Language

There are nearly 400 known dialects in the Norwegian language.  Combined with their two official languages, there is no such thing as “proper” Norwegian, as each area of Norway proudly holds fast to their particular variety of the spoken word. 

The Danes controlled Norway for centuries, then the Swedes had their turn, so in the end, the similarities between Norwegian, Danish and Swedish are striking.  Finnish is nothing like any of them, and mostly resembles Russian. Icelandic is the old Viking form of Norwegian, which has been preserved through the ages because of their remote location, but no longer understandable by modern Norwegians.

Swedish and Norwegian sound an awful lot alike but they are written differently.  Danish and Norwegian are spelled the same but they don’t sound much alike.  Norwegian doesn’t even sound like Norwegian in some areas of Norway, though. Folks from Sogndal, an area east of Bergen, are hard to understand by anyone other than those from Sogndal.  It’s like they have their own secret code.

Sunnmøre, our area of Norway, is similar.  Among other things, the locals substitute all the words that start with “hv” with the letter “k.” In Norwegian class, we learned the word “what” is the word “hva” in Norsk, with the “h” being silent.  But when we talk to the locals, they use the word “ka.”  The dialect from Sunnmøre is thought to be crude and rather hillbilly-ish for this reason.

Language instructors must teach the new official “bokmål” variety of Norwegian but they also must divert a bit and teach the local dialect in order for the newcomers to understand the language on the street.  Locals like it when their dialect is used by foreigners.  It’s as if they’ve won the war on words.

Ivar Aasen, a very brave man, traveled up and down the coast of Norway a hundred years ago, trying to standardize the language.  He was the first to assemble words into a book for all to use.  He found nothing but discrepancies in even the simplest words.  One area may spell “bay” as “vig” and other “vik.”  He made the tough calls on how he thought words should be spelled for Norway’s first official language called “nynork.”  But just because it was written that way, didn’t mean people changed the way they said it. So today he’s hailed as a hero for his standardizing efforts, but the regional dialects still stick with traditional pronunciations, as Norwegians maintain their reputation as a stubborn lot.

When our son was born, my husband only spoke to him in Norwegian.  He bragged about that to his cousin from Oslo one day, who responded rather indignantly with, “You aren’t teaching him Norwegian! You’re teaching him Sunnmøring!” Apparently, he didn’t think that’s anything to be proud of.