Dialogue

Vocabulary

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Lesson Transcript

INTRODUCTION
Eric: Hi everyone, and welcome back to NorwegianClass101.com. This is Intermediate Season 1 Lesson 17 - Do You Know Your Norwegian History? Eric Here.
Mai: Hei, I'm Mai.
Eric: In this lesson, you’ll learn about discussing eras, decades, and centuries. The conversation takes place at home.
Mai: It's between Anne and Martin.
Eric: The speakers are friends. Therefore, they will speak informal Norwegian. Okay, let's listen to the conversation.
DIALOGUE
Anne: Visste du at Norge ble regnet som et relativt homogent samfunn frem til 1970-tallet?
Martin: Nei, det visste jeg ikke. Det er vanskelig å forestille seg.
Anne: Ja, men selv om innvandringen tok av på 70-tallet, så var det likevel vanlig å rekruttere fagfolk fra utlandet helt tilbake til middelalderen.
Martin: Hva med arbeidsinnvandringen?
Anne: Jo, vi deler innvandring inn i tre kategorier; rekruttering av fagfolk, arbeidsinnvandring og flyktninger.
Martin: Så ettersom vi rekrutterte fagfolk fra middelalderen av, når startet arbeidsinnvandringen?
Anne: Den startet på 1800-tallet og varte helt til 70-tallet.
Martin: Åja, som pappen min altså. Han kom jo til Norge på 60-tallet for å jobbe.
Anne: Virkelig? Da har han vært her noen tiår, ikkesant?
Martin: Ja. Hvordan kan du alt dette forresten?
Anne: Jeg leser rundt på nettet så klart.
Eric: Listen to the conversation with the English translation.
Anne: Did you know that Norway was considered as a relatively homogeneous society until the 1970s?
Martin: No, I didn't know. It's hard to imagine.
Anne: Yes, but even though immigration took off in the 70's, it was still common to recruit professionals from abroad all the way back to the Middle Ages.
Martin: What about the labor migration?
Anne: Yes, we divide immigration into three categories: recruitment of professionals, labor immigration, and refugees.
Martin: So, since we recruited professionals from the Middle Ages onward, when did the labor migration start?
Anne: It started in the 1800s and lasted until the 70s.
Martin: Oh, like my dad then. He came to Norway in the 60s to work.
Anne: Really? Then he has been here a couple of decades, right?
Martin: Yes. How do you know all this by the way?
Anne: I read it around on the Internet of course.
POST CONVERSATION BANTER
Eric: Mai, I've heard that immigration in Norway has become a very hot topic in the past few years.
Mai: Yes, with a lot of unrest around the world, many people have had to flee their countries and make their way to safer countries.
Eric: Especially people from Syria, Afghanistan, and Somalia.
Mai: This has also affected Norway. In 1992, only 4% of the Norwegian population was born abroad. In 2015, it was 15%.
Eric: Norway appears to be an immigration friendly and liberal country.
Mai: Yes, though many people think that we’re far from it. For example, the media spreads negativity and fear around the topic.
Eric: I see. I guess this topic is becoming more sensitive in other countries too. What’s the Norwegian word for “asylum?”
Mai: It’s very similar to the English. It’s asyl.
Eric: Okay, now onto the vocab.
VOCAB LIST
Eric: Let’s take a look at the vocabulary from this lesson. The first word is...
Mai: relativt [natural native speed]
Eric: relative
Mai: relativt[slowly - broken down by syllable]
Mai: relativt [natural native speed]
Eric: Next we have...
Mai: å regne [natural native speed]
Eric: to consider
Mai: å regne[slowly - broken down by syllable]
Mai: å regne [natural native speed]
Eric: Next we have...
Mai: homogen [natural native speed]
Eric: homogeneous
Mai: homogen[slowly - broken down by syllable]
Mai: homogen [natural native speed]
Eric: Next we have...
Mai: å forestille [natural native speed]
Eric: to imagine
Mai: å forestille[slowly - broken down by syllable]
Mai: å forestille [natural native speed]
Eric: Next we have...
Mai: innvandring [natural native speed]
Eric: immigration
Mai: innvandring[slowly - broken down by syllable]
Mai: innvandring [natural native speed]
Eric: Next we have...
Mai: fagfolk [natural native speed]
Eric: professional
Mai: fagfolk[slowly - broken down by syllable]
Mai: fagfolk [natural native speed]
Eric: Next we have...
Mai: arbeid [natural native speed]
Eric: labor
Mai: arbeid[slowly - broken down by syllable]
Mai: arbeid [natural native speed]
Eric: Next we have...
Mai: flyktning [natural native speed]
Eric: refugee
Mai: flyktning[slowly - broken down by syllable]
Mai: flyktning [natural native speed]
Eric: Next we have...
Mai: å rekruttere [natural native speed]
Eric: to recruit
Mai: å rekruttere[slowly - broken down by syllable]
Mai: å rekruttere [natural native speed]
Eric: And last...
Mai: nettopp [natural native speed]
Eric: exactly
Mai: nettopp[slowly - broken down by syllable]
Mai: nettopp [natural native speed]
KEY VOCAB AND PHRASES
Eric: Let's have a closer look at the usage of some of the words and phrases from this lesson. The first word is...
Mai: å forestille
Eric: meaning "to imagine."
Mai: You usually use å forestille with a reflexive verb.
Eric: Can you give us an example using this word?
Mai: Sure. For example, you can say, Jeg forestilte meg at det skulle være kaldere.
Eric: meaning "I imagined it to be colder."
Mai: Here’s another example: Kan du forestille deg noe vakrere?
Eric: ...which means "Can you imagine anything more beautiful?"
Eric: Okay, what's the next word?
Mai: nettopp
Eric: meaning "exactly."
Mai: You can use this adverb the same way as in English. It can also mean "just."
Eric: Can you give us an example using this word?
Mai: Sure. For example, you can say, Hun hadde nettopp lagt seg da telefonen ringte.
Eric: ...which means "She had just went to bed when the phone rang."
Mai: You can also say Jeg kom nå nettopp.
Eric: meaning "I came just now."
Eric: Okay, now onto the lesson focus.

Lesson focus

Eric: In this lesson, you’ll learn how to talk about eras, decades, and centuries in Norwegian. Ok, let's start with decades.
Mai: “Decade” in Norwegian is Tiår. It’s a singular noun, and the plural form is also Tiår.
Eric: Are there any examples in the dialogue?
Mai: Yes. Da har han vært her noen tiår, ikkesant?
Eric: meaning “Then he has been here a couple of decades, right?” Ok, but how do you express the decades, for example “the twenties?”
Mai: In Norwegian, you add -tallet to any even numbers of ten. -tallet comes from the word tall, meaning “number.”
Eric: Can you give us an example?
Mai: tjue-tallet
Eric: meaning "the twenties."
Mai: nitti-tallet
Eric: "the nineties."
Mai: There’s also an example in the dialogue: Pappaen min kom jo til Norge på 60-tallet for å jobbe.
Eric: meaning "My dad came to Norway in the 60s to work." Ok, now let's find out how to talk about centuries.
Mai: “Century” in Norwegian is Århundre. Its plural form is århundrer, "centuries."
Eric: How can you talk about specific centuries?
Mai: Just as you add -tallet to the decades, you can do the same with the centuries. You say the number without the zeroes, then add hundre, "hundred," and -tallet at the end.
Eric: What’s the Norwegian for 1900s?
Mai: nittenhundre-tallet
Eric: 1800s?
Mai: attenhundre-tallet. There’s also an example in the dialogue: Den startet på 1800(attenhundre)-tallet og varte helt til 70(sytti)-tallet.
Eric: which means "It started in the 1800s and lasted until the seventies.”
Mai: The centuries in Norwegian are easy to learn up to the 1990s. But, there has been a lot of discussion as how 2000 followed by tallet is supposed to be read.
Eric: So how should we read it?
Mai: According to the rule, it should be read: tjuehundre-tallet. But, a lot of people say totusen-tallet. Totusen means "two thousand."
Eric: How would you say 2015 in Norwegian?
Mai: You can say either tjueohundreogfemten or totusenogfemten. The second one is more common though.
Eric: Ok, now that we know the vocabulary to talk about eras, let’s see how to talk about ideas in the past.
Mai: When talking about the past in Norwegian, we use simple past tense or perfect past tense.
Eric: We use simple past tense to talk about an event that happened at a specific time, but we don’t necessarily need to specify the time. Perfect past tense, on the other hand, is used when the focus is on the activity that happened and not when.
Mai: In the dialogue, we only have examples in the past tense. For example, Den startet på 1800-tallet og varte helt til 70-tallet.
Eric: Meaning “It started in the 1800s and lasted until the 70s.” Can you give us an example in the perfect past tense?
Mai: Jeg har lest Harry Potter.
Eric: which means “I have read Harry Potter.” How do we connect ideas in the past, then?
Mai: It’s the same as when you use the present tense. You can use certain words, such as "so” and “since,” to connect several sentences and make it sound more natural. For example, Så ettersom vi rekrutterte fagfolk fra middelalderen av, når startet arbeidsinnvandringen?
Eric: “So, since we recruited professionals from the Middle Ages onward, when did the labor migration start?”

Outro

Eric: Okay, that’s all for this lesson. Thank you for listening, everyone, and we’ll see you next time!
Mai: Ha det bra!

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