GENERAL QUESTIONS
Sett i gang translates roughly to ‘let’s get started’ or ‘get going!’
Although the first paper clip patent was applied for in the US in 1867 by an American, a Norwegian by the name of Johan Vaaler patented a similar model in Germany and in the US in 1899 and 1901 (there were no patent laws in Norway at the time). Norwegians have claimed for decades (many claim falsely so) that Norwegians invented the paper clip. Because of the pride Norwegians had for this invention, the paper clip (or binders in Norwegian) became a symbol of Norwegian solidarity, most notably during the resistance movement during WWII. To read more about the role of the paper clip during WWII, follow this link.
Sett i gang is an introductory curriculum designed for first-year university courses, the first two years of community education and high school classes, or beginners learning on their own. Book 1 is often used in the first semester of university courses or the first year of community or high school classes, while Book 2 is often used in the second semester or year, but different instructors divide up the books differently, especially at schools with different academic calendars. Each student’s level of Norwegian after completing the Sett i gang curriculum will vary, but if you do all of the exercises and activities in the textbook and portal, study the vocabulary and grammar, and make use of the extra resources provided on the portal, you can reasonably expect to be at A2 level by the end of Book 2.
The portal is meant as a companion site to the Sett i gang textbooks. You must create an account and log in to use the portal. Once you have done that, you can listen to audio files for textbook activities, access flashcards and Quizlet activities to learn the vocabulary in each chapter, complete automatically graded online exercises, and access extra online resources such as articles, websites, and videos. All of these resources are organized by chapter under the Chapter Guides heading and at the bottom of every page, and by resource type under the Student Materials heading. If you are using the portal in your Norwegian class, your instructor should explain which activities you are expected to complete on the portal and how. If you are learning Norwegian on your own, we recommend going through the sections for each chapter (found under Chapter Guides) as you go through that chapter in the textbook. The Vocabulary Tools section provides flashcards and other Quizlet activities to help you learn that chapter’s vocabulary. The Audio section provides the audio clips you need to do certain textbook exercises and audio versions of vocabulary lists and short texts in the book. The Exercises section includes self-grading online exercises, as well as some writing and vocabulary exercises that are meant to be submitted to an instructor but can also be done on your own. The Web Resources are supplemental articles, websites, and videos that deal with topics and vocabulary covered in the chapter. The Assessments section is a self-grading assessment at the end of each three-chapter section. Other resources available under the Student Materials heading are Answer Keys for the textbook exercises and My Gradebook, which calculates your grade for each section or chapter based on the online exercises. Under the Glossaries heading are several online Norwegian-English and Norwegian-Norwegian glossaries and dictionaries in which you can look up words. The About heading contains a Student How-To Guide and information about the portal, textbooks, authors, and how to contact Sett i gang.
A complete guide to the portal can be found in the Student How-To Guide, which is also linked here. For more detailed instructions on how to use the portal as you work through the textbook, see How do I work through the textbook?
The written form of Norwegian we teach is bokmål, which is the most widely used form of written Norwegian. The spoken form used in our pronunciation guides and most audio clips is standard east Norwegian (standard østnorsk), which is considered the spoken equivalent of bokmål. It is also the spoken form most commonly learned by non-native speakers and most widely understood in Norway. Supplemental video and audio web resources on the portal include some Norwegian dialects that differ significantly from standard east Norwegian, which provide a taste of the diversity within spoken Norwegian.
TECHNICAL QUESTIONS
Now you should be able to access all of the materials on the Sett i gang site. If you need assistance with your account or with the website, please check the FAQ page for many answers. If you still have problems, write to “norwords.sig@gmail.com.”.
TEXTBOOK
On the homepage you can find free downloadable PDFs of Book 1, chapter 1 and Book 2, 16 to get you started. (link)
Answer keys for each chapter are available under the Student Materials tab on the web portal. Answers are given for exercises with fixed correct answers, but usually not for those with open-ended questions or classroom activities.
If you are using Sett i gang in a university or college setting, you will probably be expected to work approximately 3 hours on your Norwegian homework between each class period. However, much of this time will be on things that prepare you to be ready for your homework. This includes learning and using new vocabulary and grammar forms, listening to the audio clips, and writing and recording answers to exercises, either in the portal or in a document that you will submit to your instructor. We have very limited class time, so it is important that you come to class each day having prepared thoroughly–remember that your participation grade is based on both attendance and preparation. Use this as a guide for how to work through the materials. Vocabulary. Each chapter starts off with an introduction to some new vocabulary tied to a theme. In your book you will find a picture of the item and the word in Norwegian, but not a translation. We recommend that you start off the chapter by using the Quizlet flashcards to learn the vocabulary, so you can both listen to the pronunciation of the word and see the English translation. You can also quiz yourself on the meaning and spelling using multiple games that vary in their difficulty and what skills they focus on. We also recommend downloading the free Quizlet mobile app to your smartphone so you can review this vocabulary often. This is a great tool that has many options for your learning preferences. Additionally, you can play the audio clips of the vocabulary lists on the portal and look at the pictures in the book, as you can often figure out the meaning of the word just by looking at the picture. This is especially helpful if you’re a visual learner. While you are going through the texts and new vocabulary, you should be reading actively by looking up new words, making notes in the margins, underlining, circling, and adding question marks to things you would like to go over in class. Pages 1-4: Introduction to topic. On the first four pages of each chapter there are some short texts tied into the new vocabulary. Go through all of these texts and make sure you understand them. You should listen to all of the audio clips, which you can either do on the portal or download to the device of your choice. It’s a great idea to download them and listen to them when you are working out, driving, walking, etc. When you come across words you don’t understand, you should look them up in the portal glossary. Pages 5-8: Focus on grammatical forms. Most chapters have two grammar points with an overview in English and multiple exercises to help you practice with the new forms. Work through all of this, including completing the exercises in the textbook. Pages 9-10: Content exercises. These two pages contain additional exercises to help you master the vocabulary and grammatical forms with a variety of different exercise types. Work through all of these. Pages 11-12: In focus. On these pages, there is one longer text with a cultural focus that embeds the vocabulary and grammatical topics you have been working on together with reading or listening exercises. You need to work through these exercises as well. Page 13: Pronunciation. Each chapter has a pronunciation page. This page is either a focused pronunciation point or an overview of difficult sounds that are found throughout the section. You should listen to these clips and practice making the sounds. Page 14: Repetition. Each chapter ends with a page that is a collection of the most essential vocabulary, using the important language structures. You should be able at the end of the chapter to read through it entirely without any questions about the meanings of the words, the pronunciation, or the language forms used. However, you can also use it while you’re working your way through the chapter as a quick reference. Portal exercises. Only after you have completed the textbook exercises should you move to the portal exercises. The portal exercises are intended to be done in order. Note that most of them are done online, but you will usually have one written or oral one that is submitted to your instructor each class period. We have actually done a very thorough quantitative analysis on how students best use the portal and we know that the students who are the most successful in the course use the portal as a self-assessment. This means that they have worked through the textbook materials first and then moved to the portal to check their mastery and comprehension. What can you skip? You can skip the exercises that are intended to be done with a peer or a large group. Although we will do a majority of these in class, you should read through them so you understand the vocabulary used.
AUDIO
There are two ways to find the audio files.
The 3rd edition print books and eTextbooks were released in the spring and the summer of 2023. Some previous students may still be using the 2nd edition books, while many new students will be purchasing the 3rd edition books. Many of the texts in the 3rd edition books have been updated with more current statistics and information, and some are completely new to this edition. As a result, we are providing separate playlists for students who are using the 2nd edition and those using the 3rd edition. Note that the 3rd edition audio files were recorded over the summer, and we are currently editing the files and adding them to the 3rd edition playlists. Most of the audio will be uploaded by September 8, but there may be a few files that won’t be added until the end of September.
Yes, you are welcome to download the audio files and use them as you wish. For the 2nd edition audio, you will see a link to “Download audio” just above the playlist for a particular chapter. We will add these links to the 3rd edition audio pages by the end of September.
LEARNING VOCABULARY
We recommend that you start off each chapter by using the Quizlet flashcards to learn the vocabulary, so you can both listen to the pronunciation of the word and see the English translation. It’s best to do this before you work through the textbook to familiarize yourself with all the words, especially since each textbook chapter starts off by presenting the vocabulary with pictures, but no English translations. Additionally, you can play the audio clips of the vocabulary lists on the portal and look at the pictures in the book, as you can often figure out the meaning of the word just by looking at the picture. This is especially helpful if you’re a visual learner. While you are going through the texts and new vocabulary, you should be reading actively by looking up new words, making notes in the margins, underlining, circling, and adding question marks to things you would like to go over in class. After you have familiarized yourself with all the new vocabulary using the flashcards and/or the pictures with audio, you should do some Quizlet activities to practice the new words. Then you should work through the textbook and do all the exercises (except those that involve interaction with other students). Keep in mind that there are multiple sets of flashcards for each chapter, which add up to a LOT of vocabulary, so you should spend a significant amount of time reviewing and practicing the words. Don’t expect to learn everything all at once. It’s best to start by focusing on one flashcard set at a time. You can study the first flashcard set, then do the textbook activities that include those words, then stop when the textbook introduces a new set of words and practice those on Quizlet, etc. Even if you decide to learn all the vocabulary before working through the chapter, you should use different Quizlet study modes as you work through the chapter to focus on words you’re struggling with and keep track of your progress. By the end of the chapter, you should be doing Quizlet activities with the vocabulary set for the entire chapter. At this point, you should also be able to look at either the Norwegian or the English side of the Repetition page and translate everything into the opposite language from memory. For more information on working through the textbook and portal, see How do I work through the textbook? After you’ve done everything in the textbook, you should move on to the portal exercises. The portal exercises should be a self-assessment, not a learning tool, meaning that you should already know the vocabulary (and grammar) and use the exercises to test yourself, ideally without looking at the textbook or any notes, and identify anything you might need to review further.
Quizlet is a tool to study vocabulary. Many people refer to it as flashcard sets, but it has developed into a wide variety of learning tools. Each chapter in Sett i gang has study sets on Quizlet organized by topic, and each flashcard has a vocabulary word or phrase in English on one side and Norwegian on the other, along with an audio recording to demonstrate correct pronunciation. Quizlet also offers various study modes, through which you can practice and test your knowledge of the vocab in different ways.
You can find the Quizlet flashcard sets on the Vocabulary Tools page for each chapter, which can be found under the Chapter Guides or the Student Materials tabs. You can go through the flashcard sets and play some of the study modes right in the web portal. However, you can also use them on the Quizlet website, where there is more space and several more study modes. We also recommend that you download the free Quizlet app so you can practice the vocabulary while on the go or in short breaks during the day. Here is a key to the flashcard settings embedded in the web portal: Study all cards or study the starred cards Audio on or audio off Start the set over Norwegian audio on or off English audio on or off Normal or slow speed for the English audio Term 1 Definition 2 Both 3 Previous ← Next → Flip Space Star S Edit E Shuffle H Play P Audio A Enlarge the image I Study Modes: Here you can choose Match, Learn, Test, Flashcards, or Spell. Flashcards is the default setting.
Answers in Norwegian, English, or both
While flashcards are an effective tool, students should explore all the study modes. Note that there are several other activities available for each set of words if you click on “Quizlet” in the lower left corner of the card to view the set on the Quizlet site, which looks like this: There are two types of modes in Quizlet. Study modes are more traditional vocabulary activities, and play modes are games that test how quickly you can match or type words. Study modes: Flashcards: We recommend that you start by flipping through the flashcards and listening to the audio to learn a set of new words. Then you can flip through the set again and try to remember the translation before you flip it over. You can star the words that are difficult to remember or those you want to practice more. Then you can go through only the starred words and test yourself with those. Shuffling the set is also a good idea to make sure you’re not too used to seeing the words in the same order. You shouldn’t rely on the flashcards alone to learn the new words, so you can go through the set a few times, but then you should move on to another study mode. Learn: Learn is a good study mode to try after you go through the flashcards. It goes through multiple rounds of multiple choice and fill-in-the-blank questions designed to help you learn the words and practice ones you get wrong. It keeps track of which words are remaining, which ones you are familiar with, and which ones you’ve mastered. Write: Write the correct answer in the blank. This tests your ability to recall words and is a good one to try once you feel like you have a good grip on the terms. Spell: Type what you hear. Spell is a study mode that can be used at different stages of the learning process. You can try Spell once you’ve studied all the terms pretty thoroughly as a way to practice recognizing and spelling the Norwegian word correctly by sound alone. Once you get more advanced at Norwegian and you have a better understanding of how spelling relates to pronunciation, you could practice your dictation skills with Spell on an unfamiliar set of words. Test: Test generates a quiz with four question types: fill-in, matching, multiple choice, and true/false. This is another good one to do once you’ve mastered the terms, as it tests multiple skills and question types in a format similar to a classroom quiz. Play modes: Match: Both Match and Gravity test your speed, but Match is easier because you simply have to match which English and Norwegian words go together by clicking on them. This is a good mode to play after going through the flashcards, before you remember the words well enough to write them out yourself. You can also play it again once you know the terms better to see how much your time improves. Gravity: Gravity is another fun game in which you view the terms/questions on asteroids and type in the correct answers before the asteroids crash into the planet. It’s a little more advanced because it requires you to be able to type the translation quickly by yourself. We recommend that you choose to answer in Norwegian so you can practice remembering and typing the Norwegian words. Each level gets progressively more difficult, but you can set the speed to Easy, Medium, or Hard to get the right amount of challenge. Live: This mode is so new that we haven’t tested it out yet, but it’s a collaborative game that can be played with other students in the classroom, so it’s not one you would use to study on your own. Once you’ve tried all the study modes and used Quizlet for a while, you’ll have a better sense of what modes you like best, so you can skip modes you don’t find helpful, focus more on the ones you do, and adjust the options for each mode to suit your learning style. However, you shouldn’t spend all your time doing the same kinds of activities and focusing on the same skills. For example, don’t only do matching activities, and don’t always set the options so that you’re reading the Norwegian word and answering in English. It’s important to be able to identify Norwegian words by both listening and reading and to be able to write them yourself from memory, so you should choose study modes and options that include all of these skills. None of the Quizlet activities test your speaking ability, but this is another crucial skill, so saying the word aloud when you read or type it, or repeating the word to yourself after listening to the audio, is a good way to practice your pronunciation.
You can change the settings for each study mode by clicking on the Options button in the bottom left corner of the page. The options vary based on the study mode, but you can often change the language of the prompts and answers, choose the number of questions, include all the terms or only starred ones, choose to mark only exact answers correct or allow multiple answers as long as at least one is correct, and turn audio on or off. It’s a good idea to try out different settings for each study mode to find out which ones you prefer, but again, you should mix it up so you don’t miss out on practicing certain skills.
You can print out a flashcard set by clicking on the button with the three dots under the flashcard display. You can then select the layout of the flashcards (table, glossary, small cards, large cards, or A6 index cards) and choose whether to alphabetize the terms and whether to have the term or the definition on the front of the card. This will give you a PDF which you can print out. You can also print out the Test study mode, but you will have to go back to the website to check your answers. If you like to study on paper better, this is a good resource, but we encourage you to also use the flashcards and other study modes online so that you can listen to the Norwegian audio and test your memory in different ways.
LEARNING NORWEGIAN ON MY OWN
Yes, you can use Sett i gang to learn Norwegian on your own! Some of the activities in the textbook are designed to be done with other students in a classroom, but many of these can be modified for individual practice. You can check your answers to the textbook exercises with the answer keys on the Sett i gang website, and all of the online exercises are self-correcting, except for those that require open-ended writing (which you can still do to practice writing, even if you can’t get feedback from an instructor). However, it’s easy to miss out on practicing speaking and conversational skills when you’re learning a language by yourself. If possible, it’s very helpful (and fun!) to find people to practice with, whether it’s a Norwegian conversation group, another beginner, a more advanced speaker who can correct you when you make mistakes, or even a native Norwegian.
LEARNING NORWEGIAN IN A CLASS
Yes, the portal has a gradebook that can be found under the Student Materials heading. Your grades for all of the exercises in the portal are entered there automatically. Since schools have different academic calendars, we have created several gradebooks for the instructors to use, some that track student exercise scores by individual chapter and others by units of three chapters. Please ask your instructor which gradebook your class will be using, so that you can click on the correct one and see an accurate reflection of your scores. The gradebooks only show scores for the self-correcting exercises, so most instructors add these scores to their main course gradebook in their learning management system or in Excel or Google Sheets. The gradebook is set up so that you will receive a grade of 0% on any exercise that you have not completed. As a result, your overall scores will appear low until all the exercises for a particular chapter or set of chapters are completed. Keep in mind that you can do the exercises as many times as you would like, so you have many chances to improve your scores. However, most instructors add the student scores for a particular chapter or set of chapters to their main gradebook when that chapter or unit is complete. The gradebooks have both a collapsed and an expanded view. The collapsed view shows the overall score (percentage) on all the self-correcting exercises, as well as the overall score for each chapter or unit. When you click on the arrow to the left of the unit name, you will see a list of all the exercises you have completed and your highest score on each one.
If you are enrolled in a course, your instructor needs to contact us to be set up to see your results. The only thing they will need from you is your username.
There are several online glossaries we recommend, most of which are linked on the Sett i gang site: However, a physical dictionary is also a great resource. We recommend the Haugen Norwegian-English Dictionary. This is a great dictionary for reading Norwegian and looking up unfamiliar Norwegian words. It has both bokmål and nynorsk entries with pronunciations, grammatical forms, and examples of the words in common idioms and expressions. However, it is only Norwegian-English, so you can’t look up the Norwegian translations of English words.
Some of the universities, colleges that use our curriculum in the United States are: Brigham Young University | Provo, UT Five College Consortium | Amherst, MA https://www.fivecolleges.edu/fclang/silp Harvard University | Cambridge, MA https://german.fas.harvard.edu/scandinavian-studies Luther College | Decorah, IA https://www.luther.edu/nordic-studies/ Minnesota State University, Mankato | Mankato, MN https://carts.mnsu.edu/academics/world-languages-and-cultures/Scandinavian-Studies-Program/ St. Olaf College | Northfield, MN https://wp.stolaf.edu/norwegian/ University of California, Berkeley | Berkeley, CA https://scandinavian.berkeley.edu/languages/norwegian/ University of Chicago | Chicago, IL https://german.uchicago.edu/undergraduate/norwegian University of North Dakota | Grand Forks, ND https://arts-sciences.und.edu/academics/languages/norwegian/ University of Washington | Seattle, WA https://scandinavian.washington.edu/fields/norwegian University of Wisconsin, Madison | Madison, WI https://languages.wisc.edu/languages/norwegian/ Universities in Canada: University of Alberta | Edmonton, AB https://www.ualberta.ca/modern-languages-and-cultural-studies/undergraduate-program-information/current-undergraduate-students/scandinavian-studies.html https://www.ualberta.ca/augustana/about-us/fine-arts-humanities.html Community courses (not for academic credit) Mindekirken | Minneapolis, MN Vesterheim | Decorah, IA Scandinavian Language Institute | Seattle, WA If you know of other programs, please let us know!
University of Alberta, Augustana Campus | Camrose, AB
Yes, the University of North Dakota offers courses which you can enroll in anytime and complete at your own pace for academic credit.
SETT I GANG INSTRUCTORS
Yes, we have extra resources for instructors that are accessible from the portal. There is a Google Doc for each chapter with a list of resources, including slides, Kahoot quizzes, videos, web resources, sample assessments for each three-chapter section, and a list of updates to the second edition of the textbook. These resources can be used for in-class activities, assignments, or just to give you ideas for your own materials. In the instructor resources for Chapter 1, there are also general resources, such as instructor and student guides to the portal, a guide to the gradebook, and a guide to creating class groups in the portal and accessing the instructor resources.
The instructor resources are only accessible to registered instructors. If you are an instructor who does not yet have access, complete the following steps: Once you have done this, you will be able to find the Instructor Resources listed under the About heading in the portal, where they are organized by chapter.
You can email co-authors Kari Lie Dorer and Nancy Aarsvold at norwords.sig@gmail.com if you would like to get access to the instructor resources or if you have any questions about the instructor resources or Sett i gang generally.
