Back to the Lessons

I took a break from my Norwegian language lessons a few weeks before Elliot arrived, so it's been a while since I've had any formal training.

Husband is fluent* and really wants Elliot to have at least the beginnings of the language, as do I.

So we've been working on it.

And by "we" I mean Elliot and me.

Especially now, as we figure out where we will be for the next few years, I think it's really important to work on our Norwegian language skills.

If we're going to continue to be here, I need to up my game from the basic I know now.

If we're going to be head off to parts unknown, then I need to have a little bit more so Husband and I can have a "secret" language in public situations.**

And there are all sorts of theories about language and infant brains, so it can only be good.

We have been working on it together, with Husband's guidance.

Husband speaks to Elliot in Norwegian on a regular basis and we all read books together.***

In Leksikon for de aller minste (Lexicon for the smallest), we've been learning word order, vocabulary and the the seasons.

Snow

In the winter, it snows.

The snow is cold and white.

Robin****thinks it's fun with snow.

In Æsj! Det er Ekkelt, Bert (Ugh! It's Disgusting, Bert) we've been learning about appropriate behavior.

If Bert saw that the cat tee-tee'd in the flower-bed, Bert also tee-tee'd in the flower-bed.

Then all cried: Ugh! It's Disgusting, Bert!

In Min Store Dyrebok, (My Big Animal Book), we've been working on our animals.*****

You can guess the animals, but the non-animal words are:

On the farm.

I love to eat and mess. Who am I?

I say kykeliky! Who am I?

But just to get some extra practice, we stopped by the local library and perused the children's books.

There were the usual English translations of familiar classics, which are helpful to compare the English to the Norwegian copies. In most of them even the cadence is the same, which must be a challenge for the translator.

Then there are the ones that are a bit service-y******..."Thomas Goes to the Doctor," which is exactly as you might imagine it is.

And even a bit more service-y..."A Mother and Father to Gabriel," which explains how adopted children come to Norway, specifically a little boy named Gabriel.

Then I saw one that takes service-y to an even higher level, called When Momma and Pappa Drink. I picked it up out of a bit of morbid curiosity, but also thinking there would be good words. And really, as I flipped through the pictures, I just wanted to know what happened. Surely there must be a bit of redemption somewhere in it.

So I went home and Husband read it to me, and I will tell it to you....

There are two children, Mette and Mads. Their mom works in a bakery and their dad is a mechanic. Sometimes the family comes home and he is passed out on the sofa.
Or they have to go pick him up at the bar.
The kids often don't do well in school because they are tired.
In the summer they go to their cabin.
Their dad's buddies come over with coolers of booze and the adults stay up late and are loud.

The kids try to think of nice things, but really they'd like to go back to school.
The end.

I'm not sure the little man is ready for that one quite yet.

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*He would say he's not, but that is only because he's modest and may have a little bit of a hard time reading classic novels. But he can conduct business and fool servers in restaurants. Then I blow his cover.

**And by "public", I mean places like the mall and family dinners. In either case, sometimes it is unavoidably necessary to comment on the situation at hand, though often I would prefer the conversation to stay between Husband and me. Also, we would never be overt about it. Not only would that be exclusive and rude, you never know who may understand.

***By read together, I mean Husband reads to us. Elliot and I listen.

****Robin is the fox. He's the star of the book.

*****When Husband reads, I make the animal sounds. It's big fun.

******This is not to say there are not other kinds of children's book in Norway. There are. This post is not about those kinds of books.