💻 Norwegian for work: online formats for a busy schedule
📍 Set a goal: what level does your role require?
🌐 Customer-facing vs internal
- Internal roles (engineering, analytics, design in international teams). Often, A2→B1 is sufficient: understand ‘corridor’ Norwegian, read simple messages/safety notices, respond briefly.
- Customer-facing (support, sales, local HR, front office/service). Goal B1→B2: negotiations, phone/video, letters to customers.
- Safety/HSE and public services. Usually requires confident B and above; start with a plan from A2→B1 and discuss requirements with your employer in parallel.
📑 Documents and chats
- Reading: internal regulations, instructions, announcements in the office/building.
- Chats: short phrases, emoji markers, slot coordination; keep templates in NO + EN-resume for mixed threads.
🎓 Training formats for busy people
📺 Asynchronous platforms
- What it is: videos/modules, auto-dictations, SRS cards.
- When it is suitable: irregular schedule, flights, 10–15 minute breaks.
- Pros: flexible, inexpensive, metrics in the app.
- Cons: not much live speech → add conversation slots.
👥 Evening groups (online/offline)
- What it is: 1–2 times a week, 60–90 minutes.
- Pros: regularity, conversation practice, homework.
- Cons: fixed time; you can skip sessions during peak periods.
👩🏫 1-on-1 with a teacher/coach
- Pros: tailored to your role, review of emails/phone calls, fast progress.
- Cons: more expensive; set goals and checkpoints to make it worthwhile.
☕ Conversation clubs/tandems
- Pros: low barrier to entry, helps you ‘break the ice’.
- How to incorporate: 30–45 minutes/week, topics — ‘sprint plan’, “retro”, ‘demo’.
⚖️ Work mix
- 70% asynchronous (cards/videos/dictations) + 30% live slots (group/1-on-1/club).
- Frame: 2×45 min/week live sessions + 5×15 min microbreaks in your calendar.
⏱️ Five-minute language breaks during the workday
- ‘Word of the day’ by role: 3–5 new units → immediately into mini-phrases (2 examples per word).
- Flashcards (SRS): 10–15 flashcards in the morning, 10 in the evening.
- Dictations: 2–3 audio clips of 60–120 seconds; goal — catch numbers/dates/names.
- Podcast on the go: 8–12 minutes + 2 notes in To-Do (new construction/phrase).
- Micro-letter: 3–4 lines once a day: ‘task update,’ ‘question about deadline.’
- 2×2×2 template: two greeting phrases → two substantive phrases → two closing phrases.
📂 Personal glossary by role
📘 How to collect
- Write down 30–50 ‘core’ terms from your emails/tasks.
- For each term, create a mini card: word, transcription, 2 examples, ‘false friends’, synonym.
- Once a week, spend 10 minutes reviewing and deleting words that ‘don't stick’.
📊 Examples of ‘core’ words
IT/product
deploye, feilsøking, kjøreplan, tidslinje, avvik, brukerreise, innsikt, estimat, kuttliste, vedlikehold.
Maritime/logistics
kai, fortøyning, lasting, avgang, sikkerhetsbrief, sjøtilstand, skift, vedlikehold, avviksmelding, beredskap.
Tourism/services
innsjekk/utsjekk, bestilling, avbestilling, åpningstid, omvisning, sikkerhet, familievennlig, kø, ledig plass, tidspunkt.
🗓️ 12-week plan: A1→A2 or A2→B1
✍️ General framework
- Live lessons: 2×45 min/week (group or 1-on-1).
- Independent study: 5×15 min SRS/dictation + 1×30 min ‘correspondence analysis’.
- Weekly summary: 10-min voice recording + 1 letter to NO (100–140 words).
🎤 Weeks 1–4 — Phonetics and basic actions
- Greetings, dates, time, ‘where/when/how much’, verbs in the present tense.
- Mini-ritual at work: ‘accepted the task’, ‘clarified the deadline’, ‘reminder’.
📊 Weeks 5–8 — Work and processes
- Projects/sprints, status/blockers, requests/suggestions, simple phone calls.
- Read short regulations, write notes for the stand-up (3–5 phrases).
📧 Weeks 9–12 — Meetings and letters
- Retro/demo, ‘disagreement on the matter,’ agreements.
- Write a meeting summary letter (Decisions/Actions/Owner/Due) in NO + EN copy.
📏 Progress metrics
- Time: ≥120 minutes of ‘pure’ learning per week.
- Retention (cards): 80–90% over a 7-day interval.
- Reading: 90–120 words/min on A2-level work texts.
- Audio: ≥70% comprehension of short messages (60–120 sec).
- Demo goals: week 4 — 60-second self-presentation; week 8 — 45-second stand-up; week 12 — 120-word follow-up letter.
✅ Course selection checklist
- Format: asynchronous/group/1-on-1 — what fits your schedule?
- Work focus: are there business modules/vocabulary related to your field?
- Homework and feedback: audio comments, notes in the text, deadlines.
- Flexibility: rescheduling, recording lessons, pauses in sprints.
- Metrics: progress reports, monthly mini-tests.
- EN support: can complex concepts be explained in English during the first few weeks?
🗂️ Checklist: ‘Integrate language into your calendar — without burning out’
- Block out 5×15 minutes on weekdays (morning/lunch/commute).
- One evening 45–60 minutes for conversation/writing.
- ‘Zero friction’: headphones/voice recorder/flashcards — always at hand.
- ‘Two-skip rule’: you can skip one slot, but not two in a row.
- Once every 2 weeks — mini-sprint: 30 minutes of glossary review + voice recording.
🚀 Quick route (3–5 steps)
- Determine the target level for your role (A2/B1/B2) and write down 3 ‘usage scenarios’ for the language at work.
- Choose a mix of formats: platform + group/1-on-1 + club 30–45 minutes/week.
- Compile a core glossary (30–50 words) and organise them by task/meeting.
- Schedule 5×15 min + 2×45 min in your calendar for the next 12 weeks.
- Once a week — letter or voice recording on NO; save in a single folder to track progress.
FAQ
Asynchronous platforms fit irregular schedules, evening groups give routine, and 1-to-1 coaching works best for fast, role-specific progress.
Begin with A1 phrases for greetings and simple tasks, then add daily reading of short internal messages and basic stand-up notes.
Block 5×15 minutes during weekdays and 1 evening session weekly; follow the “two-miss rule” — skip one slot, never two in a row.
Collect 30–50 key words from your emails and tasks, add 2 examples each, and update weekly with terms you actually use.
