My Gramma Espe came to Canada in 1929 at the age of 25. She spent most of her time living and working with other Norwegian immigrants so learning English was an interesting process. Radio was hard to come by, while TV and language programs like Rosetta Stone didn’t even exist. In fact, my dad who was born in Canada in 1932, never learned to speak English until he started school at age 7.

Eventually Gramma learned to speak and write English very well, however (and thankfully!) she maintained the most wonderful Scandinavian accent! Grampa had the same amazing accent but he never spent much time writing so his written English was a bit tricky to decipher. I’m guessing you could count on one hand how many letters, cards, or even grocery lists that he wrote in English. That being said, I still have the only letter that Grampa ever wrote to me, and a treasured post card that he sent to my mom and dad.

1. The Post Card
   Grampa sent the post card from New York City in December of 1953. He was en route to Norway for the first time since coming to Canada in 1929.

           

He mailed the card a day before he and his best friend, Chris Bruheim, boarded the Stavangerfjord for Bergen. Dad loved to tell the story of how Grampa had simply written “Hans and Kate” and “Fort St. John” in the address column. No last name. No street address. No problem. Fort St. John was a lot smaller then!

2. The Letter

Grampa had to be in the hospital in Edmonton in April, 1967 (he was dealing with the first symptoms of ALS which sadly took his life a year later). While there he wrote me the following letter:

Translated:

“Dear Larry

I thought to write you a few lines so you can hear I am doing pretty good. Dr. Marshall told me to go home on Wednesday, but I said to him I had a long way home, so I would like to stay two days more. Do you have a hockey game? The Boston Bruins must be hard to beat. Art Cahoon was in to see me on his way to Calgary. He said Mary (Jones) was in the hospital. I got a card from Parkers. Say thanks to Gwen and I got your mom’s letter, thank you very much. Don’t laugh at my writing, it may be hard to read. Say hello to all. How is Carol? I like you Carol. Say hello to Del. Have a good time, Larry. Love Grampa”

In the Norwegian alphabet each letter is pronounced only one way. For example, there are no “long e” and “short e” sounds… an “e” is pronounced only one way; the “K” sound is represented only with a “K’… never a “C”. There are a few extra letters, like “œ” and “å”, but I believe their alphabet makes more sense than ours. Grampa wrote phonetically and, if you take the time, you can figure it out. It breaks my heart to think he worried that I might “laf” at his writing.

(Grampa was a real hockey fan. He was referring to the Hirtz Bros. Bruins, the Pee Wee Pup team that a few of us Montney boys played on that year).

In 2016 I was fortunate enough to speak at a conference in Oslo. It was extremely humbling to realize I was the only person in the room who could only speak one language. I was also a bit disappointed to find that most Norwegians, especially those younger than me, speak English so well that wonderful accents like those of my grandparents seem to be disappearing! For selfish reasons, I hope during my next visit they will pronounce “wind” as “vind”, and “Vigdal” as “Wigdal” just for my sake!

Footnote:

Please do not judge, or “laf”, at people who are speaking English as their second (or possibly third or more) language. Accents are the spice of life. I’m impressed by people who have them.