Norwegian: A Book of Self-Instruction in the Norwegian Riksmal

This was the first of the Teach Yourself language lessons I've used and it is probably the best one of the lot. While it's not going to make you fluent in Norwegian, it's certainly way better than the useless Pimsleur series and it's got enough drama to keep you interested. The key to this book and CDs is that you get to learn the grammar and vocabulary in the context of somewhat believable situations. In this case, it's the context of following the thoroughly entertaining love story of John and Bente as well as all the stuff that comes along with it (e.g. a motorcycle accident, jealousy over another guy name Knut, a grandmother blasting John for not liking lutefisk, struggling with a long distance relationship, and more...). So while you're busy trying to follow the drama, you're picking up Norwegian as you go. I personally think this is the most effective way of self-learning a language short of constantly practicing with a real Norwegian speaker or living in the country itself. So far, I've been able to engage in limited conversations with Norwegian speakers (both in Norway and even on a recent Angel Falls trip with a group of Norwegians). So I'd say it was somewhat effective in bringing me up from being clueless about the language to start with. My only gripe with this lesson is that the CDs seemed to rush its way through the latter units (especially in the 2nd CD). I wish they'd at least cover all the dialogues in the book rather than rush through bits and pieces of units 8-16. Still, I thoroughly enjoyed this product and liked it enough to buy other Teach Yourself books for Icelandic, Swahili, and Spanish. But like I said earlier, I think the Norwegian one is the best of the Teach Yourself lot I have so far...

So I happened to marry an american and we have decided to move to Norway! Only one problem, my husband does not speak a word of Norwegian.... Till NOW! I bought him several books on the subject, but it was not until this book arrived that he actually started to feel like he was finally beginning to grasp and get a "feel" for the language. It is written in a way that forces you to use what you are taught, and it is set up so that you are not able to "cheat", but instead carefully pushing you to actively use what you are learning while the language is taking shape in front of you. Before this book he would often become frustrated over a lot of issues, with "Teach Yourself Norwegian" there is such a change in how he views his journey to learning Norwegian, it is all in all a very good choice if you are a beginner seeking out educational material for learning Norwegian.

I selected this book at random, on the advice of my friend to "get a norwegian course-book if you really want to learn" and it was the best chance i took. the layout of the course is excellent, and the dialogs are very interesting. I like the way the book tells the story of John, an British student, and Bente, a Norwegian au pair. Hey, how bout a follow up: "Teach Yourself Advanced Norwegian" :)

This book is the best book published by anyone to learn a scandinavian language. It's very concise and besides this language is very easy for an English speaker to learn, so you make rapid progress. You'll be conversationally fluent in Norwegian in three months, I promise!