Converse with 5 million native speakers
A language is more than a bunch of words and rules for how to put those words together; it is another world. Speaking Norwegian gives you access to the world of 5 million native speakers in Norway. Norwegian is considered one of the easiest languages for a native English speaker to understand. The grammar and sentence structure are very similar to English, but with fewer irregularities. The language is pronounced very differently from English – and includes some sounds that English doesn’t have – but mastering new sounds becomes easier with practice. Because both languages have Germanic roots, they also share thousands of cognates – words that sound the same and have the same meanings.
Not only is Norwegian relatively easy to start understanding early on, speaking it will give you a huge head-start to understanding other Germanic languages like Swedish, Danish, Dutch and German. With Babbel, you can learn Norwegian without going to classes, hiring a tutor or investing in expensive software. For an affordable monthly subscription, you have access to hundreds of hours of interactive courses that get you speaking right from the first lesson. Babbel’s integrated speech recognition can even help you improve your pronunciation. We add courses on a regular basis, so the opportunities to learn and improve are always growing. And if you own an Android phone, the key to speaking Norwegian is already in your pocket.
Classroom or books?
Although Norwegian isn’t a widely-studied language in the United Kingdom, there are still many ways to learn the language:
In the classroom Classroom instruction with a teacher and other students is the most traditional approach to learning a language. Many Americans have already learned a language this way in high school, although often not with the best results. Many people who are motivated to become fluent find that classes offer a good balance between language instruction and chance to listen and speak.
Via private tutor Learning one-on-one with a tutor allows for a completely tailored learning experience and more opportunities to practice speaking. Compared to a classroom where the teacher has to split attention among dozens of pupils, private tutoring usually yields quicker results. However, private tutoring doesn’t come cheap; you’ll need to be prepared to pay a high hourly rate for an experienced tutor.
With audio courses For people with money to burn on learning a language, but not enough time to commit to traditional methods, multimedia courses are a good alternative – whether you practice listening and speaking with CDs in the car, or use interactive courses on your home PC in your free time. The main drawback to these methods is high up-front cost and material that can quickly become outdated. By conversing with tandem partners Tandem learning is a technique where two people who want to learn each other’s languages take turns as teacher and as student. Tandems are free for both parties, but a significant time commitment.
Free online courses There are hundreds of ways to learn Norwegian for free online. From Norwegian grammar wikis to online courses, there’s no shortage of information out there, but it’s often presented in a cluttered and inconsistent way that’s harder to read than a grammar book.