Due to the geographical conformation of the Norwegian territory, with valleys and mountains separating different areas, various local dialects have developed. As a result, there is a wide range of different sounds, words and expressions that change depending on the region.
As if this didn't cause enough confusion, in Norway there are three official written languages: Bokmål, Nynorsk and Sami.
Bokmål is derived from Danish (which was once the official language in the region), while Nynorsk is the result of a fusion of various West-Norwegian dialects. Sami is a minority language, which is spoken as a first language by only 200,000 people, mostly in Troms and Finnmark - two regions in the north of the country.
Despite what most people may expect, dialects are still widely spoken in Norway and Norwegians are educated both in Bokmål and Nynorsk although, on an international level, Norwegian is recognised as the official language.
English and other languages in Norway
If you are about to move to Norway but do not speak any of the country's dialects, don't panic. English is spoken at an excellent level by most of the population under 60 years and foreigners can survive perfectly without speaking one word of Norwegian.
Apart from English, German and French are also widely taught in schools, even though they are not as popular as English. In the last few years Norwegians have also become increasingly interested in learning Spanish and Italian, which are taught mostly in large schools and in big cities.
The Norwegian capital, Oslo, is a cosmopolitan city where a wide range of languages coexist. Due to the increasing migration flow, it is now possible to hear people speaking Romani, Finnish, Kven and Urdu. Lots of immigrants are also from Arab countries like Iraq and Pakistan.
Another multicultural city is Stavanger, which hosts the NATO headquarters as well as companies from the oil industry.