Please post any feedback/suggestions about the official Norwegian courses here.
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In the Norwegian 2 course, underbukser and undertĂžy both mean underwear. Because of this, questions like this one above pop up where there are two possible answers but the app only allows for one. Perhaps the meaning of underbukser could be changed to underpants to avoid this?
I do get caught out quite regularly with this kind of thing. Especially in revision, I will be presented with a word to translate, such as for example ârightâ, and will give an answer like ârettâ - which is not wrong, but is not what is being asked for and is not accepted. The word being asked for in this case is âhĂžyre.â The problem is a common one, and it is caused by the course creators not being specific as to which ârightâ they are talking about. (ârightâ as in right and wrong or a legal right, or ârightâ as in right and left.)
Iâve completed Norwegian 1 and 2, and Iâm a third of the way through Norwegian 3. It seems to be a common problem in all these courses so far. Iâm enjoying the courses, but a little disambiguation would be good. Well, just some good old-fashioned proof reading I guess.
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Hi hoppernnn
I have corrected the translation of âunderbukserâ form âunderwearâ to âpantiesâ in the Norwegian 2 course for American English speakers. Thank you very much for pointing this out. Please let us know if you find anything else like this that we have missed. We will strive towards correcting it as quickly as we can.
Kind regards
- Anne
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Hi Paulgato
I am happy to hear that you are getting through the courses 
Thank you very much for this feedback!
I will make a note to look for duplicates in the translations in the Norwegian courses. At the moment, however, I do not have a Norwegian specialist readily at hand, so I might have to delay this task a little. Please have patience with me. I will address it as soon as I get the chance.
Kindly
- Anne
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Is that correct though? I was under the impression that menâs boxer brief type of underwear would be considered underbukser, but they definitely arenât considered panties. Along a similar line of thought, bras and lingerie would be considered underwear and undertĂžy, but not underpants or underbukser unless Iâm mistaken.
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âunderbukserâ refers to both men and female underpants. Iâll just add both translations. Thanks
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Thanks for your swift reply Anne.
(Sorry everyone for the long post: the system wouldnât allow me to make an email reply via a different email address, so Iâm posting here publicly instead.)
The specific thing about English words having more than one meaning
(eg, right/left vs morally-right/wrong vs right/incorrect vs right as
in human rights, etc. (not to mention write, rite, wright and so
onâŠ!) Iâd imagine just requires knowledge of English rather than
Norwegian.
Sometimes one can skip over details because one is TOO familiar with a
language. One example (I guess) is that although we are taught that
the phrase ââŠ,please?â after requests formed as questions in
Norwegian is ââŠ, vĂŠr sĂ„ snill?â (be so kind) it is in at least one
sentence in the course pronounced ââŠer du snill?â (are you kind?)
although still written âvĂŠr sĂ„ snill?â Iâm guessing this is a
possible variation in the phrase which is also correct Norwegian usage
(?) but itâs rough to have to remember that if one hears âer du
snill?â one cannot type in what one hears, but must type in âvĂŠr sĂ„
snill?â otherwise one will be deemed to have made an error and be
forced to repeat.
(This is similar I guess to the voice using one gender for a word and
the text treating the same word as a different gender (I wrote
to you about a week ago with the word âmouseâ (ei mus vs en mus) and I notice that has already been corrected.)
There are other examples of âvariable genderâ words in the course
being pronounced one way and written another, which I havenât pointed
out. I have assumed that either gender is correct for these nouns
(although of course there may have been a typo error in the text) but
from a learnerâs point of view it is much much easier to be taught
just one version or dialect of a language to begin with.)
The other broader point is, I am surprised I seem to be the first to
have written to you about some of these errors in the course, because
every single student before me will have noticed them. You obviously
respond promptly when people do write with corrections, etc. so it
must be that students are not telling you about the errors as
frequently as they might. I found it quite hard to discover HOW to
contact you about these errors. Would it be perhaps possible to make
it possible to contact you with errors using fewer clicks? Or maybe
have a âThatâs not right.â button a student can click on without even
interrupting the learning session, so that you guys can then see
points at which the greatest number of students are being tripped up
or confused, and check that point for errors or ambiguities?
The students are in many cases the best people to use for error
checking, but their problem is that at the very point where they spot
an error they are too busy learning the language to want to be
interrupted, and then later they forget what or where the error was.
If you make it very very easy for them to MARK the point at which the
error occurs, without having to break their concentration by entering
into some long winded correspondence on the issue (pleasant though
some of us find that at times!) then you could make better use of the
students as error-checkers.
I know thatâs a ânew featureâ Iâm suggesting, and I really should hunt
down the correct place on the web site to make that suggestion, but my
mouse-clicking finger is tired, and I canât be bothered, âŠand then
thatâs kind of the point.
Anyway, nothing is ever perfect or finished or permanent, and Iâm
really enjoying Memrise, so thanks for all the good work. (If I
didnât think it was good I wouldnât bother trying to improve it I
guess!)
Best regards,
Paul
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Hi, Iâm a first time poster, so apologies if this is in the wrong topic.
In the first part of Norwegian 5, I believe there is a slight error (though I am English speaking, not Norwegian speaking). The Norwegian phrase âVi drar som regel til utlandetâ means âWe usually go abroadâ, but the translation given is âWe usually go abroad in winterâ. Should the Norwegian be âVi drar som regel til utlandet om vinterenâ?
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Hi, Iâve completed Norwegian 1. I noticed a few things, these are the ones I remember:
7 - only accepts syv and not sju
Are you ready? and Are you ready to order? - requires the plural âdereâ to be used but there is no hint to that in the English
Sentences that use âsynsâ should accept "synes"
Mine, Yours - should accept âminâ and âdinâ (not just âmittâ and âdittâ)
Ordering food - one sentence uses âtakkâ for please and others use âvĂŠr sĂ„ snillâ, this is confusing and both should be accepted
And a minor one which I think I saw but canât replicate to check: âĂ„ taâ had a duplication in the multiple choice.
Thanks!
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Norwegian 2, Level 13: The translation of âa vegetarianâ is spelled wrong - should be âen vegetarianerâ (not vegetErianer).
Also second petazetaâs feedback in relation to Norwegian 1.
Thanks!
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In Norwegian one, the translation for glad for Ă„ kunne hjelpe (happy to help) in English is misleading as it ignores the work kunne and I get it wrong every time - surely you could write âglad I can helpâ or âglad to be able to helpâ - thanks
Hello.
In Norwegian 1, Word Good Bye - Hadet itâs wrong. Hadet is common way of writing it but technically incorrect⊠Should be Ha det.
Thanks M.
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There is an error in Norwegian 3, level 26: the audio of Ă„ gjĂžre en avtale (to make a deal) is Ă„ lage en avtale
It looks like video content is in the process of being added to the Norwegian courses, but they wonât play. A message instead appears that reads, âThe video playback was aborted due to a corruption problem or because the video used features your browser did not support.â Iâm able to play videos from other courses, so itâs not my browser. Iâve been stuck on Norwegian 3 level 18 for a while now because of this. Any idea when itâll be resolved? Thank you!
Issue resolved. Norwegian courses have working videos!
Native Norwegian speaker here. Had a look at course 1 and 2 with a view to potentially recommending it to my girlfriend. Spotted quite a bit of mistakes and unnatural language, as set out below.
Course 1
Level 1:
unnskyld - It does mean âIâm sorry (I did that)â, but I would say the primary meaning is âexcuse meâ. Using unnskyld for minor transgressions is rather old-fashioned - saying sorry or beklager is more common.
vi sees senere - It does mean âsee you laterâ but it implies that there is a specific time in mind. For a more generic âIâm sure weâll see each other at some pointâ, I would recommend using âvi snakkesâ.
Level 2:
det gĂ„r - âit goes; it walksâ is a bizzarre translation. âItâs goingâ catches the meaning better.
hvordan gĂ„r det? - âhow are you?â captures the meaning well enough, but âhow is it going?â is both a more direct translation and closer to the meaning, as the phrase is fairly versatile.
det gĂ„r veldig bra - For the same reasons as above, âitâs going very wellâ works better than to say I am very well
Level 3:
en feil - does mean a mistake. It also means an error. It does not mean a foul in sports.
Level 4:
storfekjĂžtt is a more common term for beef than oksekjĂžtt. (Especially in supermarkets)
Level 5:
These two phrases sound unnatural:
hva er ditt telefonnummer? - whatâs your phone number?
mitt telefonnummer er ⊠- my number is âŠ
In Norwegian you can choose between putting the possessive in front or after the noun, so you can say ditt telefonnummer/telefonnummeret ditt and mitt telefonnummer/telefonnummeret mitt. The way it is currently written it emphasis your/my, instead of phone number. That may be appropriate if somebody is asking people in a group for their phone numbers one at a time, but hardly otherwise.
I suggest replacing the phrases with this (but keep the current one as an alternative when people write):
hva er telefonnummeret ditt ? - whatâs your phone number?
telefonnummeret mitt er ⊠- my number is âŠ
Level 9:
et bord for to takk - a table for two please # add a comma between to and takk
kan vi fÄ ⊠vÊr sÄ snill? - can we have ⊠please?
kan vi fÄ menyen vÊr sÄ snill? - can we have the menu please?
Native speakers are very unlikely to add vÊr sÄ snill at the end of these phrases. At a restaurant, it could come across as sarcastic. The first phrase would be fine to say at home, but in any case there should be a comma before vÊr sÄ snill.
ja, takk - yes, please
nei, takk - no, thank you
No commas. (And it should be thanks, not thank you.)
Level 10:
greit - cool; fine; okay # Probably get rid of cool. It only means cool in the sense that you can use cool as a synonym to fine and okay. It does not mean cool as a synonym to hip, etc.
smĂ„ - small; little # The definition is correct, but smĂ„ is mainly used as a prefix and is a difficult word to use correctly on its own. I suggest substituting smĂ„ for âlitenâ, which means the same thing but can be used in more settings. (And in the same way the other adjectives thought in the same level.)
jeg syns det er greit - I think itâs cool
This one is flat out wrong. Either put âjeg syns det er kultâ or âI think itâs okâ.
Course 2
Level 1
jeg vil gjerne ha en kopp te takk - I would like a cup of tea please # Need a comma between te and takk
Level 6
en drink (en drikke) - a drink
en drink means specifically an alcoholic drink (as opposed to a soft drink). Also, the alternative form is wrong. Drikke is an uncountable noun (cf. food in english). The term for a (soft or alcoholic) drink is âen drikkâ.
Level 8
har kjĂŠresten din en jobb? - does your boyfriend have a job?
The Norwegian doesnât specify boyfriend or girlfriend, so it seems natural to swap boyfriend for âpartnerâ (like in other phrases in the level).
Level 10
unnskyld meg - excuse me
Not sure if the course should teach this. If you are trying to get somebodies attention or walk past them, you should say unnskyld. Unnskyld meg can be a genuine apology, but it is more likely to be sarcastic. (Compare with English: âUhm, excuse me, who do you think you are?â
synd - a shame; unlucky # Also means sin.
Level 12
Ă„ mĂ„ - to have to âŠ; must
Wrong tense. Should be either âĂ„ mĂ„tte - to have to âŠâ or âmĂ„ - mustâ
Level 13
As pointed out above, it should be vegetArianer not vegetErianer.
Level 14
ei ku - a cow
ei hĂžne - a chicken
Why is the course suddenly using feminine forms? Sure, these two may be the most common ones, but even for these using ei isnât very common.
Level 19
For the phrase youâre teaching, âklokkeslettâ is a better word than âtidspunktâ.
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Hi all, thanks for the Memrise Norwegian language courses. Iâm having a blast so far! 
Anyway, I noticed an error in Norwegian 7-1. The translation of the word âoverhodeâ Memrise gives is âat allâ. If I got it right, âoverhodeâ could be a neuter noun (âheadâ or âchiefâ), in which case âoverhodetâ would translate as âthe chiefâ (which would be appropriate in this particular word list called Business). If translated as âat allâ, however, the proper (and only) form would be the adverb âoverhodetâ, I think?
https://no.wiktionary.org/wiki/overhode
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/overhodet
[EDIT 27-03-2017]
I spotted another small error. In Norwegian 7-21 the word âĂ„ taâ is translated with âto pick up (telephone)â. When I was asked the Norwegian translation of the English expression in a multiple choice question, however, two different options appeared with the same word âĂ„ taâ. Apparently I picked the wrong one, because my answer was not accepted. One of the options is probably the âĂ„ taâ from Norwegian 1 (âto takeâ). I donât really know how this should be fixed (and it doesnât really seem to be a serious problem either, since it has only happened once so far), but maybe someone can look at it.
Hi
Can some of the translations of some of the idioms be tightened please. Often the English translation is way off or chooses a related idiom. For instance in Norwegian 6 âĂ„ smake sin egen medisinâ should be âto taste oneâs own medicineâ - to get a taste of your own medicine is the same idiom in (British) English. Instead itâs translated as âwhat goes around comes aroundâ which makes it harder to remember and doesnât quite capture the meaning. 'Det som kommer lett, gĂ„r lettâ is âeasy come, easy goâ and not âeasy comes easy goesâ as it is translated.
Likewise âDu er sjefenâ in Norwegian 7 is also âYouâre the bossâ in English and means the same thing in this context.
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