I Learned Norwegian in 2 Weeks Then Went on Live TV in Norway
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This is the story of how I learned to speak Norwegian in two weeks and then flew to Norway and spoke it with a journalist on the TV show of VG, Norway’s biggest newspaper. It was an incredible challenge and thanks so much to VG and Thomas Bløndal for putting me up to it.
0:00 Intro
0:57 Norwegian journalist challenges me
1:29 Sponsored by Displate
2:22 Day 1 - study schedule
3:50 Day 3 - this is hard!
4:42 Day 6 - Norwegian words sound like curse words in English
4:59 Day 10 - surprising Norwegian strangers with my Norwegian
7:53 Flying to Norway & my first impressions
8:51 Interview on Norwegian TV
14:11 Conclusion
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Wow!
Hello :)
You’re incredible 👏🏽
Can't believe no one is talking about your humongous balls of steel like..... WOW. I think anyone who's learned a second language can know the fear, embarrassment, and humility involved and you just gloss over any of that and dive in head first
Sad to see that you went to the biggest, dirtiest andugliest city in Norway when you were here:( You should have gone to Bergen or Ålesund, especially Ålesund, top 5 most beautiful cities in the world.. And also i would have invited you inn for a Coffe..;)👍
I couldnt believe my eyes when i saw Xiaoma sitting in a little restaurant in the middle of Oslo, had a little chat with him and asked him jokingly is he gonna learn norwegian, to which he responded in norwegian , absolute mad lad 💯
One time I met an american who spoke perfect mandarin! I have so much respect for americans.. They're very smart people.
That is awesome.
@@Dah42 ofcourse🇺🇲🇺🇸
@@Dah42 that’s so kind of you to say! Usually we hear the opposite nowadays 😅
@@Dah42 Very smart people but then ask them to point out a country on the map, lol :p
For those of you wondering, he has a thick english accent but everything is fully understandable. Truly impressive for such a short time practicing.
Would you say aside from the accent is the pronunciation of words there?
@@DarkAngel2512 well it's pretty poor in terms of pronunciation but as long as you listen it's fully understandable. He didn't say a single word that wasn't so while it's not perfect i'm really impressed by how well he did.
@@gullinkambe6726 yep. He picks up accents much better/quicker than I could.
His accent is american not english
@@rainzwastakenn what language do you think they speak in america bruh
As a norwegian I have to say I was really impressed, learning norwegian at a level this decent in 2 *weeks* is actually insane
How correct and understandable he was?
@@Bleideris0 I'd say he spoke about at the level of an average person who's studied Norwegian for maybe 4-6 months. I could understand him well, he responded cohesively to questions I didn't expect him to even understand. The interviewer didn't take it easy on him either, he spoke at a fast pace, yet he showed that he understood him.
same, his pronunciation is very good
@@Blazey0908 That intrigues me the most. By learning to speak face to face he got even pronunciation correct
Kjempe bra hjort!
His Norwegian is very fascinating. It's generally terrible as far as grammar, word usage and pronunciation goes... but for 2 weeks it's *astoundingly(!)* good. Yet he makes mistakes that I wouldn't expect from someone who used more time than him but can survive a basic conversation/interview... At the same time, he sometimes uses words that fit a lot better than the textbook stuff that you'd have to cobble together to get your point out; he didn't rely on textbooks after all. I've never heard anything like it.
As norwegian, i agree!
As a Swede I picked up on these things but I let it slide given he was only given 2ish weeks
His ability to learn languages so quickly is truly amazing
yuh
Right? I aspire to be like him
Everywhere.
He is very disciplined and I think he has a technique down after so many languages. You can tell he’s not always fluent, but a lot of people including myself have a fear of practicing in public until we feel perfect. Just goes to show that being bad at something is apart of the process and we’ll reach our goal if we practice.
The ability to so quickly comment on videos is quite sad. Do you live in your mom’s basement
This is insanely impressive!
indeed it is
Oh high, mate!
Niko omilana
Not as impressive as welcome to luton
anyone else notice how much weight that boy has put on?
Some of those "polyglots" speak only a fraction of this in 20 languages and they claim to be realy polyglots but this man is one of the few that are not a fraud. The amount of things you said for just two weeks of learning is incredibly impressive.
i just wish he learned how to pronounce Ø
I am so impressed! I'm Norwegian and you did great! Learning to hold a conversation in another language in just a couple of weeks is incredible. And no, I dont think any Norwegians would consider it cultural apropriation to wave our flag. XD
Yes…not norwegian but if you do it with respect I think it’s fine, I mean it’s like you waving the American flag..like it’ll be different if you did it without respect (like letting it touch the ground)
Cultural appropriation. I’m triggered now.
I decided to learn Norwegian as a linguistic exercise recently (background of the English language), and I think the pronunciation and intonation of many Norwegian words is seriously adorable. I thought Norwegian would sound similar to German (which I also speak), but the pronunciation is very different.
Berre veive flagget våres så mykje som du vil! Norsk kultur er inklusiv, og SJWs kan dra til hel****
Ja, jeg synes at det var spennende også. Han snakket godt norsk for bare lære det i to uka. Jeg synes at lære norsk er ikke så vanskelig også, men det trenger litt tid. Jeg ble overrasket over hvor tatt er norsk og engelsk. (Jeg lærer norsk for en år).
Bro i’m Swedish and even I can confirm this is good. An American guy learns Norwegian in 2 weeks, and a Swede can understand. Mad respect.
thats not that interesting, norwegian can be understood for 80+% by swedish ppl
@@beerbuntenbach6201 Nynorsk can't be spoken by anyone though. It's a written form of the Norwegian language. As is bokmål.
As a dane i understood him clearly aswell. Xiaoma is very skilled.
@@beerbuntenbach6201 what was interesting was that an American guy learnt the language in 2 weeks and someone from another country could understand what he was saying
@@alvidoranwashere anyone can reproduce sentences xd I followed a major in scandinavian language and culture in Amsterdam and understood the prof after 2 weeks just fine as well. It really isnt that impressive. Both germanic languages
Norwegian here - you did absolutely incredible. You made perfect sense and some of the words I think we should change to the way you said it. For instance brus (soda) sounded way cooler when you say it 😂
Yeah he's pretty awesome
Hah, yeah, that is how I pronounced brus. Must be the American accent of Norsk.
@@user82938 actually it's kinda funny because people (from all over the world) learning to speak Norwegian usually end up talking in an accent similar to this 🤔
@@trikop7575 because the tone in the language has no vocal in it
@@ArythemB I'm not quite sure what that means 🤔
As a norwegian I am amazed on how quick you got this. That's insanely impressive! All honor to you. My girlfriend is from Poland, and you speak norwegian on the same level as her parents who have lived and tried to learn for 15 years. The only part that bites me is calling VGTV "national TV". It's more like a newspaper with it's own streaming platform through web and apps.
and how is your Polish? ;)
@@przemo5711 Technically, if they all live in Norway, it shouldn't matter. I live in Brazil with my wife and I don't expect her or her parents to know Norwegian... Makes no sense.
As a Swede, it was the first time I realized how incredibly good you are at languages. It was easy to understand what you said. :) (The Nordic languages Swedish, Norwegian and Danish are very similar so we can talk and understand each other.)
Ja d var ganske imponerende ass
I speak a bit of Dutch and I understood most of the Norwegian used here so thats also closely related
and all the nordic countries are very fond of each other too no?
@@ben4194 that can not be true i understand 0 dutch and im norwegian
@@richardli4038 yes but we joke with eachother a lot
Norwegian is a great language for English speakers to learn, most of the difficulty lies in pronunciation and cadence. I enjoyed the video!
Finally its here *yes* *kzhead.info/sun/qdJxh8iuop-Keqs/bejne.html*
Så du sier at folk klarer å si dette…men de klarer det ikke allikevel? Love your videos.
"most of the difficulty lies in pronunciation and cadence".....and actually beeing able to understand the hundreds of different dialects.
I've been learning Swedish for a while, would you say that Norwegian is easier or more difficult than Swedish, in terms of like, long words, pronunciation, etc? because the Jeg vs Jag is interesting, Jag means 'i' right, but Jeg hasn't directly been translated to 'i' in this video, does it mean 'i' too?
Also as a german you understand a lot of words as they are basically the same, in addition to a lot of english like words. Reading on the other hand is a nightmare ;) Same goes for swedish which sounds to me more english based and danish is a complete mess! At least "Tak" is the same in all 3 languages afaik.
The great thing about learning Norwegian is that 80% of it translates into Swedish and Danish, so it's very efficient. It's also not too far off English
I guess that's why a lot of Scandinavians speak English very well.
@@rorschacht8478 its mostly because we learn it early at school, and only kids tv shows are dubbed over.
Language families truly are fascinating.
@@rorschacht8478 probably because their own language isn’t spoken elsewhere. Like me, Dutch, doesn’t get you very far.
To me (a Swede) Norwegian and danish just sound like funny Swedish, and I’m sure it’s like that for Norwegians and Danes too lol
What i love most about your videos is how you show the struggle of trying to be understood. You may fumble, or have an accent or be slower but you persevere. And that makes you learn. It's fantastic how you're learning in front of us all!
I have studied about 4 languages (other than English) and just started Italian. Been toying with the idea of taking a new approach that focuses on speaking in real world conversations, and not memorizing from textbooks. After this video, I am sold. Great job!
I can corroborate this. I gained a greater mastery over Korean being in Seoul for three weeks and engaging in conversation at every possible opportunity than I did studying it in class for a year and a half (though some fundamentals aren't at all bad to learn through study).
I’ve been learning Norwegian in Norway for almost two years. The level and progress shown here was very comparable to that of someone who’s been learning the language for at least 6 months (with dedication). Impressed. I would shit my pants if I had to go on live TV
Where in Norway are you? I'm halef-heartedly learning it from the UK and I'm aware of the dialect system, what dialect are you having to adapt to?
Would you shit your pants deliberately or by accident?
No, it's not. Someone who has learned a language for 6 months will not forget half of their progress after a few months. That's the difference.
@@justaname1837 do you know how his brain works? Or how about how often he practices different languages in an attempt to retain some knowledge? Im not sure how he does either and to what extent, but considering he can speak many languages and switch between them and be understood, he likely is doing better than any of is would lol
@@justaname1837 plus you are completely wrong lmao, i took french in school for an entire year and ive forgotten almost all of it because i didnt continue to practice and i never had the passion for the language. Xiaoma seems to be very passionate about learning languages in general, i wouldnt put it against him to remember a lot of what he learns for a considerable time esp since he speaks with native speakers to learn. Even if he only spent two weeks learning he still spent entire days speaking with locals and impressing them
Norwegian speaker here, man you did really well. I’m surprised about how little grammatical mistakes you made, and you responded correctly to every question.
I'll have to take your word for it haha
Making a grammatical mistake would be very hard, seeing how similar it is to english.
Jepp
And I already spot a grammatical mistake in this comment
@@taylorliu9093 ironic, isn't it?
I learned quite a bit of Danish and it's amazing how similar the languages are. I could understand almost everything without looking at the subtitles
Held og lykke med at lærer dansk ☺️🙏💪
@@champenhimself Tusind tak 🙏
Konstigt, många svenskar förstår norska bättre och tycker det är enklare än danska. Men norrmän och danskar kanske förstår varandra lättare?
I was in Iceland one time. Met a Norwegian guy at a bar and we small talked for a while in each our languages, me being danish. There was an American next to us who was confused what language we were speaking. He was blown away when he found out we were speaking the same one. It was a funny experience.
@@celeroon89 inte konstigt, det är jo typ samma språk man skriver i Norge och Danmark - mycket mer likt än norska och svenska. Så självklart fattar dom varandra lite bättre än dansken o svenskan fattar varandra.
This is impressive he learned som Words that I didnt think he would now, like Innså (realized). His accents is actually not bad, he is just struggling with the norwegian specific letters like æøå. And its quite funny that he switches over to an american answer when saying words that are the same in Norwegian and english. Great job!
Never in a million years would I expect Xiaoma to speak my own language. This was a pleasure to watch!
Hehe, må si på 2 uker så ble jeg meget imponert :) !
@@MrRoyalGard Next question is: Will he still remember it in two MORE weeks? 🤪🙃
ja fy faen! æ hadd alltid lyst te at han skulla lær sæ Norsk og så glad for at han tok Norsk og ikke svensk eller dansk
Jag är lite avundsjuk faktiskt
hahaha he will never do albanian😂
It’s absolutely insane how quick he picks up languages, I’m fluent in Norwegian and I understood every sentence and point he was trying to get across. Not sure what’s more impressive him remembering the words on the spot or understanding the questions from the interviewer🤯
Yeah it’s cool too because I only know English but I somehow also knew what every sentence meant in that conversation.
@@parky7417 You referring to the subtitles?
@@parky7417 bruh
I have been trying to learn Spanish for a long time, and I would say that being able to understand a spoken language is harder for me than remembering words.
Interviewer didn't do him any favours either by speaking more slowly, but at least they didn't use an interviewer with a dialect because that would've been downright cruel, lol.
When I was in High School I shared a locker with an exchange student from Norway. His name was Paal. We became great friends and he taught me Norwegian. I'm about to turn 50, but I still remember how to count to ten, and say please/thank you. Other small phrases and such. Now I live in Chicago, and I cross paths with Norwegian's now and then. I love to impress them with my little knowledge. This video has inspired me to learn more. I'm so impressed that you picked this up so fast! Tusen Takk. 🇧🇻
Pål is such a norwegian name, haha. Love it
seems like you two were good Paals
as a norwegian i am insanely impressed about not only your pronunciation, but your ability to not forget every word when being on tv like thats extremely impressive!! I have studied French for some time and this was a whole lot better than me within two to three weeks, amazing
You should learn Irish Gaelic and go to a Gaeltacht region of Ireland, maybe Connemara! The locals would be really impressed that someone had gone out of their way to learn a ‘dead’ language.
Yes please!! My grandmother is from a small town outside of Nenagh. I’ve always been interested in the Gaeltacht region. Getting some more exposure to the language would be great!
I took Irish lessons years ago at a local community college. I wish I kept up with it. I didn't really have anyone to speak it with.
This would be HARD
Was about to post that he should try Irish. I am a newly practicing Irish Pagan and would love to be able to speak it for spiritual purposes to An Mórrígan and An Brígid.
absolutely do irish im all for this
Im Norwegian and a huge fan of Xiaoma, so this is such a surreal experience seeing you practicing and talking in Norwegian, let alone on tv?! How did i not know this?! Well done!!
Ja, samme her!
kinda same even tho im swedish
how was his tones? My friend lived in Kristiansand and she always got a comment that she spoke with too low tones and that sounds impolite. Our Viennese dialect are spoken with a lower tone. Also I learned that Oslo is pronounces Ushlu -- correct? at least I can survive on OST and øl ...
Do you think he did an ok job? I only speak English, so I just have to trust the subtitles. LOL
Great Job!!!! just in two weeks??? wow!
As someone who’s previously worked in Norway for 10 months and has now lived here for one year and has just started Norskkurs I find it not only unbelievable what you achieved in two weeks but also inspiring for me to get my arse into gear and push harder to learn this Bonkers language 👌👌
I loved this! I have been learning Norwegian VERY casually for about 10 months, and I could see the rolodex dictionary in your mind spinning for vocab at certain points; I almost cheered when you found the word 'lett'! Congratulations, and what a fun challenge! I would probably go completely to pieces under the same circumstances and barely be able to speak English, let alone Norwegian!
Holyyy fuckkk, as a Norwegian subscriber hearing you understand Norwegian so well after only 2 weeks was shocking, the only thing you need to work on i pronounciation but that comes naturally the more you use the language, well done!
Seems like a beautiful country and language
He did something I did when learning/speaking Norwegian, which is sometimes you accidentally slide back into English because some of the words are so close. Like he starts saying "or" a couple times and then corrects to "eller." I don't mean eller and or are close. I just mean I would find myself slipping because a word earlier in the sentence was close to English.
@@user82938 yeah, another one I noticed is "også" and "also"
@@ominousplatypus380 yes! I mess that one up all the time.
Fantastisk jobba :D I’m really impressed how much Norwegian you actually learned. Good sentences and pronunciations. Deffinetly a challenge to accomplish in such short amount of time
Deffinetly
@@stadtjer689 Most deff
*Definitely
I am Norwegian and I must say I am very impressed by the amount of Norwegian that he managed to learn in two weeks time, a lot of the people that try to learn Norwegian have problems with getting to this level in a year, I am really impressed by this👍🏽
You are incredible! Thanks for putting yourself out there for others to benefit from your interactions!
Really good job, this from a born and raised Norwegian. And to the question about cultural appropriation, this seems like an exclusively American phenomenon as far as I can tell, here it's just a form of cultural appreciation, and it is indeed appreciated amongst the Norwegian people. It's always entertaining to hear foreigners learn our language, the Æ, Ø and Å always gets you in trouble, hehe!
It was sarcasm making fun of liberals who cry “cultural appropriation “ lol
Quick question for you as you are obviously familiar with English: I am British (Scotland specific) and would very much like to travel Scandanavia at some point during my lifetime, but am nervous of doing so. If I were to go to (e.g.) a cafe in Norway and order in broken Norweigan would that be seen as positive for making an effort, or would I be seen as stupid as the waiter could probably speak better English than I can Norweigan?
It was mild sarcasm, as most rational people don't see it the way the extreme liberals do. Everyone wants to see people who are not of their country engaging and supporting their culture, but western extreme liberals only criticise their own people for participating or getting involved in other cultures.
@@ClockworkGrouse Norwegian here. We always appreciate it when someone tries to make an effort. More so because tourists know most of Norwegians speak fluent English, so they just go with that from the start. Even if you just start of with a few words in Norwegian and then switch over to English, it would be appreciated. Not needed in any shape or form, but appreciated nontheless.
@@ClockworkGrouse As Norway is quite diverse, at least in the cities, so to have an accent isn't frowned upon at all :) But if you ever were to switch over to english for your own sake, you'd find most Norwegians in almost any age can speak English fairly decently :)
As a Norwegian you get an A+ The learning and the interview in only 2 weeks is VERY impressive. For some learning norwegian takes years!
So from what I’ve heard it takes a Native English speaker about 500 hours to learn Norwegian, now let’s assume he did only 8 hours a day for two weeks, that’s about 112 hours, now let’s assume that because he’s spent so many years learning many different languages, that process is just faster for him because he knows how to make his learning the most efficient, in that context, it’s not too insane that he did this, plus he probably spent more than 8 hours on it some of those days.
Huh so he says only 2 hours a day, I’m skeptical lol haven’t seen the whole video yet
@@democracydignityhumanrights studied with tutors 2 hours a day, and then went out to practice speak in real life. I think
But I was heartbroken when he said most of the people in Norway were not Norwegian.
@@ItsameAlex Oslo has a bigger immigrant population than elsewhere in the country, but these people are usually fluent in Norwegian, having grown up here. Besides that, a lot of people come here to work temporarily, or maybe they've just recently moved here. There are TONS of Swedes working in stores and restaurants in Oslo too.
i am shocked how fast you learned so much norwegian. not just words but understanding what is being said too. you are truly amazing!
I love your sense of humor. You’re being very respectful of other cultures while you’re at it, love every minute of this channel.
I’m Norwegian and this is very impressive. It’s one thing to know how to pronounce words and learn vocabulary, but to have the understanding you have when spoken to, that’s next level. Especially considering the timeframe… well done!
Jeg skal ikke lyge uttalen og grammatikken er helt for jævelig, men samtidig med tidsperioden i betrakning er det forståelig.
@@vekteren3549 det viktigste er at han gjør seg forstått og forstår motparten. Grammatikk tar alltid lenger tid å lære. Det han har fått til på bare 2 uker er rett og slett imponerende
@@AndreHansen96 Helt enig!
Plus the mental pressure was on him. But he has his methods for learning languages, and it works for him.
That was absolutely unbelievable.....you are my hero! I'm American but have Norwegian ancestry and have tried for months to learn Norwegian on Duolingo, with minimal progress. The fact that you agreed to do this and then spoke so well on national tv is amazing. You have got nerves of steel, my friend!
Same here, but the Duo stuff was easy. Norsk er et morsomt og lett språk å lære. Men det er meg. 😊 Did you read the grammar on the website, or just use the lessons on the mobile app?
I used the website. Jeg er ikke flink til å lære språk. Men jeg har heller ikke anstrengt meg nok, det skal jeg innrømme.
@@ThunderPants13 watch Norwegian shows if u havent !!! very fun to try replicate how they speak. id recommend Ragnarok and skam. there's love & anarchy but idk if id say its a great show 🤣 edit: my bad, love & anarchy is in Swedish
First tip: You are American, not Norwegian. Remember that. Americans always come to Europe and say ‘oh I’m actually Irish/Italian/Greek/Norwegian’ etc etc, no, you’re not. You’re just American. Sure, you may have Gaelic, romance, Hellenic, Nordic ancestry, but you’re not Irish Italian greek or Norwegian. It is especially insulting to Irish etc who are not genetically Gaelic etc, you realise not everyone in Europe is genetically from the country they live in? Same as you. Sweden for example, is only 2% less diverse than the US.. it’s not 100% blonde people. Sweden has a huge Asian population, why it’s nicknamed Swedenistan. London, is 45% white British, making them a minority in their own capital. But British people of African or Asian descent are still British. So don’t tell Europeans that you’re actually from their country, it’s super irritating, I know you may think I’m being rude, but to have Americans constantly come here, being totally ignorant of our countries and history, then tell us ‘I’m actually from here’ with a thick US accent.. nobody appreciates it. Now, I know you’re not saying it to mean you come from here, and that you just mean genetically you have ties to here, but still, nobody likes to hear that. Especially because everyone in Europe has ties to each other. The Scandinavians invaded Ireland, UK, France etc, the Greeks and romans invaded everyone, the french invaded UK and Ireland, the Spanish invaded Ireland, the Germans invaded everyone, the Russians invaded half of everyone etc etc, we all have genetics leading back to wherever.
@@burn8325 bro they literally said "im American" and "but have Norwegian ancestry" first tip i.e. keyword: ANCESTRY. they literally didn't claim to be Norwegian. i am irish (legit wow i even speak irish) and it is irritating when Americans say they are also irish bc their great great gran aunts daughter was half irish blah blah. but in this case the op didn't say they are Norwegian only that they have Norwegian ancestry.
Xiaoma, you’re really awesome man! Loved watching you speaking in a new language in such a short period of time!
Amazing !!! Bravo ! I couldn't learn to understand and/or respond to one simple sentence in a new language in two weeks. I'm truly envious and amazed ! I Love All your videos ! I don't smile hardly at all in the regular course of life, but, when I first started watching your videos, early on, I caught myself smiling through the whole video. And, I still do whenever I watch a video of yours. So,....Thank you.....for bringing joy to me + to So many others, as well as teaching us All about different cultures around the world, and sharing your travels and experiences with us. Thank You !
As a norwegian I am so impressed that you managed to learn the language in such a short time. You must have a special talent for languages. Veldig bra jobba og takk for besøket!
La oss være ærlig språket hans var langt bedre enn vi alle kunne forventet, men problemer ligger på hvordan han uttaler ord. Norsk er et lett språk å lære, hvis du har f.eks Engelsk som morsmål.
@@vekteren3549 Det må være ekstremt svært at lære et skandinavisk sprog på så kort tid. Han vil snart kunne klare sig i Sverige og Danmark også uden problemer.
@@simonjrgensen6761 Det er forskjell på å lære språket og pugge setninger
🇮🇸🇳🇴🇫🇮🇸🇪
luk røven
Well done, as a Swede I could understand everything you said in the interview. Since you got this far in two weeks, keep practicing Norwegian a few more weeks and you'll be able to learn Danish and Swedish in no time :)
True
I thought he had a mix of Swedish and Danish in there, so definetly.
I was about to post the same, but for Danish 😂 I even think he had a bit of a Finnish accent to his Norwegian, but as a Dane I could understand everything he said. Well done, @Xiaomanyc !
Good luck with Danish pronunciation 😂
@@Frexuz For helvede man! ;)
For having studied for only two weeks, it’s extremely good. Even as a swede I understood everything you said in Norwegian 🙏🏻
you did a great job! kudos goes out to you! not many people can do what you do seriously! keep it up and love your content!
1. This is extremely impressive. For open ended conversation there aren't really any shortcuts. Great job! 2. Xiaoma's accent is hilariously stereotypically American. Absolutely in an endearing way
I just commented on that reaction I get from native speaking Swedes. It's bewildering but I'll take the charity!
To me, the most amazing thing is not that you learned a lot in two or three weeks, but that you learned to understand what the other person is saying. That is usually the hardest thing, but you were able to pick up on everything that this guy was asking you. You definitely have a gift. I think this must get easier the more languages you learn and understand the similarities of language structure and even some words of different languages.
Agree! I just found this guy. I’ve been taking French for years and am passively trying Norwegian and Japanese. I am awful at Japanese though
This is definitely the most impressive part in my opinion. I've been self-teaching Norwegian for about a year, and I tried listening to the interview without watching the screen. I could mostly understand what Xiaoma was saying (a few words here and there that I didn't catch, but I got the gist). However I couldn't follow the interviewer's words at all, he was far too fast for me to process.
I agree, i had the same experience in Dutch. There were so many situations that I could answer but i just did not get what they say/ask. Even though, i knew the words they used.
The biggest challenge with understanding comes when you go outside the Eastern parts of Norway. We have a wide arrange of accents. I'm very used to seeing my accent subbed on TV where everyone speaks Norwegian. I speak Gaugamål which is generally a Western dialect if you divide similar ones in four groups. One big difference I can point out between mine and the Eastern style is that we use a guttural French-like R sound instead of the rolling sound. I can barely roll my tongue :D
He had learned Swedish before this video and its very similar to Norwegian ..
I am so impressed by this! Veldig bra jobbet !
Yayyy! Love it that you make such efforts to learn other languages. You inspire me to keep trying
The one thing I am blown away by is not how quickly he’s able to start speaking the language, but rather how he’s able to hear the interviewer speak at such a rapid and native pace and still be able to pick out the right words to understand what’s being asked. I’ve been learning a new language for over a year now, and I’m still quite slow at hearing and understanding what natives are saying. It’s super impressive.
If you watched the end of the video he did say he couldn't understand some questions and had to switch over to English. It was probably just edited out. Not a slight at all just pointing it out.
So for those strange Norwegian letters, how I usually explain it to my English speaking friends is with English words and sounds like this; Æ = say Bad and hold the "A" sound. Ø = say Burn but hold the "U" sound. Å = say Shore and hold the "O" sound. Don't know if this is helpful, but others seem to get it quite accurately :) Edit; typos
Jeg synes det var en bra forklaring 😊
Enig! I endorse this👍🏼
I wish you could teach me, thanks for the tip, it was awesome
Veldig godt forklart, jeg må bruke denne forklaringen neste gang noen spør meg om hvordan disse bokstavene uttales.
Checks out for äöå in Swedish too 👌
Started learning Norwegian close to two months ago now. Just an hour here and an hour there. I was able to follow your conversations during the festival pretty closely without the subtitles and that got me extremely hyped!
Even as a Swede I could understand him without subtitles, very cool!
Same
He speaks better Norwegian that he learnt in 2 weeks than I speak German which I learnt for 4 years in high school. Very talented.
Or you were too much laisy! You shouldn't be shame of you and your skills.
The way languages are taught in England at gcse and below is widely useless
But German is also significantly more difficult than Norwegian. I struggled with German too. You get so caught up in the complicated grammar that you're afraid to speak it. Norwegian grammar is easy and uncomplicated, pronunciation can be a challenge, but the grammar is even easier than English.
@@ThundrGurl also most people dont want to learn the languages required in school which is usually French, Spanish, Or german only. Also most the teachers arent actually native speakers so their knowledge is limited also.
@@bigrig8539 I gotta say I was quite lucky. I had took 4 years of Spanish in high school and had an incredible teacher for most of it. We took a fluency exam at the end of senior year and almost everyone was only one or two brackets below fluent (on a score of like 8 or 10, it's been a long time so I can't remember the grading system). My skills have definitely rusted since then, you kinda do use it or lose it, but honestly I think if you dumped me in the middle of a Spanish speaking country I could get back home without too much trouble.
Once you speak one of the Scandinavian languages, you practically get the other 2 for free. Almost all the words are the same in Swedish, Danish and Norwegian, just slightly different spelling and pronunciations. Each language does have it's own unique words (not to mention local slang). but you can usually figure out their meaning from context.
I found Norwegian to sound really similar to German and Flat German at times! That was pretty astounding
Sort of. Except Danish is really difficult to understand, even for a Norwegian and Swedes. I also know a Finnish person who understand Swedish, but not Danish, and barely Norwegian. It takes some training.
@@blabladuweier8654 Easy answer to this.. Swedish/Norweigan/Danish is a germanic language in the bottom
If you learn Danish, the two others come somewhat free i agree, but not the other way around, Swedes and Norweigans have a harder time understanding us, than we do them in my experience, i can speak all 3 languages fairly well, the trick to being able to communicate with everyone properly is to use old Danish/Swedish/Norweigan, there's alot more similairities in old speech than in new speech, so i'd recommend that to everyone.
i'd be bold to say that this could also be applied for many slavic or balkan languages, they're sort of similar!
I am inspired. Your conversation, and how it’s broken apart makes me feel like I’m not a failure whenever I’m learning this new language.
Great job! As a bonus you now know Swedish and Danish also as they are almost dialects of each other. So you can say you learned 3 languages in 2 weeks. Super impressed how well you handled the interview.
Bro is the best ambassador the Us has got lmaoo
Lol no but seriously
before it was laoshu50500 :(
@@hayzeus876 RIP :(
@@hayzeus876i miss that dude
As a danish person, I understood everything you said. You’ve got the base down for learning all three Scandinavian languages
Swedish, Danish and Norwegian. That’s three. What about Finnish? Not considered Scandinavian?
@@your_royal_highness completely different language. If I'm not wrong Finnish actually doesn't have any "language siblings"
@@ph_swe There are a few languages related to Finnish, for example Estonian. But it's true that it isn't at all related to Swedish, Danish or Norwegian.
@@your_royal_highness I see this mistake a lot, Finland and Iceland are part of the Nordic countries with Scandinavia, but Scandinavia is only Denmark, Norway and Sweden Icelandic is similar to old norse, but finnish is an entirely different linguistic tree
Sorry Denmark the truth is the Swedes and Norwegians can't understand you
dude this is so inspirational, i feel like anyone can really surpass their limits when it comes to languages, we have so much adaption potential
This video is very inspiring and you are truly gifted. Congrats!
As a native swede, I was wondering when you was going to attack one of the nordic languages. Swedish and norwegian is quite similar, and you did really good in two weeks 👍🏻 Bra jobbat!
I’ve considered learning one of those two! I’m still torn haha 😅
@@chadbailey7038 Just pick one and you'll be able to understand the other one rudimentary
Skärpning nu, annars så får vi nä jävla problem här! Hälsning, en Norrbagge.
@@chadbailey7038 either one will give you grief 😅
@@chadbailey7038 As long as you don't pick Danish we're good!
As a Norwegian, I really enjoyed your journey! Norwegian is similar to English, but the natives speak at such a speed with 100's of different dialects so it's easy to learn, but hard to master. Even I can't understand some of the more heaver dialects haha. Pronounciation is probably the hardest challenge for non-native speakers, but you did great! Looking forward to your next videos !!!
I could also hear germanic influence in the words. Interesting language with an awesome accent.
@@TorrentUK Yes! Norwegian is very similar to all the other Nordics but also other germanic languages. Really interesting stuff!
Totally common road to stumble on when dialects are involved 😂 Even the people where I'm from struggle with the dialect I have!
Finally its here *yes* *kzhead.info/sun/qdJxh8iuop-Keqs/bejne.html*
Damn good point…
Your norwegian is so good I as a swede can understand what you are saying. Its super fun to hear and listen to you speaking the language in just 2 weeks
Norwegian is pretty hard to learn unless you already speak a language closely connected to it. The fact that you only spent two weeks here and were able to do an interview is pretty impressive. I understood pretty much everything you said. Keep doing what you're doing dude!
@@holtergeist English speakers have a significantly harder time understanding old English than a Norwegian I'd wager.
@@AnyVideo999 If you mean pre Shakespeare then yeah, language was primitive back in those days and it's not comparable to any modern day languages.
This was such a surprise as a Norwegian! I never imagined I would ever see you try my language. You did REALLY well! It totally gave me a new perspective at just how fast and good you are at learning languages. I could never 😂
I am Danish, and understand Norwegian. You did incredibly well; I looked away from the subtitles (my eyes gets drawn otherwise), and still understood everything you said. That’s impressive!
Damn, I get that too. If there is subtitles and I start reading them I'm not even able to watch the show, so I can't use subtitles.
Is it true that Norwegians and Swedish can't understand Danish though?
HAr du vært i Trøndelag?
@@Jujudo No it isn't. I'm Danish and have lived in Sweden and Norway for shorter periods of time and there has been very few problems with language. Most problems were me asking for specific items that had a different name in Danish but simple conversation was just fine between the languages
@@Jujudo I'm Danish, so I'm not sure my answer will be 100% on point. From what I've heard from my Norwegian and Swedish friends, they understand each other more, than they understand us Danes. They can read Danish far better than they can understand it to my knowledge. Maybe a Swede or Norwegian can chip in here to confirm? :)
Swedish person here, I am SO impressed! I could easily understand everything you said, really great work!!! Loved the 17 Mai segment in NYC too!
As a non-native Norwegian speaker who aus lived in Norway for the last 3 years. I'm super impressed by how much he learned in just 2 weeks. It took me 3 or 4 months to reach his level of Norwegian. Absolutely amazing dude.
FINALLY you attempted a language in the Nordic countries!!! As a native Swede, Norwegian and Swedish are pretty similar. I understood you fully, and amazed that you once again knocked it out of the park. Well done! 🙏🏽
Hey hey!
Yeah I understood him perfectly and I am Swedish too. The only neighbors we can't understand are the Danish because they are permanently drunk and chewing on potatoes while speaking.
@@MyAmazingUsername this explains why my Danish grandpa said to stick to English, it sounds nicer, when I was young
If I wanted to learn a language that would be the most intelligible to Danes, Swedes, and Norwegians which one of the three would it be?
@@MyAmazingUsername *Finland clears throat*
Xiaoma: _goes to Norway_ Also Xiaoma: *Everybody speaks Norwegian. I don't know it's making me a little nervous. And they all speak better Norwegian than I do.* Me: Yes.
As a half Swede, I must say you sure know how to grasp the basics quickly! From personal experience with Spanish, I know how hard it is/how much I learned at least after a few weeks, and I can say I would not have been able to have a conversation with unknown questions like that on live TV in Spanish back in the day... Good on you! Hey why don't you do a Swedish video next, it might come more natural now that you have some basic Norwegian with you.
Okay wow.. That's amazing and really impressive! Greatest of all time in the Language knowledge and learning ability!! So amazing - Thanks for sharing this with us!
I'm currently learning Norwegian right now, good to see you learning it 👌
May I ask how you're learning? I'm trying to learn myself
same
Was this demoralising or inspiring?
May I ask why?
be me be born in norway
It’s truly incredible to see what you’re able to do in such a little bit of time. You’ve motivated me to learn Japanese and I hope to one day know as many languages as you 🙏🏽💛 you’re so inspiring
I want to learn Japanese so I can watch anime without subs lol.
WTF I just saw you comment on NDMD 😂😂
just to be clear. nope, you wont.
I wanna learn Japanese and or Norwegian how do I go about it?
Im also learning Japanese. How's your progress coming along, Khalilah?
What an incredible challenge! Absolutely awesome man! Very well done! I was a paid linguist at one point in my past for a few languages and have had to learn dialects highspeed, but this challenge is bonkers! Now I want to try and challenge myself with something similar! Keep up the great videos!
I love this channel and am so amazed at how fast he learns languages. Well done.
This video had everything. Classic xiaomanyc learning phase, trying out the language, food reviews, and the challenge. Excellent stuff!
Dude u totally crushed that interview. For 2 weeks of learning u absolutely killed it
Hi Ari, I got married to a Norwegian women and moved to Norway from England. I am learning the language here and your videos give me a tremendous amount of motivation! Thanks for your great videos I love watching them and will hopefully learn many more languages after Norwegian.
This was so great. You did such a good job and I'm blown away by your learning speed. And you basically got a two for one as you now kinda speak Swedish as well :)
The cool thing about this is that now you basically know Swedish as well since the languages are very similiar. The only difference is really just the intonation and some of the words, so as a native Swedish speaker I was able to understand you perfectly fine and especially since you didn't really master the Norweigan intonation it made it a little easier to understand from a swedish perspective as well so good job!
idk jeg snakker litt norsk and i can't understand one bit of swedish
@@lxcid3944 It only works one way sadly 😂
@@OddZodd yup lmao
I studied a bit of Swedish and understood him well. Swedish and Norwegian are more like a dialect continuum than separate languages in my admittedly limited experience. I've heard greater differences between varieties of English.
@@lxcid3944 Jeg = Jag Snakker = Snackar Litt = Lite Norsk = Norska
You did amazingly, as a Danish person i could even understand you without needing subtitles
Danish dialect of Norwegian confirmed?!?!?!
Same here, I understood as a Swedish person! Great video!
There is only one great Norwegian language the other Scandinavian languages are meer dialects
@@fishmaster665 laughs patriotically in brunost.
@@samuelenblom han borde testa svenska, kanske till och med är enklare
Love your content! I've been watching for a while and it is so inspiring to see you learn so many languages. So awesome.
Omg! I can’t believe this! You spoke it so well, I understood everything!
He does the toddler approach like jumping right into the language, like into the cold water. Very efficient. But he's certainly talented.
Immersion Learning
You really are inspiring. At 46, I have decided to learn a second language, thanks to you. I've been watching your vids for months now, and this one just lit a fire under me. I love studying different cultures, however, I carried the arrogance of expecting the information in English. Perhaps now I can delve deeper into understanding others. We have recently received refugees from Pakistan in my hometown. My goal is to learn conversational Urdu, by New Years. Your example is the path I will follow. Thank you for sharing your journey and goodwill. Blessings upon you and your beautiful family. ✌️
Urdu is such a beautiful language! I have always loved this song: kzhead.info/sun/mKuMZ8innniAbKM/bejne.html (I am pretty sure this is in Urdu - not 100% sure!) Here are some more Urdu songs by the same singer though. I don't understand a word, but I love the music haha kzhead.info/sun/gL6aps1sjX6BfY0/bejne.html
best of luck to you!
Best of luck that sounds lovely! 🤗 you have a good heart
awesome, good luck!! i would also learn the devanagari script in addition to the perso-arabic script so you can understand both written urdu and hindi
as a Pakistani, Urdu is a tough language (at least in written form). Good luck!
Wow is all I can say, what a monumental effort - well done dude 👍🏻 hats off to you!
One of the bravest things i have seen for awhile! Inspiring me to continue learning Cree
As a Swede who also speaks Norwegian, this was an incredible feat Xiaoma!! You pretty much speak swedish now as well :D I'm super impressed with how you manage to stay in the language even in the moments where you struggle. You are an inspiration for sure
Feel like it is just easier for Norwegians, Danes and Swedes to understand each other. Because we meet each other alot more and it is just something we know, as a person who does not even know Norwegian that great, wont be able to understand some of the more difficult Swedish words.
@@andersvassli2349 Danes? Speak for yourself 😄🤪😉
I'm an American who lives in Sweden for 12 years now, so I speak Swedish. Norwegian and Swedish are mutually intelligible to native speakers and I would say fluent speakers as well. I understood everything you said and was very impressed with our ability to hold a conversation in Norwegian. Great job...you are no joke, dude! BTW, I'm a 5 language polyglot, but only fluent in about 3 of them. It was a fun video!
Do you understand norweigan as a non native swedish speaker? Most of my immigrant friends struggle a lot with that
As a non native swedish speaker, I understand norwegian if it is bokmål and danish to a small extent. I can read and understand all three languages in written form (then again norwegian more than danish). If you know some key words that are different between the languages it becomes easier!
Crazy. This video is honestly inspiring.
So cool! I'm from Oslo! And wow how you learned Norwegian in two weeks is incredible.. You even talk alot better Norwegian than many people how have lived here for 7+ years..! That is crazy!
I can’t BELIEVE you did this in roughly two weeks, Xiao Ma! Your ability tio learn languages is just off the charts. English is close to Norwegian due to the history of Nordic occupation of what is today Great Britain, but the challenge lies in the irregularities. You have my utmost respect! Cheers, Norwegian language enthusiast
Xiaoma is a huge part of the language community, always inspiring and pushing the limits in his videos! Absolute legend 🙌 , Thank you. Edit: don’t forget drop a like on the video so other people be inspired to learn a language!
Hey I just came back to watch this video again after three months. I actually started 2023 off with learning from an online tutor from Preply. My tutor has been such a pleasure to work with and talking with someone who is a native speaker like them has really fast tracked my progression. If anyone reading this is serious about learning, pay for a tutor! It IS worth it! Thank you Xiaoma!
I moved to Norway 2 years ago and the fact that you learned more in 2 weeks than me in a year makes me super impressed
As a Norwegain, I`m impressed how quick you picked up the language and you did great at the interview. I have been studying German, Chinese and Japanese myself and totally agree when you say that practicing speaking a language is the fastest way of learning. This was truly inspiring and I will continue studying to further improve.
How much does knowing japanese make chinese easier bro
@@TheStruggler0 Japanese uses many of the classical Chinese characters (known in Japanese as Kanji) that have mostly a Chinese based reading and a Japanese based. Which one to use is derived through the context. So learning the Japanese Kanji helps learning chinese Characters. But simplified chinese is totally different to Kanji, so that you have to learn this from ground up
@@Craftlngo ohhh i totally forgot about the simplified chinese thing. its probably going to be a problem.
@@TheStruggler0 in addition to the writing and reading, some of the words are basically the same like "library" or "love". Speaking as someone who learned Japanese before Mandarin Chinese.
@@Craftlngo Thank you for the explanations :) I didn't know that. I thought a Japanese doesn't understand any Chinese and vice versa.
I've been learning Norwegian for almost 3 years now. As a German who also speaks very good English it's probably one of the easiest languages to learn because it's like a mixture of German and English. It's very fun to learn except for the propositions, they are a nightmare. Beautiful language and country :)
Yeah, prepositions in Norway are pretty bad. Firstly, getting the hang of the prepositions could be problematic in itself which tends to be the case for most languages, but we also start a lot of words with prepositions that then precede other words that give them a completely new meaning. Getting a grasp of when to use the correct prepositions definitely takes time. But what you said resonated with me - I have had the exact same experience learning German!
jeg har ikke noe problem med norske preposisjoner
@@HenrikR you struggled more than most elementary students learning Norwegian as a second language. Stop chasing approval.
Dont brag
interesting you say that, I know no norwegian at all, yet I can almost understand.. seem so familiar , I get word here and there.. btw iam czech, speak fluent english, partial german, polish
It's pretty cool that all ur hardwork has paid off!