Learn Norwegian

When you learn Norwegian you gain access to nearly all of Scandinavia. That's because Norwegian is so closely related to it's neighboring languages, Danish and Swedish, that there is a significant level of mutual intelligibility, that is, a speaker of one language can understand a speaker of the others. Written Norwegian is very similar to Danish, but spoken Norwegian has a clearer pronunciation and is a little easier to pronounce than Swedish.

Like it's cousin languages, and perhaps most surprising, there are few commercial language learning products available for those native English speakers who want to learn Norwegian. Some of the more widely known companies don't produce anything, others produce only limited, or less comprehensive products. Your best bet for self-study may be to get two or more complementary products, which I usually recommend anyway. Before you begin, check the How to Learn Languages page and the Learning Tips page to help put together a comprehensive lesson plan for yourself. Here are some of the best products available to learn Norwegian :

Internet/Free Norwegian in 5 minutes a Month
This is a basic course to learn Norwegian at the website for the Sons of Norway. It's free, but you must be a member to access the sound files.

Internet/Free Norword. This is a free email course to learn Norwegian. You receive an email a day with a phrase, it's translation, pronunciation and other uses of it. It's a great supplement for a more formal course. There is also a link to an online group for those learning Norwegian.

Internet/Free Transparent Language offers a free vocabulary trainer to get started learning Norwegian. Get your Free BYKI™ Lite download by Transparent Language

Book/Audio Combo/Inexpensive Teach Yourself Norwegian ($25) The longstanding Teach Yourself series has always had a wide variety of languages. The coursebook comes with two audio cd's or cassettes, and is available in most bookstores or online.

Book Teach Yourself Norwegian (old version) Published by David McKay Company or English Universities Press in the 50's, 60' and 70's, these old Teach Yourself books are great grammar-intensive workouts with lots of little exercises. They are out of print but can be found in used bookstores or online at ABE Books.com, a great online book exchange of booksellers around the world.

Audio Only
Pimsleur Norwegian Compact
As far as ease of use and quality of the material and method, Pimsleur is the best. You learn to speak Norwegian in a natural and comfortable way. It's the same for all Pimsleur language programs, but some go further than others. Pimsleur Compact Norwegian is too short to stand on its own as a language learning method. It is only 10 lessons long, and it's brilliant conversation and pronunciation regimen is diluted by the reading practice which shortens every lesson, unlike Pimsleurs Comprehensive programs in other languages, which have a separate cd for reading practice. Compact makes a very good introduction to Norwegian or a good audio supplement for its conversation and pronunciation work, but a more comprehensive method is needed to go beyond the first steps in the language. Read my more indepth Review of Pimsleur Products

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