What Norwegians Like & Dislike About Norway

Random strangers on the streets of Trondheim, Norway, tell us what they like, and don't like, about Norway!
First line is their spoken dialect, second line is the equivalent in Bokmål.

Simple Norwegian is a native Norwegian’s creation, intended to teach you Norwegian with some pretty simple and easy to follow lessons. The channel offers resources to learn vocabulary, grammar, and give an idea of what normal daily conversation might be like for Norwegians. A lot of effort is put into these videos, so I genuinely hope you enjoy them and find them useful.

00:00 Intro
00:18 What do you like about Norway?
03:13 What do you not like about Norway?
06:07 Where’s your dialect from?

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[SimpleNorwegian]

Merry Christmas! Or God jul as we say here in Norway! 🎄
Thanks for 50k subs 😳
Also by the way, we call today, dec 23rd, "lille juleaften" in Norwegian, meaning "little christmas eve" 😉

[bobmalibaliyahmarley]

An old saying in Norway that is kind of rooted in our nature is a saying that goes like: ''Du skal ikke tro at du er noe.'', which means ''You shall not believe that you are something.'', but more correctly translated as ''You shall not believe that you are BETTER than someone else.'', in other countries flaunting your wealth, high standard and believing that you are somehow better than your neighbour is normal, but in Norway such behavior is often looked down upon-- Treat people with respect, treat people like you want them to treat you. Everyone is equal, and your ''success'' doesn't make you better than someone ''less successfull''.

[GetawayswithNoel]

Based on my personal experiences and observations when I was in Norway, I kinda agree that locals can be cold towards outsiders but when you get know them (locals) they are really nice and friendly, in fact some of them are still keeping in touch with me.

[agreekinnorway]

Norway is one of the 3 most beautiful (cold countries) in my opinion. Αlso has very largely honest people.

[beccabattalio]

Aww, such lovely people. I'm learning Norwegian and was able to pick out the Bergen accent, so I was pretty proud of that.

[vatnadanyl]

At "What do you like most about Norway" no one said "The biggest pension fund in the world" that was a pity ;)

[TiSa]

I am born in Norway and lived in Norway until the year I turned 30. I left Norway to start working in Ireland, lived there for almost a little over 1 year before I moved to Portugal. This is what my thoughts are about Norway.
Positives:
- It is a country with an amazing nature
- In comparison to some other countries we do have a lot of help available when we need it.
- The freedom in regards to it being a peaceful country

Negatives:
- A little bit to busy with their own lives to really care about others

- Looks down on others that are going through a hard time and often hear things like get over it, get up and keep moving, without them even listening to peoples stories.
- If you loose your job and have to go to NAV to get help financially and to get a job or if you get ill and need help from NAV, then people will put you in the pile with those who just likes to be on welfare. No understanding for peoples individual situations
- Your life has to be perfect, you have no right to complain because others have it worse even before anyone has cared to listen to you.
- You have to fit the mold or else you will be very lonely
- You have freedom of speech but you should agree with most people if you do not want to be viewed as the opinionated one and be left out
- Shy in regards to confrontations so you will be talked about a lot behind your back and if they confront they will come with full force as its normally when someone is so fed up they will burst
- If someone cannot change your mind about something then you can easy get accused of trying to push your opinions on to them, when in reality its the other way around.
- Not easy to make friends in Norway, people are shy, skeptical and some very judgmental. Good friends hard to come by, people that will actually allow you to be exactly who you are and not have to fit into the mold.
- The new generations are a bit colder as they have less empathy and very self involved. It was better even before my generation when people actually invited the Nabors for coffee and had parties in the condominiums, now people half of the time do not even know who lives in the building.
- We are to busy saving the world and looking perfect and completely ignore the ones in Norway that struggle. There are children that do not eat all meals per day because there is no money to buy food, kids that are abused, elders that cannot have on heat in the winter because they do not afford the bills and have to eat very little to get by every month, etc etc. But the attitude in Norway is that we have no poor people, which is a denial, lie and complete BS. We do not get any stars in the ceiling for sending food to Africa and then ignore the poor boy at school that might only have an apple to eat and next meal might be at night.
- We want the world to believe we are perfect and trash everyone that complains. The fact is, that if we are to always use the excuse that other people got it worse then nothing of what is actually wrong in our society and systems will ever be fixed.
- Very judgmental in regards to mental health, people generally will tell you to just get up and be strong and again not really listen to you. The health care for mental health needs to get better.
- I could honestly write a long long list and this is me as Norwegian saying all of this because honestly the only thing I liked about living in Norway was the nature and the peace (freedom). In many ways you have the right to be who you are but if who you are does not fit a certain mold expect to be alone a lot and for people to not be very helpful if you need help.

Now this is based on my experience but also what I have seen while growing up in Norway and being an adult in Norway. I never felt I belonged there, so I left and probably will never return other than for visits.

[sasstiel]

I lived in Norway for about 3 months but I realised that once I said where I'm from (Poland), people there were judging me as from the stereotypes like my country is poor and we're thieves and whatsoever, and how much Norway is better. Kinda hurtful, but I loved Norway anyway and wanna go back (maybe without mentioning where I'm from)

[xXSecondKiraXx]

I'm Brazilian. I'm learning about Norwegian culture and everything. Thanks so much for your video! 💕

[spillbetch]

Norway is so beautiful! I love your videos because they always show raw and honest opinions. Keep it up!

[doctorfromHK]

Thank you for making these videos! I love watching them and learning norwegian at the same time! God jul!

[sanerk]

I'll have my MAs in Norway and lately I have been studying Norwegian with ntnu course and på vei. I was feeling the need of this video exactly. It includes anything and everything I could ask for: visual cue, authentic use of language, simutaneous subtitles both in english and in norwegian, natural situation... thank you so much. I really appreciate the work you're doing. Love from Turkey <3

[majidafra]

I have been in Norway for like 10 months now and I should confess I have gotten totally captivated by the beautiful language and the vast variety of charming dialects

[sophiahong]

Hei 😚
Jeg er fra Seoul i Sør-Korea.
I love this channel so much.
I'm studying every day while watching your video.
Tusen takk🥰❤

[ruineditwithabasssolo]

I'm American and I just visited Norway for the first time last weekend. I was only in Oslo, so my perception might be a bit skewed, but I thought it was great. I didn't think people were cold at all, in fact, I found them to be very friendly. The people also seemed pretty easy going and not stressing the small stuff. I will definitely visit again. I'd retire there and just spend my time volunteering, but as my understanding goes you have to be a Norwegian citizen first, and that is difficult to get.

[julius]

I absolutely love Norway and Norwegians. Been there twice, and I was blown away by the beautiful and pristine landscape. People are great as well, and are actually quite approachable.

[joelouis-arena]

Wonderful landscape. As a swede, I found the Bergen dialect easier to understand. Strange, since it is about as far away from Sweden as you can get in Norway.

[luckystriker]

I like the Vestlandet (does that mean west land?) accent. It's pausing and thoughtful, with interesting brr and ghh sounds. Also the dude seems righteous and inflecting. He could be a possible friend.

[sovietgergerd]

I find as a Canadian there seems to be a lot of similarities between Norway and Canada in terms of what people say they like and dislike about their own countries. We both admire our nature, we both complain that things are expensive in our lands, and we both admit that we're not as warm to each other as we would like. I know what you're thinking "isn't Canada one of those most friendly and open places?" yes, sort of, in a somewhat fake non-confrontational way. I'd prefer it if our kindness was genuine and not just a way to get through the day easier

Regardless, I'm very excited to start my education in Norway soon and to hopefully one day become a Norwegian myself; I'd consider it the absolute best place to live and grow on the planet

[floakamissa]

I had missed your videos... So long to wait since the last one 😁