Why Norwegian to English is harder than it looks
People write in dialect. Norway is unusual in how freely dialect is used in writing, so a message may not match either written standard. Spelling varies by region and by person, which is the hardest input for any translator.
Bokmål and Nynorsk are both correct. A translator has to handle two written standards for one language, and they differ in vocabulary as well as spelling. Most chat is Bokmål, but not all of it.
Compounds are single words. Arbeidsledighetstrygd is unemployment benefit. Split at the wrong point and the English changes meaning entirely, so the whole word has to be read first.
Small words carry tone. Jo, da and vel adjust how a sentence lands without having English equivalents. Dropping them is safe grammatically and loses the warmth, which is worth knowing when a translated message reads colder than the original felt.
Written by Hardik Vegad, Co-founder, Translatify. Last updated .
Translatify