For reasons (initially) lost on me, the University of North Dakota’s English Department requires students in the major to have a certain proficiency in a language other than English. I had switched over from Chemical Engineering and Pre-Nursing in Spring of 2015 and was completely disheartened at the fact I’d have to (forcibly) study a language once again.
In Fall of 2015, I took my first Norwegian class, which I aced. I desperately wanted to be good at Norwegian, just as much as I wanted all four credits. At first, it didn’t feel natural. I was making weird sounds and spelling with an alphabet that had three more 'letters' than I’d grown up with. There wasn’t any conjugation and too many false cognates. But the further we went, the easier it got. The following spring, I took my second and (originally) final semester, which I aced again. I had met up a few times with my former roommate to practice pronunciation and conversing and she was impressed by how much I was learning. By Summer 2016, I found myself in the Norwegian minor and on a plane headed to the University of Oslo for six weeks. I managed to pass my Trinn II exam, and came back home with seventeen credits (and experienced truly amazing bread, chocolate and Swedish McDonald's).
A few months ago in Norwegian Literature class, our teacher assigned us a few episodes of a Norwegian television show. I got hooked immediately and found myself three seasons deep, waiting weekly for a new episode. Skam has blown up in the last month or two with viewers across the United States, Russia, South America, and Western Europe. You will find these viewers commenting on the show’s website, writing theory posts on Tumblr, and stalking the characters Instagram pages. You can also find (removed) YouTube and Daily Motion videos with translated episodes or Google Drive links for transcribed episodes. Many non-Norwegian speakers have been begging the broadcaster, NRK, for English translations. NRK has made statements about their amazement and gratitude to the growing foreign interest and audience, but will not provide translations. They have made it clear that Skam is a Norwegian show for a Norwegian audience, but gladly encourages viewers to use this as an opportunity to possibly learn Norwegian. Harsh.
This response from NRK, and in a stretch Norway, made me smile. This is a country of five million, taking pride in their artistic work and preservation of their culture and language among an increasingly English-centric and translation/re-adaptation based world.
Arguably this whole piece is a plug for the Norwegian language. It is a diverse dialectal and written language, full of historical and cultural challenges. This could also be a plug for the wonderful series Skam – who doesn’t love watching high schoolers figure out life while dressed in stylish Scandinavian fashion and partying in a model welfare state? But truthfully, this whole piece is really a plug for languages in general.
We spend a majority of our primary education forced to try a bunch sports, instruments, crafts, and maybe one language. Then we enter middle school and it turns out there are a couple more topics and trades we’re required to ‘taste’, including more languages. We start to figure out what we like and can get ‘good’ at in the space of time that is high school. For many, language is not one of them. You’ll probably find clusters of former high school students who remember the elephant song and how to ask where the bathroom is in Spanish, and only that. The ‘real world’ doesn’t ask much from us regarding language and cultural competency, except that it’s a bonus on your resume – so why would we (or the educational system) take it further than a ‘sampler’ during our learning infancy?
The internet and globalization allow us to enjoy and take part in other cultures through music, movies, television, art, and literature. If we are only willing to engage with these mediums through our own terms like subtitling, dubbing, adaptions – are we really involving ourselves in a quality cultural exchange?
I’m not saying every time you want to read Japanese manga or watch anime, you should open the Dulingo app and practice your verbs and characters. Nor am I saying you need to head to Spanish Harlem and eavesdrop to better understand lyrics in a Prince Royce song. And I’m definitely not asking you to watch Amélie without subtitles, then call up your middle school French teacher and attempt to have a discussion about it.
I’m simply asking you to fight the involuntary need for ease and comfort that translations and remakes offer. Take some time to research or practice the little you pick up when you listen to a Korean pop song or watch an episode of Roslinda. I have been met with nothing but positivity and support from individuals who speak the languages I’ve taken interest in. I wouldn’t be surprised if those individuals in your life offered their time or other services to help you achieve whatever language acquisition goals you have. If anything, being 'forced' to learn a language is an expansive opportunity for both professional and personal use. There is so much to be gained and shared when we fully immerse ourselves in ideas, worlds, and experiences outside ourselves and our native language.
