Norwegian is a North Germanic language with around 4.32 million speakers mainly in Norway, where it is an official language. There are also some speakers of Norwegian in Denmark, Sweden, Germany, the UK, Spain, Canada and the USA.
Early Norwegian literature, mainly poetry and historical prose, was written in West Norse and flourished between the 9th and the 14th centuries. After that Norway came under Swedish and then Danish rule. Norwegian continued to be spoken but Danish was used for officials purposes, as a literary language and in higher education.
After Norway separated from Denmark in 1814, Danish continued to be used in schools until the 1830s, when a movement to create a new national language emerged. The reasoning behind the movement was that written Danish differed to such an extent from spoken Norwegian that it was difficult to learn, and because they believed that every country should have its own language.
There was considerable debate about how to go about creating a national language and two languages emerged - Landsmål (national language), based on colloquial Norwegian and regional dialects, particularly the dialects of western Norway, and Riksmål (national language), which was primarily a written language and very similar to Danish.
Landsmål was renamed Nynorsk (New Norwegian) in 1929 and Riksmål is now officially known as Bokmål (book language). A few people over 60 still use Riksmål, which is considered a conservative form of Bokmål and differs only slightly from it.
Today schools in Norway have to teach both variations of the language. In primary and lower secondary education, students can choose Bokmål or Nynorsk, and over 80% choose Bokmål. After that, students have to learn both versions of the language. Civil servants are expected to be able to use both forms.
For a while there was a movement to create a single standard language to be called Samnorsk (Union Norwegian). Politicians liked the idea of unifying the Norwegian language, while everybody else thought it a bad idea and a bit of a waste of time. The Samnorsk project was officially abandoned on 1st January 2002.
There is a growing trend for people to write in their own local dialect in informal communications, especially among younger people. There are many Norwegian dialects and they can differ significantly from each other, and there are no standard ways to write them, yet.
Download an alphabet chart for Norwegian (Excel)
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danish_and_Norwegian_alphabet
A recording of the Norwegian alphabet
Hear Norwegian alphabet:
There is much regional variation in how Norwegian is pronounced. The pronunciation shown here is is Urban East Norwegian or Standard East Norwegian (standard østnorsk), the unofficial standard for the pronunciation of Norwegian as spoken in and around Oslo. It is the version of Norwegian often used for news broadcasts on radio and TV, and taught to foreign students.
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norwegian_orthography
Alle mennesker er født frie og med samme menneskeverd og menneskerettigheter. De er utstyrt med fornuft og samvittighet og bør handle mot hverandre i brorskapets ånd.
A recording of this text by Magne Bergo
Alle menneske er fødde til fridom og med same menneskeverd og menneskerettar. Dei har fått fornuft og samvit og skal leve med kvarandre som brør.
A recording of this text by Bard Esteland
All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.
(Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights)
Mange takk to Anders Kvernberg, Haakon Krohn, Hilde Aas Nøst, Karl Sørensen, Heming Welde Thorbjørnsen, Kjell Ødegård, Charles Smith, Hugo Cesar, Knut Larsen, Bard Esteland and Magne Bergo for help with this page.
Information about Norwegian | Phrases | Numbers | Family words | Time | Tower of Babel | Learning materials
Information about the Norwegian language
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norwegian_language
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bokmål
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nynorsk
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norwegian_orthography
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norwegian_dialects
https://no.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norsk
https://nn.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norsk
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Norwegian-language
https://www.ebsco.com/research-starters/language-and-linguistics/norwegian-language
Online Norwegian lessons
http://www.ntnu.edu/now
http://www.101languages.net/norwegian/
http://norwegianlearning.com/
https://www.learnwitholiver.com/norwegian/
http://www.norwegianclass101.com/
NorwegianClass101.com - Learn Norwegian with Free Podcasts |
Norwegian learning software
The Mystery of Nils: Norwegian Course for Beginners - Learn Norwegian - Enjoy the Story
Norwegian grammar
https://learnnorwegiannaturally.com/grammar
https://www.lingostories.app/no/grammar
https://www.lenoo.no/norwegian-grammar
Norwegian phrases
http://www.transparent.com/learn-norwegian/phrases.html
http://linguanaut.com/english_norwegian.htm
http://www.101languages.net/norwegian/basics.html
Online Norwegian dictionaries
http://www.freedict.com/onldict/nor.html
http://www.tritrans.net
https://ordbokene.no/
https://norsk-ordbok.no/
https://naob.no/ordbok/ordbok
https://snl.no/Norsk_Ordbok
https://www.lexilogos.com/english/norwegian_dictionary.htm
Online Norwegian radio
http://www.nrk.no
Online Norwegian news
http://www.aftenposten.no
http://www.dagbladet.no/
http://www.dagen.no
http://www.dn.no
http://www.dagsavisen.no
http://fiskeribladetfiskaren.no
Project Runeberg - a volunteer effort to create free electronic editions of classic Nordic (Scandinavian) literature
http://runeberg.org
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Languages written with the Latin alphabet
Page last modified: 29.08.26
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