Hugo Language Course: Norwegian In Three Months [Paperback]

Oivind Blom (Author)

Book Description

Series: Hugo | Publication Date: June 1, 1999

Now learning a foreign language can be enjoyable as well as challenging, and not require a trip back to the classroom. Available in both book-only or book-and-cassette format, these Three-Month Language Courses are outstanding self-study programs designed for the individual seeking to acquire a good working knowledge of a language in a short amount of time. Devoting just over an hour daily to the course, the program provides grammar lessons, contextual conversion drills, relevant word lists, and graded exercises, giving you an immediate and practical grasp of the language. In addition, pronunciation is made easy with Hugo's unique "imitated pronunciation" system, which represents foreign sounds with English syllables. Whether you are a businessman tackling an international account, a student preparing for an adventurous holiday, or simply a lover of new languages, the Three-Month Language Course makes learning easy, satisfying, and more fun than ever before.

Editorial Reviews

Language Notes

Text: English, Norwegian

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: DK ADULT; Pap/Cas edition (June 1, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0789444283
• ISBN-13: 978-0789444288
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.2 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,448,852 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars What a great deal, August 24, 2000

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Moral Hazard "D" (TX) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Hugo Language Course: Norwegian In Three Months (Paperback)

I spent about 1 hour per day for three months and started from scractch ven though my mother is norwegian. But even my norwegian relatives were impressed with my pronunciation. Be aware that there are several dialects (not to mention the two competing versions of Norsk: Bokmaal and Nynorsk), but the tapes provided give you a sense of two of the major ones. By the way, contrary to the other review, "uff da!" is considered by many Norwegians to be a Swedish phrase; when a tourist next to me said that phrase he received many looks of sad embarrasment.

This book makes learning Norsk fun; the exercises make you think, but not too hard. The course has an excellent overall design.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Too bad Hugo dropped this series..., March 23, 2008

By 

Chris A. Christopherson "christcr" (Provo, UT USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

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This review is from: Hugo Language Course: Norwegian In Three Months (with Cassettes) (Paperback)

Unfortunately, this book is out of print at the moment. Hugo is republishing some of the "In Three Months" series (I see that Spanish and French will be re-released soon), but who knows if they will ruin the books by watering them down...

I have worked through several Norwegian course books. Teach Yourself has been my favorite, followed by Beginner's Norwegian. But, I REALLY wish I had found this Hugo text first. It's the only book with which I am completely happy with the presentation of the material. This book is extremely logical in its layout and presentation. It is so refreshing to have vocabulary laid out in lists, have grammar concepts presented in their entirety rather than having it split up and sprinkled throughout the book, and have a non-lopsided teaching method. This is also the only Norwegian book that has sufficient exercises to cement the concepts into your head. It's not perfect, but really, I just can't say enough about how much I like the way this book teaches the language.

Of course, there will be those who write it off as "old school." But if "old school" works, why should it be replaced, rather than just supplemented with the new technology and techniques? I think that's exactly what this book does. It has an audio component and is fairly user friendly. Yet it doesn't treat you like you have a learning disability. It doesn't present grammar and concepts in a contorted and watered-down fashion like most "new school" materials do. It's so refreshing to see this book telling you why a certain word is used in a certain situation rather than just having three versions of the same word introduced and never explained. For instance, the English word "by" translates to several words and uses in Norwegian. This Hugo book is on top of it--it tells you which to use and why you are using it. Other courses, on the other hand, introduce the several versions of the word and never satisfactorily explain which is used where. Another thing I did not like about Teach Yourself is the way it presented three or four versions of the same verb in three or four different places. For instance: hete, heter, hette, har hett... all tenses of the same verb (to be called or named). In Teach Yourself, these are scattered throughout the book as different words and the connection presented, but is not emphasized in the vocabulary like it should be. The grammar and vocabulary seem detached. In Hugo, the infinitive (the root tense) is presented as vocabulary (å hete), and you are taught to do your own conjugations--far more efficient! You learn it once and get the other three tenses at the same time. This means one vocab word to learn rather than four. Those relationships really streamline the learning process.

Anyway, I'd say if you just want to dabble in the language (and there is nothing wrong with that--I dabble in several languages!), this book would be a bit much. But, if you really want to dig in and learn the language, AND you want to understand HOW and WHY it works the way it does, you will love this book. Use it in conjunction with Teach Yourself and Beginner's Norwegian, and you'll really catch on to this stuff! Hopefully Hugo will republish it without destroying its clear, thorough presentation.

13 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Jeg Elsket Norsk I Tre Maneder!, October 18, 1999

By 

Kristine (Claremont, California USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Hugo Language Course: Norwegian In Three Months (with Cassettes) (Paperback)

Hugo's "In Three Months" series is by far the best and fastest way to learn a language. After buying this book, I understood and spoke norwegian in a snap. I was amazed at how quick I learned to speak it. Buy this book if you want to say more than "Uff Da"...............FAST!!!!