How I learnt Norwegian on my own
Summary
TLDRIn this video, the speaker shares personal strategies for mastering Norwegian, emphasizing the importance of motivation and learning like a native. They discuss listening extensively, reading repetitively, and using technology like Google Translate to practice. The speaker also highlights the value of memorizing stories for vocabulary retention and pronunciation, and encourages speaking to oneself to build confidence and fluency. The video offers a wealth of tips for language learners, regardless of the language they're studying.
Takeaways
- 🌟 The speaker emphasizes the importance of motivation in language learning, highlighting that intrinsic motivation can lead to better language acquisition compared to learning in a school setting.
- 🎯 Having a clear goal in mind, such as speaking Norwegian like a native, can significantly boost one's language learning journey and maintain motivation.
- 👂 Listening extensively to the target language, even without understanding, is likened to how children learn their mother tongue and is a recommended strategy for language acquisition.
- 📚 Repetition of texts or messages in the target language, similar to children memorizing books, helps in internalizing the language's structure, vocabulary, and pronunciation.
- 🔍 Utilizing tools like Google Translate for pronunciation practice, despite common reservations, can be beneficial when used in the context of full sentences.
- 📝 Creating a list of frequently used words and actively seeking out sentences containing these words to learn in context is an effective vocabulary-building technique.
- 📖 Reading and re-reading the same sentences or texts helps in automatic learning of grammar, vocabulary, and pronunciation without the need for formal grammar exercises.
- 📝 Writing one's own stories in the target language, even with the help of translation tools, aids in learning new words and conjugations in a personalized context.
- 📚 Reading books in the target language, even if they are too difficult initially, can be a source of motivation and a way to gradually improve comprehension.
- 🎧 Listening to audiobooks while following the text can improve pronunciation and fluency, as it helps the brain to associate written words with their spoken form.
- 🎥 Using series and movies as learning tools by watching scenes multiple times with different subtitle settings can enhance listening and comprehension skills.
- 🗣️ Speaking to oneself in the target language is a valuable practice for building confidence, working on pronunciation, and making language use more automatic.
Q & A
Why did the speaker decide to make the video in English?
-The speaker chose to make the video in English to make it accessible for people who haven't started learning Norwegian yet and to provide tips that could be useful for learning any language.
What is the speaker's experience with learning Norwegian compared to learning Spanish at school?
-The speaker has been able to speak Norwegian fluently after three years, unlike Spanish which they learned at school for a longer time without being able to form sentences, highlighting the difference in motivation and learning context.
What was the speaker's main motivation for learning Norwegian?
-The speaker's main motivation for learning Norwegian was the goal to speak it like a native, which was driven by their desire to live in Norway.
How did the speaker approach learning Norwegian as an adult by mimicking a child's language learning process?
-The speaker focused on listening to Norwegian as much as possible, similar to how children listen before they speak, and tried to make sense of the language without initially focusing on grammar exercises.
What method did the speaker use to learn grammar, vocabulary, and pronunciation from a single text?
-The speaker would find a message or scene from a movie or TV series, write it down, and read it repeatedly to understand the words and mimic the language's melody, using tools like Google Translate for pronunciation.
How did the speaker use sentences with known words to improve vocabulary retention and usage?
-The speaker would make a list of useful words, find sentences containing those words in various contexts, and write them down to read out loud regularly, helping to remember the vocabulary and its usage.
What role did writing stories in Norwegian play in the speaker's language learning process?
-Writing stories in Norwegian allowed the speaker to practice creating sentences and learn new words and conjugations in a personal and contextualized manner.
How did the speaker use audiobooks to improve their reading and listening skills in Norwegian?
-The speaker would read a book while simultaneously listening to the audiobook, allowing them to follow the text and improve both their pronunciation and listening comprehension.
What technique did the speaker use to learn from series and movies?
-The speaker would watch scenes multiple times with different subtitle settings (none, Norwegian, English), and write down useful sentences to read out loud and learn vocabulary.
Why is learning sentences by heart considered beneficial by the speaker?
-Learning sentences by heart helps with remembering vocabulary, understanding grammar, learning conjugation, and improving accent and pronunciation, making it easier to speak fluently without breaks.
How did the speaker practice speaking Norwegian when they were alone?
-The speaker practiced speaking Norwegian by talking to themselves, imagining they were the best at speaking the language, and describing pictures or scenes to practice vocabulary and imagination.
Outlines
🌟 Embracing Language Learning Challenges
The speaker begins by expressing the overwhelming nature of language learning, particularly Norwegian, and the difficulty in organizing thoughts for this video. They chose to present in English to accommodate those who haven't started learning Norwegian and to share tips applicable to any language. The speaker emphasizes the importance of motivation in language acquisition, sharing personal experiences of learning Norwegian to a high level compared to their lack of proficiency in Spanish, despite years of schooling. The key to their success was the intrinsic motivation to speak Norwegian like a native, setting a clear goal to make Norwegian a second mother tongue and learning by listening extensively, similar to how children acquire language.
👂 Immersive Listening and Contextual Learning
The speaker shares their strategy of immersing in Norwegian by listening to podcasts and various content without focusing on understanding every detail. They liken this to a child's language acquisition process, emphasizing the importance of repeated exposure to the language. They also discuss the value of reading and re-reading the same texts to internalize vocabulary, grammar, and pronunciation, using tools like Google Translate for pronunciation practice and seeking native recordings for better language melody comprehension. The speaker suggests creating a list of useful words and sentences and reading them aloud to reinforce memory and pronunciation.
📚 Beyond Grammar Exercises: Learning Naturally
The speaker admits to avoiding traditional grammar exercises, instead opting for a more natural learning process by writing their own stories and texts, which allowed them to learn new words and conjugations in context. They found that writing about their daily life and using Google Translate to compare their Norwegian sentences with the correct version helped them improve. They also mention the joy and motivation derived from slowly understanding more complex texts, such as books, despite the initial difficulty, and the importance of combining reading with listening to audiobooks to improve pronunciation and fluency.
🎬 Utilizing Media for Language Acquisition
The speaker describes using TV series and movies as tools for language learning, watching scenes multiple times with different subtitle settings to enhance understanding and vocabulary. They would note down useful sentences and practice reading them aloud. Additionally, they mention writing stories in English, having them translated into Norwegian, and then learning these stories by heart to improve accent, pronunciation, and sentence structure. The speaker also talks about the benefits of speaking to oneself in the target language to build confidence and practice speaking without hesitation.
🗣️ Speaking from the Heart and Inspiring Progress
In the final paragraph, the speaker encourages continuous effort in language learning, reassuring that progress may not always be immediately visible but is inevitable with persistence. They reflect on their journey, sharing how speaking Norwegian fluently and with a good accent was achieved through their methods, particularly learning and reciting stories. The speaker ends by expressing hope that the video has provided useful insights and inspiration for others on their language learning journey and hints at future content to support language learners further.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Motivation
💡Language Acquisition
💡Immersion
💡Grammar Exercises
💡Pronunciation
💡Vocabulary
💡Conjugation
💡Accent
💡Listening Comprehension
💡Writing
💡Speaking
Highlights
The speaker emphasizes the importance of motivation in language learning, comparing the difference between learning a language in school versus self-motivated learning for relocation.
The speaker shares personal experiences of quickly learning Norwegian and the common surprise from others due to their fluency.
The goal of making Norwegian a second mother tongue is highlighted as a driving factor for the speaker's language learning success.
Inspiration is drawn from children's language learning processes, focusing on listening and repetition as key methods.
The speaker describes using podcasts and random Norwegian content to immerse themselves in the language through listening.
Learning through repetition of messages and scenes from TV series, like 'Scum', to understand and internalize language patterns.
Utilizing Google Translate to assist with pronunciation and understanding of new words and phrases.
The strategy of reading the same sentences repeatedly to learn grammar, vocabulary, and pronunciation in context.
Creating a list of useful words and collecting sentences with these words to improve vocabulary retention and usage.
The practice of reading sentences out loud before bed to reinforce learning and pronunciation.
Taking notes on pronunciation by writing words as heard and marking emphasis to aid in language acquisition.
Writing personal stories in Norwegian to practice new words and conjugations in a meaningful context.
Using Google Translate to compare own sentence constructions with correct translations for learning.
The enjoyment of reading difficult Norwegian books to challenge oneself and gain a sense of achievement.
Listening to audiobooks while reading to improve pronunciation and fluency in the new language.
Watching series and movies multiple times with different subtitles to enhance understanding and learn new phrases.
Learning by heart stories and sentences to improve accent, pronunciation, and the ability to construct sentences fluently.
Speaking to oneself as a method to practice language fluency and build confidence in one's accent and speech.
The reassurance that consistent effort in language learning will lead to improvement, even if progress is not immediately visible.
Transcripts
way too much to explain you guys it's
way too much to say I wrote like this
video so many times I thought about it
so many times but it's so much to say
it's so difficult to like organize it I
don't know if this is good
[Music]
okay let's calm down and start from the
beginning
foreign
[Music]
[Music]
[Music]
foreign
[Music]
foreign
I decided to make this video in English
because I thought it would be easier for
the people that haven't started learning
Norwegian yet and also I thought that
you could use these tips even if you're
learning another language I really hope
that this video is going to help you
[Music]
so when people hear me speak Norwegian
ask me how long I've been living here
and I say that I've been living here for
three years they just tell me what how
is it possible and they tell me about
their experience with languages and they
say for example that they had Spanish or
French at school for five years and that
they can't even like introduce
themselves in that language and they're
like I'm so bad you're just so good but
I too had Spanish at school and I too
can't like make a sentence in Spanish
the reason why I've been able to get so
good is because of the motivation I had
the difference between learning Spanish
at school and learning Norwegian on your
own because you want to move to Norway
is that you don't have the same
motivation I know that it's a bit cliche
but it's really important it's been
really important in my journey as well
because when I started learning
Norwegian my goal was to speak Norwegian
like a native Norwegian so I knew that I
wasn't going to be perfect like right
now but in the long term I didn't want
to just like be able to understand
people I didn't want to just be able to
make myself understood this wasn't my
goal really keeping in mind what your
goal is really helps with the motivation
[Music]
so my goal was to make Norwegian like
another mother tongue for me and I
thought how do kids learn languages
because I know that I'm an adult now but
I could try to learn this language as if
it was my mother tongue and then maybe
it will help me understand this language
better and also I saw kids that were
moving to Norway and that learned really
fast because they don't think they just
learn they hear people they repeat they
just try to like make it their own and I
was really inspired by that
[Music]
so I thought okay when you're a kid
what you do first like for the two first
years of your life is listen you listen
all the time to people and you don't
speak you're just like like this and
you're listening all the time so what I
thought was okay what I'm gonna do first
is that I'm gonna listen to Norwegian as
much as possible so what I did is that I
found some podcasts I found some random
things I didn't understand anything
anyway so I was just like listening to
things I didn't care what the theme was
and I was just listening all the time or
not all the time but every time I could
I was doing it so when I was for example
like cleaning my room when I was playing
a game on my computer that didn't
require a lot of focus before going to
bed I would listen to Norwegian I'm a
really like I was and I still am
a nerd okay so I'm gonna give a lot of
advice but I'm just explaining how I
learned and you don't have to do
everything but it's to give you ideas
[Music]
and then I thought kids don't do grammar
exercises they just don't when I learn
French I didn't do when I was two years
old grammar exercises with like
sentences to fill in no I didn't do that
what I did was hearing for example the
same book over and over again and
sometimes my mom she tells me like when
you were a kid you knew one book by
heart you just like turned the pages you
knew exactly when the pages had to be
turned and you just turned it and I
thought okay this is how we learn when
we're a kid we read the same book over
and over again and then we take the
expressions of the books and we make it
our own so I thought okay what I'm gonna
do is find some scenes for example in a
movie or some messages that they send
each other you know in scum I'll watch
some like so much it's a TV series
that's Norwegian and in scum they send
each other a lot of messages and some of
them are pretty long and I thought okay
that's perfect I'm gonna take a message
that I like and I'm gonna write it down
and then I'm gonna just like try to
understand the words which word mean
what and then I'm gonna read it a lot of
time so what I did is that I used Google
translate you can like make Google
translate read you things of course it's
a bit robotic
it's really like a robot but it does
pronounce the words in the right way and
of course what did help me is that I
knew some people in Norway so I could
ask to record for example a message for
me and to send me a vocal so that I
could hear the melody of the language
and try to like reproduce it when I was
reading it so this helped me a lot but I
think that you can find this on internet
as well on Instagram I gave you a tip of
a podcast and then you get like an email
with a text and you have a podcast so
the person that wrote the text reads it
for you as well so you could use this
method with this podcast for example
okay okay it is nobody understood
anything of this explanation but just go
check this video on my Instagram I
explain it way better I swear what I
found doing this is that I was learning
everything I need to learn about the
language in one text so if I was reading
a lot of times for example like five
sentences and I was learning grammar
vocabulary conjugation pronunciation I
was learning all of this in one exercise
in a way
[Music]
at the same time he's doing this I
thought I also want to learn like some
easy words to start a sentence or to
like build a sentence so I made a list
of all the words that I thought were
useful I couldn't find now the list that
I had made but I remember that I had
some words like Alone Together some
basic verbs and a lot of these words
that you use all the time and then every
time I would see a sentence with these
words in it I would be like oh yes
that's my word I would take the sentence
and write it on another piece of paper
and then I had like all these sentences
with all the words that I wanted to
learn in it and then it helps me
remember vocabulary and be able to use
the vocabulary that I learned I got a
lot of questions on Instagram about how
to remember vocabulary how to learn new
words how to like know how to use the
vocabulary that you learned and this is
my answer try to see it in context and
when you want to learn a word try to
find a sentence in a movie or in a book
or something like this with your word
then write the sentence on another piece
of paper and then try to read the
sentence like for example once a day
once a day like 10 minutes before you go
to bed for example instead of being on
your phone you take the list of all the
sentences that you think are interesting
to learn and you read them out loud and
you try to remember how the accent goes
I had a lot of videos on Instagram about
pronunciation in Norwegian you can try
to like remember all of this and read it
out loud I'd like to show you how I took
notes for me to remember the
pronunciation of words so for example I
would write on top of the real word like
how I would have written it since it was
pronounced that way and also I could
write like some arrows or some waves
under the words to remember where the
emphasis was put on the word the more
you read one sentence again and again
the more it's going to become like
automatic for your brain to build a
sentence that way and then when you're
gonna have to build a similar sentence
in another context your brain will think
automatically oh this structure I know
it because I've read it so much that I
it's a bit like automatic for me so
maybe you will be able to replace the
words in the original sentence by other
words in the context that you're in now
and make a sentence without having to
think like oh yeah this grammar rule I
remember it was like this and like this
and then you just get stuck with all
your grammar rules and you don't really
know which one to use instead of being
stuck with grammar you can learn grammar
without knowing that you learn it and
that's what I did I wanted to learn for
Norwegian to become a language that was
automatic for me that was going to be a
part of me really so I'm not saying that
it is wrong to do grammar exercises I'm
just saying like in this video I'm
explaining how I learned it based on my
goals and for me doing grammar exercises
wasn't interesting my goal was for
Norwegian to become a part of me and I
wanted to understand Norwegian I wanted
to learn Norwegian like I would as a kid
about this anti-grammar rules speech I
just want to say that I did need some
rules to learn Norwegian the thing is
that I learned the rules later in my
learning process and I think honestly
that it could have saved me time to
learn them before because it takes a
long time to know things because it's
become automatic for you and to figure
things out on your own which is what I
did and I liked to do that but I don't
think that it's necessarily the best way
to do it and I did need some rules and
when I started teaching Norwegian I did
buy some books some grammar books with
rose in it and honestly it helped me
take my Norwegian to the next level so
I'm not against grammar at all I
personally don't like to do grammar
exercises but I'm not saying that
knowing the rules is a bad thing it is
actually a really good thing
[Music]
what I also did to help me do that learn
new words and new conjugation in a
context is writing my own stories
writing my own text because sometimes I
didn't really find a text that I really
liked and also sometimes I just wanted
to learn something that was a bit more
personal so what I did is that I would
describe what I did during the day for
example or what I wanted to do tomorrow
and in the very beginning you don't know
you you don't know how to make a
sentence so you're like I want to say
this and this and this but I don't know
how to say it I don't have anyone that
can help me use Google Translate I know
that like at least for me at school we
saw Google translate like the devil it
was always like no don't use Google
Translate but Google Translate is
actually good if you give it context so
if you just write a word maybe Google
Translate is going to give you like a
word that has nothing to do with the
word you're looking for but if you write
a whole sentence with a good context and
a sentence that's correct in the
language that you're writing it in
Google Translate will most of the time
translate it right what I did was write
five sentences about my day for example
and then put it in Google Translate see
what it was giving me writing the
Norwegian version of my day and then do
exactly the same try to read it out loud
A lot of times make Google translate
read it for me
I'm a little foreign
so I did that more and more and as I was
doing it I realized that it was easier
and easier for me to make my own
sentences so of course I was making a
lot of mistakes when I was writing a
sentence but I felt like okay now I know
a bit how to make a sentence in
Norwegian now I have an idea of what it
should sound like so what I was doing
for example is instead of writing my day
in English in Google Translate I would
write it first in Norwegian then I was
writing in English and Google translate
and comparing my version and the right
version
[Music]
I was lucky enough to be able to come to
Norway sometimes and then I would buy
books so my relationship to books and to
reading in Norwegian is a bit weird I
have never wanted to read Children books
which is weird if you think about the
fact that I wanted to learn like a kid
but I still was an adult and I wanted to
learn as a kid with adult books so what
I was doing is buying books that were
way too difficult for me I didn't
understand anything honestly when I
started reading these books but I liked
it I was like I need to do as if I had
no choice as if there was no one to
teach me and I had to figure it out on
my own so what I did was taking a book
with me everywhere so I would just open
the book like for example this book I
read this book I read a bit later when I
understood Norwegian but I would open
the book like in the middle of the book
and then I would try to see if there
were some words that I knew if there
were some like sentences that I could
understand and I loved doing this I was
just just going through the pages
Norwegian was a bit Chinese still for me
but I wanted to be lost in the language
try to just take the language as it was
and not try to control everything and I
thought like this book is my goal my
goal is to be able to read this book
let's start now and when there was a
sentence that I could understand or when
there were like many words that I
understood I was so happy and like I
felt so proud and I got so much
motivation because I was like this is a
book that normal Norwegian people read
and I can already understand a bit of
that book and this was like the best
feeling for me
[Music]
another thing that I did really often
was to read a book and at the same time
listen to the audio book because when
you read even if you read in your head
your brain still needs to know how to
pronounce the words to go like further
and that's why it takes so long to read
in a new language so I feel like having
the audio book and a person that just
reads the book to you at the same time
as you follow is really good sometimes I
would just listen to one chapter first
just listen and then I could work on
like my listening skills I would try to
understand as much as possible and then
I would take the book and follow the
text in the book at the same time as I
was listening to the podcast
[Music]
and of course I was also using series
and movies to learn and really I was
doing exactly the same as everything I
explained to you in this video I was
watching for example an episode of a
series and then I would watch it again
and copy some sentences that I thought
were useful I would change the subtitles
sometimes like the first time I would
watch it without subtitles to see what I
understood then the second time I would
watch it with Norwegian subtitles to see
if I understood a bit more then the
third time I would watch it with English
subtitles and then I would re-watch it
again for example with norwegian's
titles now I'm speaking of like a scene
not a whole episode or a whole movie
obviously but like a short scene that
lasts two to five minutes you just watch
it a couple of times with different
subtitles but I did that a lot and of
course when there was a sentence that I
thought was useful that I just copied it
in my notebook and if I just wanted to
like have something to read something a
bit easier than the book I could just go
through all the sentences that I had
written and then I knew already what
they meant it was a bit more motivating
and I could still read them out loud and
I could still learn a lot of vocabulary
from them
[Music]
then I had like vocabulary lists like
this and what I did was write stories
with them again I was lucky to know
someone that was Norwegian but what I
did was write my stories in English and
then I would send my stories to people
that I knew they would translate it in
Norwegian and then send it back to me
when I got my story back now you know
what I did I read it a lot of times and
I also got like a vocal then I would
listen to the vocal like a lot of times
then I would like read it until I knew
it by heart I would spend one to two
weeks on it let me know if you want me
to share them with you actually it could
be nice for you because I wrote a lot of
really long Stories full of vocabulary
of expressions of conjugation that I
wanted to learn I could make videos
about that let me know if you want me to
make videos about that and what I did as
well to work on the writing is listen to
the vocal without reading it and try to
write all the words that I heard then I
could work on my comprehension and I
could also work on the writing and on
the spelling of words
[Music]
I think that we think of learning things
by heart as like a bad thing but
honestly these stories learning them by
heart and reading them a lot of times
what it helped me with was remembering
vocabulary understanding grammar
learning conjugation working on my
accent and when I could say a whole
story like this by heart I could speak
without taking breaks my brain knew how
to make a sentence knew how to pronounce
words without taking breaks in between
and this is why I think that it's so
nice to learn sentences by heart is
because when you like try for example to
speak to yourself or when you try to
speak to someone else it's really good
you have to do it but problem with it is
that you're always looking for your
words you're never like saying a whole
sentence without taking a break or this
will take a long time for you to do and
then you never to learn you never teach
your brain to pronounce words to work on
the accent in a long sentence because
you don't know how to make a long
sentence and I think that or I don't
think I'm sure that this the fact that I
did all this it helps me for two things
that like impress people a lot when I
speak Norwegian is that I speak really
fast without needing to take breaks and
I have a really good accent and
pronunciation and this is because of my
stories like a hundred percent because
of my stories
[Music]
I totally forgot to mention it earlier
but of course speaking to yourself is
really important because all of this
that I just said now there wasn't any
speaking part where you can just say
what you want to say out loud and I did
that since like the beginning or maybe
like a month after having started I
started talking to myself I did that a
lot anyway I I really like love to speak
and when I'm alone I also like to speak
now
come there
foreign
foreign
and what I was doing when I was talking
myself was trying to imagine that I was
the best at speaking Norwegian and this
helped me a lot with my confidence at
least when I was alone it helped me a
lot to DARE working on my accent without
feeling like I was stupid if you know
what I mean like when you learn a new
language and you try to like force a bit
on the accent in the beginning because
you don't really understand how to
balance the pronunciation then you feel
a bit stupid when you're alone and you
just speak betray to like think in your
head okay I'm the best I'm the one that
speaks Norwegian the best it's not like
for you to think this but it's for you
like just in the moment so they're doing
the accent as you think it should be and
for it to be a bit easier to speak to
yourself speaking to yourself can be so
much you can like tell yourself about
your day you can try to speak about a
movie that you saw about a book that you
want to read you can try to speak about
so many things actually and if you don't
have inspiration you can just take a
picture and try to describe the picture
try to imagine what the people are doing
I try to do this a lot with my students
I just take a picture or drawing with a
lot happening and then I just ask them
to pick one character to describe them
physically first learn vocabulary about
like how they're dressed and their hair
and all of this and then we try to
imagine why this person is here I'm sure
to be like okay maybe this person is
running because he's light to go catch a
train because he actually is leaving
with his lover that he hasn't seen in
two months and like all of a sudden you
have a lot of things to say and you can
learn a lot of new words by describing a
picture and putting a bit of imagination
in there
[Music]
with languages as long as you work you
will get better and even if you don't
see the progress right now even if
you've been working for two weeks and
you feel like you're exactly at the same
point as two weeks ago first it's not
true you're improving even if you don't
see the result right now and second
maybe in a week you will see like
suddenly oh now I can feel it that I've
become better so knowing that you can't
always see the results right now this is
completely normal but if you keep doing
what you do if you keep working if you
keep trying to find out what is the best
method for you you will get better it's
a promise that I make to you
I hope that this video was helpful I
hope that you learned some things and
that you can pick out some ideas to make
your own method that yeah that you have
been able to get a bit inspired from the
way I learned Norwegian to learn
whatever language you're learning and
I'll talk to you really soon because I'm
coming back on YouTube and I want to
make a lot more videos I have so many
ideas and yeah I hope that all of this
will help you in your language Journey
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