Norwegian speaker

[pigpen]

Long shot but does anyone here speak / read Norwegian ?

[ha_banos]

Long shot but does anyone here speak / read Norwegian ?

Not personally. But I know a lass who does.

[pigpen]

Its all good the person I need to converse with speaks perfect English. Thank you very much though.

[simwells]

Its all good the person I need to converse with speaks perfect English. Thank you very much though.

I was thinking that it was unusual for them not to, every Norwegian I’ve ever met has spoken better English than most born here!


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[Simon Bolivar]

I worked on a rig that was working on the UK side of the Norwegian boarder. We had plenty of Noggies onboard & the official language was English so all could speak it to some extent. If I had a patietn that couldn't really describe their illness adequately, I would get the Safety Officer in to translate. When that drilling programme finished, the rig moved into Norwegian waters & whilst Brit Crane Op's & Radio Ops were kept on, I was kicked off. To be the Medic in their waters you had to be a nurse & speak a Scandinavian language. And that was basically because Norway never became full members of the EU so could make their own rules about employment requirements.

[oskihen]

I worked on a rig that was working on the UK side of the Norwegian boarder. We had plenty of Noggies onboard & the official language was English so all could speak it to some extent. If I had a patietn that couldn't really describe their illness adequately, I would get the Safety Officer in to translate. When that drilling programme finished, the rig moved into Norwegian waters & whilst Brit Crane Op's & Radio Ops were kept on, I was kicked off. To be the Medic in their waters you had to be a nurse & speak a Scandinavian language. And that was basically because Norway never became full members of the EU so could make their own rules about employment requirements.

Fair play to the Norwegians 👍

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[Simon Bolivar]

Fair play to the Norwegians 👍

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Indeed, could have made a big difference if our immigrants had to pass a basic English language to get it, as you do in some other countries to live & work. My daughter had to take the International English test to go to Bournemouth Uni, even though she was brought up bi-lingual. She would have had to re-take it but having gained a Masters, it's now assumed her English is good enough for life. Funnily enough now she has been over for 8yrs, I asked her to translate a For Sale note for me into Dutch & she had to go through it with her mother, as there were a few words she just couldn't remember. Use it or lose it.

[Stevieboy]

Indeed, could have made a big difference if our immigrants had to pass a basic English language to get it, as you do in some other countries to live & work.

Serious question... Did you have to learn Dutch/French/German etc to qualify to live in Belgium?
What is the Belgian citizenship exam like? Was it difficult?

[Simon Bolivar]

Serious question... Did you have to learn Dutch/French/German etc to qualify to live in Belgium?
What is the Belgian citizenship exam like? Was it difficult?

Good question Stevie & I am not proud of the answer but we all have our talents & I have some very useful ones but languages is certainly not one of of them. I did one yr of French at 11yo & was told not to bother for the next year & told to do extra biology instead (at least I passed that). To learn a first second language at 30yo isn't easy, it would have been easier if I was living & working here but every 2 or 3 wks I would leave & despite going to night school, just couldn't keep up. Everyone else in the night class was learning their 3rd, 4th or more, language so the concept of thinking in different languages wasn't foreign to them & they advanced really quickly. Funnily enough I worked for Neddrill, a Dutch drilling company at the time but the official language was English, as is it is mostly throughout the oil world. Unless you were totally fluent is was easier & safer to talk in English.

Of course as for the 29yrs I was living here, we were part of Europe & therefor I had the right to live anywhere in Europe. I didn't need to test & I never chose to taken Belgian citizenship; there was no advantage & I could have ended up paying more taxes. A language test is required as it happens, unless you're 65yo+ by which time I guess they have given up you'll ever get the hang of it.

I do agree if you chose to live & work in a country, you should make all efforts to learn the language, even if you never get to the stage of passing an exam but in Flander's they all speak English & it;s too easy to get by, if we lived in Wallonia, you'd have to speak French or starve!