This is the English-language guide for Kven resources available online. Current resources for the Kven language are only available in the Kven language or in Norwegian, thus it is important to refer to these resources no matter where your Kven level is at.
This is a
tentative list and will be updated if there is any new resource. Feel free to
suggest more through the "Contact Us" page.
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them to support the community!
Books and
online resources:
This
grammar is written by linguist Eira Söderholm and is considered the best Kven
grammar to be released. This is the very first edition so omissions do exist.
The entire book is in Kven, and it can be a good read for those who want to
practice reading in your target language. Available at the Kven Institute’s
website or at Amazon.uk.
This is
the Norwegian translation for the book Kainun kielen grammatikki. Available at
the Kven Institute’s website.
Minun kieli - minun aaret series (No audio):
Minun kieli
- minun aaret is a series of books available on the Kven Institute’s website.
They teach you Kven from elementary level to intermediate level.
Kvensk.no (No audio):
Kvensk.no
offers courses in PDF files. The site mostly focuses on building up your
vocabulary and a bit of the Kven grammar. The entire website is written in Norwegian.
ISSUU - Kven (No audio):
APESTREKER
tegnekontor uploads free courses in Finnish, Kven, and Northern Sami. The
download button is currently disabled, but it is still useful to view these
courses. All booklets are written in Norwegian.
Allmenn innføring i skriving av kvensk (Introduction to Kven writing (No audio) :
This small
booklet gives you an overview of Kven orthography and written Kven. Available
at the Kven Institute’s website.
There are
some useful Youtube videos where people use the Kven language. Some videos are
entirely in Kven while other videos mix between Norwegian and Finnish.
This site
provides short stories in many languages, including Kven. Audio is available to
those who have a flash player.
Audio
course:
Meiđän
joukko is set up by the University of Tromsø, and is by far the best audio
course online. However, the course is rather intermediate, so it is recommended
to finish elementary courses first and then proceed to this website.
Corresponding translation of the dialogues is only available in
Norwegian.
Dictionary:
Oahpa.no
is the only online Kven - Norwegian dictionary. There are quite a lot of words
but the application is rather limited.
SANA AITTA
is a PDF dictionary based on the literature of Alf Nilsen-Børsskog. Only
available in Norwegian, with occasional Finnish translations to some
words.
Bildetema Kvensk (No audio):
Bildetema
is the largest online visual dictionary provided by OsloMet. It includes
everyday words ranging from housing to animals to medical services. Other
languages have audio recordings of the words but the Kven language, unfortunately, does not
have any audio yet. The website also loads very slowly so be patient.
News:
The
largest Kven language news available today. The majority of the articles are
published only in Kven, with some being bilingual (Norwegian and Kven), and
still others in Finnish. Ruijan Kaiku can be a good reference for word choice,
lexical use, and so on.
NRK Kvääni
is subordinate to NRK, the largest broadcasting website in Norway. Most
articles are in Norwegian, but it also offers short video clips and
documentaries where you can learn a bit of the Kven language from Native speakers.