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Pimsleur covers the world of languages. You can choose from over 50 languages, many with multiple levels, ranging from the most popular to the exotic.

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Learn Norwegian with The Pimsleur Method

Speak Norwegian like a native!

It’s now possible to speak and understand a foreign language effortlessly. The world-famous Pimsleur Method™ combines well-established research, most-useful vocabulary and a completely intuitive process to get you speaking right from the first day. All Pimsleur® courses feature real-world context and flexible vocabulary enabling you to learn your new language in a fluid, natural way. Pimsleur gives you everything you need. It’s the simplest way to start speaking a new language today.

About the Norwegian Language

Norwegian is spoken by approximately 5 million people, primarily in Norway, although there are some speakers in Denmark, Sweden, Germany, the U.K., Spain, Canada, and the U.S.A.  It is closely related to Swedish and Danish. In Norway, no official standard of spoken Norwegian exists, and there are hundreds of spoken dialects.  Generally, the dialects are mutually intelligible.  Because of the great number of dialects spoken in Norway, there are variations in pronunciation from place to place to place. In the Pimsleur program, we adhere as closely as possible to the pronunciation of the inhabitants of Oslo, the capital of Norway.
 
There are, however, two official written forms of Norwegian:  nynorsk (literally, new Norwegian) and bokmål (literally, book language). These standards emerged after Norwayseparated from Denmarkin 1814. Prior to that time, the two countries were united, and Danish was used as the official language of the government.  It was also spoken by the elite and eventually the middle class. 
After Norway became independent, there was a push to develop an independent literary Norwegian language. Two approaches were attempted, resulting in two different forms. Historically, bokmål is a Norwegianized variety of Danish, while nynorsk is based on Norwegian dialects. Currently almost 75% of Norwegians use bokmål as their primary written language; somewhat more than 25% use nynorsk. Both written forms of Norwegian are mutually intelligible, and all Norwegians learn both in school. It is also required that all government forms and publications be made available in both. The Readings in the Pimsleur program are written in bokmål.
 
Because of the large number of similarities between Danish, Norwegian, and Swedish, knowledge of any one of these languages makes it possible to understand the others.  This is true for both spoken and written forms.

Norwegian-Speaking Countries

Norwegian

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