Milutin writes:
> Martin wrote:
> >available.  The Norwegian news reporting is also very good, but I
> >don't understand Norwegian well enough to accurately compare it with
> >the quality of the BBC.
>
> How do you get by in Norway if you can't speak the language, do many
> Norwegians speak English?

I do speak Norwegian well enough to communicate in daily life, like at
the grocery store, the bank, or the post office, but discussing
politics, religion, etc in a second language requires a much higher
fluency.

All Norwegian kids learn English, from age 9 I think, all the way
through high school.  Most Norwegians in the metropolitan areas speak
very good English.  Many who live in rural areas, who probably don't
need it as much, have a bit of trouble.

The Norwegian government pays for 500 class periods of Norwegian
language instruction for everyone who comes to live or work in Norway
for more than three months.  I have been through that course.  I can
read and write Norwegian better than I can understand spoken
Norwegian, because I get a lot more practice reading and writing it
than I do hearing it.  My problem is that I work in computer software
development, and the Norwegians I work with are all very comfortable
speaking English.  It is just more efficient for them to speak English
to me, and because I am single, I don't have a family speaking
Norwegian to me everyday either.  It was surprising to me to see that
I had become fairly competent at reading and writing Norwegian while
remaining at a much lower level of competence understanding spoken
Norwegian.  These different aspects of language learning and use must
be controlled by different areas of the brain.

martin

Martin Smith                    Email: [log in to unmask]
P.O. Box 1034 Bekkajordet       Tel. : +47 330 35700
N-3194 HORTEN, Norway           Fax. : +47 330 35701