The Language Council of Norway

The Language Council's work

• The Language Council cooperates with public and private players on language policy measures, including the use of plain language in the public administration and business and industry; language for specific purposes, terminology and communication in Norwegian; the use of the language variants Bokmål and Nynorsk by government agencies, and Norwegian language technology. We work to ensure that language tuition is based on the agreed language policy. We supervise compliance with the Language Usage Act and give advice on place names.
• The Language Council gives advice and disseminates information about language, language use and language work. Online advice, online dictionaries, courses, seminars and publications are important tools in this work. We administer the correct spelling of Nynorsk and Bokmål and monitor how the language evolves. We approve Norwegian dictionaries and glossaries for use in schools.
• The Language Council promotes Norwegian sign language and the national minority languages Kven, Romani and Romanes, and it cooperates with the language user groups. We collaborate with language institutions in other countries, among other things on ensuring good language comprehension between Nordic neighbours.
• The Language Council awards language prizes for excellent use of Norwegian, Kven and Norwegian sign language as well as other prizes and grants. We organise the annual Språkdagen ('Language Day') conference to highlight language and language use in society.

The main objectives for the Language Council's work

• to strengthen the status and use of the Norwegian language in areas of society where it is at risk
• to promote Norwegian as a good and well-functioning language for cultural purposes and general use
• to safeguard linguistic diversity and the interests of language users. 

Organisation

The Director General of the Language Council of Norway is chair of the Language Councils' secretariat, which, among other things, has three language sections. The Board of the Language Council is appointed by the Ministry of Culture and Equality. The Language Council has four specialist advisory boards and employs people from all sections of society who have a passion for language.