Can an English-only speaker make it on his own in Norway?

Question

I want to get out of the U.S. for good. Any former Americans living happily as Norwegian residents (native norwegians are also encouraged to answer)? Should I learn the language before I get there? Is it difficult to learn? What's the day to day life like? How are immigrants treated by the public at large? How's the seasonal weather? I'd really like to live in Oslo, so if anyone can tell me how they like living in the city, I'd really appreciate it.

And anything about all these would be cool too: Health care? Laws I should know? How's the beer? Can I get Spaten there? Food? How are gays treated? How are cigarette smokers treated?

I am already familiar with EU immigration policies.

Answer 1

My experience of visiting Norway was that it was a very beautiful country indeed, with the most incredible scenery. (Bear in mind it's a long thin country so the southern part is actually on a latitude with northern UK/Scotland - so it might not be as cold and icy as you are expecting, if you are based somewhere like Oslo!). Some high mountain passes are closed in the winter so you may have to use ferries in the northern part of the country for certain journeys round the fjord areas.

Pretty much everyone speaks amazing English, and is incredibly tolerant of the fact that the British and Americans can't speak a scandinavian language. My brother learned Danish, which is fairly similar to Norweigen and he found it quite hard, so get started on those lessons asap.

Food is very biased towards fish/seafood. But in the cities you can get pretty much any cuisine - it's Europe - not the moon! There is a myth that the cost of living is expensive - some things are eg alcohol, but not absolutely everything. Well, not to a Brit anyway - a US citizen might notice more of a difference.Public transport is clean and efficient. There is a lot of good modern arhitechtural design and art.

Oslo is great - lovely parks like Frogner (Vigelandspark). Dockside cafes and bars (Akker Brygger) You can swim in the Oslofjord in the summer. And the sun will stay out till 11:00pm!

Answer 2

Well I am a Canadian living in Denmark but I have been to Norway and it seemed like pretty much everyone spoke English and I was jsut visiting in my friends out of the way little town. I was impressed at how many items that I was used to in Canada were available as I can't say the same for Denmark. Scandinavia has about the best health care in the world and the best labour laws. I don't know what Spaten is, sorry. Beer is fine and you can get just about any kind you want. Hey in Norway you can get lowcarb beer if you want. Homosexualality is very accepted in Scandinavia, again probably more so then anywhere else outside of Holand. Smoking in Norway is pretty strict. You can't smoke in the bars or anywhere inside which is annoying. It is funny because in Denmark you can smoke just about anywhere and cigerettes are cheeper here.

You do need to know the language though to get a good job and not have a breakdown everytime you go to the supermarket. I still can't figure out which one baking soda is or sour cream.

Answer 3

You probably should check things in detail with someone actually living in Norway, but I felt quite obliged to answer you since some of the answers you've got so far is quite stupid and ignorant.

No, you don't need to learn the English before, in Norway and especially i Oslo, English is well understood and well spoken. Of course it's depending on what job you'll have how soon you'll have to learn, but a common complaint among English speaker coming to Scandinavia is that people speak too much English instead of too little, making it harder to get into the native language. It's probably not that difficult to learn, if you give it some effort. The Norwegian and the English language is related.

Living in Oslo will not mean half a year of darkness as somebody wrote. It will however be rather cold and dark in December, January, and February and a lot of "British weather" (meaning rain, fog, wind) in October, November, Mars and parts of April. The rest of the year got fairly warm temperature.

Health care is good but I can't tell you whether it's expensive for foreign citizens. Laws are similar to other Western European Laws. Beer and Food is expensive. Food will involve a lot of fish. But there's close to everything in most supermarkets so I guess you can eat from your own choice.

Gays are treated well by the law and by society and most people wouldn't think being gay is that strange. There will however be people thinking different, not a majority but they exist. But the law and the majority aren't on their side luckily.

I think cigarette smoking is banned in pubs (indoors) and other public places. But no one is talking bad about smokers if that's what you mean. They just have to stay outside :-)

Norwegian immigration policy should be close to the EU one. But remember that Norway isn't part of the EU. And that means different rules for work permit and such.

Answer 4

First please don't take this wrong if you are reading this and are from Norway, the country is boring. If you enjoy topics about the taste of the seal blubber this year or if your idea of a night on the town is when the salted cod is being soaked so why don't we all get togethor and eat fish that has the consistancy of jello and the taste of the inside of your sock. Norway can be a fun place. You won't see the sun at all for two months of the year (and I do mean at all). And if you like drinking the foulest alcohol known to man which is the Norwegian national drink, whose name escapes me just now. I guess you could enjoy Norway. English is a required subject at school and most Norwegians speak some English. Norwegian is fairly easy to learn and the people are fairly friendly but take a long time to get to know. Oh I forgot you have to eat potatoes with every meal, breakfast lunch and dinner, it's in the constitution and failure to comply with the potato law is punishable by five years in the pokey.

Answer 5

I think you can get by without knowing Norwegian. It's been my experience that Scandinavians speak better English than we do, lol. I've heard that movies in Scandinavia don't get translated into the home language, so you'll be able to watch all the Hollywood blockbusters in English.
I've heard it's difficult to immigrate into the Scandinavian countries, so do more research on that. It'd probably help to have a usefull skill.
Another generalization is that gays are treated better in Scandinavia. Homosexuality is not a big controversial issue like it is here in America.
Can't help on the other questions. I've heard it's beautiful.

Answer 6

make sure u have a translation booklet, you should pick it up within time. Then you can do it. If you have money.
Day to day life wont be a whole lot different. Immigrants are treated as normal people, because otherwise the people would get in deep poop lol. Weather - I dont know, only england do i know about, and thats cold and rainy (except its been boiling hot recently). The laws are basically the same as in America.Food will be healthier, not so many McDonalds as in U.S. im afraid. Cigarettes are treated normally, except its becoming more common to be banned from smoking in pubs/bars and such.

Answer 7

certain, in the experience that they ought to, yet you'll more advantageous acceptable study Norwegian besides. English will supply the prospect so that you'll be able to speak with Norwegians, even with the indisputable fact that it will be more advantageous sturdy to make pals. anytime all and various isn't chatting with you, they're going to swap back to Norwegian. in case you do not understand the language, you'd be omitted from many conversations. human beings wont have any problem understanding English, yet they could be a lot less prepared to speak English themselves. you do not ought to speak the language fluently, yet you should a minimum of attempt to study some Norwegian. If no longer some thing else, understanding Norwegian may actually help you recognize the subculture more advantageous acceptable and make your vacation more advantageous relaxing and exciting. Norwegian is spoken in on a daily basis existence, at the same time as English is only a language human beings have studied in college and pay interest to on television and radio.

Answer 8

yes but if you are going to live there long you should learn the lan or buy a translator machine oslo is the land of the 6 months of day light and 6 months of dark ness bring warm cloths and a lot of reading material they are very friendly peopleaslo a netural country no wars and depending how long you stsy or come back to visit the us you cN Hv e duel citin ship

Answer 9

Here's a great website for you about living in Oslo and no worries about commuicating either :

http://www.awcoslo.org/Sections/LivingInOslo/living_in_oslo.htm

Answer 10

I visited Norway twenty years ago and everyone I met spoke amazing English.