Say something nice :)

New year, new you? January is a great time to hit the refresh button. As we enter 2023, many of us are looking for ways to make our lives easier, more peaceful, and less stressful. One of the best ways to achieve this is by developing and integrating a few simple habits for more intentional living into your daily routine.

Cycletrippin – The Lonely Cyclists Tour Scandinavia – Stage 1

Denne reisen som jeg kaller for å gå på en cycletrippin, startet hjemme hos meg i Amsterdam i Nederland, og ruten tok meg helt til Nordkap og tilbake til Amsterdam. Under turen syklet jeg gjennom Nederland, Tyskland, Danmark, Norge, Finland og Sverige. For det meste av turen syklet jeg også andre transportmidler som togtjenester, busstjenester og ferger når det ikke var mulig å sykle på grunn av…

potet (en).  potato svinekjøtt.  pork storfekjøtt.  beef serviett (en).  napkin saus.  sauce banan.  banana

knekkebrød.  crispbread (like a cracker) smør.  butter allergisk.  allergic kål (en).  cabbage rødkål.  red cabbage agurk.  cucumber agurktid.  the slow news season salat (en).  salad / lettuce frokostblanding.  cereal

supermarked (et).  supermarket / grocery store smake.  taste pålegg.  topping favorittpålegg (et).  favorite topping smørepålegg. spread kjøttkake.  meat patty bringebær.  raspberry sennep.  mustard kjøleskap (et).  refrigerator

fløte.  cream bær.  berry pølse.  sausage løk (en).  onion gulrot.  carrot mais.  corn

ostehøvel (en).  cheese slicer syltetøy.  jam bringebærsyltetøy (et).  raspberry jam brødskive.  slice of bread ekkel.  gross deilig.  delicious / wonderful / tasty hvitvin.  white wine rødvin.  red wine

grøt.  porridge vårrull.  spring roll gryterett.  stew vaffel.  waffle matpakke (en).  food package / lunchbox skinke.  ham

Kvinnen spiser ikke svinekjøtt.  The woman does not eat pork. Mannen spiser storfekjøtt.  The man is eating beef. Hvor er serviettene?  Where are the napkins? Har du lyst på mer saus?  Do you want more sauce? Han kjøper fem bananer.  He is buying five bananas.

Jeg spiser alltid knekkebrød til frokost.  I always eat crispbread for breakfast. Er du allergisk mot smør?  Are you allergic to butter? Er det agurker i salaten?  Are there cucumbers in the salad? Jeg vil ikke ha salat i salaten min.  I do not want lettuce in my salad. Hvilken frokostblanding anbefaler du?  Which cereal do you recommend? Først må vi skjære kålen i små biter.  First we must cut the cabbage into little pieces. Det var agurktid og avisene hadde lite å skrive om.  It was the slow news season and the newspapers had little to write about.

Hvordan smakte det?  How did it taste? Har vi gått tom for smørepålegg?  Have we run out of spreads? Ost er mitt favorittpålegg.  Cheese is my favorite topping. Jeg ønsker meg et stort, hvitt kjøleskap.  I want a big, white refrigerator. Jeg spiser alltid kjøttkakene mine med sennep.  I always eat my meat patties with mustard. Jeg trenger sennep og bringebær fra supermarkedet.  I need mustard and raspberries from the supermarket.

Barnet spiser bær med fløte på.  The child is eating berries with cream on top. Er det løk i suppen?  Is there onion in the soup? Hvor er gulrøttene?  Where are the carrots? Det var mais i kjøleskapet.  There was corn in the refrigerator. Mannen solgte polske pølser i den tyske hovedstaden.  The man sold Polish sausages in the German capital city.

Man bruker en ostehøvel for å skjære ost.  One uses a cheese slicer in order to cut cheese. Foretrekker du hvitvin eller rødvin?  Do you prefer white wine or red wine? Maten var verken deilig eller ekkel.  The food was neither delicious nor gross. Det var ekkelt!  That was gross! Jeg har syltetøy på brødskivene mine.  I have jam on my slices of bread.

Norwegian on the Web — free course by NTNU

Barnebøker for Norge (children’s books for norway) — free norwegian children’s books for a variety of levels & they also have audio! also they have an option to go between bokmål and nynorsk which is pretty fun

Klart Det! — for more advanced lessons (B2+)

Norwegian Teacher Karin on youtube — she doesn’t upload that frequently anymore but her past videos are super helpful

NorwegianClass101 on youtube

Future Learn Introduction to Norwegian — free four week course by the university of oslo

På Vei (textbook) — this is a beginner textbook but it’s entirely in norwegian so a bit of knowledge of norwegian is needed

På Vei Digital — free exercises to go along with på vei

Exploring Norwegian Grammar — free grammar website made by kirsti macdonald who co-wrote på vei 

Loecsen Learn Norwegian — another free (very beginner) course

norwegian dictionary with both bokmål and nynorsk — not a translation dictionary but just a regular one but it has both bokmål and nynorsk

NRK Nyheter — this is a bit advanced obviously but NRK is my go-to if i want norwegian reading practice (it’s just news but also NRK has tv programs as well including skam & they also have radio)

SKAM website full episodes — you’ll need a vpn but they have norwegian subtitles also it’s great for learning how people speak every day

Lovleg episodes — same as above (you’ll need a vpn) also lovleg will be a little hard to understand if you’re learning bokmål bc it’s very dialect-y but another show to watch in norwegian that i think is good

my norwegian playlist on spotify — it’s not super long but good for discovering norwegian music if you don’t know any :-)

edit bc my friend recommended these 2 podcasts:

Norsk for Beginners — for A1-A2 learners

Lær Norsk Nå — for B1-B2 learners

This is kind of a follow-up from this post. Over the past few months there seems to be an epidemic of people on langblr that find themselves unable to stick to one language, resulting in them not really making much progress at all. As someone who used to struggle from feelings of “There are so many awesome languages, how on Earth can I focus on just one?!” here are my tips to rid yourself of these compulsions, like I did.

Disclaimer: These are my personal experiences and my personal opinions. This only applies to people that want to try to stick to learning one language at a time. If it makes you happy to learn multiple languages at once, ignore these tips and this post.

1. Forget about becoming a “polyglot”

I think many enter this community after watching videos from the likes of Tim Doner, Benny Lewis, Luca Lampariello, etc. and (quite understandably) being very impressed by the ability of these persons to speak so many languages with fluency. I think this “party trick”-like aspect of knowing languages is what causes some people to treat languages as dispensable.

Shift your focus to learning a language because you love the language, not because you want to tell people you speak 10 languages.

2. There’s no rush

I get it, you just love Swedish, Russian and Greek. Just when you think you’ve settled on Russian, you remember a Swedish song you love, so you have to switch to Swedish. Then you read an interesting article about Greek mythology, and switch again to Greek the next month.

Just because you’re not learning the language right now, doesn’t mean you won’t be able to eventually.

If you choose Russian now, the Greek mythology will still be there for you to read once you’ve learned Russian first, and the Swedish language is not going to disappear in 3 or 5 years time. Everything you love about Swedish will still be there waiting for you. Ask yourself, do you want to fully indulge in Russian, then Greek, and then Swedish, until each language becomes a part of you, your life, and your soul? Or juggle them all at once and only get a small, shallow taste of each one week-to-week? Do you want to become long-term best friends with these languages, or long-term acquaintances?

3. Just because you enjoy something about a language, doesn’t mean you have to learn the whole language

Just because you love Korean pop, doesn’t mean you have to learn Korean. It’s ok to simply enjoy listening to the music. Just because you love the way the Arabic script looks, doesn’t mean you have to learn Arabic. It’s ok to just like one part of a language, and leave it at that. I remember I used to always get flooded with worry whenever I listened to Michel Teló, a Brazilian singer, because his songs always made me (think) I wanted to learn Brazilian Portuguese. Now, I realise, I really just like his songs. I haven’t learned Brazilian Portuguese and guess what? I’m still listening to his songs and enjoying them. It makes me feel kind of silly when I really think about it.

Think to yourself, do I really love this language as a whole, or am I just idealising it for one tiny part that catches my fancy?

4. Avoid langblr and “mob mentality”

Langblr is great, but, with any community, there are advantages and disadvantages. The advantages of langblr are obvious, but one big disadvantage is that it sometimes has a negative “mob mentality” effect. Complaining about one’s inability to stick to one language and spontaneously declaring “I have to learn x language!” whenever a language catches your interest for a split second, has certainly become a trend, and causes others to adopt this behaviour. Of course, it’s a bit dramatic to suggest you leave langblr entirely, but what I’d maybe do is unfollow blogs that tend to do this quite frequently, at least until you have achieved an amount of self-discipline that you’re confident will shield you against adopting the “Oh no, now I have to learn x language!” mentality.

5. Let the language choose you

This is probably the least helpful point, as I’ve discussed this with many langblrs whom I admire, and none have experienced this. But, since it affected me, I thought I’d throw it in anyway since there’s a chance that there’s another person out there who is like me.

I’ve never been able to learn a language by trying to force it. I didn’t start learning German because I wanted to learn a language and German seemed like a good fit; I chose to learn German because I wanted German. Over the past year I’ve tried to convince myself that I love Polish, or Russian, or French, or Italian. But the fact of the matter is, while I love some aspects of these languages, I still catch myself trying to convince myself that I want to learn Italian as a whole, not just because of Italian music. I have to convince myself that I love Russian all the time, not just when I’m in a particular mood. When I realised this, I was like “wtf are you doing?”. It seemed bizarre to me, and even more bizarre that it had taken me so long to realise. When I realised this, I also remembered that what is now my favourite language, Norwegian, I’d actually tried to convince myself not to want to learn. But the language forced itself on me, not I on it.

So ask yourself, do I really want to learn this language, or do I want to want to learn this language?

Honestly there’s no shortage of Norwegian instagram accounts and if you just type ‘norsk’ into the search then hundreds will come up, but here’s some to get you started!

For learning Norwegian (great for beginners!):

norwegian.lingser (animated movie clips in Norwegian side-by-side with their counterparts in English, and sometimes Polish or Spanish)

lenoonorge (posts in Norwegian with Norwegian audio and English translation)

norwegian_jo (Norwegian vocabulary with Norwegian and English explanations)

norsklaerer_karense (the same Karense who runs the youtube channel - explanations in Norwegian, content at all levels)

norwegiann__community (grammar, videos and quizzes in Norwegian with English explanations)

learn.norwegianwithme (explanations in English)

norwegian_everyday (explanations in English)

laere_norsk (pictures rather than explanations)

norwegian.academy (explanations in English)

learnnorwegianwithjanne (explanations in English)

norwegiatlas (translations + explanations in English)

News (great for breaking into intermediate!)

nrk

tv2nyhetene

vgnett

aftenposten

dagbladet

^Many of these also have separate accounts for entertainment, culture, books, food and more!

If you’re interested in a particular area of Norway (be it a city, kommune or fylke) you can search it on instagram and probably find an official community instagram

Humour (great for learning slang and natural Norwegian!):

tindermeldinger

tindermareritt

meldinger.fra.eksen 

tekstmeldingr

studentproblemer

angst.humor

pappavitser_

bestofjodelnorge

norgedusjtanker

Other:

tegnehanne (funny cartoons)

ordnett (language & poetry)

cookiesbyvindenes (cute cookies)

godtno (food with links to recipes)

hunderioslo (dogs! Plus English translations)

norskhemmeligheter (Norwegian version of postsecret)

You can also try to find bands and musicians you like, comedians, actors, TV show official accounts and so on. Some I follow are Janove Ottesen (from Kaizers Orchestra + his dog), Bård and Vegard Ylvisåker (from Ylvis), Gåte (the band) and Nytt På Nytt (TV show)

I’ve had a few requests to write about how I learn my languages. To different degrees, there’s currently 20+ of them and I don’t see myself stopping yet. The thing is, learning languages comes really easily to me and I want to share, maybe it will be helpful to somebody else.

First, I’d like to have a look at first versus second language acquisition. I’m a linguist and I’m super interested in Child Language Acquisition. That however, has a critical age of 14 (or so I was always told) and is then no longer possible and any language learned after that age will never progress as quickly or can’t be learned perfectly. Well. I disagree. The simple difference is - first language acquisition is how you acquired your first language(s) as a child. By imitating, finding patterns, etc. Second language acquisition is what you know from language courses. Vocabulary, irregular verb tables, endless exercises. Now that we got some of the terminology off the table, let me see how I actually learn languages: 1) I utilise elements of the first language acquisition rather than second language I’ve only studied vocab a couple times at school, when I put them into Quizlet or when someone forced me to. I’ll get back to it in another point. I don’t learn patterns. I know there is one and I let the input do its magic of slithering into my head. Again, more on that in point 2. You always get told you’ll learn a language better when you’re thrown into the country where they speak it.  And it’s so true because of the processes behind it. Because input and immersion are the keys and that’s how children learn, too.

2) I don’t cram languages. I process them.

Around langblrs, I keep seeing all the ‘crying over verb tables’, ‘trying to learn a 1000 words this week’ and the like. That may work for you, sure. But I’ve never done that. I did learn a few irregular verb patterns for German in class, but while I could recite them, it wasn’t helpful. In Irish, I sometimes still wonder which verb ‘An ndeachaigh tú?’ comes from. The thing is, you’re able to process language. You know this word is probably irregular. If you come across it and don’t know what the irregular form is, look it up. After you’ve looked it up for the tenth time, you’ll probably remember by then. Same with anything else. Don’t try to learn things by heart when it comes to languages. 3) Vocab?? Same rule applies here. I’ve only learned vocab at school and then a handful of times when I wasn’t too lazy to put it into Quizlet (which is fun and I learn something, but it’s more of a useful pastime than anything). When you read, just skip the words you don’t know and only really look them up if you can’t tell by context. NEVER translate vocabulary. I mean, sure, look up what it means, but don’t connect it to the word itself. Connect it to the meaning. Pictures work better. As for abstract words, imagine the concept. Just try not to bridge the meaning of the word with your native language. Languages in your brain are meant to be two separate units. Unless you’re working on a translation piece, they shouldn’t be ‘touching’. 4) I use example sentences for everything.

Grammar guides are useful but rather than learning all the rules at once, take it one step at a time and remember some example sentences and let them guide you through the grammar rule you need.

5) Input is everything. Output is hard, but you’re basically imitating input and utilizing patterns you know (or think you know). Let me give you an example. Let’s say I’m writing a piece on my daily routine, for example. I make use of the example sentences and try to tailor them to my own needs. Trial and error, if I make a mistake, it’s okay, if somebody points it out, I probably won’t make it next time. As I progress, I will gradually remove the mistake. Same goes to new words and new verbs. Use the input you’ve got. Does this verb sound like some other verb you’ve heard before? It’s might have a similar conjugation pattern. You can check it, you don’t have to.

6) Learning languages should NOT be stressful! I never stressed over learning a language. Sure, I’m frustrated that after a year and a half of learning Irish, I’m not 100% fluent, but I’ve never stressed over it. I’ve never cried over it. I’ve never cried over a language (I only cried after a French oral exam which I thought I failed). Don’t be hard on yourself and try learning through a method that’s not stressful. Watch videos for children. Read books for children. Write down cool things in your target language(s). 7) You’ve learned a language before. Why wouldn’t you be able to learn it now in a very similar way? This is basically me saying that I have little belief in the efficiency of pure second language acquisition. Maybe a few individuals can reach fluency by cramming a language, the thing is, I think that if we concentrate on processing instead of remembering, just like we did when we were children, we can reach better results in a shorter amount of time. Also, if this is your third or fourth language, compare to languages you already know. 8) I don’t start with basics. I start ‘somewhere’.

Delve into the language the second you’ve started. Are you overwhelmed? That’s fine! You’ll find your way around it. Start with word meanings, finding out what kind of sentences those are and then build your way around it. Don’t start saying ‘hello’ and ‘I’m from’. Those are cool, but usually, they are used in a different way when you actually go out and speak. You’ll get them along the way.

9) Don’t rely on instructions (only). Rely on yourself.

Norwegian on the Web — free course by NTNU

Barnebøker for Norge (children’s books for norway) — free norwegian children’s books for a variety of levels & they also have audio! also they have an option to go between bokmål and nynorsk which is pretty fun

Klart Det! — for more advanced lessons (B2+)

Norwegian Teacher Karin on youtube — she doesn’t upload that frequently anymore but her past videos are super helpful

NorwegianClass101 on youtube

Future Learn Introduction to Norwegian — free four week course by the university of oslo

På Vei (textbook) — this is a beginner textbook but it’s entirely in norwegian so a bit of knowledge of norwegian is needed

På Vei Digital — free exercises to go along with på vei

Exploring Norwegian Grammar — free grammar website made by kirsti macdonald who co-wrote på vei 

Loecsen Learn Norwegian — another free (very beginner) course

norwegian dictionary with both bokmål and nynorsk — not a translation dictionary but just a regular one but it has both bokmål and nynorsk

NRK Nyheter — this is a bit advanced obviously but NRK is my go-to if i want norwegian reading practice (it’s just news but also NRK has tv programs as well including skam & they also have radio)

SKAM website full episodes — you’ll need a vpn but they have norwegian subtitles also it’s great for learning how people speak every day

Lovleg episodes — same as above (you’ll need a vpn) also lovleg will be a little hard to understand if you’re learning bokmål bc it’s very dialect-y but another show to watch in norwegian that i think is good

my norwegian playlist on spotify — it’s not super long but good for discovering norwegian music if you don’t know any :-)

edit bc my friend recommended these 2 podcasts:

Norsk for Beginners — for A1-A2 learners

Lær Norsk Nå — for B1-B2 learners

This is my first vocab list! Sorry if anything’s incorrect Norwegian isn’t my first language. Please message me if I need to change something. Hope this helps~

Useful Expressions - Nyttige Uttrykk

Ja - Yes

Nei - No

Kanskje - Perhaps

Vær så snill - Please

Unnskyld - Excuse me

Hjelp meg - Help me

Takk - Thanks

Ingen årsak/Vær så god - You are welcome

Adressen - the address

Datoen - the date

Nummeret - the number

Klokka/Tiden - the time

Hva er klokka? - What is the time?

Hvordan sier De__? - How do you say?

Jeg heter__. - My name is__.

Vær så snill og snakk langsommere. - Please speak more slowly.

Hvor er__? - Where is__?

Hvor mye koster det? - How much is it?

Hvorfor - Why?

Når - When?

Hvordan - How?

Hvor langt - How far?

Hvor lenge - How long?

Hvem - Who?

Hva - What?

Her - here

Der - there

Til - to

Fra - from

Med - with

Foruten - without

I - in

På - on

Nær - near

Langt - far

Foran - in front of

Bak - behind

Ved siden av - beside

Innafor - inside

Utafor - outside

Noenting - something

Ingenting - nothing

Flere - several

Få - few

Nok - enough

Mange - many

Flere - more (number)

Flest - most (number)

Litt - a little

Mindre - less

Minst - least

Tom - empty

Full - full

God - good

Bedre (enn) - better (than)

Best - best

Dårlig - bad

Verre (enn) - worse (than)

Igjen - again

Også - also

Nå - now

Straks - immediately

Snart - soon

Så snart som mulig - As soon as possible

Senere - later

Langsom (sakte is more commonly used) - slowly

Langsommere (saktere is more commonly used) - slower

Fort - quickly

Fortere - faster

Kom hit - come here

Do you need to distract yourself? Or are you simply bored? Here are some great websites to make the time pass.

create pixel art

Awesome photo editor and art program, all free…!

Totally free transparent textures

make a cute chibi

draw some cool generative art

be a graffiti creator

create a picassohead (you don’t need to be a picasso to do so)

paint online

another awsome site to create pixel art on

and another one

create your own mandala

or color one

create an avatar

or you can try creating your own superhero

here you can interact with organisms in different environments to see how to music changes

here’s a website that translates the time into hexidecimal colours,

Here is a website where you can travel along a 3D line into the infinite unkown

here is a website where you can listen to rain with or without music

Need a model in a certain pose for drawing? here

Want to build your own planet

here is a website where you can create your own galaxies

make your own pattern (very useful if you need a new background)

create next hit comic

make a city which looks like something from 90′s games

draw a mandala like design

jig saw puzzles

more jig saw puzzles to solve

create a stunning HTML5 animation - no coding!

make a movie

create and dress up dolls

play a piano

you can also play a guitar

create sounds

another sound creator

create a logo

design your dream home

sketch rooms

explore fashion trends and create your own sets

build a website

try this app for building a website

Or maybe start learning how to code!

design your own t-shirt or a beanie or sweatpants and order them

design your own phone case

pretend to be a graphic designer with this cool online tool

Make your own Glitch art

Here’s another glitch art maker

And another!

Holy hell, here’s a third!

make an image look like it was created by a commodore 64

freaking cool text generator!

Easy to use word processor

Make up really cool patterns or run your photos through it :)

Write an essay on anything with no hassle

Wanna see how something you write would look like if it was on JacksFilms YGS((Your Grammar Sucks videos on YouTube))?

Make pictures out of text

ASCII word generator

Need an idea for some fanart-here :D

mario

cubefield

sleep calculator essay typer

rice questions

maths 

artsy-fartsy pretty thing

quotes

survive nature

rain

tumblr music

calming rain

themes

backgrounds [x] 

loads of references

Still haven’t found something that would float your boat? Try these:

watch a documentary

learn to code

do something yourself

workout with the help of this great youtube channels

learn things

play pokemon or zelda or other awesome old school games

waste your time on miniclip

play games at additing games

or try games at agame

calm your thoughts

the quiet place

it will be okay

vent or listen to someone

pour out your soul

explore the sky

look at art from around the world

virtually visit museum of iraq

explore world with arounder

create a music playlist

list through rare books

scroll useful science website

create sand art

brain games

try out tastekid and discover new favorite band or movie or book

interactive 3D anatomy

random street view

post a secret

create a family tree

find our what’s the difference between x and y

help scientists and become volunteer researcher

create your own font

read a classic short story

In the mood to read, but not sure exactly what book to go for?

scribble on maps

listen to letters

play with acrobots

listen to podcasts

make a bucket list

Ever want to see the most truly useless websites in creation?

Prank a friend with this blue screen of death!

Zone out watching the colors drip down

Sprite generator!

Face Generator/Creator!

Maybe none of these peeked your interest-maybe you’ve been wanting to create an o.c, but never really knew how to start-or you just enjoy making O.C’s….Or maybe you have a Gemsona that you want to create, but don’t have the energy to draw!

This masterlist is to help you in making your own OCs….it can also apply to developing RP characters i suppose! (´ヮ`)!

Gemsona stuffs;

Just a straight up character gemsona creator

Here’s another

Not sure what gem to go with, or where? 

OR maybe your unsure about more than just that?

How to Write Better OCs:

basic tips on how to make your oc even better

tragic backstory? learn how to write one/make yours great

writing specific characters

a wordier, great guide on how to develop your character

kick out those vague descriptions and make them AWESOME

Character Development:

how to actually make an OC

Q&A (to develop characters)

more Q&As

giving your character a backstory

how to write an attractive character

Need an Appearance idea?

Humanoid generator? check

Here’s another one

and maybe if you didn’t like those this’ll work

Need Monsterpeople?

Well, then here ya’ go

Maybe you need Cats?

Diversity

adding more racial diversity

avoiding tokenism, AKA, how to add diversity to your cast not just because you “need” it

writing sexuality and gender expression (doesnt include non binary, if you have a good ref to that, please add on!)

masterpost on writing more diversity into your story

cultures of the world

guides to drawing different ethnicities (not just a great art reference, but also really helpful in appearance descriptions!)

Mary Sue/Gary Stu

Test to see if your character is a Sue

Explains subdivisions of Sues/Stus

Powerful Characters Don’t Have to Be Sues

Villains

villain generator

need an evil sounding name for your evil character? bam

villain archetypes

what’s your villain’s motive for being a villain?

Relationships

character perceptions (What your character thinks of themselves and what others think of them)

how to write strong relationships between two characters

8 ways to write better characters and develop their relationships with others

OCxLove Interest Handbook

develop your couple with good ol’ Q&A!

how to write realistic relationships

how to write relatives for your characters (this is more OC related to a canon character, but will help in writing family members in general)

ARCHETYPES

12 common archetypes

8 archetypes for male/female characters

female archetypes (goes pretty indepth from two main categories)

a list of archetypes

NAMES

how to name your character

random name generator

most common surnames

surnames by ethnicity

APPEARANCE

tips for better design

basic appearance generator

pinterest board for character design (includes NSFW and images of skeletons/exposed muscle (?) so tread carefully!)

clothing ref masterpost

Clothing generator

Another clothing generator

More clothing generator

Aaaand even more

Steam punk clothing

Char Style preference

Dress Generator

DETAILS

give your character better powers

a list of professions

proactive vs reactive characters

positive and negative traits

interest generator

skills generator

motivation generator

123 ideas for character flaws

list of phobias

Oh shit someone died

Backgrounds and stuff? yep

Quirks

Personality. you need that shit

Need something fandom related?

City generator hell yeah

location? got ya

World-building?

make your own god damn laws

Landscape.

Need Item names?

Fantasy/sci-fi/etc. medicine names

Stuff to make things more interesting.Weapons, clothes, treasures… whatever your characters need.

Item & Artifact Generators

Other stuffs!

Genre, Plot, & Story Prompt Generators

How did your characters meet?

Fanfic plots. you bet your ass.

Other Other stuffs!

Wanna make a custom minecraft skin?

Well then these’ll work!

This one too~

WAIT!…if none of that worked, then maybe you want to make a southpark style character?

Here!

Well, this one’s nice too~

And another..

Aaaand another!

UNDERTALE STUFFS;

Undertale character speech box creator!

Want inspiration for an Undertale Oc?

OR a super Edgy Undertale Theory generator?

Maybe you just want to read some funny Sans Puns!

TMNT STUFFS;

How about a TMNT creator?

THIS IS MY FAVORITE POST ON THIS FUCKING SITE

Our lives become busier and we have so much going on. It’s hard to find time to practise learning a language when you’re super busy, so when you DO have the free time, the last thing you want to do is sit down with a textbook and learn conjugation. One of the most fun ways to learn a language - in my case, Norwegian - is to immerse yourself in Norwegian media, books, songs and films. You’re kind of subconsciously learning the language while being entertained!

I would recommend watching with subtitles in your native language to begin with - it may seem like a cop-out, but you’re still listening to your target language. Next, move to watching with subtitles in your target language. And after that, you could try watching it in your target language without subs!

So here’s a few suggestions for learning Norwegian through the media!

TV Shows

I kveld med Ylvis - HERE is a link to a Youtube page where you can watch lots of their videos with English subtitles!

Kollektivet on TV2

Lilyhammer (on Netflix!) - this is a great TV show with Steven Van Zandt, and is in half-Norwegian, half-English.

Dag

Helt perfekt

On TVNorge’s website, you can watch online all of their shows from A to Å. 

Movies

Død snø

Troll hunter

Få meg på, fy faen

Mannen som elsket Yngve

De gales hus

Kalde føtter

Musicians

Kaizers Orchestra

Lars Vaular

Gabrielle

Skambankt

Razika (my current faves)

Violet Road (ikke på norsk, men….)

But learning a language is no overnight process. The longer you spend working at something, the more it’s going to embed itself in your memory - du må gi det tid….

Hello Beth!! I’m doing really good, I’m starting school next Tuesday and I cannot wait because ugh work. I hope everything’s good with you too :) 

So yeah university and personal language studies can be hard to deal with.. Last year, I barely ever sat down to actually study any Norwegian (and I sort of hit a plateau), I don’t know how people on here manage to do both! Here’s what I did last year, they’re all things I was able to do on the bus or during my breaks at school (sadly not all of the things are free).

Read a (e)book

You might have to buy a book, I don’t know if there are any free ones in the form of pdfs out there.. But yeah, I bought the Harry Potter ebook last year and whenever I had some time I’d just read a couple of pages. You might not have the time to actually search the words you don’t know but at least you’ll be reading!

Read the newspaper

I said newspaper because I’m subscribed ($) to Aftenposten, but it could be any websites with newspaper-like posts, like VG for example (can’t think of another one right now sorry). I tried reading at least one article every morning on the bus. It allowed me to read about various subjects and learn a bunch of new words!

Complete a lesson on Duolingo/Memrise/Babbel

I don’t think I have to explain this one, but it’s easy to do on the go, doesn’t take too much time and is very useful for beginners.

Listen to music

Probably the easiest thing to do! Spotify is filled with Norwegian artists (who actually sing på norsk). Also, these playlists are all good places to start to find people you like:

Norsk by @whatlanguageisthis

Norsk på Norsk

Norsk Sangene For Fremmedspråk (some lovely person made me a playlist, but i can’t remember who sorry)

Listen to a podcast/the radio

Once again, you can easily find some podcasts on the podcast app (I personally listened to skam-pod, andregenerasjonen and venninna di). It’s fun to listen to on the bus or in your car.

NRK also has a whole bunch of radio channels you can listen to online, like the NRK P1 (for which there’s a different station for each region of norway). You can also find some radio “episodes” in the podcast app, like P3morgen which is on NRK P3 every morning and then uploaded on the app.

If you’re able to, one thing that would make me study was to block a certain period of time for example every Tuesday from 1 to 3pm and during that time I’d try to sit down and write notes, read my textbook, read grammar stuff online and basically study. Sadly, that’s not necessarily something you’ll have time to do with a tight schedule.

Lastly, for some resources for beginners, i suggest you look at this post, I listed quite a bunch of things I used when I started (and still use).

På tredjetrinn begynner vi å jobbe litt mer systematisk med gramatikken. Til nå har vi kun introdusert “tingord” og “gjøreord”, og laget noen adjektivfortellinger for moro skyld.

Lagde disse vi kan henge opp etter vi har arbeidet med de tre ordklassene:

Deler gjerne på mail også, hvis noen ønsker full oppløsning.

Ha en fin mandag!

After 4+ hours of collecting and organizing my Norwegian posts, I have decided to put them all into a big resource masterpost. These are resources from about a year of posting. I hope you all find these helpful!

Word lists & phrase lists (not in any particular order)

Frosty Morning vocab

Late Night vocab

Language Study vocab

Book vocab

Some useful words when writing a Norwegian essay

Forest Hike vocab

Mathematics vocab

Spring vocab

Polar-themed vocab

LoveWave (song by Iveta Mukuchyan) vocab

Optical Phenomena vocab

Sand-themed vocab

Norwegian Summer vocab

110 Random-But-Quite-Useful vocab

Home-themed vocab

Some Norwegian adverbs

21 useful phrases of daily Norwegian

Word of the day 

There are 200+ word of the day posts on my blog, and making a link for every one of them would take an eternity. Therefore, I advise you to just search on “wordoftheday” on my blog and all the posts should show up. Here is a link to the search. 

Grammar + other Norwegian language related explanations

I have somehow highlighted the more useful resources in this list!

Sentence structure: 1 2

Several possible options 

“På” after the verb “bevege”

Begge vs begge to

Comparatives and superlatives 

Vann vs vannet (including vatn)

Reflexive pronouns

Both “til” and “å” can be translated as “to”

“I love doing …”, “I hate being …”, infinitives

“Det vil jeg tro” vs “Jeg vil tro det”

“Ikke” after & before the verb

“da” vs “når”

“unnskyld” vs “beklager”

short examples with “å være”

“over hele verden” vs “i hele verden”

“Heller”, “annet”, “anna”, “annen”, “andre”, “gjerne”, “enig”,”enig i”, “enig med”

“Den”, “det”, “deg”, “dette”, denne”, “disse”

“Den vakre vennen min”

How to use the word “på”

“Er det det det er?”

“Den er”, “det er”, “denne er” etc.

plural definite

“å gjøre” = “to do”

How to use the word “man”

The feminine indefinite article “ei” and the feminine “-a” definite ending

“jo”

“av” vs “for” vs “til”

“En” vs “enn”

Two d’s in “Tror du at du får gjort det i kveld?”

Possessive pronouns

“Skulle helst”

Emphasis on pronouns

“Åpne opp” & “lukk opp” both means “open up”

General neuter pronoun in Norwegian

Nouns whose indefinite plural is the same as indefinite singular

“Siden” vs “ettersom”

“vel” & “nok”

Why “de stiller mye spørsmåler” is wrong

How to say “where is your top from”

The use of “den”

The use of definite form and indefinite form

The use of en, et & ei + the letter “æ” handwritten

“Vil du …?” & “Har du lyst …?”

“Lille”, “liten”, “små”

the word “da”

How to translate phrases like “the beautiful” & “the lovely” as in “the beautiful town of Lillehammer”

The difference between “derimot”, “uansett hvor”, “dog”, “likevel”, “imens” & “imidlertid”

Subject-verb inversion in question sentences

“Hjem” vs “hjemme”

How to use the word “sin”, “si”, “sitt” + possessive pronouns

The word “ass”: 1 2 3

“Kjekk” vs “pen” vs “vakker”

“Looking forward to” & “I am excited” in Norwegian

Reflexive pronouns (”meg” vs ”meg selv”)

“Å leke” vs “å spille”

“Takk for sist”

How and when to use commas in Norwegian

“gå” vs “dra”

“is about to …” in Norwegian

the -s suffix

past tenses with -a + multiple options for past tense

“you don’t happen to have …?” in Norwegian

The difference between “å sette”, “å sitte”, “å ligge” and “å legge”

Texts

a short Norwegian text with translations

en liten fortelling på norsk

En liten påskefortelling (a tiny Easter story)

information bokmål vs nynorsk encyclopædia britannica - norwegian language omniglot - norwegian orthography wikipedia - norwegian dialects wikipedia - norwegian language wikipedia - norwegian phonology phrases 101languages [nb] omniglot [nb/nn] polymath [nb] transparent language [nb] wikitravel phrasebook [nb/nn] apps/websites duolingo [nb] learn norwegian naturally [nb] learn norwegian online [nb] memrise [nb/nn] norwegianabc [nb] norwegian language utitlity now - norwegian on the web [nb] pardonmynorwegian [nb] polymath [nb] sett i gang [nb] vocabulary 101languages ielanguages i love languages linguanaut mylanguages

grammar/verbs now shortgrammar.pdf [nb] grammar checker [nb] språkrådet praktisk grammatikk [nb] ucl scandinavian wiki [nb] verbix [nb] verbix [nn] dictionaries bab.la [nb] bokmålsordboka / nynorskordboka dict.cc [nb/de] lexin [nb/nn] nordeniskolen nordisk miniordbok + audio [nb/nn/da/sv/etc] pons [nb/de] tyda.no [nb/en/se] encyclopædias korrekturavdelingen.no [nb] store norske leksikon [nb] wikipedia [nb] wikipedia [nn] blogs afroginthefjord blogglisten easynorwegian lingvisme transparent language news aftenposten dagbladet dagen dagens næringsliv klartale vg

Because I’ve reblogged so many resources and masterposts that it got overwhelming, so I had to compile them all into one giant masterpost. This is basically my entire Norwegian tag. 

Masterposts (contains mixed resources)

The Ultimate Norwegian Resources List by languagesandme (contains courses, culture & life, tv shows, music, news, comics & other reading materials)

Norwegian Resources by languageoclock (contains websites, dictionaries, blogs, news, youtube channels, and music)

Norwegian masterpost by jeg-savner-norge (contains courses, exercises, dictionaries, placement tests, books, games & quizzes, audio, movies, news, etc.)

Masterpost of Hoarded Language Resources by le-juletre (contains courses, listening, pronunciation, grammar, dialect comparisons, music, text, tv, radio and nynorsk)

Jeg lærer norsk! by treasuredthings (contains courses, exercises, dictionaries, grammar, vocab, books, games & quizzes, audio, videos, etc.)

Scandinavian Language Masterpost by useless-scandinaviafacts (contains websites, TV shows, news, movies, and music from Denmark, Sweden and Norway, and includes a comparison video)

North Germanic Language Resources by travellingual (contains various resources on Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Icelandic and Faroese)

Learn Nordic Languages Websites/Sources by factsnfun (contains various resources on Norwegian, Swedish, Danish, Finnish, and Icelandic)

Norsk materials (Kompetanse Norge) by giuliaslangblr

Norwegian resources from this blog by henvin

Vocab Lists & Sentence Lists

Norwegian False Friends by language-princess Norwegian Adverbs by language-princess 85 Norwegian Irregular Verbs by language-princess 150 Advanced Norwegian Verbs by language-princess Norwegian pick-up lines by language-princess Useful phrases and words XIII by jeg-savner-norge Congratulations and good wishes by jeg-savner-norge Groceries by jeg-savner-norge Weather in Norwegian by whatlanguageisthis Directions by whatlanguageisthis 10 Norwegian Idioms Part 1 by whatlanguageisthis 10 Norwegian Idioms Part 2 by whatlanguageisthis 10 Norwegian Idioms Part 3 by whatlanguageisthis Gymnastics vocabulary in Norwegian by whatlanguageisthis Sami vocabulary in Norwegian by whatlanguageisthis Christmas in Norwegian by whatlanguageisthis Love and romance in Norwegian by whatlanguageisthis Body language in Norwegian by whatlanguageisthis Weather terms by snakknorsk Face vocabulary by snakknorsk Things in a Kitchen by coffeewithabook Professions and Occupations by coffeewithabook Entertainment and Hobbies by coffeewithabook Norwegian Autumn Vocabulary by spraakhexe Norwegian Autumn Vocabulary by vokabular Psychology Vocabulary (w/ German) by vokabular Verdensrommet by vokabular Greetings by imlearninglanguages Norwegian chat acronyms by languageoclock Norwegian Frozen Vocabulary by norwegian-wool Norwegian Christmas Vocab by bilingualmalfoy Frukt by polarynat Følelser på norsk by jeglaerenorsk Compliments in Norwegian that isn’t about… by jeglaerenorsk Secret by jeglaerenorsk Sminke by jeglarenorsk Slang by jeglaerenorsk Krydder by letslearnnorwegian Common swears by letslearnnorwegian Litteratur by letslearnnorwegian Kjæleord - Endearments by letslearnnorwegian Blomster by letslearnnorwegian Skole by letslearnnorwegian Musikk by letslearnnorwegian Anatomi by letslearnnorwegian 10 Norwegian Words That Are…Kinda Odd by letslearnnorwegian Around the house in Norwegian by offisiellenorskblogg Cat vocabulary in Norwegian by offiesiellenorskblogg Seafood vocabulary by offisiellenorskblogg Norwegian abbreviations by offisiellenorskblogg People who Make Movies by offisiellenorskblogg Norwegian health vocabulary by studyinorsk Passive voice verbs by rogntre Feelings vocab by rogntre The signs in Norwegian by entliczekpentilczek 10 Untranstalable Norwegian Terms by theprivatelifeofsherlockholmes Reasons for Learning Norwegian by norwegianclass101com Norwegian culture funfacts for SKAM lovers by darktwistedlady Norwegian LGBTQ+ Vocabulary by positivityforbaddays Birthday Vocabulary in Norwegian by polyglotpearl Cute Norwegian Food Vocab by language-hoe Some Norwegian Summer Vocabulary by language-hoe Some Norwegian Rainy Day Vocabulary! by language-hoe Valentinsdagen by ravenlangblr Canada by useless-scandinaviafacts Art vocabulary by deseamber Sea vocabulary by deseamber Penpal Vocab by languagecollector Real Estate Vocabulary by languagecollector 100 Most Common Verbs Norwegian by studyingboookworm Autumn vocabulary by studyingboookworm 100+ Norwegian Verbs in all Tenses by studyingboookworm how to swear in norwegian like a pro by skamda SKAM Words Translation by mannentilminkardemomme Harry Potter Vocabulary by norwegianandchill Some useful words when writing a Norwegian essay by henvin Norwegian Vocab: På Kontoret by ihoeforlangs Classical Music and Instruments in Norwegian by momos-languagejourney Bunch of upper-intermediate/advanced Norwegian vocabulary by languagesfreak Psykolog: – Gå glipp av mer! by norwegianlearner Norsk Vocab - Hardware by vocablrs Norsk Vocab - Radio by vocablrs Norsk Vocab - Garden by vocablrs

Grammar Lessons

å ville by letslearnnorwegian Ordering food by letslearnnorwegian Possessives and “ikke” by letslearnnorwegian Possessives (pronouns) by letslearnnorwegian “skal” “skulle” “brude” “brø” “må” “får” by letslearnnorwegian Basic sentence structures by letslearnnorwegian jeg synes, jeg tror, jeg tenker by letslearnnorwegian hvis and om by letslearnnorwegian Subordinate clauses by letslearnnorwegian Liksom by letslearnnorwegian ‘når’ and 'da’ by letslearnnorwegian “masse “mye” “mange” by letslearnnorwegian “Tykk/tjukk L” by letslearnnorwegian Plural form of neuter nouns by letslearnnorwegian #SKAMSPEAK 1: Ass by stormboxx #SKAMSPEAK 2: Halla! (and other greetings) by stormboxx Difference between “lite” and “små” by almostbilingual Norwegian word order by whatlanguageisthis Why a verb ends in “s” by whatlanguageisthis utenfor, innenfor, bortenfor, nedenfor by whatlanguageisthis Lang og lenge by toramor When to Use: ANNERLEDES & FORSKJELLIG by languages-arent-real Dirty Norwegian: swears, insults and other bad words explained by marilingo annet/anna/annen/andre, gjerne, enig by henvin Gerunds by henvin “meg” or “meg selv” by henvin Polar-themed word list in Norwegian by henvin på byen - til byen; know the difference by ask-the-norwegian Inneklemt dag by language-dragon

Music, Podcasts, and Audio

Norwegian music masterpost by language-flower Norwegian music by language-princess Norwegian Christmas songs (w/ Swedish) by fiveyen Norwegian Podcasts by infusicals Ordentlig radio by offisiellenorskblogg Norsk Musikk! by kainorsk

TV shows, Movies and Videos

Norwegian TV Shows by language-flower

E-books and Reading Resources

Norwegian ebooks and stories by jeg-savner-norge Norwegian books by lovelybluepanda I et annet lys by offisiellenorskblogg Norwegian PDFs! by offisellenorskblogg Children’s books in Norwegian by norwegianlangblr 800k free documents in Norwegian by turbini Norwegian textbooks according to CEFR levels by language-princess

Games, Quizzes, Texts

Norskprøve tests by language-princess Norwegian online exercises by imlearninglanguages

Language Comparisons

Scandinavian Vocabulary -> Science by useless-scandinaviafacts Scandinavian Grammar -> Personal Pronouns by useless-scandinaviafacts The Nordic Languages from Minna Sundberg’s Stand Still Stay Silent comic Numerals in North Germanic Languages by ravenlangblr Norwegian Dialect Comparisons by languageoclock Differences between dialects by letslearnnorwegian Is this text in Danish or is it Norwegian? by languagecollector Nynorsk VS Bokmål by languagebee Differences in written Swedish and Norwegian (Bokmål) by spraakhexe how I speak Norwegian by henvin

Bonus