maandag 29 december 2014

Understanding the Norwegian language

In the Summer of 2015 I am planning a trip to Norway. And normally I always try to learn at least a bit of the local language. I tried so with Estonian (failed dismally), Hungary (a bit more luck) and Turkey (long forgotten, but at least I didn't starve when I went across the border.

And now I will start to learn Norwegian. Which is a bit problematic, as I don't know *which* Norwegian to learn. According to wikipedia, they have Bokmål, Nynorsk, Riksmål and Høgnorsk.
I understand that some are for written use, and others for talking, although apparently most Norwegians write one thing and speak another thing (often dialect).

So which one should I learn? It helps to say that I have a basic understanding of Danish vocabulary and pronunciation (but not grammar), so something that would use that as a basis might be practical.