On Top Of The World

From the prairie to the fjords (with a few stops along the way.)

Thursday, February 01, 2007

ABC's

Our Norwegian class has 3 different teachers: the main teacher is there Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and half of Friday and she teaches us sounds, grammer and vocabulary, another teacher is only there for an hour on Friday and she helps us with pronounciation, and then we have a third teacher on Thursdays. She is the most enthusiastic, joyful woman I have ever met. She brings a keyboard to class with her and has us sing, recite nursery rhymes and make up stories. Today she taught us the Norwegian version of the alphabet song. I was a little perplexed because the song leaves out "W". The teacher explained that it has too many syllables and ruins the rhythm of the song, and the letter isn't used that much in Norwegian anyway. What?!?! In English, we don't use the letter "X" very much, but it still has a place in our alphabet song. And "W" is three syllables in English as well, but we manage to fit it into our song because it is part of the alphabet, and people learning English need to know how it sounds and where it is located in relation to the other letters.

Anyway, enough indignation over the mistreatment of the letter "W"! I really do love my Norwegian class...I wish I had mustered up this much enthusiasm for my French classes in college! The teachers are all so incredibly kind and patient. I have met people from all over the world (and gained a new found appreciation for how lucky I truly am to have grown up in the U.S.) There are students in my class who are in asylum in Norway--they have witnessed unthinkable atrocities in their countries. Some will never be allowed to return to their homeland under threat of death. I still get homesick from time to time, but all I have to do is buy a plane ticket back home. I can't imagine leaving everyone I love and knowing I will never see them again, yet this is the case for several of my classmates. I am fortunate, fortunate, FORTUNATE for all the blessings in my life, and I will try to never forget that. (Yet, somehow, inexplicably, I'm still miffed about the "W" being left out of the alphabet song!)

7 Comments:

  • At Fri Feb 02, 08:05:00 PM, Blogger Keera Ann Fox said…

    X is used in a number of English words, like exit, relax, expect, fox, etc. W is - as the teacher says - not used in actual Norwegian. It, along with c, q, x and z, exists mainly to accommodate old-fashioned spellings of names, like Aschehoug (Askehaug) or Wiik (Vik). (The Norwegian alphabet has been through some evolutions, as has the English.) To a Norwegian, W looks like V, anyway, a concept that is baffling to an English-speaker. But V and W are interchangeable to a Norwegian as they sound exactly the same.

     
  • At Fri Feb 02, 10:37:00 PM, Blogger Emily said…

    Hi Keera, I wonder how Norwegians pronounce the "VW" car? Is it a "VV" to them? Just kidding, but it is interesting to hear how different, familiar letters are pronounced here. I can't seem to get used to "sk" said like "sh" either. I'm sure someday it will seem totally natural to me, but right now, every word, every syllable is a struggle! Emily

     
  • At Sat Feb 03, 04:25:00 PM, Blogger Keera Ann Fox said…

    "Veedub" is pronounced "folkuhvohgn" (or "folksvahgen"). ;-)

    Here's how I pronounce Norwegian (and nobody's commented on it yet, in over 30 years):

    Sj and skj = sh, kj and tj = ch.

    Your challenge is that some Norwegian accents (dialects) pronounce kj like the ch in German "ich" (or a hissing cat) and are now experiencing some merging of the sj and kj sounds, especially in east Norway. It's kind of like how "feel" and "fill" are starting to sound alike in some parts of America. So you may encounter Norwegians about your age and younger who blend the two, making it even harder for your foreign ear.

    I can't pronounce the cat-hissing version of kj, but no one has ever commented on my ch and sh. But then, western dialects aren't quite like eastern.

     
  • At Sat Feb 03, 10:23:00 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    I am an American (midwest girl too, KCMO) living in Norge. For 6 years now. You are so lucky to have good teachers and a class you really love. Mine were really bad. I can read, and understand when spoken slowly. The different dialects are a trip. Movies? Wow, I agree. My children speak perfect norsk, none when they moved here. Husband is a nordman. They are now 10, 11 and 13. The wonders of youth! Sounds like you like it here. I do as well. It is the best place on earth. G

     
  • At Sat Feb 03, 11:42:00 PM, Blogger Emily said…

    Keera, I think the eastern dialect is much easier for me to pronounce--I can roll my r's like they do in
    Gjovik, but I have a harder time saying the r in the back of my throat like they do in Bergen. The way the different regions in Norway assign gender to nouns is interesting too--in Gjovik, it is "ei bok" but in Oslo it is "en bok"--confusing!!! Of course, when we were in Georgia over New Years I was totally baffled a couple of times by the thick southern American accent. I guess dialects are tough no matter where you live!

    G, yay, another American in Norway! I had no idea there were so many of us. Where do you live? You're from Kansas City? I lived for a year in Warrensburg, Missouri, about 50 miles from KC. I used to drive into the city on the weekends to hang out in Westport.
    Emily

     
  • At Sun Feb 04, 11:26:00 AM, Blogger *Pat* said…

    Haha Emily, I perfectly undertand your teacher. Guess that we in Italy have a 21 letters alphabet without X, Y, W, K, J. These letters are even used in ordinary language chiefly for foreign and latin/greek words, but they simply are not considered as "indigenous" letters. We of course can talk and pronounciate relax, xylophone, Kiwi, York etc etc... but these letters simply are not tought in early classes to children! I agree with you, chiefly because people leaving school early can have further difficulties in reading and identifying them... but that's how education goes sometime;)

    Good luck with your norwegia class:)

     
  • At Sun Feb 04, 03:07:00 PM, Blogger Emily said…

    Hi Pat, it must make learning to alphabetize so much more difficult later! Emily

     

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