Which Norwegian language to learn?

As a native of Norway, I need to clarify something: Bokmål, Riksmål and Nynorsk are not spoken dialects. They are written languages. You cannot learn to speak or listen to them, you can only learn to read and write them.

These three written languages are so similar that people who know one of them can easily read and understand something written in any of the other two.

If anyone wants to learn a written Norwegian language, though, I recommend Bokmål. It’s by far the most widely used.

Spoken Norwegian is officially only one language. Practically, though, there are hundreds of dialects to speak it in. Due to geographical features of Norway (mountains, valleys, rivers, lakes, fjords, etc.) many communities were separated from each other, and thus developed distinct dialects. The good news is that almost all the dialects are mutually intelligible. With a bit of practice, one can understand any dialect, provided one already knew another.

As for which spoken dialect to learn, I recommend Standard East Norwegian. That is the dialect spoken in Oslo and the surrounding areas. People all over Norway will understand you perfectly if you speak in that dialect. It’s the most common dialect heard on the TV, in movies and in other media in Norway*. It’s also a good platform from which one can understand all the other dialects used throughout the country. As an extra bonus, if one learns it, one will be almost set to understand Swedish and Danish too. That also goes for written Bokmål.

* = Please note that while Standard East Norwegian is the most common one in national media, other regional dialects are also heard quite commonly. This applies to nearly all channels, but NRK is probably the best example of it.

It’s not all that difficult to learn to speak the language (Bokmål as pointed out in the other answers posted) a bit, but you’ll probably not be able to understand the reply you’ll get. Norwegians speak by stringing words in a common sentences together, such sentences are pronounced like one large word.

So, if you watch this, it looks like quite easy to learn, but this video gives you a better idea of how Norwegians actually speak their language.

Unless you plan to read/watch something written in Nynorsk, you should go for Bokmål. Most Norwegians have this as their written language, and it’s close to what is spoken in the Oslo/Hurum area. Bokmål and Nynorsk are not that different though…

Riksmål is sort of the old-fashioned version of Bokmål (basically the name was changed to Bokmål in 1929), as they spoke in the early 20th century – it’s still used by some, as an “upperclass” Bokmål (The Oslo newspaper Aftenposten used it until 2006, when they changed to Bokmål). Landsmål is basically what Nynorsk was called before 1929, but of course there’s been some changes in Nynorsk since then. During the German occupation (1940-1945), Nasjonal Samling (National Unity; a Norwegian nazi party) tried to unify the two languages into one – called Samnorsk (“Unified”-Norwegian) – with little support and little success.

In Norway we got two official written languages:

Bokmål (Book-language) – heavily influenced by Danish. Nynorsk (New-Norwegian) – an attempt to revive Gammalnorsk (Old Norwegian), which in turn came from Norse, and which was similar to Icelandic today. Nynorsk was created based on dialect samples from rural and “closed-off” parts of Norway, to get the “genuine” Norwegian. However very few (really none) of these samples came from northern Norway. In the northern parts of Norway, Sámi and Kvensk (basically Finnish) are also official languages – but these are not “Norwegian”… just languages used in Norway.

Bokmål and Nynorsk are the “standard” for written language, however Norway got lots of dialects in spoken language, and some of them got uncommon words and strange pronunciation. However, Bokmål and the “Oslo-dialect” are pretty close.

Now see if you get the “inside joke” in the picture from the TV-show “Lilyhammer” in the beginning of this article:

http://www.nrk.no/hordaland/elsker-ny-norsklua-1.7998149

First of all, as a tourist in Norway you will be able to get by with English.
Nobody expects tourists to have learned any of the Norwegian languages.

I do not speak Norwegian but a friend of my does, learned it as a foreigner, and has a good view on the languages as she has lived in several areas.

If you want to learn a few words, just to be polite, it does not matter which version of Norwegian, just learn the version you can most easily find lessons. The people in Norway are surprised enough by the fact that you do speak any of their language, it does not matter if you pronounce the odd word odd and might have selected a rare version of the grammar for the area.

It is when you want to settle in Norway you want to learn a certain version. That is not just or even most the written version, it is the local dialect where you are going to live.

Bokmål is used in Oslo, so if you have the choice, I would go for that.

Added:
As you can see in the answer by RWGirl here, most English speakers have difficulties speaking Norwegian when in Norway. But a few words are certainly appreciated. When settling in a country there will be a moment that the people around you do expect you to start speaking the local language.