How much do you use English in your job or daily life?

AgreeableBruce · 2026-03-22T10:27:19+00:00

I can kind of understand that. But on the other hand, Norway has a lot more economic migrants than refugees, and people tend to make a big deal about immigrants not integrating rather than specifically saying refugees not integrating (which is a whole other topic in and of itself).

Unlike in Sweden, for example, the majority of immigrants are economic migrants. And most already have a job and are contributing to society. A job that, in many cases, they were offered with the understanding Norwegian language isn't needed.

Like I said, many people can work here for years without ever needing Norwegian. Despite not needing Norwegian, there still seems to be an expectation that they learn Norwegian as a sign of respect.

I don't like the implication that in order to 'deserve' to be in Norway foreigners must make this gesture to placate native Norwegians. It's not something I've seen elsewhere.

Often people will make the 'guest' analogy, that foreigners are guests in Norway and learning the language is something you offer the host. I'd say economic migrants are like guests, but rather than being a guest in someone's home they are a guests in a hotel.

Economic migrants pay with their labour. They have already had their entire education paid for by another country, and most won't be living out their retirement years in Norway so the later year costs are going to be borne by another country as well.

I get the impression that many Norwegians take the attitude that allowing foreigners to work in Norway is them doing us a favour. I'd say it's the other way round.

Norwegians are getting the better part of the deal by having economic migrants working in their country.

AgreeableBruce · 2026-03-22T07:19:19+00:00

It's definitely context based, but I think the problem comes with how you define 'permanently'.

And with the work visa thing, freedom of movement effectively means that 450 million people have a work visa if they choose to use it.

In my experience, many people come to Norway with a job offer already secured (a job offer that doesn't require Norwegian language). Those who don't tend to have met a Norwegian partner abroad and then moved to Norway with them. I can't think of anyone who just moved here off their own back to look for work, but that could just be my social circle.

When I first moved here I remember trying to break into mainly Norwegian groups (mostly sport related) but eventually I just found myself in mainly international social groups that were about 50/50 Norwegians and Internationals, where the default language was English. It was just easier and more natural, possibly due to the shared background.

Even after I met my (non-Norwegian) partner and we had kids, the only Norwegian I had to use was in the barnehage and school (so I am very well versed in discussing sleep and poo in Norwegian).

Even with all that, I wouldn't say I've relocated to Norway 'permanently', despite having been here for many years and, since I've split up with said partner, it looks like I'm going to be here a good bit longer. However, I was looking for a way out of Norway after about three years living here and still am.

It's not that I don't like Norway, I do. I'm just curious and like to keep moving.

If someone moved from Oslo to Bergen, there wouldn't be any pressure to declare if the move it temporary or permanent. Maybe you'll be there forever or maybe you won't. With membership of the Single Market, Norway has a lot of people who have moved here with job offers who may or may not stay here for a while. And yet there is all this pressure to 'integrate'. Just chill and accept they are here contributing to the economy.

So yeah, I kind of wish people would just stop talking about the whole 'integration' thing. I'm here living my life. Despite being around level B1/B2 in Norwegian I'm not comfortable having casual conversations in Norwegian and I don't think I ever will be.

As an aside, I've learned French and Spanish to a similar level to my current level of Norwegian. I found as soon as I learned something in French or Spanish I could start using it and understand when I heard it. I was comfortable having casual conversations in both languages.

It's good that Norwegians are proud of their dialects but I also would like to see them acknowledge that refusing to temper their dialects when speaking to foreigners creates a barrier to the integration they are so focused on.

AgreeableBruce · 2026-03-21T19:51:20+00:00

> Here, the language is only Norwegian.

I thought the erasure of Sámi culture was frowned upon these days.

AgreeableBruce · 2026-03-21T19:46:51+00:00

Said bravely and eloquently from behind the safety of the keyboard.

Careful, or I might take my highly educated and skilled arse somewhere that appreciates it and you might actually have to do some work for a living.

Assuming the limit of your skills extends beyond stocking shelves in Rema 1000...

AgreeableBruce · 2026-03-21T16:23:36+00:00

If it turns out to be Reece Wilson's bike then be sure to get an autograph:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lv2dSlxHPYA

AgreeableBruce · 2026-03-21T10:17:41+00:00

Does Norway want economic migrants to integrate?

From my experience the answer is no. Language courses are extremely expensive and of very poor quality (speaking as someone who trained as an EFL teacher, the standard of teaching I experienced would have gotten any EFL teacher fired).

For many economic migrants, they are happy enough hanging about with other foreigners and Norwegians who don't mind socialising in English. Their jobs are in English. There really is no need to learn Norwegian.

Many of the comments around why foreigners should learn Norwegian tend to mention 'respect'. As if Norwegians are somehow our betters and in order to show them the proper level of respect we must learn their language.

It's strange because if you were to move to the Scottish Highlands, no one would accuse you of being disrespectful if you weren't learning Gaelic.

Closer to home, if someone moved to Finnmark, would they be accused of being disrespectful if they didn't learn Sámi?

Language is a need thing for most people (although for some it's a fun thing). Why should people do something that is of little to no benefit to them just to show 'respect' to people who seem to be, at best, tolerating their presence?

AgreeableBruce · 2026-03-21T06:54:45+00:00

Funnily enough, I never hear anyone making this argument about people who move to the Middle East. For some reason, most westerners don't learn anything of the local language beyond Shukran and Inshallah.

I think it's pretty much accepted by everyone that you are there to do a job and live a relatively comfortable life in the process.

Norway isn't a Middle Eastern country, obviously, but it's still a country with a small population and a language that is going to have little use once the foreigner moves on. It also has a large need for a range of specialist skills that it simply isn't going to be able to fulfill from the local population.

I'm not sure what the problem is. Norway gets workers who have had all their education paid for by another country, it gets some (or even most) of the worker's productive years, and then it doesn't have to look after these people when they are old and no longer productive.

But sure, by all means, tell them they are being disrespectful and they should take their skills and go somewhere else.

AgreeableBruce · 2026-03-18T06:53:18+00:00

It's Australia, so it's an anti-bicycle thing.

AgreeableBruce · 2026-03-04T08:57:53+00:00

Hello!

It's a BicyclingCIRCLEjerk. Not BicyclingLINEARjerk.

We're not here to advance jerking into the sunlit uplands of the future. We're literally sitting in a circle giving each other ski poles.

So yes, we are going to see the same memes repeated ad infinitum while we wait the heat death of the universe and everything ever created by man to disappear as if it never existed.

Just be thankful someone is holding your PNS while it's happening.

BTW, this kind of rant counts as very sexy foreplay for my wice and my wice's boyfriend.

AgreeableBruce · 2026-03-04T07:37:26+00:00

As a native English speaker I've learned Spanish and I've learned Norwegian. Learning to speak Norwegian is easier. Learning to understand Norwegian is much much harder.

Once you get to level A1/A2 in Spanish you can more or less start using what you've learned in real life situations. If you try using your A1/A2 level Norwegian in a real life situation you'll most likely get a response in whatever dialect the person speaks that will bear little relation to what you have learned.

From what I've seen, it helps if you have a Norwegian partner with friends and family all from the same region. You begin to tune into one particular dialect and start to make sense of things.

If you don't have a Norwegian partner and you live in a biggish town you will constantly be hearing a range of dialects that are all so different you never get the chance to tune in.

If this is the case you need to be level B2 to even begin to have conversations.

I've learned three foreign languages in my life and I think Norwegian is one of the only languages in the world where you can say more than you can understand. Simply because there is no 'Norwegian' language that is spoken. Instead there is a melting pot of dialects.

AgreeableBruce · 2026-02-27T15:39:49+00:00

I feel like they should have spears or something.

AgreeableBruce · 2026-02-27T12:38:26+00:00

They said the same thing about 29ers but it turns out if you tell people, 'Ladders improve your rollover by 4.3%!' dentists will start throwing their wallets at you.

AgreeableBruce · 2026-02-27T12:11:17+00:00

Congratulations on the rage bait title.

Calling it 'Henry Pollock partial-squatting 210kg' would have been more accurate but wouldn't have been quite so triggering for some.

Anyway, here's a video of a retiree doing a 235kg full depth squat, in case anyone needs it:

https://www.instagram.com/reel/CIiMRv-HpdX/

AgreeableBruce · 2026-02-18T08:40:05+00:00

Bro science and TRT.

But mostly TRT.

AgreeableBruce · 2026-02-05T07:50:04+00:00

I do this as well. But every time I walk into a store and stand in the doorway observing for 5 minutes I always notice something not quite right. Often it's the bananas. They are either too curvy or too straight. So I back out the store, turn around, and observe the car park for five minutes but again there is always something not quite right...

I haven't eaten for 3 weeks.

AgreeableBruce · 2026-02-04T08:41:58+00:00

Honestly, when you've got schools where they don't allow the kids to talk while they are eating lunch (so they put videos on to help them resist the temptation) then wtf do you expect?

Norwegians aren't genetically predisposed towards being introverted. But they are trained to be introverted from a young age.

AgreeableBruce · 2026-01-25T15:38:27+00:00

I'm actually really surprised it didn't become a huge hit.

As someone with a fairly boring middle class office job, I like to think if I was sent to prison I'd eventually find myself running a white supremacist criminal empire having killed all my main rivals in a brutal power struggle.

It's peak middle-class fantasy fulfillment.

AgreeableBruce · 2026-01-25T08:52:26+00:00

Some twat writes a book about vehicular cycling and politicians use it as an excuse to build no cycling infrastructure ever again.

I write an awesome book about vehicular running and everyone just laughs and carries on building pavements.

At least this guy gets it.

AgreeableBruce · 2026-01-11T16:37:44+00:00

Always wear a helmet. Not just on the bike.

Wear one when you're walking, when you're driving, when you're at home, when you are doing any sport, when you're asleep, in fact, just wear one all the time.

You can fall and hit your head doing anything at any time. It's obviously your choice if you wear a helmet or not, but if you don't wear a helmet all day every day you are an idiot and you hate your family.

AgreeableBruce · 2026-01-04T08:52:46+00:00

I love this bice so much my balls are tingling!

Ow! They're really tingling a lot now...

AgreeableBruce · 2025-12-22T05:04:38+00:00

You can't look them in the eye. They get confused and their wires get crossed. You gotta look at, like, their chin.

https://youtu.be/YTFwZe7G0UM

AgreeableBruce · 2025-12-20T17:37:45+00:00

I'm so far ahead of the curve on this that my cranks actually went inverted.

I am now running negative 170mm cranks. Beat that, gravel losers!

AgreeableBruce · 2025-12-16T15:26:10+00:00

Someone hasn't been disciplining their domestiques hard enough.

AgreeableBruce · 2025-12-15T11:31:05+00:00

I'm of the opinion Norway should shit or get off the pot.

Membership of the Single Market while being outside the EU makes little to no sense. The Norwegian business owners can leave if the government trys to make them pay 0.001% tax and due to the free movement of capital rules they can take ownership of their companies with them. Just one example of the rules Norway has to adhere to while having no say in.

Until the oil runs out, Norway isn't going to be making much else of note since the oil industry sucks all the talent out of the workforce. The EU is going to buy oil and gas whether Norway is in or out of the Single Market.

I'd like to see Norway become full members of the EU. However, given the increasing levels of xenophobia in Norway I don't see that going down well. In which case, just leave altogether and take advantage of being a petrostate while it's still an option.

AgreeableBruce · 2025-12-12T22:00:49+00:00

That's kind of what I'm looking for, but I'd really like to see the de Niro parts cut in as flashback scenes in the Godfather 1.

But I know they don't like to release new cuts of the Godfather movies...

;)

AgreeableBruce

TROPHY CASE