Tuesday, May 8, 2012

norske filmer du må se

Yesterday I got new hints from my colleagues... It was about Norwegian films. 


There is an archive for old and new Norwegian films. In this database you can pay a bit and then watch the movies online. Some materials are even for free. The database contains short films as well as long movies and advertises etc.


They also have a chapter about the all time best Norwegian films. The list was put together when Norway celebrated 100 years anniversary of Norwegian Film by experts, reviewers, festival managers and others. They best movie was "The Hunting" a debut movie of Erik Lochens in 1959.   


Tidenes beste norske filmer



– Ingen filmer var i nærheten av å nå Jakten til knærne. Det forteller Kjetil Lismoen, filmkritiker i Aftenposten og redaktør i bransjebladet Rushprint, som i forbindelse med norsk films 100-års jubileum har kåret historiens 25 beste filmer.
Listen er utarbeidet av et tredvetall filmvitere, kritikere og ledere av festivaler og cinemateker. Lismoen medgir at listen bærer preg av at det er eksperter som har stemt frem sine favoritter.


JAKTEN



Jakten var Erik Løchens debut (1959) som spillefilmregissør og innvarslet en ny type film i Norge med forbindelser til den franske bølge som også startet rundt 1960. Overraskende klipping, lekker naturfotografering og fremmedgjøringseffekter som å la skuespillerne og en voice-over henvende seg til publikum og kommentere handlingen, preger filmen og skaper et ironisk kammerspill i fjellheimen. 


Historien er banal nok: et trekantdrama om to menn som begjærer den samme kvinnen. Vi følger de tre noen dager på rypejakt, en jakt som ender brutalt. Eller gjør den det? Med ansvar for regi, manus, klipp og filmens jazzmusikk leker Løchen med publikums forventninger om hva en filmhistorie skal bestå av. Jakten er utvilsom et av hovedverkene innen norsk filmmodernisme og ble tatt ut til hovedkonkurransen i Cannes i 1960. 




15 norske filmer du må se før du dør


Secondly I got a link to Bjornar Tollaksen blog where he lists out the best 15 Norwegian contemporary movies you have to watch before you die. 

   





Monday, May 7, 2012

NTNU Norwegian course - great for the beginner!



Today I got a good hint from my colleague from Rudolf Steiner University College in Oslo, Fabio Bento. He suggested the page that has been developed by Norwegian University of Science and Technology











The course is called Norwegian on the Web. It contains texts about Ken, Anna, Maria and Peter, who arrive from their respective countries to Trondheim, in order to study at NTNU. Each chapter focuses on a few specific themes, with some variations and extensions in each text. This way, there will be some new elements and some repetition in all the texts.

There are altogether 6 chapters.

Today I worked with the first chapter. It is the real beginning...  with good listening materials and grammar and all... I like this! Try it out!

Ken Robbins kommer fra England. Han bor i London. Ken er 23 år gammel. Han reiser med tog fra Oslo til Trondheim. Ken snakker med ei dame. Hun kommer fra Norge.
Monika:Jeg heter Monika. Hva heter du?
Ken:Jeg heter Ken.
Monika:Hvor kommer du fra?
Ken:Jeg kommer fra England. Og du?
Monika:Jeg kommer fra Oslo, men jeg bor i Trondheim.
Ken:Har du familie i Trondheim?
Monika:Ja, jeg er gift, og jeg har ei jente.
Ken:Hva heter hun?
Monika:Hun heter Emma. Hun er seks år.




Wednesday, May 2, 2012

Life in Norway, lesson no 2

Today I found a good series about country life in Norway. How is life in Norway?

BYGDELIV


Dokumentarserie. De drømmer om et nytt liv på den norske landsbygda.

PART 1

Dristige og livsglade mennesker følger drømmen sin mot et nytt liv på den norske landsbygda. Det unge nederlandske paret Eleonie og Remco kommer til Tolga på leting etter en gård. Anne-Lise og den tiltakslystne Terje har tatt med seg familien til Inntrøndelag for å skaffe seg et bedre liv, men sliter med både jobb og hus. I Lom har gårdbrukerparet Hans og Ola med datteren Marit for første gang startet den møysommelige jobben med få alle dyra ned fra setra etter sommeren.


PART 2

Norsk dokumentarserie. (2:8) Dristige og livsglade mennesker følger drømmen sin mot et nytt liv på den norske landsbygda. Den lille familien fra Litauen har pakket alt de eier i bilen og satt kursen mot Norge. Sandra, Giedrius og datteren Ugne (12) satser.



Tuesday, May 1, 2012

Grammar and Munch

I found a great webpage for the grammar rules and some online tests.

NORSKSIDENE

In order to learn a new language, it is good to learn also about the local culture. I will post here one of my favorites from Norway (with a link to a documentary about him available on youtube):


Peter Andreas Munch (1810-1863) is a world known painter.





The very first lesson in Norwegian

Today I start my blog where I plan to publish everything I find about how to study Norwegian. I already have a similar page about how to study Swedish.

Since Swedish and Norwegian are quite similar languages I feel much more enthusiastic about the time frames. I have come a long way with my Swedish. During three years I have learned to speak and write like mediocre Swedish person does. Is that enough? I can read everything also philosophy and poetry. That feels great!

Now I plan to work in Norway for some years and therefore I must learn the next Nordic language (by now I can Finnish and Swedish). I like to learn languages, it is no problem for me. My aim is to be able to say simple sentences within couple of weeks (within a month) and learn to understand the pronunciation. On the first of June I´ll come back to this. (I hope I´ll remember of course!). Anyway my first test is on the 10th of June, then I´ll have my first official meeting that is planned in the Norwegian language. This is why my time frame is so tight. I can still continue speaking Swedish or English because they all will understand but only in the very beginning...  

Even though the Nordic languages (except Finnish) are quite close, it is still very hard to understand without learning. I was in Oslo a couple of weeks ago and that was awful... I could not follow at all what they where saying to me and everyone expected me to grasp immediately what was going on. Reading is much easier, if I read I am able to understand. This is why it came as a surprise that spoken languages is so confusing.

I started today to look for materials and the first thing I found was a forum discussion where a Swedish person was asking for advice how to learn Norwegian.

Summary for the English speaking people 

If you want to learn Norwegian, then start to read and listen.  Here are the two most relevant links to do that:

Norwegian TV/radio 

Evening Post

I continued my search and found out that Norwegian Language Council. has many more links and pages. They are working on the language development and research in Norway. It is worth looking at! They also have a special page for resources and links where you can learn Norwegian.

Seems like it is not so easy to find the one and only grammar book for Norwegian. They also write their worlds in a very funny and complicated multiple way. In Norway there are many  competing dialects that are very widely used. It makes things even more complicated because now you have to decide where to position with your learning...

Well, I have no idea just yet... truly confusing. I will just watch TV with subtitles for the hearing impaired as my first task.