The short answer to this question is, “yes, but not always.” We all have that one friend who has a high-paid job in some tech company or the oil industry, has been living here for 10 years, and can barely say a full sentence in Norwegian. But this is the exception, not the norm, and I believe that although it was doable to find a job without speaking Norwegian 10 or 15 years ago, it has become more and more difficult.

Yes, Norwegians speak English. So what?

Norwegians speak good English, and this has led many foreigners to believe they can find a job in Norway without speaking Norwegian. Even worse than that, I have read on many French-speaking forums about people who want to find a job in Norway in order to learn English (they only speak French).

This is the tricky part: although people do speak English, it does not mean they want to speak English every day, at every lunch, explain concepts to you, translate meetings, or ask 15 people in a meeting to switch to English just for you. Meeting a Norwegian in a bar and them making that effort is one thing; having a clueless foreigner as a colleague is another.

I myself was once that clueless foreigner, and my colleagues did exactly that: translated meetings, corrected my emails, and explained concepts. But I was hired in a job where competition was low since I was a human rights lawyer who spoke Indonesian.

When Norwegian won’t be necessary to get a job

• Companies and NGOs with English as a working language. Note that, to my knowledge, no public institution (municipality, state agency, ministry) has English as its working language.
• If your international company is sending you to work in Norway.
• If you are hired externally and it is not required by Norwegian law for you to learn Norwegian in this position.

For example, it is not required for someone working in construction to speak Norwegian. However, if you want to be a recognized electrician or plumber, you’ll need to have a fagbrev or technical certificate, which requires a much higher level of language proficiency to pass the tests in Norwegian.

• If you are in a field where competence is scarce, such as IT architecture or artificial intelligence, employers just want to attract skills they can’t find here, then Norwegian skills won’t be a must.

Fluency is the goal

As written by Jon Ward in his article No Way in Norway: The Ongoing Frustrations of a Foreign Job-Seeker on Life in Norway a few weeks ago, fluency must be the target. Unfortunately, he is right—speaking just okay Norwegian or getting some B1 level exam won’t help. You must be fluent.

I encourage all foreigners who say that they put themselves out there and start their interviews in broken Norwegian before saying they are learning and switching to English. But keep in mind that this strategy works if combined with the circumstances above—i.e., for example, if you are in a niche, have skills that are in high demand, or are applying to an international company. In most cases, you will not be called back. The reason? They have a whole bunch of qualified Norwegians to choose from—why would they choose you?

Norwegian skills required by law in academia

The most confusing part here is thinking about fields with a high demand for workers, such as the health sector, but where Norwegian proficiency is legally required. Nurses are often required to have a C1 level, which is extremely high, near native, although there is a lack of nurses.

Strict laws also apply also to academia.

Laws that were not in place just a few years ago now apply to academia, stating that teaching positions must be able to teach in Norwegian. Additionally, a new law now requires PhD candidates to earn 15 university credits in Norwegian, effectively making their PhD longer or forcing them to combine it with a normal PhD workload. That university teachers need to be able to teach in Norwegian is understandable, but requiring PhD students—who are by default here temporarily—to learn Norwegian may be a bit excessive. The job does not require it, but politicians have decided it is necessary.

The advantages of being fluent in Norwegian

Beyond the slightly depressing part I just wrote, there are amazing perks to being fluent. My personal experience is that learning Norwegian gives you many more job opportunities in Norway. Instead of competing for the very few jobs where Norwegian is not a requirement, you have a much larger pool of jobs to apply to. Additionally, the other languages you speak as a native (Urdu, French, Spanish, etc.) can become an asset, as Norwegian companies often need languages other than English to communicate with clients.

So being different can be an advantage, and even if your Norwegian is not great, simply showing that you are trying to learn is a plus.

Conclusion

Although the road seems long, it is possible to become fluent, and the only way forward is to go to school, speak with friends, listen to the radio, watch TV, and read books to reach the level that will make it easier to access the job market. Lykke til!