LESSON TRANSCRIPT
Absolute Beginner S1 #3
More About the Norwegian Alphabet
CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION
LESSON CONVERSATION
POST CONVERSATION BANTER
VOCAB LIST
KEY VOCABULARY AND PHRASES
LESSON FOCUS
# 3
[Link] ABSOLUTE BEGINNER S1 #3 1
INTRODUCTION
Yura: Hi everyone, I'm Yura and welcome back to [Link]'s Absolute Beginner Season 1,
Lesson 3 - More About the Norwegian Alphabet.
Filip: I'm Filip. Velkommen tilbake. Welcome back. We’re continuing on from our last lesson with the last
three letters of the Norwegian alphabet.
Yura: To make things simple, we have three characters who are saying their favorite words in
Norwegian.
Filip: These words contain the special letters in Norwegian not found in English, so listen closely.
Filip: Shall we jump right in?
Yura: Sure, let's listen to the conversation.
LESSON CONVERSATION
Ærling: Jeg liker servere, merke, og lærer.
Øivind: Jeg liker øre, kjøre, og løpe.
Åge: Jeg liker påske, sokker og måne.
English Host: Let’s hear the conversation one time slowly.
Ærling: Jeg liker servere, merke, og lærer.
Øivind: Jeg liker øre, kjøre, og løpe.
Åge: Jeg liker påske, sokker og måne.
English Host: Now let’s hear it with the English translation.
Ærling: Jeg liker servere, merke, og lærer.
Yura: I like the words "serve", "brand" and "teacher".
Øivind: Jeg liker øre, kjøre, og løpe.
Yura: I like the words "ear", "drive" and "run".
Åge: Jeg liker påske, sokker og måne.
Yura: I like the words "easter", "socks" and "moon".
POST CONVERSATION BANTER
Yura: And that’s the conversation!
Filip: It is understandable that the æ, ø and å are a bit of a turn off. These letters don’t exist in English.
Yura: Are they found in other languages?
[Link] ABSOLUTE BEGINNER S1 #3 2
Filip: Well, Danish has them and Swedish has some that are quite similar. The sounds are also pretty
alike.
Yura: Actually, these three languages are mutually intelligible, right?
Filip: Well, almost. I mean sure, they share common backgrounds.
Yura: At least in written form, the three languages have few differences.
Filip: Yeah, that’s true. However, the spoken forms are a bit more complicated.
Yura: Oh? Tell us more about it.
Filip: Well…To outsiders, Norwegian and Swedish might seem very similar spoken. And that is true.
However Norwegians tend to understand Swedish better than Swedes understand Norwegian.
Yura: Hmm, I see.
Filip: Furthermore Swedish and Danish people have a hard time understanding each other. Danes
understand Norwegian a little. Basically, Norwegians understand Swedish and Danish much better than
Swedes and Danes understand Norwegian.
Yura: But that’s the spoken language, right? If they see it written down, they’re all actually very close,
right?
Filip: Yes, these languages all look very similar when written.
Yura: And with that, let’s take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson.
VOCAB LIST
Yura: Let's take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson.
The first word we shall see is:
Filip: å kjøre [natural native speed]
Yura: to drive
Filip: å kjøre [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Filip: å kjøre [natural native speed]
Next:
Filip: å løpe [natural native speed]
Yura: to run
Filip: å løpe [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Filip: å løpe [natural native speed]
Next:
Filip: måne [natural native speed]
[Link] ABSOLUTE BEGINNER S1 #3 3
Yura: moon
Filip: måne [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Filip: måne [natural native speed]
Next:
Filip: sokker [natural native speed]
Yura: socks
Filip: sokker [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Filip: sokker [natural native speed]
Next:
Filip: øre [natural native speed]
Yura: ear
Filip: øre [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Filip: øre [natural native speed]
Next:
Filip: merke [natural native speed]
Yura: brand
Filip: merke [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Filip: merke [natural native speed]
Next:
Filip: påske [natural native speed]
Yura: Easter
Filip: påske [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Filip: påske [natural native speed]
Next:
Filip: servere [natural native speed]
Yura: to serve
Filip: servere [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Filip: servere [natural native speed]
Next:
[Link] ABSOLUTE BEGINNER S1 #3 4
Filip: lærer [natural native speed]
Yura: teacher
Filip: lærer [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Filip: lærer [natural native speed]
KEY VOCABULARY AND PHRASES
Yura: Let's take a closer look at the words and phrases from this lesson.
Filip: Ok. If you don't have the lesson notes in front of you, you might not have noticed what is so special
about these letters. There were a few words in there that sound like they contain either of æ, ø and å.
But in written form, they don’t.
Yura: So what we’re trying to say is this - there are some words here whose vowels have a different
sound from what they usually have.
Filip: Correct.
Yura: Could you please repeat our words?
Filip: Alright, the first one is "sokker". Compare it to "påske" and you’ll hear they have the same [å]
sound.
Yura: Could you please repeat both, Filip?
Filip: påske
Filip: Sokker
Yura: Great. The next ones are?
Filip: Merke and servere. Compare those to lærer which also sounds the same.
Yura: Please, repeat Filip.
Filip: Lærer
Filip: Merke
Filip: Servere
Yura: Alright. Don’t get too scared by these examples. There are only a few. But as you can see
Norwegian is full of these three letters or sounds.
Filip: Let’s move to the grammar.
LESSON FOCUS
Yura: Since we are only covering three letters this time, this won’t be the longest explanation. However
let’s try to make these three letters stick with you for the rest of your life!
Filip: Haha, don’t sound so scary now!
[Link] ABSOLUTE BEGINNER S1 #3 5
Yura: Well, a lot of people learning Norwegian get put off when they see a word containing one of these
letters because they can’t relate to them.
Filip: Yeah, I can understand that. It’s like becoming unsure of whether you pronounce it correctly or not.
Yura: Well don’t worry because we are here help you, the listener, conquer this fear.
Filip: Ok so to start off with, let’s introduce our three letters. Although I'm sure you are already quite
familiar with them.
Yura: Alright Filip. Say the letter out loud, then let our listener repeat and you say it one more time.
Filip: Okay
Filip: Æ - pause - Æ
Yura: Next
Filip: Ø - pause - Ø
Yura: And then
Filip: Å - pause - Å
Yura: Okay, great! Now, why don’t you give us an example of some words then, and add the sample
sentences as well.
Filip: Repeat after me. For the first sound, æ.
Filip: Lærer - pause - lærer
Yura: It means “teacher”. And an example sentence?
Filip: Hun er forelska i læreren
Yura: "She is in love with the teacher"
Filip: Now for the next sound - ø
Filip: An example is Øre - pause - øre
Yura: It means “Ear”. And the example sentence?
Filip: Jeg har to ører
Yura: "I have two ears"
Filip: Now the sound å. An example is påske - pause - påske
Yura: It means “Easter”. And the sample sentence?
Filip: Påske betyr fjellet.
Yura: "Easter means going to the mountains."
Yura: Great. I think that should really help to get over that first wall in learning Norwegian!
[Link] ABSOLUTE BEGINNER S1 #3 6
Filip: And with that we finish this lesson!
Yura: Good luck with your studies, and please re-listen to any of the previous lessons or move on if you
feel brave enough!
Filip: See you next time!
Yura: Hade
[Link] ABSOLUTE BEGINNER S1 #3 7