Day 10 at Sea: Lecture: Norwegian Languages & Bronnoysund

This morning wasn't any easier a morning to get up in.. but I managed it, valiantly. After breakfast, there was an onboard lecture about Norwegian languages, which I popped along to. She started by showing us the "family tree" of languages:

Always interesting to look at, but here she was concerned with the Scandinavian languages, branching off from the Germanic, with Norwegian closely related to Danish and Swedish. However, beside the tree, she pointed out a "bush", which includes Finnish and Sámi, with something called Kven floating nearby..

Now, when I thought of Norwegian languages previously, it was with a focus on just "Norwegian" and "Sámi" - but she was here to tell us that it's way more complicated than that!

She showed us a slide illustrating some similarities between "Norwegian" and other languages:

..and then described how this fellow called Ivar Aasen formalised Norwegian in the 19th and 20th centuries, dividing it into a more common dialect called Bokmal, and a more rural dialect called Nynorsk.

You know, this could be a very dry subject, so it was a delight to listen to her, as she made it as entertaining as possible, freely acknowledging the difficulty of understanding some parts, and quite happy to point out the ridiculousness of some things. For instance, she informed us that she's not actually Norwegian herself, and had to learn the language - and ooh, she has trouble with Nynorsk!

When she told us about all the different words for "I", I had flashbacks to German, with its 16 different words for "the"..

She had a cheat sheet for basic Bokmal, the dialect spoken by almost all Norwegians:

and we were introduced to those fun extra letters:

And she groaned over the different forms of words in Norwegian, so awkward for a linguist who's used to languages working differently!

As she pointed out, Norwegians tend to be quite terse:

And then there was the table of misunderstood words:

"Barn", I relate to "bairn" - child, so not a surprise. "Gate", we've seen in several cities on this trip, and know it means "street". The rest are interesting..

Ooh, and if you thought Sámi was just one language!

And she gave an example of a sign in Norwegian, Sámi, and Kven:

Mind you, as she pointed out, that'd soon be covered by snow in winter, and bleached thereafter..

Dear God, and as if that weren't enough, there are Russian Pomor dialects!

Altogether, a fascinating talk.

The long port stay in the afternoon was in Bronnoysund. I did try to get on an excursion there, but they didn't get anything like the minimum numbers! so it didn't happen. They did tell us about the marker that explains that this place is, yes, halfway between the northernmost point, Nordkapp, and the southernmost point, Lindesnes. So I determined to look for it.

So off I set, into the most perfect, snowy landscape (just too late for sunset, apparently). Ah, but the snow..

And when we'd waited.. and waited.. for the lady to figure out how to take a photo of her companion striking a pose in front of the monument.. I finally got a picture!

We're getting table service, and five-course menus, for the next two nights, to lead us to the end of the year, and the end of the cruise. And I have to say, dinner this evening was delicious, including a prosecco reception! - and accompanied by the most perfect scene of snowfall:

So, Christmas and New Year's on the boat! Just what I wanted. Back on New Year's Day - not as early - and taking the next day off, because it's a Friday - and back home to Ireland for the weekend, because it's been too long. I have rough plans to meet an old friend. Might head to Marty Supreme afterwards - in Limerick, as no showings are yet listed in Ennis!

The next two days in London are with CT - on Monday, I'm back at the Hen & Chickens for Shake It Up: The Improvised Shakespeare Show.

And next Tuesday, I'm at a comedy show - Live Next to the Apollo, at Riverside Studios.

On the 7th - my first Meetup of the year - I'm back with the Horror Book Club - assuming I get the book read in time! It's The House on the Borderland - and they're meeting in the Prince of Wales, as usual. Now, considering the lack of progress I made with Hogfather for my work book club.. we'll have to see.. I did at least finish the sample.. it's over a year since I was last with them for a book review! (As to Hogfather, when we met (me virtually - I stayed at home because of my cough), it turned out I was one of the ones that read most.. I had a last-minute sprint, and got to 71%..)

The next two days, I was to be with CT at the Backyard Comedy Club.. again, it's been a while! However, now Over 40 Living the Life has advertised a trip to the immersive Macchu Picchu exhibition, which sounds much more interesting, for the 9th. However, the Meetup page appears to have crashed - yet again - so I can't currently book it! Could be because of my location..

Then, four days in a row of Meetups, including five in total. On the 10th, two Meetups.. firstly, a walk titled Southwark: Seedy and Sublime with none other than Laurence Summers and the 45+ Not Grumpies, yay! Haven't seen him since September, would you believe..

And that evening, back with The Hideout for 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple. Venue and timings TBC, but it'll be somewhere around Leicester Square. 

On the 11th, back with London Museums A-Z for T is for Thirst: In Search of Freshwater, an exhibition at The Wellcome Collection. Advertised, would you believe, while I was looking at my phone but not especially busy, in The Rockingham Arms recently - and this being the next unscheduled date in my diary, I was one of the five to snap up a place in the first minute!

On the 12th, with Up in the Cheap Seats again, for Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo - a dark comedy set in Iraq - at the Young Vic. Booked for Bar + Block Southwark beforehand. Ooh, another place I haven't been in an age..

And on the 13th, I'm back with London Classical Music and Theatre Group for The Makropulos Affair, by the London Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Sir Simon Rattle, at the Barbican - one of the group with a wildcard ticket couldn't go and kindly offered it for free, so I snapped it up. Eating at Cote Barbican beforehand. And gee, you guessed it.. Haven't been there since September, but was with the group slightly more recently, in October..