01There are two official forms of written Norwegian – Bokmål and Nynorsk.
Bokmål, or "book language", is derived from the Danish-influenced Norwegian used in the eastern region.
A product of the national romantic movement, Nynorsk, or "New Norwegian," was constructed in the nineteenth century from peasant dialects to create a genuinely Norwegian written language. Formulated by Ivar Aasen, a self-taught linguist from the west coast, Nynorsk was consciously constructed to reveal a clear relationship to Old Norse, linking contemporary Norway with the Viking age.
The Norwegian Language Council is responsible for regulating the two forms, and recommends the terms "Norwegian Bokmål" and "Norwegian Nynorsk" in English.
02Norwegians seem the best at understanding other Scandinavian languages (Danish and Swedish), perhaps due to the complex dialect situation in Norway. Norwegians learn from an early age to comprehend dialects different from their own 'mother' dialect. Dialects are considered of equal (social) value. The radio and TV have a rule that scripted reports use a close spoken version one of the standard languages (bokmål / nynorsk), but non-scripted interviewees are encouraged to use their own 'home' dialect.'
03The definite form of nouns uses a postposed article. So et hus 'a house' / huset 'the house' / husene 'the houses'.
This occurs in all the North Germanic languages: Swedish, Danish, Icelandic, Faroese, Norwegian. It is rare among other European languages.
04The name Norway is believed to have come from the Old Norse translation for the words the “north way”, which in Old Norse were “nor veg”.
05In Norwegian language the definite article is not a separate word like in most other languages, but it is attached to the end of the noun e.g. en fisk ‘a fish’, fisken ‘the fish’.
06Some loanwords have their spelling changed to reflect Norwegian pronunciation rules, but in general Norwegianised spellings of these words tend to take a long time to sink in: e.g. sjåfør (from French chauffeur) and revansj (from French revanche) are now the common Norwegian spellings, but juice is more often used than the Norwegianised form jus, catering more often than keitering, service more often than sørvis, etc.
07The Language Council of Norway (Norwegian: Språkrådet) replaced the Norwegian Language council (1974–2005) that created lists of acceptable word forms. Some words have two forms, the official form which must be used in government documents and textbooks, and optional forms, which can be used by students in state schools.
www.sprakrad.no
What does Norwegian sound like? Listen to a Norwegian radio station here.