Learn the top five tools for learning the language
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| Jasmine: Hi, everybody and welcome back to the All About series. I'm Jasmine. |
| Filip: And I'm Filip. "Hei!" |
| Jasmine: This is all about series lesson 11. Top 5 most useful tools for learning Norwegian. |
| In this lesson, we have a great list of tools to help your Norwegian studies. |
| Filip: Yes, we do! |
| Jasmine: These are tools that are going to do wonders for your Norwegian. |
| Filip: And all of them will save you a lot of time! |
| Jasmine: Which brings us to our first tool. Entertainment! |
| Filip: Exactly! We should always remember that language is not just an academic pursuit. |
| Jasmine: The purpose of any language is to communicate with others and that is more often done through stories and video than through academic papers. Besides, entertainment provides excellent examples of how the language is actually used by native speakers, something no textbook can copy. |
| Filip: Some great sources for Norwegian learners of all levels are YouTube and the Norwegian TV channels and radio channels' web pages. Like NRK or TV2. |
| Jasmine: I know several people who have used movies and TV shows as their primary means of contact with culture. |
| Filip: Our next tool is a dictionary. |
| Jasmine: Using bilingual dictionaries is useful when studying Norwegian. There are many feature rich dictionaries out there, especially Cappelens, which is a treasure trove for Norwegian learners. |
| Filip: Nowadays though, web-based and electronic dictionaries are becoming popular. They are complete enough to help you with your composition assignments, faster than paperbound dictionaries, and available on any web browser or smartphone. |
| Jasmine: But be careful. Using a translation service like Google Translate might help you a long way in understanding a Norwegian sentence but it should in no way be relied upon. |
| Filip: True. Although when I use Google Translate to translate from Norwegian it is pretty much always spot on. Also remember the difference between web-based dictionaries and translation services. |
| Jasmine: That's right. Web-based dictionaries will give you the dictionary entry of the word you're looking for. An online translator will offer you a machine translation that is not always accurate. |
| Filip: Our next tool is…!? |
| Jasmine: Norwegian-speaking friends and loved ones. |
| Filip: Those are tools? |
| Jasmine: Of course! And potentially the most efficient and most rewarding source for learning Norwegian. Friends and loved ones who speak to you in Norwegian can give you more insight, understanding, and help you feel the heart of Norwegian. |
| Filip: That's true. Norwegian is always changing and the only way you can keep up is if you can feel the language the way they do. |
| Jasmine: The more time you spend learning from natural native speech, the better. What's our next tool? |
| Filip: Social networking websites. |
| Jasmine: Ah, yes. If you are like I was when I started learning Norwegian, then talking with Norwegian-speaking friends and family isn't really an option. I didn't know anyone who spoke Norwegian. |
| Filip: Many people are probably in a similar situation. That's why social networking sites can be so useful when you are learning a language. |
| Jasmine: One of the best is called Lang-8 – (l-a-n-g dash 8 (as in the number eight) dot com.) |
| Filip: This site is different from other language-learning sites in that it provides a free connection for native speakers of a language to correct writings of people who are studying that language. |
| Jasmine: For example, a native English speaker can correct a Norwegian person's English writing and a native Norwegian speaker can correct a native English speaker who is studying Norwegian. |
| Filip: It's quite helpful because it offers a free service for people to correct each other's writings. It's a great place to see how a native person might write a particular sentence, paragraph, or short writing sample. |
| Jasmine: And if you want to meet even more Norwegians, the best place is Facebook. |
| Filip: Who doesn't have Facebook these days? Facebook is by far the most popular SNS out there at the moment. |
| Jasmine: It's been around since 2005 and like in the U.S., in Norway Facebook has skyrocketed. Almost every Norwegian has a Facebook. |
| Filip: Right. Norwegians even give their pets and babies accounts on Facebook. |
| Jasmine: Try searching for Norwegian language pages, groups, or anything related to Norwegian language learning. It´s all for free! |
| Jasmine: Okay. Now our last tool is pen and paper! |
| Filip: Are you serious? A lot of people work on computers all day. People barely even use paper anymore. it's all digital now! |
| Jasmine: That may be true but I have my reasons. Shall we go through some of them? |
| Filip: Be my guest! |
| Jasmine: First, no digital anything is as cheap as a notebook. |
| Filip: Well you're right there. In Norway, you can get notebooks pretty cheap. |
| Jasmine: Second, no one will mug you for a notebook. |
| Filip: That's also true. In Norway, you always need to be safety conscious. Smartphones or other flashy gadgets are very expensive in Norway and thieves might try to steal them. |
| Jasmine: Third, it doesn't matter if it gets wet. You can throw it out and get a new one at any bookstore. No need to sync with a computer or a service provider! |
| Filip: That's important as it rains often in Norway and most tourists who come to Norway go to the beach at least once. |
| Filip: So then, how should we use our pen and paper? |
| Jasmine: Well, for example, you're at the store and you have a good idea about something to study but you can't remember what it was when you finally have the time to study. Has this happened to you? |
| Filip: Many times. |
| Jasmine: Instead, write down all your ideas and then choose what you want to study from your list. That way, you study what you want, when you want, and you aren't wasting time trying to remember your great idea. |
| Filip: That makes sense. |
| Jasmine: All right everyone , so we hope you will take advantage of these great tools and all they have to offer. |
| Filip: We've tried them and we know how good they are, so that's why we're passing them on to you! |
| Jasmine: Remember that the links for any sites and programs mentioned can be found in the accompanying PDF file. |
| Filip: Let us know what you think of them too! |
| Jasmine: If you have some other resources you would like to share, you can always stop by NorwegianPod101.com and share them with the community! |
| Filip: Until next time! |
| Jasmine: Bye everyone! |
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