One of the perks of living in Norway is learning Norwegian (go figure). While I don't claim to speak fluently, I have learned a fair amount. These are a few phrases that have stuck out so far because of their pure brillance, quirkiness, or fun. I've tried to provide a rough pronunciation, too.[1]
- et øyeblikk
- Pronunciation: et oy-blek
- A moment; literally, "an eye blink"
- In English, we'd say "one moment/second/minute". The Norwegian way is much more elegant, yet just as meaningful.
- takk for sist
- Pronunciation: tuck for sist
- Something akin to "nice to see you again"; literally, "thanks for last time"
- There's no direct translation for this in English. It expresses happiness at seeing a friend again and reminds them that you had a good time with them last time you were together.
- en rosin i pølsen
- Pronunciation: en row-seen e pull-san
- A surprise in something already great; literally, "a raisin in the sausage"
- Norwegians like sausages and apparently raisins in sausages are (or used to be) just short of a delicacy here. So, a sausage is already great on its own, but add in raisins and they're even better.
- ha det (bra)
- Pronunciation: ha da (bra)
- Good bye; literally, "have it (well)"
- Most of the time, you just say "ha det", which translates to "have it". Similar to "see you" in that it isn't a complete sentence, but it's used so often that the meaning is understood.
- koselig
- Pronunciation: koose-lee
- Comfortable, cozy
- This is used especially to describe the inviting atmosphere of a house during the winter. A "koselig" home usually has a fire, plenty of candles, yummy smells, and good friends.
[1] Pronunciation is very dependent on the area of Norway you live. For instance, in Oslo, "d"s at the end of words are often silent. Also, since I'm giving a rough approximation in English, it depends on how you pronounce things in English.
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Pronunciation
You should add the pronunciation if possible. For example, is it "a det" or "ja det"? :)
Most Norwegian vowels don't
Most Norwegian vowels don't have equivalents in English. You really just have to know how they sound. I'll give it a try anyway, though.
Wont pronounce
Ok. Anyway, my friends dont know Norwegian. I will just guess how to pronounce this. :)
In russian even word "mig"
In russian even word "mig" is derived from "mgnovenie oka" - eye blink ;)
But i doubt that englishmen don't know such a phrase. Isn't "in the flash" referring to the same idea?
About raisins, since grapes do not grow in cold russian climate, i think it was translated from some European variant. It is not told about sausages or smth else, just - izuminka (~raisinny) - in some contexts mean: that very thingie which made some otherwise rather usual sausage unique, pretty and so on. For example mouse gestures, when they were met in Opera only could be called raisins.
PS: anyone knows good dictd client for Windows ? I like built-in dictionary built-in Linux and i cannot find that elegant and native thingie for Win.
PPS: Why Drupal is so hard on checking homepage ? only http, not ftp, nor xmpp... pity. xmpp:arioch@jabber.ru
Why would you check a page
Why would you check a page for updates with anything other than HTTP or RSS/Atom? Drupal is database driven, so checking via FTP would have no meaning.
Ett ögonblick is common in
Ett ögonblick (with the same meaning) is common in Swedish as well. You can use it as an adverb, ögonblickligen, which means "immediately". Is there an equivalent for that in Norwegian too? You can say silmänräpäyksessä in Finnish as well, which also means "immediately" (though Finnish is not at all related to Germanic languages). And I believe there is ein Augenblick in German. :)
Yes, there is
The Norwegian equivalent to "ögonblickligen" is "øyeblikkelig".
Pronunciation
Strange Norwegian Gender Ideas
Sausage is feminine?
*grin* That it is. Weird
*grin* That it is. Weird country, eh? :P
Like Norwegian is the only
Like Norwegian is the only language that uses gendered nouns. Sure it's weird, but true. Did he mention we learned that old English used gendered nouns?
Re: Like Norwegian is the only
Heh, no, it's not the only one that uses gendered nouns (and other parts of speech). Since German does as well, it's no surprise that the Old English of Germanic tribes did. The surprise is that modern English doesn't.
My amaze/amusement wasn't that the word for sausage is gendered, it's which gender was chosen. }:)
I wasn't gonna go there.
I wasn't gonna go there. ;-)
Going there...
[PePe LePew]
Ahh, my leetle sausage...
[/PePe LePew]
ah, linguistix
alright, so even though it has its own problems, you should totally embrace the international phonetic alphabet (check out a chart here). (i was going to see if they had a norwigi one, but our server apparently dislikes wikipedia.) anyway, mmm... linguistix. so entertaining. and i'm totally gonna start using the like a raisin in a sausage line. :D
p.s. 'grande mocha frappuccino' is glaringly absent from this list. no excuses.
:-(
Sadly there is no Starbucks here, so no occassion at which to use that. There is kafebrenneriet but I have never been there and don't know what they serve. Deli de Luca serves chai and that's all I care about. :-)
The other problem learning pronunciation in life vs. class is that depending on where you live, even just within Oslo, there can be different ways of saying things.:-O Not to mention the regional dialects from the around the country! That doesn't really affect us though, unless we were trying to learn the language from friends (co-workers at Opera) who are from other regions. (A classmate has this challenge)
Opera Voice test
Both your and EllenRebekah's pronunciation passed the Opera Voice test. Almost, at least.
Have a nice evening!