Learn how to express opinions
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Eric: Hi, everyone, and welcome back to NorwegianClass101.com. This is Intermediate Season 1 Lesson 21 - Are You Addicted to Your Norwegian Smartphone? Eric here. |
| Mai: Hei, I'm Mai. |
| Eric: In this lesson, you’ll learn about expressing opinions. The conversation takes place at home. |
| Mai: It's between Anne and Martin. |
| Eric: The speakers are friends; therefore, they’ll speak informal Norwegian. Okay, let's listen to the conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| Anne: Du, Martin. Kan du legge vekk mobilen din når jeg snakker til deg? |
| Martin: Hm? Hva sa du? |
| Anne: Hva synes du egentlig om smarttelefoner? |
| Martin: Jeg synes det er ganske kjekt. Smarttelefoner har jo gjort det lettere å kontakte og kommunisere med venner og bekjente. I tillegg så kan man bruke internett overalt. |
| Anne: Ja, jeg er enig med deg, men jeg tror at folk kanskje blir dårligere på å kommunisere ansikt til ansikt. Uansett hvor jeg går, så sitter folk klistra foran skjermen på mobilen sin. |
| Martin: Ja, du har kanskje rett. Det er jo veldig avhengighetsskapende. |
| Anne: Det kan jo være farlig også. Spesielt i traffikken. For å ikke snakke om alt privatlivet som eksponeres om den havner i gale hender... |
| Martin: Nei, nå ble jeg litt redd jeg. |
| Anne: Jeg mener i hvert fall at det er viktig å legge fra seg telefonen og komme seg litt tilbake til virkeligheten. |
| Martin: Når du sier det, så har nok smarttelefonen min tatt opp store deler av livet mitt. Jeg tror jeg skal prøve å ha en mobilfri uke jeg! |
| Eric: Listen to the conversation with the English translation. |
| Anne: You, Martin. Can you put away your mobile phone when I am talking to you? |
| Martin: Hm? What did you say? |
| Anne: What do you really think about smartphones? |
| Martin: I think it's quite nice. Smartphones have made it easier to contact and communicate with friends and acquaintances. In addition, you can use internet everywhere. |
| Anne: Yes, I agree with you, but I think that people might be worse at communicating face-to-face. Regardless of where I am, people sit glued to their phone screen. |
| Martin: Yes, you might be right. It is indeed very addictive. |
| Anne: It could be dangerous too. Especially in traffic. Not to talk about all the privacy exposed if it falls into the wrong hands... |
| Martin: No, now I'm a little scared. |
| Anne: I mean, at least, that it's important to put down the phone and come a little bit back to the reality. |
| Martin: Now that you say that, the smartphone has maybe taken up big parts of my life. I think I'm going to try to have a phone-free week. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Eric: I can sympathize with Martin here. I’m obsessed with my smartphone too. |
| Mai: Maybe you should also go for a week without one? |
| Eric: I don’t think I can! Is it typical for Norwegians to be obsessed with their smartphones? |
| Mai: It depends on the age of the Norwegian. Older generations sometimes have trouble with new technology and will stick to landlines and computers. |
| Eric: I think that’s true in a lot of countries! But what about the younger generation, like Martin? |
| Mai: They’re the opposite! I think Martin is pretty typical. |
| Eric: So they’re always glued to their phones? |
| Mai: Yes! Young Norwegians often have their phones in their hands all the time. |
| Eric: Phones are so useful though! You can use them for calling, texting, using the internet, and taking pictures! |
| Mai: Yes, that’s why they’re so popular with young Norwegians. |
| Eric: How young are people when they get their first phone? |
| Mai: It’s not unusual to see children aged 6-7 with phones. |
| Eric: Maybe that’s a little young… Okay, now onto the vocab. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Eric: Let’s take a look at the vocabulary from this lesson. The first word is... |
| Mai: å synes [natural native speed] |
| Eric: to think |
| Mai: å synes [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Mai: å synes [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next we have... |
| Mai: å tro [natural native speed] |
| Eric: to believe |
| Mai: å tro [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Mai: å tro [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next we have... |
| Mai: å mene [natural native speed] |
| Eric: to mean |
| Mai: å mene [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Mai: å mene [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next we have... |
| Mai: å kommunisere [natural native speed] |
| Eric: to communicate |
| Mai: å kommunisere [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Mai: å kommunisere [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next we have... |
| Mai: å klistre [natural native speed] |
| Eric: to stick |
| Mai: å klistre [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Mai: å klistre [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next we have... |
| Mai: avhengighetsskapende [natural native speed] |
| Eric: addictive |
| Mai: avhengighetsskapende [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Mai: avhengighetsskapende [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next we have... |
| Mai: privatliv [natural native speed] |
| Eric: privacy |
| Mai: privatliv [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Mai: privatliv [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next we have... |
| Mai: virkelighet [natural native speed] |
| Eric: reality |
| Mai: virkelighet [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Mai: virkelighet [natural native speed] |
| Eric: And lastly... |
| Mai: kjekk [natural native speed] |
| Eric: nice |
| Mai: kjekk [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Mai: kjekk [natural native speed] |
| KEY VOCAB AND PHRASES |
| Eric: Let's have a closer look at the usage of some of the words and phrases from this lesson. The first word is... |
| Mai: å kommunisere |
| Eric: meaning "to communicate." This is a verb. |
| Mai: It can also be used as a noun - en kommunikasjon. |
| Eric: When do you use this verb? |
| Mai: It’s used in very similar ways to the English verb. |
| Eric: Can you give us an example using this word? |
| Mai: Sure. For example, you can say, Det er viktig å kommunisere med kollegaene sine for å være effektiv på jobb |
| Eric: ...which means "It is important to communicate with one's colleagues in order to be efficient at work." |
| Eric: Okay, what's the next word? |
| Mai: Å synes |
| Eric: meaning "to think." What can you tell us about this word? |
| Mai: Å synes is probably the most commonly used word in Norwegian when you want to say what you think or mean. |
| Eric: So if you want to give an opinion or talk about what you think, this is the word to use. |
| Mai: Yes. It can be used in most cases. |
| Eric: Can you give us an example using this word? |
| Mai: Sure. For example, you can say, Jeg synes ikke den politikeren er en bra person. |
| Eric: ...which means "I don't think that politician is a nice person." |
| Eric: Okay, now onto the lesson focus. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Eric: In this lesson, you'll learn about expressing opinions. We can give both positive and negative opinions, but let’s start with positive ones. Mai, to get started, can you give us some examples? |
| Mai: Sure, for example, Jeg tror det er en god ide. |
| Eric: “I think that is a good idea.” |
| Mai: Jeg synes den røde kjolen ser fin ut. |
| Eric: “I think the red dress looks good.” |
| Mai: You can use words like kanskje, to soften your opinion or when you’re not sure. |
| Eric: That means “maybe.” Let’s hear it in action. |
| Mai: Kanskje det er smart. |
| Eric: “Maybe that is smart.” Next, let’s hear some negative opinions. |
| Mai: Jeg synes ikke det er en god ide. |
| Eric: “I don’t think that is a good idea.” |
| Mai: Nei, jeg synes ikke det. |
| Eric: “No, I don’t think so.” |
| Mai: As you can see, you can use nei, “no,” or ikke, “not,” to make negative statements. |
| Eric: Ok, now let’s look at the differences between some Norwegian thinking verbs. |
| Mai: There are three similar thinking verbs: å tro, å synes, å mene. |
| Eric: How are they different? |
| Mai: Å tro means “to believe.” |
| Eric: You can use this in cases where you aren’t too sure about something, but you might have heard it from someone else. |
| Mai: Right. å synes and å mene are similar in meaning. They mean something similar to “to mean.” |
| Eric: Some examples, please! |
| Mai: Jeg tror du trenger en ferie, du ser sliten ut. |
| Eric: “I think you need a holiday; you look tired.” |
| Mai: Jeg mener at det er et veldig kontroversielt tema. |
| Eric: “I mean that this is a very controversial topic.” We have one final thing to look at in this lesson. |
| Mai: Yes, det. This can take the place of an object or a subject in a sentence. When it’s a subject, we call it a formal subject. |
| Eric: Can you give an example of this pronoun as formal subject? |
| Mai: For example, Det regner. |
| Eric: meaning “It is raining.” Let’s hear also an example of it as an object. |
| Mai: Hun kjøpte denne. |
| Eric: “She bought this.” |
Outro |
| Eric: Okay, that’s all for this lesson. Thank you for listening, everyone, and we’ll see you next time! Bye! |
| Mai: Ha det bra! |
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