Ivar Aasen's life work was the development of Nynorsk (New Norse), a language with grammar and vocabulary based upon the way ordinary Norwegians, primarily rural, spoke.
These two jubilees were the main reasons for the decision to create a national year of celebration of languages.
One sought to put focus on the positive effects that arise out of living in a country with several languages.
The year of 2013 was dedicated to celebrating, discussing, and trying to raise awareness of the valuable cultural expressions and identities that are connected to languages and dialects.
While she regretted that it wasn't possible to engage minority language groups more, she was very pleased with the activity-level all around the country.