I answer: “Uh-huh.” — “And what is it like?” — “Like Danish. Only they do not understand each other.”
I have been asked such a question more than once, so I decided to write a little about the language I have been studying for already 7 years, living in Norway. I do not regret that I went to language courses. For me it was an “entrée into Society,” new acquaintances, friends, events.
Some foreigners said to me: “Of course it is easier for you to study Norwegian, you have a Norwegian husband!” Sort of yes…. But if the husband does not possess “particular talkativeness,” then one has to show “initiative,” ask questions (“and what husband would like that?”)
Recently a promotional magazine from Optikk was brought to the letterbox. Glossy. I open it, start looking at frames and the prices for them. The word “frame” itself I do not see in Norwegian in the magazine. But in Russian we often use it: “Oh, what a beautiful frame! Oh, what an expensive frame! Time to order new glasses! Buy a frame.” I have given examples of how often, at times, we use a word in our native language.
Here I asked my Norwegian husband a question, showing him an advertising page of expensive branded frames: “What is this called in Norwegian?” I got the answer: “Glasses.” Then I ask the next question: “What are glasses without lenses called?” Answer: “Glasses.” Here I already set out on the path of being a bore and say: “We don’t wear glasses without lenses! Before ordering glasses, we choose a FRAME,” at this poking the advertising picture at him and already thinking to myself: “can it be that in Norwegian this word does not exist?!”
I had to turn to the “under-the-table dictionary” — V. P. Berkov’s two-volume set. Such a heavy little dictionary, in weight and size resembling a brick! And I always keep it at the ready, on a shelf of the coffee table, which is why I gave it such a name — Under-the-table. I found it and remembered! INNFATNING!