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King John
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Topic: Learning one of the Scandinavian Languages Posted: 18-Jan-2008 at 02:08 |
Over the course of the past year I have taken up the study of Old Norse and am intrigued by the idea/prospect of learning one of the modern Scandinavian languages. My question for those who are so inclined to respond to this thread is: which of the following languages; Danish, Norwegian, or Swedish, is the - dare I say - easiest to learn? I personally am leaning towards learning Danish or Norwegian. Another question that I have is does anybody know any good books or audio CD/Book combinations that would more easily facilitate the learning of one of these languages?
PS: Links/Resources for those who want to try to learn Norwegian with the group here that is attempting this same endeavor.
Unilang Mini Course This is the basis for the early exercises.
Norwegian Language Resource Page
Common Verb List
Grammar Resource Page
Lessons from the Sons of Norway
P.P.S: Font Codes
Code for Norwegian Computer Fonts (PC)
Code for Norwegian Computer Fonts (Mac)
Edited by King John - 19-Jan-2008 at 17:44
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Sarmat
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Posted: 18-Jan-2008 at 02:25 |
They are basically very similar, the grammar is almost the same. Though the Danish pronunciation is considered the hardest. Bukmol the official Norwegian dialect is even more similar to Danish than to Swedish.
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King John
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Posted: 18-Jan-2008 at 02:37 |
Sarmat, are you a speaker of any of these languages or do you have any familiarity (training) of some sort in said languages?
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Sarmat
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Posted: 18-Jan-2008 at 03:05 |
Yes, I intensively learned Danish for 1.5 year
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Justinian
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Posted: 18-Jan-2008 at 03:22 |
Good luck to you. I was going to take a norwegian course this past semester, (sentimental reasons mostly; family background etc.) but it costed like 1500 just for enrollment in that one class. So that died quickly.
Edited by Justinian - 18-Jan-2008 at 03:23
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"War is a cowardly escape from the problems of peace."--Thomas Mann
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King John
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Posted: 18-Jan-2008 at 03:22 |
Would you care to share what book(s) you used for your intensive studies? It would be greatly appreciated if you would.
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Sarmat
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Posted: 18-Jan-2008 at 03:53 |
The thing is that I learned it in Moscow and the book was specifically designed for Russian students. So, that textbook would probably not work for you in the US.
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hugoestr
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Posted: 18-Jan-2008 at 03:56 |
Swedish is very easy for English speakers. It has one of the most regular grammars, and many of the words sort of match with English. I studied it, but I couldn't do it right because there were personal issues going on at the time.
Norwegian is supposed to be very close to Swedish. According to my Scandinavian Studies instructors, it is as close as U.S. English to Australian English. Since I don't know either language, I will have to go with their word.
And Sarmat says Norwegian is close to Danish, so maybe Norwegian is the best bang for your studying time bucks :P
So, is there any interest in forming a small Norwegian study group? We can try working through one those free online courses all together on the forum, and see what happens.
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hugoestr
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Posted: 18-Jan-2008 at 03:57 |
Another idea, King John,
If you know Old Norse, I heard that Icelandic is very close to it. Maybe you can give it a look as well.
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Justinian
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Posted: 18-Jan-2008 at 04:04 |
Originally posted by hugoestr
So, is there any interest in forming a small Norwegian study group? We can try working through one those free online courses all together on the forum, and see what happens. |
I'd be up for that, let me know if anything ever develops there.
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"War is a cowardly escape from the problems of peace."--Thomas Mann
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King John
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Posted: 18-Jan-2008 at 04:08 |
Originally posted by hugoestr
So, is there any interest in forming a small Norwegian study group? We can try working through one those free online courses all together on the forum, and see what happens. |
Hugo, that's a good idea I think. I even think that I have seen some Norwegians floating around here, who might be able to help as well. This, I think, might be worth pursuing.
I want to stay away from Icelandic, although it would be nice to know, because my interests are in England and the North Sea not so much the North Atlantic. With that said I have been bouncing around the idea of trying Icelandic.
PS. So far it seems as though there are three people interested in such an endeavor (you, Justinian, and myself). Let me know if you actually want to pursue this, so we can try and organize some sort of group/thread.
Edited by King John - 18-Jan-2008 at 04:12
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hugoestr
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Posted: 18-Jan-2008 at 05:25 |
Sure. As I said, we can start with an online free course in Norwegian and try to cover it. If it works out, then we can think about getting a textbook and working through it.
We can each look for something and then pick the best one.
Oh, my mother-in-law (Norwegian-American) will be so thrill when he hears the new about this...
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hugoestr
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Posted: 18-Jan-2008 at 05:29 |
Hey, I found a quick one here:
unilang mini course in norwegian
Very short, which is very good because it will give us a sense of accomplishment quickly
We can use it while we find a longer course online
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Sarmat
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Posted: 18-Jan-2008 at 05:33 |
I think you made the right decision guys. Studying Norwegian is much more easy and practical than Islandic, which is indeed very close to Old Norse that in fact makes its grammar very difficult.
IMO Scandinavian languages are among the easiest to learn for English native speakers.
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hugoestr
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Posted: 18-Jan-2008 at 05:36 |
I finished lesson 1!
Jeg er Hugo.
Du er King John.
Han er Justinian.
Hun er Dawn.
Vi er Hugo og King John og Justinian.
Dere er King John og Justinian.
De er Paul og Rider.
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King John
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Posted: 18-Jan-2008 at 05:51 |
I just finished Lesson 1 myself. I hope all of it is that straight forward.
Jeg er King John
Du er Hugo
Han er Justinian
Hun er mor
Vi er King John og Hugo og Sarmat og Justinian
Dere er Hugo og Justinian
De er Justinian og Hugo
Lesson 2 tomorrow?
PS I keep wanting to put in und instead of og.
Edited by King John - 18-Jan-2008 at 05:53
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Flipper
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Posted: 18-Jan-2008 at 07:25 |
I may be a native speaker of Swedish, but i have to say, judging from how fast foreign people i know learned, they are easy languages. Maybe the pronounciation can be hard, especially in Dannish but generally if you get familiar with one of them you shouldn't have a problems learning very fast another.
Just for the info, one of my best friends, started having conversations after 6 months...
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gcle2003
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Posted: 18-Jan-2008 at 13:47 |
Originally posted by King John
Jeg er King John Du er Hugo
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Originally posted by hugoestr
Jeg er Hugo. Du er King John.
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You learn two sentences and you're already disagreeing!
Originally posted by King John
Han er Justinian
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Originally posted by hugoestr
Han er Justinian
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Now that's much better. Do they still count that old-fahioned way in Denmark?
Incidentally, my experience that the foreign nationals who speak the best English are the Norwegians, who manage to get the intonations right, I think because intonation plays a big part in their own language.
(Actually jeg er Graham, du er King John og du er Hugo, but you're right about han.)
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Styrbiorn
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Posted: 18-Jan-2008 at 14:00 |
I'd suggest Swedish or Norwegian. I suggest you to avoid Danish, of one single reason - the pronounciation. Danish is all guttural sounds (it's the Dutch of the north-Germanic languages) - you'll have a much easier task with Norwegian or Swedish. Besides, with Swedish or Norwegian, you'll get around in Norway, Sweden and Denmark (and with Swedish, in many parts of Finland as well). With Danish, you won't be that much understood in Sweden, Finland or even Norway.
Written Danish, Norwegian and Swedish are almost identical, so in that regard you'll understand more or less everything if you know one of them.
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King John
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Posted: 18-Jan-2008 at 16:02 |
I just finished lesson 2:
Bestemoren har en katt
En hund er et dyr
Bordet har en bok
Bestemoren og bestefaren har en hund
Moren har en hund og faren har en katt
Vi har et bord
De har huset
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