1. The first month - the catalog days
I started learning Norwegian at the end of May 2001. On this page, I describe how I learned for the first month.
Michal Ryszard Wojcik (2001 June 01):I received a catalog with Norwegian textbooks and dictionaries. The catalog is all in Norwegian. I've been reading it again and again for the past three days. I find that I learn a lot from reading in Norwegian.
Three days ago I was a zero beginner, I had no knowledge of Norwegian. Today, I can understand half of the catalog in my naive estimation. I have worked out the meaning of the most frequently used words.
Originally, I wanted to get a textbook for Norwegian learners. But now I hesitate. Maybe I can learn from free-of-charge catalogs!
one month later
Michal Ryszard Wojcik (2001 July 01):About a month ago I started looking for Norwegian textbooks on the Internet. I got a catalog listing many textbooks, grammar books, and dictionaries. The catalog is all in Norwegian and it is meant for people who know Norwegian.
I have been reading this catalog for a month and today I can understand almost everything. At the beginning, I was surprised when I found a fragment that I could understand. Now I am surprised when I find a whole sentence that I cannot understand.
I understand almost everything. I believe that in the future this catalog will be completely transparent for me. There will be maybe nine words which I will not understand. Those words which appear only once are the most difficult.
This catalog is my only resource. I use no dictionaries. Reading this catalog alone gave me a lot. I am pioneering a new way of learning foreign languages: reading free-of-charge catalogs.