Hi Orchid, They way you absorbed a few words of German, I've also absorbed a few words of Norwegian. My paternal grandfather was born in Norway. He spoke excellent, unaccented English, having come over to the US as a baby. But his mother never learned English, so he was bi-lingual, and loved to share his language with us grandkids.

My mother, whose heritage is German and British, though she was born here in the US, became fascinated with the Norwegian language, and studied it at university before she and my father made their first trip to Scandinavia, back in the late 60s.

So as a family, we sometimes tried to speak Norwegian at the dinner table. Thus I know how to say things like "Please pass the potatoes," ( Vennligst angi potetene) and "Thanks for the meal." (Takket være for måltidet.)

My very intrepid mother also used to speak Norwegian to our dog -- who learned to respond to her appropriately. For example, I remember that "Do you want to go outside?" is "Skal vi gå utenfor?"

Fun things to know, but I certainly don't know enough to read Stieg Larsson's "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" in its original language. (But I guess he wasn't Norwegian, anyway. He was Swedish. Oops!)