Preparation to English Term Paper on December 15th, 2015Appendix 1

English in Norway

Few outside Norway can speak Norwegian. This means that Norwegians have to use English or other foreign languages when they travel or study abroad, or work in firms or organizations with international contacts and activities. Many Norwegian firms even use English as the main language at work. The same is often the case in workplaces with foreign bosses or foreign co-workers. Besides that, workers in Norway often have to read manuals and other documents in English. If you look at the job vacancies in our largest Norwegian newspapers, you will find that many firms and organizations advertise jobs in English. They obviously expect the job applications to be written in the same language. Actually, all you have to do is turn on a computer and access the net to find out how important English really is.

Another example is higher education. At your upper secondary school, all of the textbooks you use, except for those in language classes, are written in Norwegian. However, if you decide to go on to college or university, many of your textbooks will be in English, even if you are studying medicine, social studies or engineering in Norway. An increasing number of courses are also being taught in English, often because of international students or because the lecturer does not speak Norwegian. Just at the University of Oslo, for instance, there are more than 800 courses taught in English.

English is also the most commonly used language in Norwegian export and import firms. Almost 95% of the firms use English for international communication. At work, people telephone or e-mail, buy and sell, have meetings, give sales talks, negotiate agreements, or write advertisements, brochures, reports and contracts in English. After work, businessmen and women often meet their contacts for