Dive into "The Mystery of Nils": An Interesting way to learn Norwegian!

The Mystery of Nils for learning Norwegian made an even narrower cut, but in the best of ways: it was learning without knowing it, a story where the very experience of learning Norwegian was woven into the learning. Actively learning was so much fun. Otherwise it was really a drag.

The secret sauce of this course was its story – an enchanting narrative about a wooden doll named Nils (based on the Norwegian Nisse mythology) whose life is deeply intertwined with that of his girlfriend Erna Langvik’s most intimate secrets. The story advances the learner of Norwegian in lockstep with the development of Nils and Erna’s relationship. Each chapter not only moved the plot forward but, wherever appropriate, also introduced new lexical items, grammar points, phonological features and syntax – all embedded covertly in the readily accessible language of the story.

It was the way it kept up a dialogue – a dialogue between myself and the course, but also between the various elements inside the course that gave me, for the first time, a working knowledge of grammar. I have always found grammar scary, but the introduction of physicality, interactivity and clues into the storyline made me comprehend and ultimately enjoy it.

The wide variety of exercises was another thing I enjoyed. You could practise fluency, build your listening skills, drill vocabulary or learn useful expressions – there were so many different kinds of practice. It was easy to always do something, as you could download the exercises and learn wherever you were, on your commute or waiting in a queue.

The course didn’t simply end with the self-study component. It allowed me to interact real-time with native speakers, as well as learners like myself. Having access to live teachers also meant having personalised guidance, which one often misses when learning alone. Their feedback helped me to improve my pronunciation and register the intricacies of language.

The richest thing I took from ‘The Mystery of Nils’ was the lively global community we built up around it. The course provided a Facebook group that was open to anyone, not just learners, where we fledging Norwegians supporting and chatting to each other. We swapped strategies, we mulled over bits of the culture, we had virtual language café meetups. Learning felt more like socialising. If you’ve read this, then ‘The Mystery of Nils’ and the Facebook group are free and open to anyone. Give them a try, if you’ve got the time.

It was their sense of community, their warmth and comradeship, that gave the language its life. Through conversation with fellow members, through sharing stories, through speaking Norwegian together, in a relaxed and friendly atmosphere, the language came alive. The struggle to learn it no longer felt like mine alone: it became a shared experience, a cooperative expedition full of companionship and support.

Looking back at my experience with The Mystery of Nils, one of the things I remember is how much I actually enjoyed learning Norwegian; the course had turned a rather solitary educational endeavour into a story, complete with characters, emotions and a living language. With the help of ‘Josua’ and friends, I not only learned to converse, spell and understand Norwegian, I came to appreciate many facets of its culture and history.

In a world full of slow, painful, other­wise-mundane language-learning, The Mystery of Nils is a breath of fresh air. It returns the experience of learning a new language to its most fundamental goal – the adventure – and as such makes Nils’ world come alive, in every sense of the word. And with Nils, my own journey of language-learning became a chapter in my own tale of discovery, growth and falling in love.

Here is the link if you're feeling the spark of curiosity and ready for a fun language adventure as well!

https://courses.skapago.eu/lp/norwegian-course-beginners-nils-ds#aff=lumina6