You'd think that after two years in Norway my norwegian would be fantastic? Well, it's not.
I'm pretty lazy about speaking it and will speak english given any opportunity. My understanding of the language is good and I often have conversations where the other person is speaking norwegian or swedish and I reply in english. I'm not gonna stress about the language. I have a job, I talk to the kids in norwegian and I think that eventually I will get there....
There are 3 words at the moment that I keep mixing up
Høst=autumn
hoste=cough
hest=horse
On Friday I went to the doctor and started off speaking norwegian with him until he started to laugh.
I was telling him that I have had a bad cough for a few weeks only instead of saying cough I told him that I had a bad horse! I switched to english right away!
Please tell me you all make mistakes too when speaking another language?
I spent the third year of university in France. Although I'd been studying the language for years my spoken French was pretty shaky, much to the amusement of the fiends I made during my first few weeks. Opening my mouth to speak was always a risk but it was either that or be left out of the conversation, so I took a deep breath and launched in. We had a great many laughs together.
ReplyDeleteI think as long as you can laugh at yourself it really helps!
Deletewho wouldn't love to say they're perfect in another language? but it's hard to come by. as long as you're faithful and willing to stay with it, it gets easier all the time. i still make so many mistakes with finnish - so no worries! you'll get there. :)
ReplyDeleteYou are quite right Jenna. Willing and faithful is the way to learn!
DeleteI'm terrible at languages anyway and can be quite shy about trying a few words. My husband is Danish and I can't get that throaty thing that the Danes do. I also can't pronounce Stroget (the main shopping strip in Copenhagen) at all.
ReplyDeleteMy trick for speaking danish is to just speak norwegian but pretend to be drunk! Sounds just like danish!
DeleteMy mum, after 20 years in Germany, still can't speak German. We went to a restaurant once, and instead of asking the young, quite good-looking waiter for starter (Vorspeisen), she asked for "Vorspiel"....FOREPLAY!
ReplyDeleteHe turned about seven shades of red, and I snorted my drink across the restaurant.
Oh my god! I never never said anything THAT bad!!! Bless your mum!
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