Language
In Norway, everyone speaks perfect English but they will start conversations in Norwegian first.
The Norwegian language is a bastardisation of German and English with unwittingly humorous spelling and tortured pronunciation. Many advertisements seemed like a mixture of English and some sort of lolcat speak. The words are often so close or identical to English words when you see them printed on advertisements it's a bit surreal and hilarious.
The few times I was alone and wandering through the shops, I was approached by shopkeepers and the conversation went like this:
- Shopkeeper <in Norwegian>: "I can haz spagatta lol?"
- Me: "I'm sorry?"
- Shopkeeper (switching smoothly to English): "Please let me know if you need any help finding something."
Ja has been taking Norwegian lessons and could understand enough of the language to decline when a grocery store clerk asked if he wanted a bag for his groceries. (The answer is no, because they tack a 1$ surcharge to you bill if you forgot to bring a bag from home.) We leaned heavily on his language skills when interacting with the locals.
