Two written languages, one country
Norway recognises two written standards. Bokmål grew out of the written Danish used during the union with Denmark; Nynorsk was built in the nineteenth century from rural Norwegian dialects.
Both are official, both are taught, and pupils encounter both at school. Most people write Bokmål, and most published material, including children's books, uses it.
- If your family writes Nynorsk, expect a book to differ in spelling, not in language.
- Neither standard is the older or purer one. They took different routes.
No standard accent to aim at
Unlike most European countries, Norway has no official spoken standard. People speak their local dialect in school, at work and in broadcasting, and this is socially unremarkable.
For a family raising a child abroad, that is freeing. There is no accent your child is supposed to acquire, so a relative's regional speech is simply Norwegian.
- Never tell a child a relative speaks Norwegian wrongly. There is no wrong here.
- Say which valley or city your family's Norwegian comes from. It is a real answer.
Close neighbours
Written Norwegian and Danish are close, and spoken Norwegian and Swedish are often mutually understandable. Families with more than one Nordic language get real transfer between them.
The three share the extra letters at the end of the alphabet, though the sounds are not identical across them.
- A Swedish-speaking relative can usually read the Norwegian line.
- Do not assume a Danish spelling and a Norwegian one sound alike.
Reading together
Norwegian spelling is regular enough that a parent with partial Norwegian can read a page aloud without confusing a child.
Point at the picture and name it in Norwegian first, then read the English. The Norwegian should be the label, not the translation.
- Point, name in Norwegian, wait, then repeat once.
- Record a grandparent naming six pictures in their own dialect.
