As many people know I don't do well with languages (not even English). I had Spanish in middle school and then in High School I took Spanish I & II. And yet, I can't speak Spanish...
Why did I think Norwegian would be any different?
Well, I grew up around it. Since the age of 5 I could count to 10 and say common courtesy's like hello (hei hei) & thank you (takk). I was always around the language and I even understood some, and caught certain words or phrases.
But learning it did not go as I had hoped it would.
When I've learned Spanish we first learned words and then we worked on grammar. To me, this seems like a good way to learn a language. Learn words and then learn how to put them in order. But this class was more of a full-speed-ahead/crash-course style of learning. We jumped strait into phrases and grammar. It took until Chapter 3 before we even learned the days of the week. This class was focused very heavily on grammar with little emphasis on speaking.
I've been told countless times that I should be good at languages because I'm a science major. But I'm just not. Our class was 6 hours a week for 10 weeks. Which didn't leave much time to slow down and get thorough explanations. The language is very heavy on consonants with some combinations I didn't know where possible! Some combo examples are: gj, kj, Hv, skj. Along with that are three extra vowels (å, ø, æ) that I can't help but laugh at myself when I try to pronounce them.
The other problem with learning Norwegian in Oslo is that everybody (literally) is 100% fluent in English. Whenever I try to do anything in Norwegian I usually get a reply in English, not only preventing me from learning more Norwegian but also making me embarrassed to try Norwegian at all. Although, when I complete a transaction completely in Norwegian it is one of the best feelings ever!
This past week has been cram study time. I needed to make sure I could remember all my different verb, adjective & adverb (etc..) rules. I don't know how much writing I did but I have a cramp in my hand to show for it. Thanks to a wonderful new cafe' I found in town (Cafe Laundromat) I had enough caffeine to keep going. The best part about studying material from the beginning was that upon rereading dialogues and essays, I UNDERSTOOD IT! When we originally read these in class I'd go along and pick out a few words I knew but I never understood the text. So when I feel like I don't know any Norwegian I just need to remind myself that I actually do.And then I took my final this morning! I'm not sure how it went, but I have good feelings about it (and I'm not going to think about it anymore). Hopefully I'll continue to learn more Norwegian. My stay here is only half over and I've already learned SO much, I just need to get out of my shell and actually use the language!
Now that my final is over, I get to enjoy the Norwegian school system's month long Easter break (amazing!).
Therefore, I leave for a vacation of a lifetime tomorrow! I am beyond excited to spend Easter week in Rome and Easter Sunday in Greece. My schedule is as follows:
Sat-Tues in Venice, Italy
Tues-Sat in Rome, Italy
Sat-Tues in Chania, Crete, Greece
* I will then spend the night in the Oslo airport because of last minute plans for another trip, not leaving enough time to go back home*
Wed-Sat in London
It'll be the event of my night to figure out how to pack clothes for 2 weeks into my backpack!
Takk for nå
(Thanks for now)
No comments:
Post a Comment