Learn how to complain
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Eric: Hi, everyone, and welcome back to NorwegianClass101.com. This is Intermediate Season 1 Lesson 22 - Can This Norwegian Restaurant Get Anything Right? Eric here. |
| Mai: Hei, I'm Mai. |
| Eric: In this lesson, you’ll learn about complaining in Norwegian. The conversation takes place at a restaurant. |
| 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: Kommer maten snart? |
| Martin: Uff, vi bestilte for over en halvtime siden. Jeg er sulten som en ulv. |
| Anne: Ja, jeg er skrubbsulten jeg også. Se på den kronglete menyen her, man vet jo ikke hva som er hva... |
| Martin: Nei, alt i den restauranten her er av dårlig kvalitet. Bare se på det bøyde bestikket og de sprukne glassene. Det går vel i stykker om man tar på det...Restauranten så jo så fin ut da vi søkte på internett. |
| Anne: Alt som glitrer er ikke gull... |
| Martin: Nei, det kan du si. |
| Anne: Nei, Martin, se her! Er det bare meg, eller er dette en brukt serviett? |
| Martin: Æsj, vi får be om ny når maten kommer. |
| Anne: Ja, hvis den i det hele tatt kommer. Hva bestilte du forresten? Hjort? |
| Martin: Ja, håper den er god i alle fall. |
| Anne: Ja, vi får se. |
| Eric: Listen to the conversation with the English translation. |
| Anne: Is the food coming soon? |
| Martin: Ugh, we ordered over half an hour ago. I'm hungry as a wolf. |
| Anne: Yes, I'm starving too. Look at this cumbersome menu here; you don't know what's what... |
| Martin: No, everything in this restaurant is of poor quality. Just look at the bent cutlery and the cracked glasses. It probably goes to pieces if you touch it.... The restaurant looked so nice when we searched on the Internet... |
| Anne: All that glitters is not gold. |
| Martin: No, you can say so. |
| Anne: No, Martin, look here. Is it just me, or is this a used napkin? |
| Martin: Ugh, we'll ask for a new one when the food comes. |
| Anne: Yes, if it comes at all. What did you order anyway? Deer? |
| Martin: Yes, I hope it's good in any case. |
| Anne: Yes, let's see. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Eric: I wish we’d heard the name of this restaurant so that we’d know to avoid it! |
| Mai: It sounds terrible doesn’t it? |
| Eric: Yeah, slow service, dirty utensils… I think that Martin and Anne should just leave and go somewhere else. |
| Mai: They were certainly complaining a lot. |
| Eric: I think that they were justified in this case! |
| Mai: Yes, me too. Norwegians always seem to have something to complain about though, especially in the big cities. |
| Eric: What do they complain about? Things like the weather? |
| Mai: Yes, the weather, traffic, road construction, public transport…things like that. |
| Eric: How do Norwegians complain? Are they nice and polite? |
| Mai: No! Norwegians can be pretty straightforward when they complain. Even cursing and loud voices are normal. |
| Eric: It must be horrible to work in an area that gets many complaints. |
| Mai: Yeah, I guess bus drivers, taxi drivers, and telemarketers get an earful every day. |
| Eric: I don’t envy them! 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 være sulten [natural native speed] |
| Eric: to be hungry |
| Mai: å være sulten [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Mai: å være sulten [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next we have... |
| Mai: uff [natural native speed] |
| Eric: ugh |
| Mai: uff [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Mai: uff [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next we have... |
| Mai: kvalitet [natural native speed] |
| Eric: quality |
| Mai: kvalitet [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Mai: kvalitet [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next we have... |
| Mai: å smake [natural native speed] |
| Eric: to taste |
| Mai: å smake [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Mai: å smake [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next we have... |
| Mai: bestikk [natural native speed] |
| Eric: cutlery |
| Mai: bestikk [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Mai: bestikk [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next we have... |
| Mai: stål [natural native speed] |
| Eric: steel |
| Mai: stål [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Mai: stål [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next we have... |
| Mai: å gå i stykker [natural native speed] |
| Eric: to break |
| Mai: å gå i stykker [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Mai: å gå i stykker [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next we have... |
| Mai: skitten [natural native speed] |
| Eric: dirty |
| Mai: skitten [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Mai: skitten [natural native speed] |
| Eric: And lastly... |
| Mai: hjort [natural native speed] |
| Eric: deer |
| Mai: hjort [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Mai: hjort [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 phrase is... |
| Mai: å være sulten |
| Eric: meaning "to be hungry." This is pretty literal. |
| Mai: Yes. å være is the verb "to be." Next is sulten. |
| Eric: This is “hungry.” |
| Mai: If you don’t want to be too direct about being hungry, you can instead say Jeg er litt sulten |
| Eric: “I am a little hungry.” |
| Mai: This is informal and can be used with friends or family. |
| Eric: Can you give us an example using this phrase? |
| Mai: Sure. For example, you can say, Jeg kommer til å bli sulten snart. |
| Eric: ...which means "I will be hungry soon." |
| Eric: Okay, what's the next phrase? |
| Mai: å gå i stykker |
| Eric: meaning "to break." Can you explain this phrase for us? |
| Mai: First is å gå, which means “to go.” Then i, which is “in,” and finally stykker. |
| Eric: This means “pieces.” Altogether, the phrase literally translates to “go to pieces.” |
| Mai: Or, “to break.” |
| Eric: Can you give us an example using this phrase? |
| Mai: Sure. For example, you can say, Koppen gikk i stykker. |
| Eric: ...which means "The cup broke." |
| Eric: Okay, what's the next word? |
| Mai: uff |
| Eric: meaning "ugh." This is an interjection. |
| Mai: You’ll often hear it when things aren’t going to plan. |
| Eric: The closest equivalent in English is, as we said, “ugh.” |
| Mai: You can use it to sympathize with someone complaining. |
| Eric: Can you give us an example using this word? |
| Mai: Sure. For example, you can say, Uff, det var leit å høre. |
| Eric: ...which means "Ugh, that was sad to hear. " |
| Mai: In the conversation we also heard Æsj, which is another interjection. |
| Eric: This is stronger, and it means "ew" or "yuck." |
| Mai: Right, this is quite rude, so you should only use it around people you’re very close to. |
| Eric: Okay, now onto the lesson focus. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Eric: In this lesson, you'll learn about complaining in Norwegian. You may not want to, but you might be in a situation where you need to complain. |
| Mai: Yes, you never know when a restaurant will be as bad as the one we heard about in the dialogue! |
| Eric: Even among friends, it's useful to know certain expressions and adjectives in order to express dissatisfaction. But let’s focus on food service. Mai, can you give us some example sentences that’ll help us to complain? |
| Mai: Sure, you can say things like Min mat er kald. |
| Eric: “My food is cold.” |
| Mai: Den her er overkokt. |
| Eric: “This is overdone.” |
| Mai: Jeg bestilte ikke det dette, jeg bestilte... |
| Eric: “I did not order this; I ordered…” |
| Mai: Vi bestilte for over en halvtime siden. |
| Eric: “We ordered over half an hour ago.” |
| Mai: Min mat smaker rart. |
| Eric: “My food tastes strange.” |
| Mai: Vi har ikke fått…enda. |
| Eric: “We haven’t received…yet.” |
| Mai: And finally, Denne er skitten. |
| Eric: “This is dirty.” Listeners, you can find more examples in the lesson notes. Be sure to check them out. |
| Mai: When you complain though, it’s important to be polite. |
| Eric: Right, otherwise you risk sounding rude. |
| Mai: First, you could say Unnskyld meg. |
| Eric: “Excuse me.” |
| Mai: Another polite phrase is Kunne du hjulpet meg med dette? |
| Eric: “Could you help me with this?” |
| Mai: And at the end, you should say Takk for hjelpen! |
| Eric: “Thank you for your help!” |
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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