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Hindustan Times
6 days ago
- Hindustan Times
A tale of three cities
I seem to have inherited two loves from my late mother: the love for the written word and that for travel. A combination of both made me extend my trip to Europe when I was invited to present my PhD work at the University of Bergen in Norway. I just had to visit Paris and Berlin! As a rule, everywhere I go, I have to visit bookstores and then mention their names, locations, and the date of the visit on the title page of each book or diary I purchase. This article grew out of that same impulse to document my favourite places in each of the three literary European cities I happily wandered through. BergenAlthough the city of Oslo and the mesmerising Northern Lights are what initially come to mind when one thinks of Norway, for me, Bergen turned out to be a little slice of literary heaven. An unbelievably picturesque Scandinavian city, every street corner seems to be straight out of a fairytale. Grand Hotel Terminus, where I stayed, is bang in the city centre and displayed posters from the works of literary giants like Henrik Ibsen, who served as the resident dramatist at the city's Norwegian Theatre. My first bookish stop was the neo-Romanesque Bergen Offentlige Bibliotek or the public library. The second largest in Norway, it is a bibliophile's dream come true with plenty of reading nooks and unending aisles of books. Here, Scandinavian and Norwegian titles share space with translated works from the Anglophone and Francophone world. It also has a child-friendly space that's open to all. Next, using both translation and map apps, I stepped into the Boksalongen (translated as the Book Salon) situated at the Litteraturhuset or House of Literature, a literary complex that hosts the city's annual literature festival. The space for book events welcoming authors, poets and reading communities also houses a collection of books that mainly includes regional literary texts or canonical works in translation, apart from an English section. 'Here, one can find all kinds of books and literary magazines, many of which are not available in chain bookstores despite the publications' high-quality writing,' said Tijana Przulj, a PhD fellow at the Department of Foreign Languages, University of Bergen. She also spoke highly of Tekstallmenningen, the city's literary organization, which acts as 'an intermediary between small presses and the public, selling books and other publications both directly to the public and through various other channels.' I wandered through the famous local fish market and stopped to take a picture next to Ibsen's statue on my way to the city's outlet of Norli, one of the oldest bookstore chains in Norway. Much of the action in this massive space with separate levels is in the basement. It's where I bought Invisible Cities, my first Italo Calvino. The staff here is extremely helpful while also giving browsers enough space to peruse to their heart's content. My final bookish adventure in Bergen happened at the airport with wooden interiors, which houses an ARK, an outlet of another large Norwegian bookstore chain. Their 'don't judge a book by its cover' shelves in the English section immediately caught my eye. Here, the brown paper wrapping on books bear hints about plot and characters. You may open the package after you've bought the book on the basis of the hints provided. I boarded the plane to Berlin still wondering which book fit this description: Early 20th C Europe, the haves and have nots, class warfare, for fans of Brideshead Revisited. Any clues? Pro tip: Always carry an umbrella because the weather in Bergen can turn from sunny to torrential within seconds Berlin The first bookstore I visited in Berlin, a city that has been on my bucket list forever, was the Schleichers Buchhandlung near Freie University. It houses a wide range of books in English, a rarity in Germany. A local told me the cosy independent book shop dates back to the Cold War when the city was divided into the Allied and Soviet zones. At the store located in what was once the western part of the divided city of Berlin, I picked up works by Behzad Karim Khani and Nadia Shehadeh. I also took a guided tour and was constantly reminded of Jenny Erpenbeck's works as I came across the many landmarks mentioned in her Go, Went, Gone, a nuanced novel on the treatment of African migrants and asylum seekers in Germany. Next, I headed to Berlin's biggest independent bookstore, Dussmann das KulturKaufhaus. A massive structure with multiple floors, it has the largest selection of books I have ever come across in Europe. A range of souvenirs, tempting stationary and loads of bookish games are also available here. Though it was packed, staff members helped me locate the literary works of Aleksandar Hemon. I was looking for The Lazarus Project, which, sadly, was not available in any of the bookstores I visited in Europe. But I did end up buying the author's The World and All that it Holds. I was keen to visit the She Said bookshop which exclusively stocks books by women and queer writers but alas, I didn't have the time! Pro Tip: The buses are a cheap and convenient way to travel around the city. Paris Doing Paris in a day-and-a-half is a feat. I had to pack in a visit to the Mona Lisa at the Louvre, the Eiffel Tower, and to the one place that has been a part of my literary dreams, the Shakespeare and Company bookshop. After gaping at what I could, I hopped on a rented bicycle outside the museum and rode to the bookstore. There was a line outside with a host who let people in only when it was clear that a certain number of others had left the store. Passages inside the picturesque store are designed to open like chapters of a book, with each revealing many book-filled nooks and corners. The place is believed to have been constructed in the image of the original Shakespeare and Company book store founded in 1919 by Sylvia Beach, which also functioned as a lending library. A poster about Beach states that she was 'the first to publish James Joyce's Ulysses in 1922, when no one else dared'. The walls are laden with quotes from writers such as Anais Nin and framed photos of authors like Langston Hughes, bell hooks and Daphne du Maurier. In the used books section, I grabbed a copy of Jean Rhys' collection of short stories and of course, had it stamped by the cashier. Afterwards, I also briefly stepped into the adjoining shop housing rare books and first editions, which were beautiful to peruse but expensive to purchase. After lunch, I browsed through L'atelier 9, which also has a small collection of books in English. Interestingly, it doubles up as a cultural space that hosts writers from small publishing houses and gives them a platform to speak about their work. Then, before heading to the Eiffel Tower, I wandered past the picturesque book stalls along the river Seine displaying works by or on Montaigne, Flaubert and Diderot. These shops also have an impressive collection of magazines, comic books, posters and art prints. But then it began to drizzle and the shops downed their shutters, which prompted me to seek shelter and a croissant at a quaint café. Oh, so Parisian, mon ami! Pro tip: There are many online pre-booking options for the Louvre that charge double the amount of what the passes actually cost. You can buy passes without a hassle and at the regular cost at counters inside the museum complex. Simar Bhasin is a Delhi-based literary critic and research scholar. Her essay 'A Qissa of Resistance: Desire and Dissent in Selma Dabbagh's Short Fiction' was awarded 'Highly Commended' by the Wasafiri Essay Prize 2024.
Daily Mail
27-05-2025
- Health
- Daily Mail
Obese people can pass down deadly health risk to their children, study finds
Boys who pile on the pounds in their early teens could put their future children at higher risk of developing obesity and asthma, according to a new study. While it's normal for teenagers to put on weight as they grow, some children gain too much thanks to a lack of exercise and reliance on sugary, salty snacks. Now, experts have discovered that overweight teenage boys risk damaging the genes of their future children. And it shows this time of life – when sperm is developing - is a 'key window of vulnerability' for DNA. The team, from the University of Southampton and the University of Bergen in Norway, analysed the DNA of 339 pairs of fathers and their offspring. As part of their long-term study, they also collected data on fathers' body silhouettes during adolescence. Analysis revealed DNA changes in 1,962 genes linked to the formation of fat cells and fat metabolism in the children of fathers who gained too much weight as teenagers. These changes were associated with an increased risk of obesity, as well as asthma and poorer lung function. In bad news for daughters, the effect was more pronounced in female children than male children. 'The overweight status of future fathers during puberty was associated with a strong signal in their children's DNA which were also related to the likelihood of their children being overweight themselves,' Dr Negusse Tadesse Kitaba, one of the study's authors, said. 'Early puberty, when boys start their developing sperm, seems to be a key window of vulnerability for lifestyle influences to drive epigenetic changes in future offspring.' Male puberty typically begins between the ages of 9 and 14, with an average start around the age of 12. Professor Cecilie Svanes from the University of Bergen said: 'The new findings have significant implications for public health and may be a game-changer in public health intervention strategies. 'They suggest that a failure to address obesity in young teenagers today could damage the health of future generations, further entrenching health inequalities for decades to come.' In children and teens, BMI is used to find out if they are underweight, a healthy weight, overweight or obese. The latest NHS figures show that 32 per cent – nearly a third – of children aged 11-12 in England are overweight or obese. This dips slightly to 25 per cent in children aged 13-15. Experts recently warned that adolescent health is at a 'tipping point', and that some of the main drivers of ill-health among teenagers have switched from cigarettes and alcohol to weight gain and mental health problems. Commenting on the recent findings Professor John Holloway, who was also involved in the study, said: 'Childhood obesity is increasing globally. The results of this study demonstrate that this is a concern not only for the health of the population now but also for generations to come.' To help a teenager lose weight, the NHS suggests a combination of healthy eating and regular physical activity. Gradual changes – such as introducing better portion control and finding fun activities to do – is encouraged in the place of fad diets or skipping meals. The findings were published in the Nature journal Communications Biology. Obesity is defined as an adult having a BMI of 30 or over. A healthy person's BMI - calculated by dividing weight in kg by height in metres, and the answer by the height again - is between 18.5 and 24.9. Among children, obesity is defined as being in the 95th percentile. Percentiles compare youngsters to others their same age. For example, if a three-month-old is in the 40th percentile for weight, that means that 40 per cent of three-month-olds weigh the same or less than that baby. Around 58 per cent of women and 68 per cent of men in the UK are overweight or obese. The condition costs the NHS around £6.1billion, out of its approximate £124.7 billion budget, every year. This is due to obesity increasing a person's risk of a number of life-threatening conditions. Such conditions include type 2 diabetes, which can cause kidney disease, blindness and even limb amputations. Research suggests that at least one in six hospital beds in the UK are taken up by a diabetes patient. Obesity also raises the risk of heart disease, which kills 315,000 people every year in the UK - making it the number one cause of death. Carrying dangerous amounts of weight has also been linked to 12 different cancers. This includes breast, which affects one in eight women at some point in their lives. Among children, research suggests that 70 per cent of obese youngsters have high blood pressure or raised cholesterol, which puts them at risk of heart disease. Obese children are also significantly more likely to become obese adults. And if children are overweight, their obesity in adulthood is often more severe. As many as one in five children start school in the UK being overweight or obese, which rises to one in three by the time they turn 10.
Yahoo
25-04-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Scientists deploy high-speed drones to observe critical issue in extreme locations: 'We'll be able to continuously monitor'
The cracking, melting expanse of ice in the Arctic tells a story that scientists must understand to adapt to our warming planet. With new drone technology, they have a new way to monitor it. Scientists will test their high-speed drones in Greenland in May to see if the technology can effectively provide crucial data about melting ice sheets, New Scientist reported. According to the National Snow and Ice Data Center, Greenland's ice sheets are an important source of measurements for Earth's changing climate. In 2023, 80 gigatons of Greenland's ice sheet melted, according to the United Nations, citing the Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland. NASA describes 1 gigatonne (about 1.1 gigatons) as the weight of 10,000 fully loaded aircraft carriers. Marble, the company responsible for inventing the drone, is partnering with researchers at the University of Bergen on a project supported by £2 million (more than $2.6 million) from the United Kingdom's Advanced Research and Invention Agency. The drones must be tested because the Arctic is a harsh environment. However, if they work, scientists can receive detailed, frequent images of the ice-covered landscape. Current technology is not effective enough to provide the data that scientists need to properly keep an eye on the ice's thickness. As Kerim Nisancioglu of the University of Bergen told New Scientist, "Now we'll be able to continuously monitor." The ice in Greenland and the rate at which it melts are important for predicting various elements of our changing climate. Understanding Greenland's ice melt is crucial for forecasting sea level rise. According to New Scientist, losing all the ice in Greenland would cause the oceans to rise by over 7 meters, or around 23 feet. Do you think America could ever go zero-waste? Never Not anytime soon Maybe in some states Definitely Click your choice to see results and speak your mind. While this ice likely wouldn't melt all at once, the melting indicates a larger pattern. This pattern also fuels stronger, less predictable weather events. From heat waves and wildfires to hurricanes and floods, extreme weather has always existed. However, scientists agree that these events have been supercharged by climate change. This makes them even more dangerous to our communities. estimates that 2024's extreme weather included 27 events that cost $1 billion or more, and these events led to at least 568 deaths. Many organizations are working hard to monitor and mitigate the impacts of our warming planet. The Advanced Research and Invention Agency, which backs this drone project, is putting £81 million (more than $107 million) toward projects that monitor climate tipping points. We can all play a part in reducing reliance on dirty energy sources that trap heat in the atmosphere. One option is swapping gas-powered tools for electric ones. We can also move to renewable energy such as wind or solar panels whenever possible. Join our free newsletter for weekly updates on the latest innovations improving our lives and shaping our future, and don't miss this cool list of easy ways to help yourself while helping the planet.
BBC News
10-04-2025
- Entertainment
- BBC News
Health indicators and power ups: The 'freaky and unpleasant' world when video games leak into the physical realm
Video games are the biggest form of entertainment in the world, but sometimes they bleed into people's lives offline in surprising and disturbing ways. Christian Dines' hands were twitching. As though he were still gripping his video game controller, about to make a killer move. But the game was switched off and his hands were free. The US-based sustainability advisor had also noticed how, when he glanced at objects in his room, he felt an urge to absorb or "collect" them, like weapons or power-ups in his game. He swallowed hard. "I thought, 'what the hell is this?' It was something I'd never experienced before as a gamer," he says. After a week of playing the same game maybe two or three hours a day, Dines' virtual experience was spilling over, disturbingly, into reality. "It all only lasted a couple of days, but the effect was disorientating," he recalls. "It's unnerving to be distracted in some way by a screen when you're no longer in front of it." Dines had, it seems, experienced something called Game Transfer Phenomenon, a condition in which the physical world and video games bleed together. While this might not be very common, for gamers who experience it, the condition can be extremely unsettling. And potentially even dangerous. The term Game Transfer Phenomenon, or GTP, was first coined by Angelica Ortiz de Gortari, a psychologist at the University of Bergen in Norway. She first proposed the concept a decade ago while working on her doctoral thesis under the supervision of Mark Griffiths, head of Nottingham Trent University's International Gaming Research Unit. Ortiz de Gortari was motivated by her own experience of GTP. One day, she was walking around her local supermarket and realised that she was imagining peering at products on the shelves through a rifle scope. "I thought, 'Wow! This is interesting'," she recalls. "A phenomenon that changes your perception by encouraging you to see objects through the lens of the game you're playing," she says, adding that her response had felt involuntary, leaving her with serious questions about what it meant. But what exactly is GTP? Ortiz de Gortari suggests that one could compare it to potentially more common experiences such as ear-worms, in which you spend days trying to get a catchy song out of your head. Or when images from a television show you binge-watched keep popping up in your mind's eye. With GTP, though, the intensity is arguably dialled up, says Ortiz de Gortari. Not least because gaming activates brain areas associated with control inhibition – the ability, or not, to control one's thoughts and behaviour rather than acting on impulse. This can also occur while passively watching television, but to a lesser degree than while gaming. Ortiz de Gortari's studies suggest that GTP induces distress and dysfunction for around half of those gamers who say they have experienced it, with confusion, hyper-vigilance and irrationality among the symptoms. For others the only notable response may be a feeling of embarrassment that their game-play has spilled over into "real life". One study participant she interviewed reported seeing health indicator bars like those in the role-playing game World of Warcraft floating above their companions' heads. Another spoke of lapses in concentration after not being able to stop "seeing" images from a game. Others said colours in the real world seemed transformed, and began to mimic the colours of a game world they had recently played in. While such effects are usually transitory, GTP can provoke a startling array of spontaneous or involuntary effects, according to Ortiz de Gortari's research. While rare, these effects can even take the form of involuntary physical actions and behaviours. A game could end up shaping the way one interacts with real world objects or people. For example, a walk down a supermarket aisle could be experienced through the lens of gameplay, with the player perhaps "shooting" at products or people, possibly with a corresponding involuntary physical action in the hands as though working console controls. In total, Ortiz de Gortari has recorded GTP experiences among gamers related to more than 400 titles of all kinds. Her largest on the subject to date, published in 2024, involved the participation of 623 Chinese gamers, both male and female. The results suggest that between 82% and 96% of those gamers have experienced some form of GTP. It's possible that some gamers might have endured episodes of GTP but never admitted this to anyone, for fear of being considered "crazy", says Ortiz de Gortari. It is time we demystified GTP, she argues. "The mission for me is to inform people about the phenomenon, to raise awareness, because the [gamers] I've spoken to about it have been very concerned," she says. "Often, people don't want to talk about the experience of, say, seeing things that aren't there with their open eyes – even if that's what happens – because that's to talk about hallucinations, and they're associated with [potentially taboo, severe] mental illness." Ortiz de Gortari argues that GTP has become a more common experience as games, especially role-playing, simulation, adventure and first-person shooter games, have become increasingly realistic and immersive. They offer sprawling environments full of detail and interaction. Essentially, gamers end up living virtual lives through such media and can find the gameplay deeply affecting. "The more realistic the video game world is, the more likely players are to confuse the game world and the real world," says Ortiz de Gortari, who adds that this could mean GTP is becoming more common and impactful. The sophistication of games has undoubtedly increased since the days of Tetris and Super Mario, she points out. "Essentially the sophistication of the game facilitates the experience outside of the game." Ali Farha, a gaming industry commentator and senior game producer at Stockholm-based Star Stable Entertainment, has experienced GTP himself. He describes his case as "a pretty harmless sense of gameplay repeating offline". He suggests that regular breaks during extended stretches of play and a period of conscious decompression after a long gaming session – reading a book or watching some light TV – could help counteract the likelihood of GTP raising its head. Playing time – particularly above four hours – does appear to be a key factor in the onset of GTP. That's one reason why Scott Jennings, spokesperson for the US-based Gaming Addicts Anonymous (GAA), whose members invariably are at the high-end of playing hours, says the support group is increasingly mindful of this potential side-effect of gaming. Farha also says that few people currently appreciate that, as he believes, the bridge between the real and the virtual is actually a two-way street. "We overlook that we also take the experiences and expectations of the real world into the game world – and that too can be disorientating," he says. "I think it's quite common to enter a multi-player online game and feel loneliness, for example, even though you know you're at home. The experiences we have online become part of our personality. We build memories inside the virtual space of the games we play too, in the same way we build memories in the real world." In fact, studies suggest that games can be more conducive to memory formation than real life. "I think for a lot of players the virtual and real worlds are starting to blur," Farha adds. While no-one has reported physical harm as a consequence of GTP to date reported to date – GTP could, in principle, endanger someone. "It's not a good idea for me to be trying to kill demons while I'm driving," as Dines puts it. Exactly why the virtual world can blur with the real world in this way, however, is still not clear. Some studies suggest different brain networks are activated when observing something in a virtual environment, compared to a real one. The same has been found with objects in augmented reality, where virtual elements are superimposed onto the real world. But some studies have shown that human memory can sometimes struggle to recall whether something occurred in a virtual environment or in real life – with the effects being more pronounced when using virtual reality systems. Ortiz de Gortari has indicated that GTP might be more common among gamers who have a tendency for mind-wandering and have a low working memory capacity. She also believes it could be the result of the game priming the brain or some sort of associated learning effect that when gamers encounter something similar to an environment or scene they came across in a game, it can trigger an involuntary response. But these are all theories for now. "The human brain isn't built to differentiate between reality and today's virtual worlds," says a spokesperson for Game Addicts Anonymous. "That's one reason why games are so captivating and why it's no surprise the two experiences overlap." Jennings also recounts a GTP-like experience. After playing an aggressive racing game he later felt "a disconcerting urge" when out driving, to smash into a vehicle that pulled up alongside him. He argues that GTP could be compared to alcoholism. It's not necessarily about how many drinks you've had but rather it's about your personal relationship to alcohol. Similarly, he says, while most people may have a functional relationship to gaming, some players are less able to contain its effect to playing time. Recent research by Ortiz de Gortari would appear to back this up. Her findings suggests that certain personality traits are likely a factor in one's propensity towards GTP. Other influences she cites include suffering from sleep deprivation, stress, depression or anxiety. Max Dzmitryiev, a US-based counsellor and gamer, says he grew up experiencing symptoms of anxiety. Video games, he says, offered an escape from reality. "But I'd easily get immersed in them," he recalls. "And as the level of immersion grew, so the stimulation was higher and so I had more GTP experiences," he says. To him, GTP is "freaky and unpleasant" and something that can overwhelm his thoughts and decisions for as long as 20 minutes. After such a bout, GTP can keep popping up for days, intermittently, he explains. Dzmitryiev has even noticed that watching someone else play a game can induce GTP-style effects. He gives the example of observing someone having fun in Minecraft, a colourful exploration and world-building game. Watching the other person's progress intently can lead to Dzmitryiev to, he says, literally perceiving his own surroundings as though they were built from the cube-like blocks used to construct the virtual environments in Minecraft. This effect – like an involuntary visual overlay to his surroundings – can last for an hour or so, he says. "It's why I tend to stay away from VR games now – because I still feel fully immersed for too long after taking the headset off," he says. It raises questions about whether the games industry should be addressing GTP in some way? Since so many games are played by children and young people, Ortiz de Ortiz de Gortari argues that developers should take more responsibility in addressing the potential impact of GTP on susceptible gamers, possibly through their own research, or at least by acknowledging its effects. Dines says that he would endorse some kind of warning on games. It may only have relevance for a few gamers but that's no different to the warnings about strobe lighting effects, which could induce epileptic seizures in a small subset of players, for example. "Game developers intentionally craft their products to give certain experiences – they know their game's power," says Farha. "Players need to appreciate that games have to be used correctly. I know I've played too much at times and it didn't make me feel good." But Nick Ballou, a postdocoral researcher in video games and mental health at the University of Oxford, expresses concern that overemphasising the dangers of GTP will fuel the moral panic around video games or stoke fears that all games are inherently unhealthy. Ballou is currently in the process of analysing data shared with him by the gaming industry. This data covers five leading video game platforms and his goal is to provide the most nuanced picture to date of how games affect people, both for better or worse. He aims to publish the first research from this project this spring. More like this:• Why children love Minecraft so much• The mysterious origins of an uncrackable video game• The people who 'see' foreign languages Most gamers don't find that their hobby impacts their mental health negatively, he says. Rather, they more commonly report that gaming induces feelings of relief or relaxation, and that it gives them access to communities or offers a sense of achievement and identity. "Any problems are at the extremes [of gaming]," says Ballou. "[Similarly], in small doses, GTP doesn't strike me as particularly problematic. If it was endemic we'd see more people out there behaving in very strange ways. But we don't." For Ortiz de Gortari, however, there's a lot still to uncover about this extraordinary phenomenon. We still know relatively little about the way gamers unconsciously process what they see and hear during play. A better understanding of this, through a complex and expensive brain scan study, might, she says, help us unravel what happens as GTP kicks in. "We have enough evidence that GTP is happening," she says. "Now we need to more about know how and why." -- For more technology news and insights, sign up to our Tech Decoded newsletter, while The Essential List delivers a handpicked selection of features and insights to your inbox twice a week. For more science, technology, environment and health stories from the BBC, follow us on Facebook, X and Instagram.
Local Norway
03-04-2025
- Business
- Local Norway
What recruiters ask – and focus on – during job interviews in Norway
It should come as no surprise that job interview styles vary significantly across countries. After all, they're shaped by different cultural norms, values, market needs, and expectations, which are often country and region-specific. In some places, the interview process may be strictly formal and hierarchical; in others, it can feel more like a casual chat. READ MORE: Expert tips to follow if you want to land a job in Norway What counts as impressive in one country might be irrelevant - or even a bit off-putting - in another. In Norway, the job interview process can sometimes surprise international candidates. On the surface, it appears relaxed and informal, but beneath this calm exterior lie deeply ingrained cultural values that shape both the questions asked and the types of candidates that succeed. An emphasis on extracurricular achievements Perhaps even more unexpected for many is the focus on achievements in activities such as sports. A recent Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation ( NRK ) article highlighted this phenomenon, citing a study by doctoral fellow Lisa Maria Breistein Sølvberg at the University of Bergen and Professor Lauren Rivera from Northwestern University. The study revealed that in Norway's legal, auditing, and financial sectors, which many consider somewhat "elite" sectors, athletic performance is frequently used as a key selection criterion. Sports were mentioned in over 80 percent of job interviews within these industries, and some employers seemed to associate sports participation with qualities like endurance, drive, and ambition and even used athletic achievement to raise their companies' internal and external status. READ MORE: Six questions that will answer whether Norway is the place for you Advertisement The class and gender factor While the emphasis on athletic performance might work in favour of some candidates, it's not equally beneficial to everyone. Sølvberg observed differences in how gender and social class play into the equation. "In our paper, we discuss some gender differences, but hiring agents preferred stereotypical male-dominated sports more than gender-neutral or female-dominated sports," Sølvberg told The Local in an e-mail. In other words, sports like cross-country skiing or running often carried more weight in hiring decisions than, say, dance or team sports often associated with women. When asked whether the trend of using sports as a proxy for employability might fade, Sølvberg was cautious: "Good question, but it is also one that is hard to answer. As firms become more aware of the connection between high-level sports and class, it might decline. However, no laws prohibit discrimination against 'social class' in hiring, so it might continue to go unnoticed. "Most firms strive for diversity, but social class might be a 'forgotten' and hidden category, so to speak," Sølvberg said. FIRST STEPS: What to know when searching for a job in Norway Advertisement What Norwegian recruiters really want to know While the sports angle might be surprising, it doesn't replace the traditional cornerstones of a strong interview. Norwegian recruiters still ask the usual questions – but they do so with a local flavour and expectation of authenticity. According to Jacob Rønne, Nordic Director at Nigel Wright Group, some of the most common and essential questions in a Norwegian job interview could include: "What are your motives/motivation?" "Why are you interested in our company and this specific role?" "How do your values align with ours?" "What kind of organisational culture and leadership style do you thrive in?" "What are your long-term goals - do you want to be happy, lead a team, or save the world?" "How do your competencies match this job specification?" "What are your salary expectations? READ ALSO: The dos and don'ts of writing a killer CV to impress Norwegian recruiters Advertisement When it comes to salaries in particular, candidates should be ready to "be real and concrete about what you have, and be reasonable and realistic about what you expect," Rønne told The Local. Norwegian companies also tend to rely heavily on competency-based interviewing, a technique that explores how a candidate has demonstrated specific skills in past experiences. Therefore, you might be asked to describe a time you handled a difficult team situation, managed a deadline, or led a project. Cultural values further influence how job interviews in Norway are carried out. Norwegian recruiters often favour an informal, conversational tone. It may feel more like a dialogue than an interrogation, but don't mistake casualness for a lack of seriousness. "Both form and content matter," Rønne noted, adding that non-verbal communication - eye contact, posture, and tone - plays an important role. As for taboo topics, he suggested candidates steer clear of sensitive personal areas, such as politics, religion, and sexual orientation, which are often considered inappropriate subjects in the Norwegian interview setting. What about international candidates looking to impress? Rønne offered practical advice: "Speak the language or at least try." "Show some adaptation to the culture – talk about skiing or the weather," he said, noting that even small gestures like these demonstrate cultural awareness and openness. READ MORE: Why you should learn Norwegian even if you don't need it for work
