Anyone who has ever visited Norway would have noticed the strong standing of the English language. If you turn on your television, there's a large chance that the language being spoken will be English, even in Norwegian channels, not to mention the large amount of English-language channels available on cable or satelite. If you walk into any bookstore or kiosk, you will find heaps of books and magazines in English. And of course, the prevalent language in many areas of academia is English.
Norwegians, alongside the Dutch, got a reputation for being well versed in foreign languages. Almost everyone speaks English at a fairly decent level, and a great deal speak a third and maybe a fourth language. A lot of the reasons for that can be attributed to the strong standing of English and other languages, and the tradition for not dubbing films and tv. The only movies and tv being dubbed into Norwegian are childrens' tv and films. Otherwise it will be subtitled, with the original language being spoken. Especially within academia and business, the pressures on the Norwegian language is great, and if the ongoing trends continue, the Norwegian vocabulary in these areas will erode. The government, and the Minister of Culture, Trond Giske, has recognized the need to do something about this. While there is nothing wrong with being open to other languages, the Minister of Culture is certainly right that there is a danger of the Norwegian language eroding, at least in certain areas. And preserving a Norwegian vocabulary is important, even in very internationally oriented areas of society, such as business and academia.
Erosion of a language is something that happens over time. From day to day it is not noticable. But you would not have to go back very long to notice some significant differences in the way we speak. English has slowly crept into our everyday language, and English phrases and words have become so commonplace that we do not even think of them as English anymore. Words like chips, coaching, teamwork, carpark, dating, computer, and so on are used so often that they have become "Norwegian".
As language is culture, it is part of our culture that is eroding. That should be taken seriously. If you go even further, and accept the romantic notion that language is the soul and identity of a nation, it is our Norwegian soul and identity that is eroding.
I do think it is a good thing that we are open to other languages, and I do not want Norwegian television to start dubbing movies and other tv-shows into Norwegian. And I would not like to see the strong standing of English or other languages in Norway diminished. Still, a greater awareness and appreciation of our Norwegian language would be a good thing.
Anyone to notice the irony of me writing this post? A Norwegian blogger asking for more appreciation of the Norwegian language - in English...
3 comments:
I so agree!
And all these Swedish joking about the fact that Norwegians have a funny half-english language!
YOU SEE: IT'S A PROBLEM and you shouldn't joke about people's problems! It's rude...
If we don't protect the Norwegian language, my CV will suck! And we wouldn't be able to enjoy all those articles on Aftenposten or Dagbladet. (Besides, let's face it: Evening Post and Daily News wouldn't be such an original name, would it?)talking about Finnish people trying to steel an ear to a statue on Easter Island.
...or this one in alternative
http://www.dagbladet.no/dinside/2008/03/26/530621.html
I might perhaps need to clarify that what I wrote at the end was not meant to say that the posting is irony - only that it is slightly ironic that I am not writing in my own mother tongue, but still saying that we should appreciate it more...
I dind't know that the Swedes are making fun of us, but I guess they have good reasons for it, then :)
Post a Comment