Hello!

Here’s a growing list of suggestions for reading and listening on the different levels:

Beginners Level:
At the beginners level we would recommend supplementary activities like cartoons, simple children’s books and various language apps for your tablet and smartphone! Some examples:

• Book “Kurt Blir Grusom” by Erlend Loe
• Book “Karius og Baktus” by Thorbjørn Egner
• Children’s books in general
• Cartoons
• App “Learnie” (basic)
• App books “Ruffen” og “H.C. Andersen”

Intermediate Level:
At the intermediate level you could slowly start with more advanced activities like reading newspapers, crime novels and watching television shows – understanding somewhere between 30-70% of the language. Examples:

• Tv Show “Lilyhammer” (With Soprano’s Steven Van Zandt)
• Tv Show “Himmelblå” (Drama from Northern Norway)
• Wildlife Documentary “Nordkalotten 365” (Free episodes)
• Crime “Rødstrupe” Jo Nesbø (Popular crime writer, set in Oslo)
• Crime “Snømannen” Jo Nesbø (Same series, set in Oslo and Bergen)
• Novels for teens, 12-14 years.
• Paper http://www.klartale.no (easy vocab)
• Paper http://www.aftenposten.no (main paper, moderate right)
• Paper http://www.dagsavisen.no (daily center-left)
• Weekly http://www.morgenbladet.no (center-left, intellectual)
• Watching movies in your native tongue, with Norwegian subtitles
• Reading novels you already know, in Norwegian
• Radio NRK Alltid Nyheter (mp3 stream)

Advanced Level:
At the advanced level there is an ongoing process to make everything understandable in a new language, including advanced newspapers, all films and television shows, all non-fiction books – and even most fiction books (which have a lot more complicated use of vocabulary and references). Some suggestions could be:

• Movie “Reprise” by Joachim Trier (Young Artists in Oslo)
• “Sult” av Knut Hamsun (About Oslo in the 1880’s)
• “Pan”, Knut Hamsun. Beautiful Story, North Norway.
• “Ut å stjæle hester”, Per Petterson. Low key drama, Scandivian feel.
• “Livlegens besøk”, P.O. Enquist. (Denmark-Norway in the 1760′s.)
• “Appelsinpiken”, Jostein Gaarder. Sweet story partly set in Oslo.
• “Beatles”, Lars Saabye Christinsen. Growing up in the 70’s.
• “Forføreren”, Jan Kjærstad. Inspiring Trilogy, lots of modern history.
• Everything fiction – bookstores and libraries can help!
• Goodreads has a great list of Norwegian novels here.
• All TV Shows (Nrk has many here).

Other Resources/Tips:
This is a list of starting points and different techniques for searching and finding new materials to study and practice:

• Louis Janus’ website here. (Very comprehensive collection)
• iTunes (search for podcasts)
• Smartphone apps – search for “Norsk”
• Youtube! Good search words are: “norsk”, “norwegian”, etc.
• Search in Twitter, Facebook, Rss feeds, WordPress Blogs – and subscribe to content for daily inputs!
• Wikipedia – read about known topics

Popular Movies:
This is a list of popular movies made in Norway, watching with subtitles is a great exercise!

• “Kon-Tiki” (2012) – About the Explorer Thor Heyerdahl’s Expedition
• “Flåklypa Grand Prix” (1975) – Iconic Animated Movie
• “Hamsun” (1996) – Bio about the great writer Knut Hamsun
• “Den Brysomme Mannen” (2006) – Comedy/Surrealism
• “Fritt Vilt” (2006) – Intense Thriller in the Mountains
• “Tatt av kvinnen” (Comedy, parody of “tatt av vinden”/”gone with the wind”)
• “Buddy” (Romantic Comedy)
• “Trolljegeren”/”Troll hunter” a parody of Blair Witch Project, it’s funny, but there is a lot of different dialects in it.
• “Max Manus” – Norwegian resistance fighter from the second world war
• “Elling” (Oscar nominated, about a man who lived with his mother all his life) There are 3 I think, but I can only think of the next that is called “Mors Elling”/”Mothers Elling”
• “Mannen som elsket Yngve”/”The man who loved Yngve” Is nice, but its from Stavanger, so they talk wiht a Stavanger dialect.
• Any kind of “Olsenbanden” movie is also nice
• “De dødes tjern”/”lake of the dead” is an old horror movie from 1958.
• “Knerten”/”Twigson” is a children’s movie from the famous children’s books of Anne Cath. Vestly. They made three of them.

Nature Programs:
“The Northern lights” by Joanna Lumley/BBC. This is a very enthusiastic English documentary and exploration of Norway and a search for the northern lights. Also with some Norwegian spoken by the locals in the film:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NR5x42AQTSk&sns=em