Learning Norwegian

The plane reservations have been made and permission has been granted for the kids to trade their last week of school for ten days in Norway to celebrate May 17. We will be staying in Haugesund and then traveling up to Bergen. While my husband is fluent in Norwegian, I promised that if we went back I would learn more of the language then I did in 2007.  I could count to ten. As we will be visiting with Hubby's host family in Haugesund, the kids and I need to have some basic communication skills. It was with that good intention that on the way to school this morning, I popped on the Norwegian language CD and the kids and I dutifully repeated the awkward phrases. That was until my son learned his favorite Norwegian word - the word for "dirt". He then repeated this word until I dropped him at the school door with threats of repercussions if he taught this word to his classmates. The Norwegian word for dirt is a perfect example of the grammatical rule that the letters "sk" are pronounced "sh" before a soft vowel. So that the word for dirt or "skitt" becomes . . . . . . . .

Well, you get the idea. I just didn't think Hew's teacher would appreciate a classroom of six-year-olds repetitiously repeating the word dirt in Norwegian on Monday morning no matter what grammatical rule it was teaching.  Monday - siggggghhhhhhh!

Photos from Norway in 2007