Norwegian Courses, as it stands 2015.

Since people seem to be still visiting this blog, despite its horrible treatment by its author (cough), I decided to post something useful to those not in the know.

Anyone whose moved abroad will tell you the native language is everything.  I've been here over 5 years and though I've done well for an English speaking person, many who have come after me have excelled.  Yes that's jealousy, and respect! Some people find language easier than others, but the will to try is everything.

Now that I am again without work, I've had lots of time to see where I am and what I want or need to do next.  One of those things is of course, improving my Norwegian.

Now if you have tried and struggled, take heart, there is always a reason as to why it ain't working as intended.  Always a reason and always a solution. For many it's a matter of getting over that "instant gratification" complex we have grown up with.  A second language takes time, be proud of the progress and recognise it, no matter how small it may seem.

Never stop trying, or trying something new.  Everyone works differently, but basically the one rule that works for all is immersion.  Force yourself into that world and dare to embarrass yourself trying. You'd be surprised how effective the human brain is at adapting under duress. Virtually everyone I've ever talked to about this has stated that the biggest challenge was overcoming their fears of sounding stupid.

If you are already in Norway, you may notice a series of private firms taking advantage of the governments draw back on free Norwegian lessons.  When you get married for example, you can only qualify for free or discounted Norwegian lessons if you have only been in the country for under 2 years. So even under the best circumstances, don't rely on the state for help.

Luckily, as the market has progressed, competitive pricing has started to tick in.  (Yay capitalism!). Meaning if you shop smart you can save thousands of Kr.

Nearly all courses focus their work around 3 sets of books which have both Textbook (Tekstbok), Workbook (Arbeidbok) and word book (Ordbok). Note: The workbook comes with related audio CD): -
*In order of difficulty from easiest to hardest.

• På Vei
• Stein På Stein
• Her på Bergen

All books are difficult to acquire outside of Norway but it is possible.  You will need to get these books in addition to paying course fees, but so long as you treat them well and write in the work book (Arbeidbok) in pencil, they can be sold on.  In fact, ask in the Facebook immigrant pages (E.g. Brits in Oslo) to see if anyone is selling.  There are also the teachers CD's which are very expensive (mine cost over 1000kr), but allows for self teaching at home.  That said, you pay for the services of the teacher, not the voice on the CD.



Here is a selection of courses I've found so far: -

Language Champ
http://www.languagechamp.com/ 
A newcomer to the world of Norwegian courses, it currently only focuses on beginners level courses, using the 1st book mentioned above: På Vei. At the time of writing, they are offering a 50% course discount when you invite friends on the same course.  Something more than worth taking advantage of if you are doing this with friends (Hint: Split the savings!).
Cost per course: 2990 Kr for a 6 week intensive course. 3 levels, covering particular chapters from both På Vei and Stein på Stein.

Alfa Skolen. 
http://www.alfaskolen.no/en/
These guys really exploded onto the scene some years ago being advertised in all of the subways (T-bane) since then they have gone from strength to strength, adopting the official CEFR system of separating courses.  Arguably more expensive than one would like, they do offer one of the most comprehensive courses ot there, laying things out clearly, again using books like På Vei, but also offering Bergentest courses.  The Bergen test is the most popular certificate one can aspire to get, certifying their level of Norwegian.  It's demanded by all of the higher level education courses and for citizenship.
Cost per course: varies, 3990 for the very first level.  36 horse over 12 sessions.

Folkuniversitetet.
http://www.folkeuniversitetet.no/About four years ago, I took a level (nivå) 2 course with these guys.  Not my best investment, but times may have changed. Folkuniversitetet have been at this longer than the other two to my knowledge, though they also cover a variety of other subjects. The average course gives 48 hours spread over 3 weeks, once again, using the books listed above as their curriculum (pensum) material.
Based in many places, including Oslo, Folkuniversitetet do offer a shorter path to the almighty Bergens test (see Alfa Skolen), though prices are much higher than the other two, higher than when I took the course by 1100kr!
Cost per course: average 5500 kr for 48 hours.


Hopefully this info will help you, or someone you know make their own decision regarding Norwegian courses.  It is completely possible to simply buy the books and teach yourself, though as I mentioned before: Immersion is necessary.  Practice, make mistakes, look stupid, learn and progress.

The types of people around you at this time is a subject of its own, one I think I will need to take up in another post.  But in brief:  Practice with people who can correct you in the way that benefits you, both in learning and motivation.  Not with people who make you feel inferior or needlessly stupid. Laughing at you and with you are very different!

Have you taken a course with any of these three schools?  What was your feelings?  Was it worth it? Did it help?  Do you have any tips for others to learn the lingo?  Cadbury chocolate or Freia?

Thanks for reading!
Rick

I'm back. And Married! How the hell did this happen?

After another hiatus away from this particular blog, I'm back with another post.  Where have I been, what have I been up too?  Lots.  Tons! For starters I'm now married to a beautiful Norwegian, I've been made redundant at work but not worried in the slightest.

The question?
About a year ago in Ireland, while on holiday there with my now Wife, Ingrid, I proposed.  She said yes.  There was much rejoicing (and lots of Facebook updates :) )

How to marry a Nord.
So we had loads of decisions to make.  I had family in England who could not travel, and being frank the currency exchange rate would make it bank-breaking for my family and friends to get over here and stay in a local hotel.
We decided therefore to have the ceremony in England.  Just the ceremony mind you, the legal stuff had to be done in Norway.  Well, not had to be done, but rather was free as opposed to costing up to 400 quid.  Easy choice really. 
So, there was the legal process and then the ceremony, or what we were determined to make the actual marriage. 

Traditionally, as you probably know, you go to a wedding to get married and everything is sorted and done at the same time with the legal officiant.  Do you? Yes.  Do you? Yes. I now pronounce yadda yadda.  Its all very neat and tidy and has to be in the state building or a church of sorts.  Right?  Well in England you need an officiant and to loan one out costs money, like deceitful Ryan Air "extra costs for shoe laces" money.

Why did we need to do things traditionally anyway?  Why was it so important that the marriage was made official legally at the same time?

This became a bit of a theme for the weddings construction, identifying traditions that made little sense and cost money and breaking away to do our own thing. This was going to be our wedding after all.

So the path was clear!  We would sign the paperwork in Oslo, days before flying over to England to have the big pomp and party ceremony.  Which we would make mean something.  Though technically we were married in the eyes of the Norwegian state days before she walked down the isle, for us it was the putting on the rings that mattered. 

But where in England?  Well it had to be close to an airport and within a reasonable drive distance to my home in the North West.  I wanted my Nan to be able to be driven down and back again without too much hassle. Luckily England, like the rest of the UK is dotted with old sites ranging from the early medieval to post Victorian.  Thankfully, most of them have a roof and aren't extortionately expensive.

We found a couple we were interested in and took a quick holiday over to visit them with my parents in tow.  There were three in the end, though what won us was the excited and dedicated wedding planner from Hollin Hall, Macclesfield in Manchester.  Not known for being a perfect hotel, the listed building panged of Downton Abbey and had at its disposal a beautiful venue for our wedding.  Again though, it was the enthusiastic and hard working staff that really drew us in.  Other places has a cold professionalism which bordered on indifference.  Wedding conveyor belts basically.  While Hollin Hall had a wedding a day during high season, they never had weddings clashing, and the entire place could be altered to suit needs and themes. 

Link to brochure - Hollin Hall

Also, as we discussed the wedding with the consultant, we discovered they used Groupon for their package deals.  What made this even more appealing was the willingness to alter the package to suit our needs.  We had people coming over, we didn't have so many people in the ceremony and more in the after dinner. We had a set group.  We had less than the expected amount, so we got more in terms of food selection.  We settled on a deal and went from there.

A note from my mum? 
An interesting turn of events was the paperwork.  As we were getting married, technically, in Norway, we needed proof from the British side confirming my single status.  Can't remember the exact name of the document, but this decloration, when researched the first time, required me to apparently move home to England for 2 weeks before undergoing an interview.  Some archiac system of announcing my intent to marry and giving my secret wife chance to stop things.  All very dramatic.

I was amazed, so much so I asked how they could hope to "proove" I was in Britain for those two weeks.

A note from my mum.

I could hear the woman over the phone at the registrars office smiling.  Beaurcracy in its purest form.

I shrugged and made my peace with the idea that I would be once again asking my mum to write me a note.  Maybe she could add that I am a good little boy who puts his toys back?

Thankfully, when it came closer to the date, new legislation changed that year allowed the local Embassy in Oslo (thank god I live here not further North!), could arrange things without any such nonsense.  Though I did have to swear on the Bible (They didn't have a copy of Lord of the Rings, sadly).

This stair case saw lots of photoes on the day.

Cultural differences British/Norwegian of note.
Moving forward to the Wedding day, some really subtle differences appeared in how Weddings are done.  Now, bear in mind this IS my first (hopefully last) wedding: done in England, with over 50% Nords.  There were a few alterations to the norm.

Now I'm not talking about the untraditional approach we did, Halloween theme, pumpkins instead of lights/bouquet, that kind of thing, like how my bride to be sung her way down the aisle to harp music played by one of the brides maids (did I mention Nords do best men plural?), or the epic music played for the first dance.  No no no: I'm talking about the other differences.

The biggest difference was the way speeches were done.  Nords and their Scandinavian cousins do like to hold speeches.  So the usual method of doing speeches in turns (And you know that my Wife was getting ago, which is apparently very untraditional?), from the married couple down to pretty much anyone who wanted to.  This had to be run while food was being served too, as usually the speeches would be done.
Usually, the ceremony would include your inner circle, closest friends and family, while the meals etc afterward would include more.  But we had the same number in both, which thankfully didn't cause issues, as it was a smallish wedding some 50 people or so.

In one amazing display of improvisation, my Father, after saying he didn't feel the need to hold a speech, stepped up without any prior planning and did me proud.  Obviously feeling a little left out, my mother stood up next and last and said "Ditto."
I love those guys.  Lots of laughs, emotions and happiness all round.

Oh and we went with some sticky moustaches on the tables, as well as little vials of candy for the favours. You could tell which tables ate them too early!  But the moustaches were an instant success.  As our wedding photographer told us, "This was a wedding she would remember."  Something echoed by the DJ and the wedding planner.  Isn't that the point though?

This hasn't been a well flowed memory of the wedding, but I haven't blogged about things for a while now.  I would have sooner but events occurred a week after the wedding which made this impossible.  More on that soon.

What's going on at work?
Work sadly has recently ended.  The company I worked for as a purchasing consultant was recently taken over in an event seemingly quite typical in the Book and curriculum business here in Norway.  Seemingly in reaction to foreign businesses, a monopoly of sorts is being bashed together, my company being the latest take over.

Unfortunately they have their offices in Bergen and did not (obviously) require my services.  It is the best way to be out of work I think, and between the Norwegian job market and its welfare system I'm not worried about being out on the street just yet ;)

More on this later though.

As you may have noticed a lot has happened, some very dramatic.  In short, 1 week after the wedding, we had ourselves a house fire and had to move out for a couple of months while we got back on our feet.  But this story does have a happy ending, which I will soon get too.

Thanks for reading,
Rick