I think my Minnesotan accent helped me sound Norwegian too.
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On the Wisconsin side of the Mississippi, in Vernon county, is a little town called Westby. The oldtimers speak an almost Medieval version of Norwegian. Modern Norwegians laugh at it. But this has been handed down in families and today, some of their grandkids still have that Norwegian lilt in their English.
My husband is 1st generation American on his father’s side. Dad was Norwegian. It’s a lovely accent in English.
I knew an elderly man who grew up in Wisconsin and had a bit of that accent. It is lovely.
My grandparents all came from Norway in the early 1900’s.
At the camp in Norway we went on a camping trip and came across this old guy that lived up in the valley. He was coming back from the town perhaps 10 miles away with some groceries and was wearing worn out sneakers. He pointed and laughed at my heavy hiking boots!
The Norwegian instructors could barely understand him as he spoke such a distinct dialect. He had probably lived in that small valley (with no roads) his entire life. The instructors said a lot of the valleys had their own dialect.