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**erelvenewmeva** · 04-13-2008, 06:41 PM

Yes, Stewart, I fell into that trap on a number of occasions. Norvik should remove that older website, as it makes you think that's all there is. But Norvik is not over-manned. It is run on a part-time basis by one man, Neil Smith, who is a translator himself, and a lady, Professor Janet Garton, who has just retired as the last of what used to be the Scandinavian Department at the University of East Anglia in Norwich (UEA, for short).

Symptomatic-symbolic of the decline of language tuition in Britain, is the decline of the Scandinavian Department at UEA.

When I was interviewed in about 1970 to try and get in as an undergrad, I felt I was lucky I got a place. I'd said some nonsense in the interview about "Scandinavia being neutral during WWII". Erm, well, only Sweden was, actually. But I got in. And studied principally Swedish.

In those days, you could study Swedish, Norwegian or Danish to degree level (B.A. and M.A.). There was even a little tuition in Finnish, for those who were interested. There was a professor, James McFarlane, who doubled up as a translator of Ibsen, plus a full-time lecturer for each language and other staff.

When they stopped with Scandinavian at Newcastle University, the Scandinavian library was moved from there to UEA.

Then, in the 1990s, the rot set in. McFarlane retired, was replaced for a short while by someone else, but this chap got shunted off to teach drama in the English Department, and by stages, Scandinavian Studies was reduced to... nothing.

04-13-2008, 06:41 PM	#5
erelvenewmeva Join Date Nov 2005 Posts 540 Senior Member	Yes, Stewart, I fell into that trap on a number of occasions. Norvik should remove that older website, as it makes you think that's all there is. But Norvik is not over-manned. It is run on a part-time basis by one man, Neil Smith, who is a translator himself, and a lady, Professor Janet Garton, who has just retired as the last of what used to be the Scandinavian Department at the University of East Anglia in Norwich (UEA, for short). Symptomatic-symbolic of the decline of language tuition in Britain, is the decline of the Scandinavian Department at UEA. When I was interviewed in about 1970 to try and get in as an undergrad, I felt I was lucky I got a place. I'd said some nonsense in the interview about "Scandinavia being neutral during WWII". Erm, well, only Sweden was, actually. But I got in. And studied principally Swedish. In those days, you could study Swedish, Norwegian or Danish to degree level (B.A. and M.A.). There was even a little tuition in Finnish, for those who were interested. There was a professor, James McFarlane, who doubled up as a translator of Ibsen, plus a full-time lecturer for each language and other staff. When they stopped with Scandinavian at Newcastle University, the Scandinavian library was moved from there to UEA. Then, in the 1990s, the rot set in. McFarlane retired, was replaced for a short while by someone else, but this chap got shunted off to teach drama in the English Department, and by stages, Scandinavian Studies was reduced to... nothing.
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