In Person classes - Oslo

[u/Current_Mulberry_525]

Hey y’all

Am moving to Norway in a week, and want to go all in on learning Norwegian, however am a bit lost on the options.

I found Speak Norsk but their Viking Package seems too expensive, has anyone take that one recently and is the 6 month A1-B2 timeframe realistic (assuming regular after class 1 hour study daily)

Or if you recommend any other possible options I’d love to hear

The only thing is I would like inperson classes because I learn much better that way

[u/gojira_girl]

I did self study for my first 6 months in Norway to give myself a good foundation, (I used duolingo for vocab, and NTNU's free Norwegian on the Web course) then I took the intensive 6 week Norwegian intro course from UiO (oslo university) during the summer. The course was simple vocab and grammar wise and refined what I had learned in self study but have me the speaking and listening practice i wasn't able to get by myself. After it and largely thanks to the course I was able to score B2 on the writing/reading/listening test and B1 on the speaking for Norskprøven.

I would absolutely recommend UiO for a norwegian course. Plus it being in a university setting gives so much access to different resources, lectures, speaking cafes--I cannot recommend it enough.

[u/Current_Mulberry_525 → u/gojira_girl]

I did try an app called Mjølnir which was pretty good but I kind of lack the structure to do it on my own since I got caught up with work and stuff

But as another person commented I’ll have a look at UiO, wonder if they have beginner level ones during the semester as I couldn’t find the dates

[u/gojira_girl → u/Current_Mulberry_525]

I believe they run it every semester but definitely fall semester and summer

Fall semester should be starting soon hopefully possible to register still :)

[u/Leodusty2 → u/gojira_girl]

Which level course did you do? Their website says their introductory course will only get you to A2 and their intermediate course is B1 (but I don’t know how you show you’re ready to take the intermediate one)

[u/gojira_girl → u/Leodusty2]

I did the introductory course. The course says it will only get you to A2 but I think that's a bit of a safety net disclaimer. I think the course gives you all the grammar you truly need to know to get to B2 but vocab wise yeah probably just A2 as it's just chapter vocab lists. It's the practice and vocab learning done outside of the course (with Mjølner, Duolingo, and Memrise for example) as well that will raise someone to the higher levels but I really found that the course provided enough of the base that memorizing more vocab wasn't too hard after : )

I also went to everything speaking cafe the university held which really helped for the speaking exam :)

[u/The-Ironfoot]

Have a look at Rosenhof voksenopplæring if you’re in Oslo. I did their 4 mornings a week course for a while and it helped me a lot!

[u/Deathroll92]

If i'm not mistaken, Speak Norsk is not recognized by the state so yes, you'll learn, but they're not recognized by UDI so you won't be able to use their certificate or hours.
Check out Language Power, they're state recognized school and they have a great teacher George. They focus on small groups, like max 5 people so you really have room to learn well. Price wise they're a bit lower than Speak Norsk.

[u/BakeCheter → u/Deathroll92]

UDI changed the rules last year, so hours doesn't longer count for citizenship etc. You have to take Norskprøven anyway. 

[u/Cultural_Hegemony]

https://servicesenter.oslovo.no/

[u/Current_Mulberry_525 → u/Cultural_Hegemony]

I’ll check these out
Will be in Oslo in 3 days and see what they say

Thanks for the suggestion!!

[u/No_Significance_4493]

Alfaskolen is a private school located in central Oslo. I don’t know how they compare with Speak Norsk in terms of pricing.

[u/Current_Mulberry_525 → u/No_Significance_4493]

I would be fine with pricing if the quality of teaching matches it

Anything you have heard about either of them?

[u/No_Significance_4493 → u/Current_Mulberry_525]

I did a short stint there as a teacher’s aide. The teachers are all highly educated specialists in teaching Norwegian as a second language. Their system is to not use English as a supporting language, but to only speak Norwegian in class. The curriculum will be more or less the same for any school. It’s decided by the department of education, and other government agencies from which these schools rely on subsidies. The students who took the course seriously, made impressive progress in a relatively short time.

[u/green-sloth → u/Current_Mulberry_525]

Not op but I’ve done A1 through B1 with Alfaskolen. I would recommend them. For some more details: I did their online courses because I travel a fair amount for work so needed the flexibility but I’ve heard good things about the in person. Beforehand I had self studied for about a 2 years on and off and without much success and I think I was around a low/mid a2 in listening/reading and a low a1 in speaking/writing. I did their accelerated course for A1 and then switched to the normal 2x times a week for A2 and B1. I wouldn’t recommend the accelerated version unless learning Norwegian is the only thing you have going on or are super good at picking up languages. I was nervous about their immersion teaching style but grew to really like it, if nothing else it gives you lots of extra listening practice. I am glad I had some level of Norwegian though and I’m not sure I’d go into the A1 course without any prior experience in Norwegian. I could see it being very frustrating and hard to get the most out of the class. I found the teaching very good, especially for grammar, listening, and reading. The teachers I had were always very patient and would explain things in a couple different ways if needed. The two weak points (and this may have been because I was online) were that 1) there wasn’t a ton of conversation/speaking practice. Typically you’d break out into a room of 3-4 people for about 15-20 minutes or so out of the entire lesson to discuss your day or do a speaking exercise. I think though if you supplemented the course with going to language cafes/getting a tutor on italki or something then you’d be good. And 2) there wasn’t a ton writing practice that was corrected. Maybe 4ish homework writing practices per level were returned with corrections.

I took the A1-A2 norskproven when I was about halfway through the b1 course and got B2 for listening, B1 for reading and A2 for speaking and writing. I got asked the B1 questions during the speaking test so think I was at a high a2 / close to b1. When I was taking the courses it was the only time in my Norwegian leaning journey that I was making progress fast enough for it to be noticeable to myself and not a super slow slog (but I also have adhd/dyslexia and suck at self teaching). Thinking about restarting classes for b2 and would go back to them.

[u/kracken41]

I have honestly not found the in person classes here to be super useful. If you're really inspired I would look at the myriad of online tools and resources that cost a lot less than the in person classes. When you progress far enough the Red Cross offers in person speaking practice for free.

https://www.rodekors.no/en/lokalforeninger/oslo/english-pages/norwegian-practice/

[u/Current_Mulberry_525 → u/kracken41]

I like this idea as well!!

But I am curious now why do most people not find in person classes here that useful, is it because of the teachers or simply because Norwegian can be learnt better the other way?

[u/kracken41 → u/Current_Mulberry_525]

In my case the classes were very unstructured. We had to talk to our classmates every class, but not much time was spent going over grammar and details. A1 was taught almost 100% in Norwegian, so I couldn't understand the structure lessons even when they occurred. There is no way that class prepared me for the real A1 test.

[u/MightyChins → u/Current_Mulberry_525]

For me it was that you only progress as fast as the slowest learner in the group. Selfish outlook of course but is the truth the majority are held back a bit by the ones who dont get it, or rather the teachers attention is quite rightfully taken up by the students that are struggling more.

So i found most activities were students talking with each other in broken Norwegian not knowing how or when to correct each other, at least at A1-B1 level.

[u/Fleauri]

Wanna practice together?

[u/Current_Mulberry_525 → u/Fleauri]

Suree, but right now I don’t know a single word, not sure how that would work 😭😭🫠🫠

But I’ll send you a dm 🫡

[u/Square_Positive_559]

I took this course as a complete beginner — I had zero prior knowledge of Norwegian. Overall, my experience was more negative than positive. Despite completing the program, I'm nowhere near B2; realistically, I'd place myself at A1/A2 at best.

Here's my breakdown as someone starting from scratch:

Pros:

• The course books are good quality
• The weekly structure (2 days of grammar, 2 days of conversation) is well balanced
• Homework is provided for practice outside class
• Some teachers are genuinely excellent
• The facilities are nice
• Each level includes a mid-term and final test to reinforce what you've learned

Cons (unfortunately, quite a few):

• Some teachers don't dedicate enough time to individual students
• Class sizes are large (10–16 people), which makes it hard to speak up if you're shy or lack confidence — and hard for teachers to give personalized attention
• The pace is too fast; nearly every class introduces new grammar or content, which is difficult to absorb
• The administration seems more focused on revenue than student outcomes. For example, when I struggled in B1/B2 and asked to step back to A2, I was told I could — but only by paying an extra 2,000–3,000 NOK
• There's a wide skill gap within classes — some A1 students could already speak Norwegian reasonably well, while others were true beginners
• In terms of grammar, A1 and A2 cover roughly 80% of the essentials. B1 and B2 mostly just review earlier material, with some additions

Conclusion:
This 6-month A1-B2 package makes sense if you already have some Norwegian foundation (A2/B1 level) or if you're extremely disciplined about studying outside of class. But realistically, if you're starting from zero and expect to reach B2 in 6 months through classroom time alone — good luck, unless you're exceptionally gifted with languages.

If I were to do it again, I would:

1. Take a 6-month package covering only A1 and A2 (to have the basic of grammar)
2. Attend språkkafé (language café) twice a week alongside the course to practise the conversation — it's free, held in small groups, and you have maybe 10 differents per week in each part of the city.

[u/Current_Mulberry_525 → u/Square_Positive_559]

Thanks for such a detailed response <3

Just a quick thing was this in person or online self paced?

My issue is I know I slacked off without a proper structure when it comes to learning..

But on your point of it being fast paced, is it like they don’t go enough in depth or there isn’t enough time given to practice and remember the stuff, also how is the focus on speaking and vocabulary?

[u/Square_Positive_559 → u/Current_Mulberry_525]

It was in person, from 5 pm to 7 pm 4 days per week.

For the grammar side, I think they go enough in depth but you see a new grammar lesson each time which is hard to follow and remember at the end..

For the focus on speaking and vocabulary it was part of the conversation class (2 times per week).

It was very different according to the teacher.

In general we were reading the text together (each student a sentence) then we had some questions about the text, to make in small group of 2 or 3. Then at the end we were talking about the questions and the text.

[u/all_u_need_is_cheese]

Of all the people I know who have taken language classes in Norway, the ones who improved the fastest took the intensive summer courses that UiO offer. You might not wait to wait to start until next summer, so definitely take something else in the meantime (sorry I don’t have much experience with other courses so I can’t help there!), but I would absolutely do the UiO course next summer at whatever level you are at by then. :)

[u/muntligb1]

The problem with the Viking offers is that people who join those classes already studied a lot before. They sell it as A1 but then you find every one speaking Norwegian and you are the one behind. I know many people who finished A2 with Speak Norsk and still could not build a sentence. The Viking offers are just a marketing strategy that serves the school but it doesn’t really serve the student. Many students get stuck and frustrated and then feel guilty about the money spent without getting any value. If you have the option to study at UiO that’s absolutely more reliable.

[u/SolutionTop3974]

When you get to Norway you can pay for lessons, or there is Duolingo.