Norwegian: fighting fit for the future?
Is the Norwegian language under threat? Could it one day disappear from daily use and perhaps sink under the sur
NORDIC TRANSLATION SPECIALISTS
Norwegian translation services
Norwegian (norsk) is a North Germanic language with approximately five million speakers mainly confined to the Kingdom of Norway. Through our Norwegian translation services, we help you connect with one of the wealthiest and most advanced economies in the world.
Entering the Norwegian market
Thanks to its oil industry, maritime trade and shipbuilding, Norway’s economic growth has remained steady for decades. Giving the salaries and standard of living of Norwegians are high – it boosts a GDP per capita of 89K, one of the highest in the world – it’s an attractive export market for any business, specially those offering innovative products, individualised services and high-quality goods.
Key market entry considerations when launching new products or services in Norway
Norway is a mature import market and business opportunities can be identified in a large number of industries, although the agriculture sector is well protected through trade barriers.
90% of Norwegians have some level of fluency in English. But the ability to understand a language doesn’t necessarily mean that that’s what they prefer, if presented with a choice.
Norway wants to reduce its dependence on the oil sector and diversify its economy more broadly. Research-intensive industries in particular are set to receive government support.
Norway is not a member of the European Union (EU) but is linked to the EU through the European Economic Area (EEA) agreement. By virtue of the EEA, Norway is practically part of the EU’s single market, except in fisheries and agriculture.
Our Norwegian translation experience
Our native Norwegian linguists have decades of combined experience in a wide range of different domains. We offer both Norwegian Bokmål and Norwegian Nynorsk as target variants.
Your specialists in Norwegian translation
- Dedicated linguists based in the UK and the Nordic countries
- Extensive trusted freelancer pool
- In-country cultural proficiency
- Translation from English, Danish, French, German and Swedish into Norwegian Bokmål and Nynorsk
- Translation from Norwegian into English
- Your own team of dedicated linguists available through our Account Linguist™ service
11m
words translated into Norwegian per year
2
teams of dedicated in-house Norwegian linguists
Norwegian expertise in all sorts of domains
Financial services
Healthcare
Marketing
Technology & software
Legal
Manufacturing
Travel & hospitality
eCommerce
About Norwegian
Norwegian (norsk) is a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Norway, where it is an official language. There are two official forms of written Norwegian: bokmål (literally “book language”) and nynorsk (literally “new Norwegian”). The Norwegian Language Council recommends that the terms “Norwegian Bokmål” and “Norwegian Nynorsk” be used in English.
Most of the work Sandberg performs is into Norwegian Bokmål. The Norwegian pages on this website are written in Bokmål.
Around 86–90% of Norwegians use Bokmål when writing, and 10–12% use Nynorsk, but most spoken dialects more closely resemble Nynorsk than Bokmål. The Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation (NRK) broadcasts in both Bokmål and Nynorsk, and all governmental agencies are required to support both written standards. Bokmål is used in 92 per cent of all written publications, Nynorsk in 8 per cent (2000).
The Norwegian alphabet has 29 letters, including three that do not feature in the English alphabet: æ, ø and å.
Our Norwegian translation services
Translation
Norwegian translation is the core of our offering. We can work in any translation environment or file format.
Machine translation post-editing
We can bring machine-translated content up to either usable or human translator level.
Revision
We can revise our own translation in-house, or you can ask for a revision of a third-party translation.
Terminology management
Allow us to maintain your Norwegian terminology resources or create them from scratch.
Copy adaptation
We rework your copy in collaboration with you so it really hits home with your target geo.
Transcreation
We offer Norwegian transcreation (creative translation) for when a simple translation just won’t do.
Multilingual SEO
When a website needs greater visibility in search results, we help by localising the target keywords and optimising the digital content.
Market-specific copywriting
Country-specific content that aligns perfectly with local customs, celebrations or cultural events.
Tone of voice
When it comes to multilingual communication, tone of voice can be one of the hardest things to get right. Our Norwegian linguists adapt a text’s tone to match the expectations of a Norwegian audience, understanding cultural nuances and keeping up with contemporary changes in the language. For example, Norwegians prefer a straight-to-the-point message and advertisements usually must be toned down to make an impact. This is the knowledge that makes Sandberg’s Norwegian translation services some of the best on the market.
ISO-certified Norwegian translations
Sandberg was the first company in the UK to achieve both ISO 17100 and ISO 18587 certification. Whether the translation is done by our in-house experts or one of our carefully sourced freelancers, you can be confident that a translation produced by Sandberg will hit the mark.
Norwegian Style guide
Sandberg has its own comprehensive style guide for Norwegian to which all our translators adhere in their work, unless a client-specific or project-specific style guide takes precedence.
Need a quote for Norwegian translation?
Find out more about how we can we work with you on your next Norwegian project.
Read more about Norwegian
Explore more on the Norwegian language on our blog.
A tale of two standards
If you were to ask a Norwegian speaker to write something in Norwegian, they might ask: which variant? While spo
6 facts about the Norwegian language
When learning a new language, it is always useful to get familiar with its origins, history and those little det
