[Gllug] Re: [OT] speaking French in France

[Henrik Morsing]

> There are of course very nice and very unplesant french people and very
> nice and very unplesent
> English people, on average the french are far more obtruse and difficult
> than others.

I find the English incl. londoners to be some of the most friendly and
helpful in western Europe.

>>When I'm working in Norway I always feel profoundly ignorant.  Everyone
>>speaks fluent English.  Most norwegian people speak at least one other
>>scandanavian language, too.
>>
>>
> I think you are seeing things with slightly rose tinted glasses.  Norway
> is a staggaringly bueatfull country and I have found
> most of the people very freindly and helpfull.  However it is simply not
> true to say they all speak fluent English.  Most under
> about 60 years old and can speak basic english at a sufficent level to
> communicate about basic needs, eg locations, directions etc;
> however, when you get on to more complex topics then their ability to
> speak english shows it limits.  Their vocabulary tends to be (not
> supprisingly) limited to works that are close or in both languages and
> their ability to express the relationships between things,
> eg. in space and time is often limited alough this can be easily worked
> around with a bit of verboseness or rephrasing.
> Do not assume that a fluency in basic structures implies a competence in
> the language.

Mmm... I think they're better than this. The danes english skills are
definately better than what you describe here and all of the three
norwegians I've known has been even above that level.

> Well bear in mind that although Norway has some of the highest mountins
> in europ it also
> has the highest taxes in europe.

Not quite. Germany has the highest and Denmark come in second. Norway is
very favored by the oil fields which means that the Norwegians I believe,
are the richest people in the world. Their tax level is not at the top asd
far as I know.

> All of which pays for the Publuc
> transport, education, etc.  I am not sure what you mean
> by excelent communications infrastructure.  But bear in mind that there
> are only 5 trains a day between the 2 biggest
> cities in Norway and that includes the sleeper train.

That's because of the size of the population. Denmark has the same
population but is a lot smaller with no mountains and the infrastructure
is excellent across the country. And last year Copenhagen was elected as
the city with the best public transport system in the world.

I know danes complain about the taxes sometimes but after living in the UK
I wouldn't do it any other way than the danish.

>> For example, a norwegian friend of mine has 48 _weeks_ paternity leave
>> on 80% of his regular salary.
>
> Yes for which those people who choose not to have children have to
> subsidise heavily through their high taxes.

Yes. Most people go through a phase of having children though.

> Also remember alcohol is extortionatly expensive in norway ~ 6 gpb per
> pint (and much else of scandanavis for that matter).

Yes, in Norway it's expensive. In Sweden you can only get light beer but
it's not particular expensive. In Denmark you get normal strong beer and
it's not expensive. Between two and three gbp for a pint even in central
Copenhagen.

>>Norway and Sweden are definitely my favourite countries that I've
>>visted, and I'm seriously considering moving to Scandinavia in the
>>future.

> Me too.  If you are considering moving you should deffinitly learn at
> least basic norwegian.

Go to Sweden or Denmark. They're ahead of Norway in most of the things
we've discussed here. The landscape in Denmark is borin g though so in
that sense Sweden would be better.

---
Cheers
Henrik Morsing
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