I think we can all say that listening can be the hardest part of learning a language. So when it comes to Norwegian language learning, how can you improve your listening skills?
The three ways I’ve done it are by transcribing audio, building up my vocabulary, and reading along with transcripts.
I’ll delve more into each one of these, and exactly how I’ve done them to improve my Norwegian listening skills in this post.
To set the scene, I am not a language prodigy.
I’m not a polyglot fluent in 12 languages, nor did I get to an intermediate level in three months.
These tips are things that anyone can do—no innate “talent” or special “language gene” required.
I went from not being able to tell words apart and a sentence sounding like one long, incomprehensible word, to pinpointing the words I don’t know in a sentence and spelling them out to look up later.
Like I said, I’m not perfect, but I’ve learned a lot in my foreign language listening journey.
I’ll be listing three things you can do today to improve your foreign language listening comprehension.
1. Use Songs to Improve Your Norwegian Listening Skills
Using songs was the single most helpful thing I did.
If you’re someone who, like me, enjoys listening to the same song on repeat, why not take advantage of this and use it along your Norwegian language learning journey to improve your listening comprehension skills?
All you’ll need for this one is a song you like in your target language, a pen, and a piece of paper. Access to the internet to look up the lyrics will be helpful, too.
RELATED: Best Norwegian Music: 10 Norwegian Artists to Listen to
Step 1:
Listen to the song and write down the lyrics.
I like to do this in around 10-second chunks, where I listen, pause, write what I heard, and continue.
If it’s a tough part, I’ll rewind it to get the most I can out the section.
This is the longest part of the process, with potentially a lot of stopping and rewinding. I can easily spend an hour doing this, for reference.
Step 2:
Try to parse out what you wrote, and use context clues to fill in the blanks before pulling out the official lyrics.
Depending on how far along you are in your language learning journey, you may be able to fill in the blanks even if the words are unfamiliar to you.
This key part is something we do even in our native languages.
How many times have you missed a part of what someone said, but could still “get the gist”? Many times, I’m sure!
So, don’t feel bad for not understanding every word at first!
Step 3:
It’s time to break out the lyrics. Look up the lyrics and compare what you wrote to the actual transcription.
This is always the most fun for me because I get to see how I did! Were you right? Or were you way off in a few sections?
Now you can fill in the blanks and look up the words you didn’t know to add to your flashcards/language notebook/etc.
Step 4:
Now that you have the lyrics in front of you, listen to the song again and read along with the lyrics.
Since you spent so much time trying to understand the first few times around, this should be like sliding a puzzle piece into place.
That fuzzy phrase that sounded like gibberish will now resemble an actual word!
Did you notice that the words you were able to recognize were well, words that you knew and are already solid in your vocabulary?
Yeah, we’ll cover that next.
Bonus Step 5:
If you can’t find the song lyrics, all is not lost!
I recommend booking a lesson with a tutor who will be able to tell you what’s being said.
Quick tip: I use italki.com. You can schedule an hour-long session for around $15 depending on which language you’re learning.
I recommend doing this step regardless if you can. Speaking with a native speaker about the lyrics can really clear up any idiomatic phrases you’re unfamiliar with.
The tutor can explain any slang used in the song, too.
2. Grow Your Vocabulary
We tend to think speakers are speaking too fast for us to understand, but really it’s just that we aren’t familiar enough with the words being said.
Lack of vocabulary is the real culprit here.
When it comes to the Norwegian language, learning how to understand native speakers is key.
Heck, not just for Norwegian, but any language!
That’s why the year I focused on improving my Norwegian listening skills from A1 to A2, I made it a point to really use flashcards to study vocabulary.
I used to use paper flashcards, and while that works to start, it quickly became overwhelming—I had hundreds of flashcards and was unsure which ones I should study on which day.
Because of this, I also moved to digital flashcards, Anki specifically in 2019.
It was a game changer.
Anki is a digital flashcard app that uses spaced repetition to pick out which flashcards you should study and when.
I use my Anki flashcards almost daily.
The combination of using flashcards and trying to broaden my vocabulary made a big difference.
Why This Works
Shocker—learning more words made it easier (read: possible) for me to recognize those words in speech.
If I’ve never heard the word “mellomgulv” before, I’m likely going to think they’re saying “mellom gull”, since those are two words I’m more familiar with.
I’ll struggle with the “v” sound at the end, and know something isn’t right, but because “mellomgulv” isn’t even in my head as an option yet, I’ll just stay stuck.
This exact situation happened when I was transcribing a song on my own!
So, one of the keys to improving your Norwegian listening skills is broadening your vocabulary.
One more tip for this one is to try to learn words through sentences, and therefore context, as opposed to using top 100 word lists.
We’re much more likely to remember a word in relation to a situation than just an abstract concept.
I’m a huge advocate for using songs to learn, and songs help with this, too. Those words you didn’t recognize when you were transcribing that song you like?
Are new vocab words that have a context you’re way more likely to remember going forward.
3. Listen While Reading a Transcript
While this is part of the first tip mentioned, it can also be done on its own.
I, like almost every other Norwegian language learner on the planet, have a copy of The Mystery of Nils.
If you’re unfamiliar, it’s a language textbook that uses a story to teach the language.
Instead of relying on dry conversations for the sake of learning, the reader follows a doll named Nils in an interesting mystery.
This book has an online, supplementary component, one of which being audio of a native speaker reading each chapter.
If you’re learning another language, however, I know finding texts with transcripts can be tricky.
An easy way to find content is to use audiobooks.
I’ve recently started reading (and listening to the audiobook) of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone.
You can do this with TV shows, too, and especially children’s cartoons if you’re just starting out.
I’ve noticed that not all subtitles follow the words exactly, though, so this can get tricky.
While I like to just stick to song lyrics and audiobooks/books if I want to seriously study, shows can work, too.
Why This Works
Being able to put a word on a page together with the sound of the word when spoken builds your familiarity with it.
This can be extremely useful when learning a language like french, where words can be pronounced entirely different than how one would expect by just looking at it.
This step helps you get used to the language, but in a more effective way compared to just passive listening where you’re listening to a podcast but not really paying attention.
You’re familiarizing yourself with what the words both look and sound like.
You can also read the text aloud and record it, then listen to the audio and compare how you sounded with the audio.
This helps with pronunciation. When you know how a word should be pronounced, you’re more likely to recognize it being said in speech.
All in all…Norwegian Language Learning is A Challenge You *CAN* Tackle!
I improved my Norwegian listening skills from A1 to B1 using those three methods.
I also still use these tips today.
I’ll be creating posts with other tips I’ve learned plus some language learning experiences I’ve had that can help other language learners.
Whether you’re focused on Norwegian language learning or you’re learning a different language, I’ll cover it all!
Want useful daily tasks you can do to help you reach Norwegian fluency? Download the free language learning checklist!