So I booked a short last minute trip to Bergen, Norway and thought it would be fun to see how much Norwegian I can learn until I go. I have exactly 45 days.
I currently speak only Italian as a second language and English being my mother tongue and from my experience it took me at least 3 years to get to a decent level in Italian so I don’t believe I can reach a decent conversational level in Norwegian In 45 days but I will give it a go just for a bit of fun.
I think I can progress quicker than what I did with my Italian because:
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Italian was my first language that I ever learnt, I have a better method of learning now.
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Norwegian seems to be fairly close to English grammatically.
Some obstacles are:
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Lack of content
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Pronunciation seems a bit difficult
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The words seem to join each other making comprehension difficult.
Content I will be using:
Mini stories
Norsk vlog (YouTube channel) has subtitles
Netflix subtitles
I will also be using babbel on the side to help with some of the grammar.
If anyone is interested how I get on, I would be happy to provide updates.
Also if anyone has tips or just general thoughts towards my challenge feel free to post.
Wish me luck!
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With Norwegian the main thing is that they all speak incredibly local variations of the language. Not to discourage you, from what I’ve heard with Italian it’s worse.
And honestly, Afrikaans being the first Germanic language I studied and also after having extended my experience by learning others. I think whilst probably not fluent, you will get much further and quicker than you did in Italian probably.
My only tip is to try and listen to vlogs of people specifically from Bergen or adjacent area.
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If you’re hoping to use the language in such a short time, think about what kind of questions or things you would like to be able to ask or say on your visit. If you think you’d just like to be able to do just typical travel type things then you can focus on those.
You could start with a phrasebook. I like the lonely planet ones. Or you could start with something like this:
Norwegian phrasebook – Travel guide at Wikivoyage
There’s also a “survival” vocabulary list under Paul Nation resources you could look at too:
Vocabulary lists | Te Kura Tātari Reo / School of Linguistics and Applied Language Studies | Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington (wgtn.ac.nz)
Or you can subtract or add to these phrases depending on things you think you would be more likely to ask when you travel-or other things you might like to ask or say.
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Was a similar situation last year. I had an absolute blast, and Norway is a beautiful country and Bergen is a great city to choose for a visit. I expect you’ll have a great time.
I had no illusions of achieving any type of fluency in 45 days. Even a full time intensive FSI course is 24 weeks to B2ish, and I had nowhere near 45 hrs per week. Don’t let that stop you from throwing yourself at it! I did what I could and loved it!
I took a more goal oriented approach. What could I achieve in my ~1 hr/day? I wanted to be able to read basic language, especially signage, menus, ingredient lists, written placards, etc. I wanted to be able to make guidebook level questions, and though understanding answers was a stretch, I focused on potential key words that might be in answers to my questions in the hope of understanding as much as I could. I definitely was able to achieve that in 45 days/45 hours.
I used:
- FSI norwegian headstart course pdf and audio.
- Duolingo (I know, I know, it’s the devil…lol.) I personally think it is a fine superbeginner resource to get a feel for the language grammar and basic phonology before other resources should be used.
- Duolingo tips - Not on duolingo anymore, but archived here: Duolingo · Tips and Notes @ duome.eu
- LingQ Mini-stories - The CI approach is a little slow for impact in 45 hours, but I liked this for sentence mode, learning the basic structure, and listening comprehension with repetition.
- Some basic youtube channels with norwegian for beginners. It would be good to at least listen to an explanation for pitch accent, so you are aware of what it is.
I’m not saying these resources are the best, I’m just providing options.
I’m not sure how far you’ve gotten, but Norwegian also has two writing systems and pronunciation that varies by region. Most learning resources I used were the Oslo variety. If I’m not mistaken, Bergen uses primarily the same writing system, but pronunciation is different. Not sure on pitch accent. This wouldn’t stop them from understanding you, but if you are aware that there are variations you can make allowances for variation when you read/listen.
If you are American or prefer your water still (not sparkling), look up “uten kullsyre”. You’re welcome. 
Have fun and masse lykke til!
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I can’t recommend strongly enough the following YouTube channel which I use in combination with LingQ: https://www.youtube.com/@bildeglimt
Start with the Norwegian from Zero playlist.
Also, when in Bergen get the reindeer hot dogs at Trekroneren (https://maps.app.goo.gl/myZBqGBBfKe8nW4P8) but watch out for the birds that will try to steal them from your hand!
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