! Can you share specifically what sources did you used please? It's hard to find good sources besides 2 apps that actually have norsk in them.. I can't find any books here in 🇫🇷.
Veldig imponerende Alex! Håper du får nytte av språket 😇 bor du i Norge nå?
It's crazy how similar your story is to mine in a way but mine was with German. I'm in Germany now but was in Oslo in 2019 and decided to begin learning Norwegian. I'd also like to move and work there in the near future so starting research now. Thanks for sharing. Would really love to hear more about your testing experience and experience overall. Bor du nå i Norge?
That's funny, I looked at possibly studying in France and Germany too, but the process for Norway seemed a bit more straightforward haha. I'm not living in Norway yet unfortunately. Could have been this year but then due to corona I've had to put it off. Hopefully next year! Feel free to get in touch if you have any specific questions!
This is incredibly motivating to me!
Can I ask, where did you find good Norwegian content to consume?
Can you recommend anything?
Glad to hear it! VPNs used to work on tv.nrk.no, but unfortunately that is no longer the case, at least I haven't had any luck with it anyway.
There are still a few shows on their site that you are allowed to access from outside of Norway though. Unfortunately it isn't possible to sort by category, but NRK keeps a complete list of shows available outside of Norway here: tv.nrk.no/programmer/utland/
Side om side is a good example. It's quite good for "everyday language". It's basically a sitcom about neighbours. Sometimes kind of funny, but most importantly: lots and lots of episodes.
"Debatten" is another good option, if you think you'll enjoy Norwegian politics.
The RUclips channel "Bildeglimt" is very good for more active, practice-focused comprehensible input.
The above are all good options for learning, and should be available. If you can manage to get your hands on them "Exit" and "Hvite gutter" are some of my all time favourites. SKAM is good too, as it's quite simple and not too fast-paced, lots of on-screen text (text messages) etc.
I used to read the news on nrk.no and tv2.no everyday too, and you should check out reddit.com/r/norsk for some more options
hey! I'm an american and I'm about to start school in norway! however, i'm doing a masters degree, and the majority of those are taught in english, there is no norsk requirement. are you planning on doing a bachelors? there are a few bachelors taught in english but not as many as a masters, I would hate for you to delay your studies if the degree you want is actually offered in english and you could come asap!
Haha yeah sadly I’m an old man doing a bachelor’s (dataingeniør) probably most of the textbooks will be in English anyway but unfortunately in order to get a study placement I had to pass the Norwegian language requirement. Congrats on getting into Norway! Can’t wait to be there myself 😂
@@AlexBerish gosh I can’t imagine taking a degree in norsk- that is so awesome and I wish you the best of luck! No doubt that you will past the final test and be apply to apply for the program, your norsk is great :) and yes hope to see you there haha we can both have escaped the US 😂
i’m planning on moving out of the US and to Norway soon, so I wanna learn norwegian.
Do you lerning norwegian? Do you speak ?
Wow, jeg kjenner amerikanere og andre som har bodd her i Norge i 30 år og lengre, som prater myyye dårligere enn deg!!
Dette var VELDIG bra!! 👍👍👍
Det høres til og med nesten ut som om du har en liten dialekt. En norsk en altså 🤣
Dæven du har vært flink!
Jeg er Skotte og boede 2 aar I Norge . Efter 1 aar I Danmark !
Sa jeg laerte desvaerre en blanding af Norsk og Dansk .
But , you are good . ! Accent is excellent . And that is the most difficult thing to get right !!
haha, jeg bor faktisk i Edinburgh, Skottland nå! Og jeg har lagt merke til at du lærte en blanding, så kult! hahaha
Alex : if you can understand the
Scottish accent then I would be really impressed. ! Actually you obviously have the " ear " which some people have for learning languages . Of course you have to
work at it too but it undeniably exists . Have you tried actually speaking Danish yet ? You will have no problem reading it but the
accent IS a challenge !
Du kan ha umulig lært norsk både med og skrive og snakke, på 6 måneder?? Woow! Vis så! Så er det stor kreds til deg! :)