Notes:

  • Some content shared from r/norsk existing pinned thread but many of those links are now dead — still worth checking out.
  • This content will be very heavily Bokmål material (which is different from Nynorsk and dialects), but Bokmål is the best starting point for most learners.
  • I did not produce any of this content myself nor am I affiliated with anyone who did.
  • Most of this content is free to use; aside from some media (like Netflix) there may be paid options, but I have not used any paid options so I cannot vouch for them.
  • Duolingo isn’t included because I think nearly everyone knows about it.
  • The r/norsk subreddit wiki has literally hundreds of previously asked questions in one place.
  • I will include things others recommend too.

Contents:

1: Beginner materials
2: Language tools
3: Media

  • 3.1.A: Educational media
  • 3.1.B: Listening practice
  • 3.1.C: Reading practice
  • 3.2: Youtube channels
  • 3.3: Entertainment media

1. Beginner material / courses

  1. Duome - I don’t think this is officially affiliated with Duolingo but run by users independently.
  2. Free beginner to intermediate course by Norwegian University (NTNU). If you wish to do the excercises then use the website version of the course. If not there is a PDF version also. (Available in English, Polish, Spanish, Arabic, Tigrinya and Ukrainian)
  3. Accompanying grammar text book in PDF This is a very important document regardless of if you do the course. It contains huge amounts of fundamental information.
  4. Mjølnir cheat sheet Mostly basic breakdowns of certain fundamental concepts just in a format that might suit some people better.
  5. Memrise free course. A more gamified free course than NTNU. Similar to Duolingo but slightly better with some real audio etc.
  6. Grammatikk One of the best resources for early intermediate IMO. Some articles are in English but most are in Norwegian.
  7. The Norwegian Dispatch This substack is managed by a Norwegian teacher, with a focus on contextual & cultural language content etc. Also has text voiceovers so you can listen.

  1. Language tools:

  2. Norskprøve website: Norwegian Directorate for Higher Education and Skills website about the official Norskprøve test for assesing norwegian language competancy.

  3. Den europeiske språkpermen Under the drop down menu “Sjekklister europeisk språkperm 13-18” are the check lists for self evaluating norwegian language competancy as PDFs, in multiple languages.

  4. Ordbokene Online Norwegian dictionary.

  5. NAOB Norske Akademis Ordbok is another dictionary option which provides more use cases and expressions.

  6. Lexin Bokmål to English dictionary. There are other languages available than English.

  7. DeepL AI translator DeepL is a good tool which slightly outperforms Google translate in some regards.

  8. Enno Online tool for listening to how words/phrases sound, real audio.

  9. Word list 1000 most common norwegian words.

  10. Norwegian verb conjugator

  11. Språkrådet’s page on norwegian alternatives for common english words, words AFTER the / are Bokmål and before are Nynorsk. Sprakradet is basically the norwegian language council.

  12. Store Norske leksikon Detailed encyclopedia probably for more advanced users

  13. Lille Norske leksikon Similar as above, encyclopedia but shorter/simpler language.

3: Media

3.1.A: Educational media

3.1.B: Listening practice

3.1.C: Reading practice

I don’t know the ideologies, if any, of media companies listed here so just be aware the content could include anything. These are just opportunities to read norwegian, I’ve not vetted the content itself.

  • Klar tale Articles written with simpler language to be easier to read.
  • NRK News NRK is Norway’s national broadcaster.
  • VG Norwegian media company, cover news/sports etc.
  • Dagbladet Like a tabloid type media company.
  • Utrop Another media/newspaper.
  • Textbooks
  • På vei (A1/A2)
  • Stein på stein (B1)
  • Her på berget (B1/B2)
  • The Mystery of Nils (A1/A2)

3.2: Youtube Channels

  • I’m going to list some below but for this I strongly reccomend you search “Learn Norwegian” on youtube, then change the filter to “channels”.
  • Norsk med Aria Norwegian teacher, recent videos + still posting regularly with other social media prescence (English subtitles)
  • Simply Norsk A man from west Norway (so with western dialect) making vlogs about travel/his life in Norwegian (dual subtitles, Eng/Norsk)
  • Learn Norwegian Now! Probably the most active of all these channels as is still regularly releasing videos. Same creator also makes the Lær norsk nå! podcast.
  • Norwegian class 101 Short lessons presented by teachers. They kinda spam videos so can take a bit of time to find something which you need.
  • Norsk lærer Karin Mostly old content at this point but informal, simple breakdowns of beginner concepts and phrases.
  • Learn Norwegian Naturally Range of different types of videos but most have subtitles and some have dual english + norwegian subtitles.
  • Become a polyglot Link is to a playlist of videos covering mostly fundamentals but some grammatical concepts also.
  • Simple Norwegian Short street interview style videos with Norwegian people.
  • Norsk Lærer Karense Probably the most comprehensive channel on here with over 1.2k videos but these are a little more challenging for beginners because many of the videos are in Norwegian.

3.3: Entertainment media

  • Norwegian language on Netflix (as a Uk user at least)
  • Viking wolf, Ragnarok, No one dies in Skarnes (Postmortem), Troll, La Palma, Lørenskog disappearance, Lillyhammer, Staying Alive, War Sailor, The Girl From Oslo, Billionaire Island, Gangs of Oslo, Midsummer night, Narvik, Number 24, The Wrong Track, The remarkable life of Ibelin, Cadaver, Asphalt burning, The Trip, Bloodride, Det Norske Hus. (and many more).
  • Bluey on Disney+ has a good Norwegian dub.
  • Norwegian on NRK Superkrim (Kids tv), Norges tøffeste (Game show), Side om side (Sitcom), Supernytt (Kids news), Norge rundt (Travel show), Team Pølsa (Kids with disability learn to ski/work together).
  • Youtube episodes of Peppa pig.
  • Cartoon network Norge