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Linguaholic

Kaffi

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  • Currently studying
    French, Icelandic, German
  • Native tongue
    Norwegian & (American)English
  • Fluent in
    Swedish, Danish (semi-fluent)

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  1. Dusk the hour between sundown and dark, there are several words for that the usual one for duskis skumring The blue hoer or blue light ;blåtimen , den blå timen - this is particular in the summer, when all nights are the blue light, as the sun just hovers right beneath the horizon for a few short hrs befor rising again, and the sunsets are long and beautiful. Another word commonly used is tussmørke tusse, is a something between an imp, an elf, a gnome and maybe even a distant relative of a troll, but generally into mischief and not evil. Tussmørke ; tusse-darkness, the light when this creature can move mostly unseen like a shadow in the shadowlight. A well know figure in the Nordic tales and old stories.
  2. Yes, I do. Sometimes the system is just not practical. And it does focus to much on writing in the basic subset, while it should focus on interacting and understanding. As with learning your own language and mother tongue you first learn to speak before learning to read and then to write. Some people will not "get" the writing part until they actually have a firm grasp on the language , and can formulate complete and meaningful sentences in speech. Other thrive well on the rules and repetition of the vocabulary and grammar rules, and will do great on tests in written form, but can not make a coherent speech in person to person.
  3. This is the point of an idiom, to use words and expressions in an unusual way, to use the opposite meaning is to emphasize it. So when something is sick it means to be very good, because being sick(ill) is bad, not good. This is common in most languages, to use it in the opposite meaning to emphasize it.
  4. There has been attempts to make a universal sign language like Esperanto. International Sing Language is the most common one, although it is most widely spread in Europe and America. More common is the Latin alphabet , the signs for the letters are very similar to languages using Latin letters , but naturally you cannot sign anything other than letters, but then you can sign out words in an other language you have learned. Some signs are very common to similar cultures, or can be used in a way to communicate even if not using "specific language" in signs. ut confusing for neighboring countries, as in speak say Italian and Spanish , they have a lot of similar words and can communicate , or German and Dutch . But In Sign the differences can be very big as they are more culturally dependent. Almost all languages have their on sign language. One of the reasons is that they often don't sing out all the words like we speak, but the meaning, idea, main action in the sentence. Example : Are you driving the bus? Speaking . pointing at you, making the bus sign + drive sign, and making a question with you face; rising eyebrows. Signing.
  5. In meiner Familie sind Skispringen wichtig , besonderes die neuen Jahr Rennen inm Besonders. Biathlon-Stafffel macht auch viel Spass.
  6. God jul ! - Merry Christmas. Vi ønsker dere en god jul! We wish you a merry Christmas ! Gledelig jul! _ Joyful Christmas! Fortsatt god jul! - Continued merry Christmas ! Godt nytt år! Happy new year ! Helligdager - Holy days -days when shops are closed. There is plenty in Norway. Julaften - Christmas Eve - The day of Christmas celebration in Norway (December 24.) Holy day from 5pm. Shops closes early,and all public transport is shut down between 3pm(15.00) and 9pm (21.00) 1.Juledag ( første juledag) Chrismas Day (december 25.) Holy day, no shops open. 2.Juledag ( andre juledag) Boxing Day (DEcember 27) Holy Day, no shops open. ' 13. dag jul , Januray 6, Hellige 3 Kongers Dag. Fromold one celebrated 20 days of Christmas all the days until January 13 ,the last day before you had to throw out Christmas as in the Christmas tree. Juletre - Christmas tree Juletrelys - Christmas tree light(s) Med ønsker om en fortsatt fredfull og gledelig jul 2014 og et godt nytt år! (literal translation below) With wishes of a continued peaceful and joyful Christmas 2014 and a good(happy) new year ! Kaffi
  7. Melk - milk Brød - bread Brødskive - slice of bread Rundstykke - breadroll / like bagel Knekkebrød - flatbread ,like Wasa hard crispy rectangular piece or round Smør - butter Margarin - margarine Ost - cheese Smøreost - spreadable cheese Syltetøy - like jam ; this is not a jelly or marmalade, it is usually fruit and berries cooked and stirred with sugar and contains pieces and sometimes more or less whole berries. Pålegg - whatever you put on your piece of bread or knekkebrød , so cheese, syltetøy, egg, cuts of meat or anything else you put on. Egg - egg (in Norwegian egg is one of those words that stay the same in single and plural) Servelat, Skinke(påleegg) - cuts of ham Kylling-pålegg - cuts of chicken Makrell i tomat - mackerel in tomato-sauce Kaviar - usually this is in a tube and is spreadable ; caviar with some sauce Sjokade Nugatti Nutella - chocolate spreads with or without nuts and milk Agurk - cucumber Paprika - bell peppers ,paprika Tomat -tomato Jus /juice - juice Saft - concentrated sweet fruit/berry lemonade/juice diluted with water. Frokost - breakfast Formiddagsmat , lunsj - brunch, lunch Ettermiddags mat - meal between 13.30 and 17.30 Middag - dinner Kveldsmat - evening meal before bed-time(every kid will have a evening meal after dinner) Nattmat - midnight or late night meal, typically after a late movie or after a party on your way home or after you get home. Matpause - break for food , at school they call the break in the middle of the day for "Matpause" its usually the longest break and you have allotted at least 20 minutes to eating your food. Matpakke - your pack of food , that you bring with you usually in your lunchbox. In Norway you bring your matpakke with you to school and work, it usually contains slices of bread with pålegg. Eple - apple Pære - pear Banan - banana Druer -grapes Løk - onion Vårløk -spring onion Purre - leek (hode)kål -cabbage Gulrot - carrot Kålrot - swede ,rutabaga Fenikkel - fennel Potet - potato Reddik - radish Beter - beets Rosenkål - Brussels sprouts Erter -peas Kjøtt - meat Får, sau, lam - cheep , mutton Gris - pig Ku - cow Okse - ox Kalv - veal Kylling - chicken Høne - hen Hare - rabbit Geit - goat Kalkun - turkey Pølse - sausage, Wienerpølse / grillpølse - hot dogs Skinke - ham Fisk - fish Fiskeboller - fishballs , usually white fish mixed with flour,milk,salt,pepper into a smooth "dough" and made into small balls that are boiled in eater, and you buy them ready made in a tin or vacuumed-packed , you eat them sliced up on bread or heat them up for diner. Fiskekaker - fish cakes , usually with mix of different minced fish, onion, chive, pepper,salt, potato starch sometimes with flour and milk , a coarser meatier cake , usually buy it ready made and eat for dinner, Kjøttkaker - mix of minced meat, onions, pepper, salt, spices , eggs or flour made into cakes and cooked on a skillet or cast iron pan, eaten for dinner. You can buy them ready or make your own. Kjøttboller - like Kjøttkaker or cooked in sauce like Italian meatballs. Saus - sauce Grønnsaker - vegetables Suppe - soup Gul ertesuppe - Swedish yellow pea soup Surkål - sort of like Sauerkraut Rødkål - red cabbage cooked in a saft from red berries, sugar, a bit of vinegar and water with spices. Fårikål - mutton in cabbage , layered cabbage and mutton, whole pepper and salt repeatedly until you fill the 15 liter pan, add ca 1 liter water and cook for 2,5-4 hrs adding water if needed , served with potatoes . Fårikål sesongen - The season starts when the sheep's are brought down from the mountains in the fall, usually in September, the unofficial national "Fårikåldagen" ( the day of the Fårikål) is the last Thursday in September. Lofot skrei - Skrei = cod - This cod comes in to Lofoten in February to April and comes from the Barents sea to spawn and is another national dish , especially along the coast.
  8. The origin of the meaning, coming from a family of shipbuilders and wood-choppers, is a chip of wood chopped from a block of wood , a piece big enough to be carried on your shoulder, the right kind of wood can be very heavy. In the earlier days, a chip, or chips that were chopped off timber and blocks of wood that were not useful in building, could be carried off home for firewood or other use. So you carried a heavy load on your shoulder , as if you had a grudge against someone, an unsettled argument or dispute. So staring a new argument or coming in to a discussion without an open mind, but already with a grievance. In the USA it became a saying that if someone knocked your chip of your shoulder you had a reason to get into a fight. And it was recorded in writing from early 1800's. And today it still means that you have an unsettled argument or feeling wronged , so you are not coming with an open mind, but with a predisposition of need for being righted of the earlier wrongs don to you. This saying is used differently in UK, USA and Europe , it holds the grievance meaning still in USA.
  9. I remember being very puzzled when my fathers friends from UK would say : Its not all beer and skittles. I had to ask my father and learned that it meant it's not all fun and pleasure , you also have to be serious. I remember the grown-ups talking about " decorating the mahogany" and the ladies not to pleased with that , I couldn't see why as to decorate was something the ladies did all the time so why be upset if their husband did it. As I grew older I learned that it meant " to put money on the bar top to buy a round" and some men would spend all their money "decorating the mahogany". Shooting fish in a barrel , was also one I learned early on. When something is so easy you cannot fail.
  10. Do you consider Elven found in THe Lord Of The Rings and the writings of JRR.Tolkien to be a language ? I speak a rare old dialect of Vest-Telemark, that no-one seems to know today except a few hundred in that area, its more similar to Old Norse. And a bit of Old Norse, and a bit of Icelandic . These are similar, as well as the dialect they speak in Upper part of Setesdalen, just across the mountain from that part of Vest-Telemark. They all contain structure from Old Norse and when spoken people from these areas can understand each other. It is considered a language? Well, it might well be in linguistic circle's in the near future. I would like to know more languages, and I guess that several of them is rare, like Sami, and Inuit.
  11. Yes , but sometimes this is not right either, even though you can translate the words, the maening des not always correlate. Slow - can be translated sakte , sen / treg . He is always slow = Han er alltid sen /treg. Someone is slow. He is always late ( as in arriving later that scheduled) = Han er alltid sen ( han er alltid sent ute). It goes really slow today= Det går veldig tregt idag/ Det går veldig sakte i dag. (the colloquial form is tregt) Something is slow
  12. I try not to have one, but depending on mood and location I can sound like a typical Scandinavian descendant from North Dakota or Wisconsin, have a southern take from Texas or Oklahoma and sometimes like a New York-er. I tend to pick up accents easily and can also sport a heavy Swedish accent, a Russian accent and a Hungarian at times. As I have friends from these places and stick me with them for more than 4 hrs and I am slanting towards their speech pattern and accent. There are several accents in LA area, it was quite entertaining to move from location to location and hear the differences.
  13. It all depends on the type of writing I do. Sometimes you have very strict guidelines to follow, like for certain types of poems, then you have to be creative ,yet fluid in your style of writing, and use words that resonate with yourself. Writing stories ,tend to be very different, you have to suss out the intended audience and write in a way that they can connect, so that brings you to another style of writing. If I write recipe's there is very stringent rules to apply too, what type of measurements to use, how to explain use and tools etc. Its also makes a difference if your writing in a general English, that is are you using American or British spellings and words dominated within each country or slang. There are different ways of expressing things more likely found in one cultural setting than an other. My writings are generally with American English and mostly from the American continent set of styles, but also of a general European culture, and it does reflect my writing type and style.
  14. Besides my English, Norwegian , Swedish ( could need some top up on the very specific science side) and Danish. I am currently learning German ( as I forgot most of it and want to be fluent not just bar talk), Icelandic - needs more work ,and makes it easier to read Old Norse French - I am just a beginner The ones I only know a few words in and want to learn semi-fluent to fluent are : Hungarian Russian Arabic Cantonese and these too: Sami - both north and south Scandinavian type Aleut or Eskaelut ( Eskimo) Maori Mongolian Sioux
  15. You are discussion speech not language skill as in comprehension of the written word or spoken formal ,like the one you learn in books. Speech is often very lax among people in general , when not in a public forum like TV hosts or at work or schools. I often find it strange, that when you come to the advanced level in school or at the place they teach you language, they don't let you hear radio, and watch TV shows to hear what it sounds like in normal speech. Usually many languages have different accents and way of speaking ,compared to the formal way of speaking and writing. When I talk with my friend I might say : Lets Go! Comin' ar' ya? But I would write; Let us go, are you coming? I would skip words when talking, that is there in writing, and if I were to give a formal speech. I guess we all do in our normal day to day talk with others. And speed up is one thing that we all in our native languages.
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