English in Norway

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English in Norway

• Loan-words and
• other influences

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Loan words
Figur 1. Økning i engelske ord i Berulfsen og
Gundersens fremmedordbøker, 19532000
www.sprakradet.no
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Loan words 1

• 50-tallet 60-tallet 70-tallet
• Musikk rock'n roll hit
  disco
• band hitliste cover
• Blues twist
  punk
• Klær og jeans
  crush-lakk denim
• mote duffelcoat mini-skjørt
  boots
• 
  hotpants college-
  
  genser
• Mat og Coca Cola broiler
  burger
• drikke hot dog
  dip fastfood
• grille
• From Anne Line Graedler,Engelske lånord i norsk
  19502000 (www.sprakradet.no)

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Loan words 2

• 80-tallet 90-tallet
• Musikk hip hop grunge
• cd /grønsj
  breakdance dance
• Klær og stone-washed sagge
• mote city-shorts club wear
• wet-look
  
• Mat og brownie bagel
• drikke (hot) shot
  sub(marine)
• donut
• From Anne Line Graedler,Engelske lånord i norsk
  19502000 (www.sprakradet.no)

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Loan words 3

• Leisure
• Cruise, after ski, caravan, aerobics,bad
  taste-party, filofax
• Sports
• The number of loan words in sports related texts
  has increased considerably from 1993 to 1998.
• Per 1000 words there are now 19,2 English ones
  (1998).
• From Nils Kobberstad, The Influence of English on
  Norwegian in the Football Columns of Two
  Norwegian Newspapers A Synchronic and Diachronic
  Study (www.sprakradet.no).
• Offshore / ICT
• Blowout, jack-up-rigg, roughneck
• Byte, bug, chip, joystick, harddisk,
  software,diskett

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Advertising

• A survey of ads in Aftenposten in 1969 and in
  1989
• 6 times as many ads, 14 times as many English
  words in 1989.
• From Grethe Grønli, The Influence of English on
  Norwegian Advertising (www.sprakradet.no)

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Ten minutes at Byporten shopping centre, Oslo
Norway.Nov. 27. 2007
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Academic life

• University of Oslo 2002 9th semester medicine
  is taught only in English.
• Why?
• What are the consequences?
• New terms in higher education
• Bachelor, master, PhD
• 2000 70 of all publications at Norwegian
  institutions of higher learning were in English
• From Brit Mæhlum, Engelsk eller norsk? In
  Samtiden 4 (2002)

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The myths of progress

• Internationalization the use of English
• English is associated with human progress,
  development, modernization, Westernization,
  globalization
• Resistance to English is reactionary,
  old-fashioned
• English is natural, neutral and beneficial
• English a symbol of science and technology,
  efficiency, rationality, a great civilization

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Do we dare ask questions?

• Is it really unproblematic for Norwegians to
  speak and write (ie think and perceive) in a
  language that is not their mother tongue?
• Are Norwegians as good in English as we like to
  think?
• Do we know enough about the consequences of
  having to learn in a foreign language?
• Which consequences might the extensive use of
  English have for the development of students
  competence in Norwegian?
• What are the pedagogical consequences?
• Which train is it thats leaving?
• When and where does it go?
• IS there a train?
• Where does the pressure to use English come from?

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English a cultural tyrannosaurus rex?

• The loss of cultural diversity?
• The rise of a global monoculture?
• Accelerating language death?
• English - a linguistic cannibal that gobbles up
  others and eliminates cultural practices?
  (Phillipson)

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English and Norwegian

• Will Norwegian survive on all levels in society?
• Will Norwegian be reduced to a language for
  everyday affairs?
• Will Norway experience a linguistic situation
  similar to that of former colonies?
• What should the role of English be?
• How can we best preserve Norwegian?
• How can Norwegians be helped to see that there is
  a problem?

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What do we do?

• Språkrådet
• Det er ikkje sjølvsagt at norsk vil vera eit
  fullverdig bruksspråk på alle samfunnsområde i
  Noreg i framtida. For å styrkja norsk som
  nasjonalspråk trengst det ein samla
  språkpolitikk.Språkrådet meiner at det
  overordna målet må vera å sikra at norsk
  nynorsk og bokmål blir brukt på alle område i
  samfunnet, og at norsk språk er det naturlege
  valet i alle situasjonar der det ikkje er
  nødvendig å bruka framandspråk.

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Beware!