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Thursday, June 26, 2008

Hey there are two official languages in Norway

Norway has two official languages - Bokmal and Nynorsk. Both languages are very similar. In addition to the two versions of Norwegian, Sami is spoken in some communities in northern Norway.

Generally Bokmal is used in most websites, books and newspapers and it is the language used in most official documents. It is also the main spoken language in Oslo. Nynorsk is the more common spoken language outside Oslo and you'll hear it spoken most often outside the big cities, even though small town newspapers are usually printed in Bokmal.

In the language guide below, we indicate where the two versions of Norwegian differ.


Notice the list of important official documents "websites" and then "books and newspapers" How long is it going to be until I read "websites" and historical source material such as "books, newspapers, parchment scrolls, Papyrus scrolls, and cave paintings" ?

Henrik Ibsen is one of my favorite authors. I don't know if he wrote in Bokmal or Nynorsk or, shudder, Sami.

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