Culture Smart! - Norway - Culture Smart!: The Essential Guide to Customs & Culture

This book is available for special discounts for bulk purchases for sales promotions or premiums. Special editions, including personalized covers, excerpts of existing books, and corporate imprints, can be created in large quantities for special needs.

For more information contact Kuperard publishers at the address below.

ISBN 978 1 85733 883 6

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

A CIP catalogue entry for this book is available from the British Library

First published in Great Britain

by Kuperard, an imprint of Bravo Ltd

59 Hutton Grove, London N12 8DS

Tel: +44 (0) 20 8446 2440 Fax: +44 (0) 20 8446 2441

www.culturesmart.co.uk

Inquiries:

Series Editor Geoffrey Chesler

Design Bobby Birchall

Printed in India

Cover image: Hamny fishing village in the Lofoten Islands, north of the Arctic Circle. Shutterstock.

Images on the following pages reproduced under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license: Frogn kommune.

Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license: Gunnar Hildonen.

Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license: Rune Nesher.

Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license: Tore Stre.

Creative Commons CC0: Alexvongutthenbach-Lindau.

Wikimedia Commons, no known copywrite restrictions: top Elliott & Fry, Bergen Public Library Norway.

Public domain: bottom Gustav Borgen.

Pages Shutterstock.

LINDA MARCH is a writer with a special interest in issues affecting expatriate families. Born in Edinburgh, Scotland, into a Royal Navy family, she spent much of her life on the move, living and working in Europe and the USA. A graduate of Hull University, she is a former head teacher and has worked in the computer industry as a programmer and trainer. Linda lived in Stavanger, Norway, for six years, during which time she was on the Board of the Womens International Network (WIN).

MARGO MEYER is an American researcher, translator, and writer with a Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley. Her work for both individual clients and major institutions covers a wide range of disciplines. She now lives and works in Asker, in the greater Oslo region.

The Culture Smart! series is continuing to expand. All Culture Smart! guides are available as e-books, and many as audio books.
For latest titles visit

www.culturesmart.co.uk

The publishers would like to thank CultureSmart!Consulting for its help in researching and developing the concept for this series.

CultureSmart!Consulting creates tailor-made seminars and consultancy programs to meet a wide range of corporate, public-sector, and individual needs. Whether delivering courses on multicultural team building in the USA, preparing Chinese engineers for a posting in Europe, training call-center staff in India, or raising the awareness of police forces to the needs of diverse ethnic communities, it provides essential, practical, and powerful skills worldwide to an increasingly international workforce.

For details, visit www.culturesmartconsulting.com

CultureSmart!Consulting and CultureSmart! guides have both contributed to and featured regularly in the weekly travel program Fast Track on BBC World TV.

Norway is breathtakingly beautiful. From its rugged coastline, where fjords have carved their way into the land, to its wild mountainous backbone, from its arctic tundra to the golden sands of its unspoiled southern beaches, it offers a wide range of physical contrasts. To get the most from your visit to the Land of the Midnight Sun, however, it helps to have some background knowledge of what makes the people of this northern kingdom tick. Culture Smart! Norway aims to take you past their reserved exterior to an understanding of how the terrain and climate have shaped the Norwegian people. As well as an insight into their values and attitudes, it provides a useful outline of how the Norwegian commercial world operatesvital information for anyone doing business with one of the worlds wealthiest nations.

And for when the working day is over, this book provides tips on meeting and communicating with real Norwegians that will make socializing a pleasant and comfortable experience. Chapters on the customs and traditions that form the bedrock of family life will open the door to a glimpse of life inside a Norwegian home. Understanding the behavior appreciated by your hosts will enable you to accept an invitation from your new Norwegian friends without apprehension.

Norway is a rich nation whose inhabitants enjoy arguably the best quality of life in the world. With no real poverty, a welfare state that provides for the basic needs of all, and a strong commitment to equality and fairness, Norwegians are naturally proud of the society they have created and see themselves as the equals of anyone. A deep respect for the wildness and beauty of the natural world is ingrained in the national character of a people who delight in the great outdoors.

On first encounter, Norwegians are serious, polite, law-abiding, and very hardy. They are also very private people, which can make the newcomer feel as if they have come up against a stone wall with an icy wind blowing behind it. Getting to know a Norwegian takes time, but when you are able to read the signs that take you behind that faade you will meet the warm, friendly, fun-loving, family-oriented person hiding on the other side.

Culture Smart! Norway can help steer you through the social and professional encounters of your visit to this new culture, deepening your understanding, and enabling you to establish business partnerships and friendships with ease.