Norwegian: Vår misjon er ikke bare å tilby renoveringstjenester

[marcinson]

Hello.

I'm helping my friend with a webiste and I'm wondering about one sentence. What's more natural to write on a website: "vår misjon" or "misjonen vår". I learned that in daily language that other form is more accurate, but I've checked other netsides and both forms are popular.
Sentence says "Vår misjon er ikke bare å tilby renoveringstjenester...."

 

[raumar]

Although "misjonen vår" usually is more natural in spoken Norwegian, "vår misjon" is just as natural - and probably better - in this kind of formal, written document.

Having said that, I am not completely happy with "misjon". I know that it is much used in this kind of strategy documents, so it is certainly not wrong to use it. Nevertheless, people outside of the business community (such as myself) might regard this business jargon as a bit pompous and pretentious, and it is easy to ridicule. Unless "misjon" actually is used by a church or a religious organization.

Traditionally, the Norwegian word "misjon" has a more narrow meaning than the English word "mission". "Misjon" has mainly been used for the religious meaning of "mission", while other meanings of "mission" (as in "mission accomplished") often is translated as "oppdrag", "oppgave" or "mål".

I checked the strategy document of my own workplace. Instead of "misjon" we use "virksomhetsidé". I prefer that - but this is just a question of taste.