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65-774: The municipality was situated at the confluence of the Fjærlandsfjorden / Esefjorden and the main Sognefjorden . The major industries in the municipality were tourism and farming . Balestrand became popular early due to the interest of artists, such as Hans Gude , Kjartan Lauritzen , Alfred Heaton Cooper , Hans Dahl , and Johannes Flintoe . Their paintings of the scenery around Balestrand inspired visitors, and Balestrand maintains its connection with art. Other industries include made-to-order kitchen interiors, local apple juice, and Nesseplast which produces industrial plastic . The Norwegian National Road 13 runs through

130-435: A distinct dialect at the level of farm clusters. Dialects are in some cases so dissimilar as to be unintelligible to unfamiliar listeners. Many linguists note a trend toward regionalization of dialects that diminishes the differences at such local levels; there is, however, a renewed interest in preserving dialects. Norwegian nouns are inflected for number (singular/plural) and for definiteness (indefinite/definite). In

195-548: A few dialects, definite nouns are also inflected for the dative case . Norwegian nouns belong to three noun classes (genders): masculine, feminine and neuter. All feminine nouns can optionally be inflected using masculine noun class morphology in Bokmål due to its Danish heritage. In comparison, the use of all three genders (including the feminine) is mandatory in Nynorsk. All Norwegian dialects have traditionally retained all

260-441: A new Norwegian language at the age of 22. He traveled around the country collecting words and examples of grammar from the dialects and comparing the dialects among the different regions. He examined the development of Icelandic , which had largely escaped the influences under which Norwegian had come. He called his work, which was published in several books from 1848 to 1873, Landsmål , meaning 'national language'. The name Landsmål

325-501: A noun, unlike English which has a separate article, the , to indicate the same. In general, almost all nouns in Bokmål follow these patterns (like the words in the examples above): In contrast, almost all nouns in Nynorsk follow these patterns (the noun gender system is more pronounced than in Bokmål): There is in general no way to infer what grammatical gender a specific noun has, but there are some patterns of nouns where

390-491: A number of emperors, kings, presidents, Prime ministers, film stars, and artists from many countries. St. Olaf's Church, also known as the English Church , is an Anglican church built in the style of a Stave church . The church was completed in 1897 as a memorial to Margaret Green. Margaret, an English lady, came to the fjords as a tourist to hike the mountains. She met, fell in love with and married Knut Kvikne who

455-413: Is Bokmål will study Nynorsk as a mandatory subject throughout both elementary and high school. A 2005 poll indicates that 86.3% use primarily Bokmål as their daily written language, 5.5% use both Bokmål and Nynorsk, and 7.5% use primarily Nynorsk. Thus, 13% are frequently writing Nynorsk, though the majority speak dialects that resemble Nynorsk more closely than Bokmål. Broadly speaking, Nynorsk writing

520-581: Is a North Germanic language from the Indo-European language family spoken mainly in Norway , where it is an official language. Along with Swedish and Danish , Norwegian forms a dialect continuum of more or less mutually intelligible local and regional varieties; some Norwegian and Swedish dialects , in particular, are very close. These Scandinavian languages, together with Faroese and Icelandic as well as some extinct languages , constitute

585-582: Is a fjord in Vestland county, Norway . It is a fjord arm that branches off the main Sognefjorden to the north, running through Sogndal Municipality . The 25-kilometre (16 mi) long fjord begins at the village of Fjærland in Sogndal, flowing to the south until it joins the Sognefjorden near the village of Balestrand . The Esefjorden and Vetlefjorden are two small fjord arms that branch off

650-440: Is a pitch-accent language with two distinct pitch patterns, like Swedish. They are used to differentiate two-syllable words with otherwise identical pronunciation. For example, in many East Norwegian dialects, the word bønder ('farmers') is pronounced using the simpler tone 1, while bønner ('beans' or 'prayers') uses the more complex tone 2. Though spelling differences occasionally differentiate written words, in most cases

715-399: Is a central feature of the hotel's interior, and one of the elements of its distinct personality. Kviknes Hotel was made popular for European visitors in the early part of the 20th century by Kaiser Wilhelm II , who often visited there during his summer vacations prior to World War I . The hotel still possesses the chair he used in their restaurant. The Kaiser is accompanied on the list by

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780-411: Is a language form based on Norwegian dialects and puristic opposition to Danish. The now-abandoned official policy to merge Bokmål and Nynorsk into one common language called Samnorsk through a series of spelling reforms has created a wide spectrum of varieties of both Bokmål and Nynorsk. The unofficial form known as Riksmål is considered more conservative than Bokmål and is far closer to Danish while

845-736: Is comparable with that of French on English after the Norman conquest . In the late Middle Ages, dialects began to develop in Scandinavia because the population was rural and little travel occurred. When the Reformation came from Germany, Martin Luther 's High German translation of the Bible was quickly translated into Swedish, Danish, and Icelandic. Norway entered a union with Denmark in 1397 and Danish, over time, replaced Middle Norwegian as

910-421: Is identical to the word bali which means "grassy hillside". The last element is derived from the word strǫnd which means "beach" or "shore". Thus the "shore along the grassy hillside." The coat of arms was granted on 23 October 1989. The official blazon is " Azure , a down-pointing sword argent issuant from the base" ( Norwegian : På blå grunn eit oppveksande nedvend sølv sverd ). This means

975-423: Is now considered their classic forms after a reform in 1917. Riksmål was, in 1929, officially renamed Bokmål (literally 'book language'), and Landsmål to Nynorsk (literally 'new Norwegian'). A proposition to substitute Danish-Norwegian ( dansk-norsk ) for Bokmål lost in parliament by a single vote. The name Nynorsk , the linguistic term for modern Norwegian , was chosen to contrast with Danish and emphasise

1040-609: Is regulated by the Norwegian Academy , which determines acceptable spelling, grammar, and vocabulary. There is also an unofficial form of Nynorsk, called Høgnorsk , discarding the post-1917 reforms, and thus close to Ivar Aasen's original Landsmål. It is supported by Ivar Aasen-sambandet , but has found no widespread use. In 2010, 86.5% of the pupils in the primary and lower secondary schools in Norway receive education in Bokmål, while 13.0% receive education in Nynorsk. From

1105-754: Is rising in the first syllable and falling in the second syllable or somewhere around the syllable boundary. The pitch accents (as well as the peculiar phrase accent in the low-tone dialects) give the Norwegian language a "singing" quality that makes it easy to distinguish from other languages. Accent 1 generally occurs in words that were monosyllabic in Old Norse , and accent 2 in words that were polysyllabic. The Norwegian alphabet has 29 letters. The letters c , q , w , x and z are only used in loanwords . As loanwords are assimilated into Norwegian, their spelling might change to reflect Norwegian pronunciation and

1170-526: Is sometimes interpreted as 'rural language' or 'country language', but this was clearly not Aasen's intended meaning. The name of the Danish language in Norway was a topic of hot dispute throughout the 19th century. Its proponents claimed that it was a language common to Norway and Denmark, and no more Danish than Norwegian. The proponents of Landsmål thought that the Danish character of the language should not be concealed. In 1899, Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson proposed

1235-459: Is to write in dialect for informal use. When writing an SMS, Facebook update, or fridge note, many people, especially young ones, write approximations of the way they talk rather than using Bokmål or Nynorsk. There is general agreement that a wide range of differences makes it difficult to estimate the number of different Norwegian dialects. Variations in grammar, syntax, vocabulary, and pronunciation cut across geographical boundaries and can create

1300-534: Is today to a large extent the same language as Bokmål though somewhat closer to the Danish language. It is regulated by the unofficial Norwegian Academy , which translates the name as 'Standard Norwegian'. The other is Høgnorsk ('High Norwegian'), a more purist form of Nynorsk, which maintains the language in an original form as given by Ivar Aasen and rejects most of the reforms from the 20th century; this form has limited use. Nynorsk and Bokmål provide standards for how to write Norwegian, but not for how to speak

1365-496: Is widespread in western Norway, though not in major urban areas, and also in the upper parts of mountain valleys in the southern and eastern parts of Norway. Examples are Setesdal , the western part of Telemark county ( fylke ) and several municipalities in Hallingdal , Valdres , and Gudbrandsdalen . It is little used elsewhere, but 30–40 years ago, it also had strongholds in many rural parts of Trøndelag (mid-Norway) and

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1430-634: The British Isles , France ( Normandy ), North America, and Kievan Rus . In all of these places except Iceland and the Faroes, Old Norse speakers went extinct or were absorbed into the local population. Around 1030, Christianity came to Scandinavia , bringing with it an influx of Latin borrowings and the Roman alphabet . These new words were related to church practices and ceremonies, although many other loanwords related to general culture also entered

1495-1223: The Frudal Tunnel sits very near the shore of the fjord. Gallery [ edit ] [REDACTED] Looking north from sea level [REDACTED] Looking north from atop a mountain See also [ edit ] List of Norwegian fjords References [ edit ] ^ Store norske leksikon . "Fjærlandsfjorden" (in Norwegian) . Retrieved 2014-02-09 . Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Fjærlandsfjorden&oldid=1245760785 " Categories : Fjords of Vestland Sogndal Hidden categories: Pages using gadget WikiMiniAtlas CS1 Norwegian-language sources (no) Articles with short description Short description matches Wikidata Coordinates on Wikidata Articles using infobox body of water without alt Articles using infobox body of water without pushpin map alt Articles using infobox body of water without image bathymetry Norwegian language Norwegian ( endonym : norsk [ˈnɔʂːk] )

1560-613: The Germanic peoples living in Scandinavia during the Viking Age . Today there are two official forms of written Norwegian, Bokmål (Riksmål) and Nynorsk (Landsmål), each with its own variants. Bokmål developed from the Dano-Norwegian language that replaced Middle Norwegian as the elite language after the union of Denmark–Norway in the 16th and 17th centuries and then evolved in Norway, while Nynorsk

1625-574: The 1959 standard. Therefore, a small minority of Nynorsk enthusiasts use a more conservative standard called Høgnorsk . The Samnorsk policy had little influence after 1960, and was officially abandoned in 2002. While the sound systems of Norwegian and Swedish are similar, considerable variation exists among the dialects. The retroflex consonants only appear in East Norwegian dialects as a result of sandhi , combining / ɾ / with / d / , / l / , / n / , / s / , and / t / . The realization of

1690-475: The 20th century, being used by large newspapers, encyclopedias, and a significant proportion of the population of the capital Oslo, surrounding areas, and other urban areas, as well as much of the literary tradition. Since the reforms of 1981 and 2003 (effective in 2005), the official Bokmål can be adapted to be almost identical with modern Riksmål. The differences between written Riksmål and Bokmål are comparable to American and British English differences . Riksmål

1755-501: The Dano-Norwegian koiné , known as "cultivated everyday speech." A small adjustment in this direction was implemented in the first official reform of the Danish language in Norway in 1862 and more extensively after his death in two official reforms in 1907 and 1917. Meanwhile, a nationalistic movement strove for the development of a new written Norwegian. Ivar Aasen , a botanist and self-taught linguist, began his work to create

1820-492: The Fjærdlandsfjorden. The fjord is about 1.5 kilometres (0.93 mi) wide, with steep mountains on both sides of the fjord. The head of the fjord is the only habitable area around the fjord. It is a flat river valley extending north of the fjord. The inner part of the fjord where the village of Fjærland is located is only accessible by boat or via long road tunnels through the surrounding mountains. The western end of

1885-455: The Ministry of Culture, official spelling, grammar, and vocabulary for the Norwegian language. The board's work has been subject to considerable controversy throughout the years. Both Nynorsk and Bokmål have a great variety of optional forms. The Bokmål that uses the forms that are close to Riksmål is called moderate or conservative , depending on one's viewpoint, while the Bokmål that uses

1950-479: The North Germanic languages. Faroese and Icelandic are not mutually intelligible with Norwegian in their spoken form because continental Scandinavian has diverged from them. While the two Germanic languages with the greatest numbers of speakers, English and German, have close similarities with Norwegian, neither is mutually intelligible with it. Norwegian is a descendant of Old Norse , the common language of

2015-505: The arms have a blue field (background) and the charge is the hilt of a Viking sword . The charge has a tincture of argent which means it is commonly colored white, but if it is made out of metal, then silver is used. The design symbolizes an old Viking sword found in the burial mound in Balestrand. The sword is believed to belong to King Bele from Frithiof's Saga . The arms were designed by Inge Rotevatn. The municipal flag has

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2080-644: The eighth grade onwards, pupils are required to learn both. Out of the 431 municipalities in Norway, 161 have declared that they wish to communicate with the central authorities in Bokmål, 116 (representing 12% of the population) in Nynorsk, while 156 are neutral. Of 4,549 state publications in 2000, 8% were in Nynorsk, and 92% in Bokmål. The large national newspapers ( Aftenposten , Dagbladet , and VG ) are published in Bokmål or Riksmål. Some major regional newspapers (including Bergens Tidende and Stavanger Aftenblad ), many political journals, and many local newspapers use both Bokmål and Nynorsk. A newer trend

2145-411: The final municipal council was as follows: The mayors of Balestrand: Balestrand was located between the high snow-covered Gaularfjellet mountains in the center of the beautiful, lush Sognefjorden . Three fjord arms stretch inland, winding through the mountains and dotted with charming hamlets: Lånefjorden , Esefjorden , and Vetlefjorden . The Fjærlandsfjorden runs along the eastern border of

2210-485: The first centuries AD in what is today Southern Sweden. It is the earliest stage of a characteristically North Germanic language, and the language attested in the Elder Futhark inscriptions, the oldest form of the runic alphabets . A number of inscriptions are memorials to the dead, while others are magical in content. The oldest are carved on loose objects, while later ones are chiseled in runestones . They are

2275-501: The forms that are close to Nynorsk is called radical . Nynorsk has forms that are close to the original Landsmål and forms that are close to Bokmål. Opponents of the spelling reforms aimed at bringing Bokmål closer to Nynorsk have retained the name Riksmål and employ spelling and grammar that predate the Samnorsk movement. Riksmål and conservative versions of Bokmål have been the de facto standard written language of Norway for most of

2340-774: The 💕 Fjord in Sogndal, Norway Fjærlandsfjorden [REDACTED] View from north to south [REDACTED] [REDACTED] Fjærlandsfjorden Location of the fjord Show map of Vestland [REDACTED] [REDACTED] Fjærlandsfjorden Fjærlandsfjorden (Norway) Show map of Norway Location Vestland county, Norway Coordinates 61°24′15″N 6°45′06″E  /  61.4042°N 6.7517°E  / 61.4042; 6.7517 Primary outflows Sognefjorden Basin  countries Norway Max. length 25 kilometres (16 mi) Max. width 1.5 kilometres (0.93 mi) Settlements Balestrand , Fjærland Fjærlandsfjorden

2405-417: The historical connection to Old Norwegian. Today, this meaning is often lost, and it is commonly mistaken as a "new" Norwegian in contrast to the "real" Norwegian Bokmål. Bokmål and Nynorsk were made closer by a reform in 1938. This was a result of a state policy to merge Nynorsk and Bokmål into a single language, to be called Samnorsk . A 1946 poll showed that this policy was supported by 79% of Norwegians at

2470-467: The language of the elite, the church, literature, and the law. When the union with Denmark ended in 1814, the Dano-Norwegian koiné had become the mother tongue of around 1% of the population. From the 1840s, some writers experimented with a Norwegianised Danish by incorporating words that were descriptive of Norwegian scenery and folk life, and adopting a more Norwegian syntax. Knud Knudsen proposed to change spelling and inflection in accordance with

2535-610: The language. The Scandinavian languages at this time are not considered to be separate languages, although there were minor differences among what are customarily called Old Icelandic, Old Norwegian , Old Gutnish , Old Danish, and Old Swedish . The economic and political dominance of the Hanseatic League between 1250 and 1450 in the main Scandinavian cities brought large Middle Low German –speaking populations to Norway. The influence of their language on Scandinavian

2600-555: The language. No standard of spoken Norwegian is officially sanctioned, and most Norwegians speak their own dialects in all circumstances. Thus, unlike in many other countries, the use of any Norwegian dialect, whether it coincides with the written norms or not, is accepted as correct spoken Norwegian. However, in areas where East Norwegian dialects are used, a tendency exists to accept a de facto spoken standard for this particular regional dialect, Urban East Norwegian or Standard East Norwegian (Norwegian: Standard østnorsk ), in which

2665-531: The languages in Europe, Norwegian derives from Proto-Indo-European . As early Indo-Europeans spread across Europe, they became isolated from each other and new languages developed. In northwest Europe, the Germanic languages evolved, further branching off into the North Germanic languages , of which Norwegian is one. Proto-Norse is thought to have evolved as a northern dialect of Proto-Germanic during

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2730-502: The minimal pairs are written alike, since written Norwegian has no explicit accent marks. In most eastern low-tone dialects, accent 1 uses a low flat pitch in the first syllable, while accent 2 uses a high, sharply falling pitch in the first syllable and a low pitch in the beginning of the second syllable. In both accents, these pitch movements are followed by a rise of intonational nature (phrase accent)—the size (and presence) of which signals emphasis or focus, and corresponds in function to

2795-424: The municipality. At the time of its dissolution in 2020, the 430-square-kilometre (170 sq mi) municipality was the 231st largest by area out of the 422 municipalities in Norway. Balestrand was the 370th most populous municipality in Norway with a population of 1,272. The municipality's population density was 3.1 inhabitants per square kilometre (8.0/sq mi) and its population had decreased by 5.1% over

2860-567: The municipality. The Jostefonn glacier sits at the very northernmost part of the municipality. Balestrand was bordered to the west by the municipalities of Høyanger and Gaular , to the north by Førde , and to the east by Sogndal and Leikanger . Across the Sognefjorden to the south is the municipality of Vik . Built in the 19th century, the Kvikne's Hotel is one of the most famous buildings in Balestrand . The Kvikne family, who own

2925-425: The neighboring Høyanger Municipality and the rest of Balestrand was merged with the neighboring municipalities of Leikanger and Sogndal to form a much larger municipality called Sogndal. The municipality is named Balestrand , a compound name for the area that was created in 1832 by the Norwegian writer Henrik Wergeland . The first element is the name of the old Bale farm ( Old Norse : Bali ). The farm name

2990-430: The neutral name Riksmål , meaning 'national language' like Landsmål , and this was officially adopted along with the 1907 spelling reform. The name Riksmål is sometimes interpreted as 'state language', but this meaning is secondary at best. (Compare to Danish rigsmål from where the name was borrowed.) After the personal union with Sweden was dissolved in 1905, both languages were developed further and reached what

3055-535: The new municipality of Balestrand. The initial population of the municipality was 2,122. In 1861, the Mundal sub-parish was renamed Fjærland . During the 1960s, there were many municipal mergers across Norway due to the work of the Schei Committee . On 1 January 1964 the municipalities of Vik , Leikanger , and Balestrand changed their boundaries in a land trade. The sub-parish of Vangsnes (population: 189)

3120-414: The normal accent in languages that lack lexical tone , such as English. That rise culminates in the final syllable of an accentual phrase, while the utterance-final fall common in most languages is either very small or absent. There are significant variations in pitch accent between dialects. Thus, in most of western and northern Norway (the so-called high-pitch dialects) accent 1 is falling, while accent 2

3185-584: The oldest written record of any Germanic language. East Germanic languages West Germanic languages Icelandic Faroese Norwegian Danish Swedish Around 800 AD, the script was simplified to the Younger Futhark , and inscriptions became more abundant. At the same time, the beginning of the Viking Age led to the spread of Old Norse to Iceland , Greenland , and the Faroe Islands . Viking colonies also existed in parts of

3250-440: The place, took it over in 1877. Since then the establishment has undergone constant development which continues to this day. There are many new buildings and remodeling and expansion projects have been carried out. Today, the hotel is a highly modern facility resounding with tradition and culture. With 200 rooms, it is also one of Norway's largest fine hotels catering to tourists. An impressive collection of art and historical pieces

3315-421: The previous decade. In 2016, the chief of police for Vestlandet formally suggested a reconfiguration of police districts and stations. He proposed that the police station in Balestrand be closed. Balestrand was established as a municipality in 1850 when the three sub-parishes ( sokn ) of Vangsnes , Tjugum , and Mundal in the northwestern part of the large Leikanger municipality were separated to form

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3380-442: The principles of Norwegian orthography, e.g. zebra in Norwegian is written sebra . Due to historical reasons, some otherwise Norwegian family names are also written using these letters. Some letters may be modified by diacritics : é , è , ê , ó , ò , and ô . In Nynorsk, ì and ù and ỳ are occasionally seen as well. The diacritics are not compulsory, but may in a few cases distinguish between different meanings of

3445-527: The rhotic / ɾ / depends on the dialect. In Eastern, Central, and Northern Norwegian dialects, it is a flap [ ɾ ] , whereas in Western and Southern Norway, and for some speakers also in Eastern Norway, it is uvular [ ʁ ] or [ χ ] . And in the dialects of North-Western Norway, it is realized as [ r ] , much like the trilled ⟨rr⟩ of Spanish. Norwegian

3510-719: The same design as the coat of arms. The Church of Norway had one parish ( sokn ) within the municipality of Balestrand. It was part of the Sogn prosti ( deanery ) in the Diocese of Bjørgvin . There is also one Anglican church in Balestrand: While it existed, this municipality was responsible for primary education (through 10th grade), outpatient health services , senior citizen services, unemployment , social services , zoning , economic development , and municipal roads . During its existence, this municipality

3575-606: The southern part of northern Norway ( Nordland county). Today, Nynorsk is the official language of not only four of the nineteen Norwegian counties but also various municipalities in five other counties. NRK , the Norwegian broadcasting corporation, broadcasts in both Bokmål and Nynorsk, and all governmental agencies are required to support both written languages. Bokmål is used in 92% of all written publications, and Nynorsk in 8% (2000). Like some other European countries, Norway has an official "advisory board"— Språkrådet (Norwegian Language Council)— that determines, after approval from

3640-401: The three grammatical genders from Old Norse to some extent. The only exceptions are the dialect of Bergen and a few upper class sociolects at the west end of Oslo that have completely lost the feminine gender. According to Marit Westergaard , approximately 80% of nouns in Norwegian are masculine. Norwegian and other Scandinavian languages use a suffix to indicate definiteness of

3705-442: The time. However, opponents of the official policy still managed to create a massive protest movement against Samnorsk in the 1950s, fighting in particular the use of "radical" forms in Bokmål text books in schools. In the reform in 1959, the 1938 reform was partially reversed in Bokmål, but Nynorsk was changed further towards Bokmål. Since then Bokmål has reverted even further toward traditional Riksmål, while Nynorsk still adheres to

3770-426: The unofficial Høgnorsk is more conservative than Nynorsk and is far closer to Faroese , Icelandic and Old Norse . Norwegians are educated in both Bokmål and Nynorsk. Each student gets assigned a native form based on which school they go to, whence the other form (known as Sidemål ) will be a mandatory school subject from elementary school through high school. For instance, a Norwegian whose main language form

3835-447: The vocabulary coincides with Bokmål. Outside Eastern Norway , this spoken variation is not used. From the 16th to the 19th centuries, Danish was the standard written language of Norway. As a result, the development of modern written Norwegian has been subject to strong controversy related to nationalism , rural versus urban discourse, and Norway's literary history. Historically, Bokmål is a Norwegianised variety of Danish, while Nynorsk

3900-568: The word, e.g.: for ('for/to'), fór ('went'), fòr ('furrow') and fôr ('fodder'). Loanwords may be spelled with other diacritics, most notably ï, ü , á and à . The two legally recognized forms of written Norwegian are Bokmål (literally 'book tongue') and Nynorsk ('new Norwegian'), which are regulated by the Language Council of Norway ( Språkrådet ). Two other written forms without official status also exist. One, called Riksmål ('national language'),

3965-629: Was an avid mountain man. Being a very pious woman, she wished for an Anglican church in Balestrand. She started the church with her husband, but died before its completion. Sunday services are held during the summer months, being conducted by rotating vicars from England. St. Olaf's Church is notable as the inspiration for the chapel in Elsa's coronation scene in the 2013 Disney film Frozen . Fj%C3%A6rlandsfjorden Coordinates : 61°24′15″N 6°45′06″E  /  61.4042°N 6.7517°E  / 61.4042; 6.7517 From Misplaced Pages,

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4030-406: Was completed connecting Fjærland to neighboring Sogndal municipality (not to the rest of Balestrand). This caused discussions about Fjærland's municipal future. On 1 January 2000, the entire sub-parish of Fjærland in northern Balestrand was transferred to Sogndal municipality. On 1 January 2020, Balestrand Municipality ceased to exist. The far western Nesse area of Balestrand was transferred to

4095-758: Was developed based upon a collective of spoken Norwegian dialects. Norwegian is one of the two official languages in Norway, along with Sámi , a Finno-Ugric language spoken by less than one percent of the population. Norwegian is one of the working languages of the Nordic Council . Under the Nordic Language Convention , citizens of the Nordic countries who speak Norwegian have the opportunity to use it when interacting with official bodies in other Nordic countries without being liable for any interpretation or translation costs. Like most of

4160-488: Was governed by a municipal council of directly elected representatives. The mayor was indirectly elected by a vote of the municipal council. The municipality was under the jurisdiction of the Sogn og Fjordane District Court and the Gulating Court of Appeal . The municipal council (Kommunestyre) of Balestrand is made up of 17 representatives that are elected to four year terms. The party breakdown of

4225-477: Was transferred from Balestrand to Vik , Balestrand gained the sub-parish of Kvamsøy (population: 389) from Vik , and Leikanger gained the Hella-Eitorn area (population: 31) from Balestrand. Balestrand had a population of 1,606 after the changes were completed. The Fjærland area of Balestrand had always been isolated from the rest of the municipality, and only accessible by boat. In 1995, the Frudal Tunnel

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