Day 1000! Give it up for Day 1000!

Today is a day a thousand days in the making.

I've talked before here about my love of language learning. I took all four years of Spanish in high school, and because of a schedule change at my school, I was able to cram in all four years of French and a year of German (all they offered, or I would've taken more) as well. I got straight A's in all of them, if anyone's thinking, "Didn't you get them confused?" My Spanish is rusty these days; I understand it much better than I can speak itbut I keep up with my French, which is easy because we're a French/English family (husband is from Belgium and speaks French with our daughter). And then, when my daughter was very young and not sleeping and I was going out of my mind (literally) with exhaustion and sleep deprivation, I began to learn Norwegian.

As one does.

My grandmother's grandparents came from Norway, from a farm north of Bergen on the western side of Norway. I'd grown up hearing family members wax poetic about our Norwegian heritage, telling stories of the ancestors who came over here- including the ones who ended up wishing they had stayed- and the things they did when they got here. Holidays were filled with kringla, lefse, talks of lutefisk (apparently my grandfather was indeed a fan), and herring in cream sauce, and I grew up admiring Norwegian rosemåling. You know, the normal stuff for a kid of Norwegian descent.

With my love of languages, I'd always wanted to learn Norwegian, but when I was growing up in the 80's and 90's, the resources weren't there. Like, at all. Never once did I see any kind of book that taught Norwegian in the foreign language section of any bookstore or library (and I always, always checked that section out in every bookstore I ever went to!). I would have snapped that book up SO fast. I did stumble upon a Norwegian Bible in a thrift store when I was about 25 years old (for a quarter. A QUARTER. Do you have any idea how expensive books are in Norway? WAY MORE THAN A QUARTER. Had anyone tried to take that Bible away from me, I might have actually bitten them), and that was my first book, but I had no way to read it.

Until I learned about Duolingo.

When I learned about Duolingo, they had only recently released their Norwegian course. I was in the throes of extreme sleep deprivation with my daughter, and it had hit all parts of me really, really hard. I was crying all the time and losing patience extremely quickly, I was eating large amounts (apparently this is a thing; when your brain isn't getting the sleep it needs, it tries to make up for it by taking in extra food. I only learned that later, but it made me feel better about my dietary habits back then), my body ached all over at all times, and I couldn't focus on anything, especially not books. That last one really upset me, because reading is my lifeline, and to not be able to do it made me feel even less like myself than I already did. So when I learned that Duolingo offered a Norwegian course, I sat on the info for a bit, wondering if I could even manage it with my worn-out brain. After a bit, I decided to go for it. "Why not?" I thought. "I always said if I got the chance..."

And I took that chance and ran with it.

If you can't read the writing in the circle, it says '1000 day streak.' That's 1000 days of reading, writing, listening, learning. 1000 days of studying the language of my ancestors, of listening to the radio and watching TV. Oh yes, you can watch TV programs in Norwegian in the US. Obviously everything that's available in Norway isn't available here, but there are definitely things to watch. SKAM was phenomenal (so much so that they've made an American version as a webseries; I saw the first episode and...it wasn't actually terrible. If I get time, I'll watch the rest). Karl Johan is brilliant and hillariously funny. It's a comedy show, and I even made my family watch a few scenes (I translated for them) and they enjoyed it as well. Both shows are available with subtitles; I keep them on when I watch but focus on hearing what is being said, and I notice a HUGE uptick in my understanding of the radio when I do that. It's a technique I recommended to my English language learner when I was tutoring English as a second language, because it helps THAT much. 

The amount of pride I feel in being able to understand the language that my great-great grandparents spoke isn't something I can put into words. It's something I never thought I'd get the chance to do, something I wasn't even sure I could do when I started, but I did it, I kept at it and followed through and I plan to keep at it in the future as well. Norwegian is an absolutely beautiful language- when I first started learning, I actually didn't know what it would sound like. I'd seen it (that twenty-five cent Bible, remember), but I'd never actually heard it spoken, and when I finally heard it, I stared at my iPad (which was playing a Norwegian language radio station) in absolute wonder, because it sounded so beautiful to me. It still does after a thousand days.

 1000 again, right up top. :D

The screenshots come from the app on my phone, but if you're starting out with Duolingo, use the computer. It's harder that way, more comprehensive, and they make you write out full sentences and not just choose words from a word box. The app is easier, but you have to consider what you want more: for things to be easy, or to really and truly learn? I've completed the Norwegian course, but I still keep up with using it, and I'm going to get through those books in that first picture (I've already gone through about half of one of them, and I can read all the stuff in the back of the book- go me!- so Duolingo gives a great start on the language, although I wouldn't recommend that it be your sole resource for it). I have a decent grasp on how the language works, but I'm definitely interested in expanding my knowledge and my vocabulary, and improving my grammar.

And in case you're wondering (because of course you are!), yes, I do listen to Norwegian music! (You were definitely wondering that, weren't you?) I've had Bare Min by Morgan Sulele as my ringtone for ages now; the song is just so happy-sounding (a lot of his songs have that super upbeat vibe to it, which always puts me in a good mood). Innertier, Katastrofe, and Robin og Bugge are other Norwegian artists that I've discovered during my language-learning journey.

So there we go! Happy 1000 Days of Learning to me. I'm pretty proud of this accomplishment. :)