Kurset er på japansk.

Kurset is the definite singular form of kurs (course).

• et kurs = a course
• kurset = the course

The ending -et is the usual definite ending for many neuter nouns in Norwegian. Since kurs is a neuter noun, the course becomes kurset.

In Norwegian, nouns have grammatical gender. Kurs is a neuter noun, so it takes:

• et kurs = a course
• kurset = the course

A learner usually has to memorize the gender along with the noun. Dictionaries will often show it as et kurs.

Er is the present tense of å være, which means to be.

So:

• er = is / are / am depending on context

In this sentence:

• Kurset er på japansk = The course is in Japanese

Norwegian does not change the verb for different subjects the way English does. So er works with I, you, he, we, and so on.

This is a very common learner question. In Norwegian, when you say that something is in a certain language, you very often use på.

Examples:

• Boka er på norsk = The book is in Norwegian
• Filmen er på engelsk = The film is in English
• Kurset er på japansk = The course is in Japanese

So even though English uses in, Norwegian usually uses på in this pattern. It is just the normal idiomatic choice.

På japansk means in Japanese or using Japanese.

In this sentence, it usually means the course is:

• taught in Japanese,
• conducted in Japanese,
• or presented in Japanese.

So it refers to the language being used, not necessarily the subject of the course.

Usually, no. It normally means the course is held in Japanese.

If you want to say a course is about/studying Japanese, Norwegian often uses i with the noun:

• et kurs i japansk = a course in Japanese / a Japanese course

That is an important difference:

• Kurset er på japansk = the language of instruction is Japanese
• Et kurs i japansk = a course whose subject is Japanese

In Norwegian, names of languages are normally written with a lowercase letter unless they start the sentence.

So:

• norsk
• engelsk
• japansk

This is different from English, where Japanese is capitalized.

It is the normal Norwegian word used for the language Japanese, and it has the same form as the adjective Japanese.

So:

• japansk mat = Japanese food → adjective
• på japansk = in Japanese → language name in this expression

This is very common in Norwegian. The same happens with words like:

• norsk
• engelsk
• tysk

Because when Norwegian names the language in expressions like på japansk, it does not use an article.

Compare:

• på japansk = in Japanese
• på norsk = in Norwegian
• på engelsk = in English

You would not say an equivalent of in the Japanese here.

The sentence follows normal Norwegian main-clause word order:

• Kurset = subject
• er = verb
• på japansk = prepositional phrase

So the structure is basically:

Subject + verb + more information

This is the standard pattern for a simple statement:

• Filmen er på norsk
• Boka er på engelsk
• Kurset er på japansk

A rough guide for an English speaker is:

• Kurset ≈ KOOR-set
• er ≈ air or a short Norwegian e+r sound
• på ≈ paw
• japansk ≈ yah-PAHNSK

A few useful notes:

• j in Norwegian is pronounced like English y
• a is usually a clearer ah sound than in English
• sk at the end of japansk stays a hard cluster

A more natural approximation would be something like:

KOOR-set air paw yah-PAHNSK

Yes. That means This course is in Japanese.

Compare:

• Kurset er på japansk = The course is in Japanese
• Dette kurset er på japansk = This course is in Japanese

Adding dette makes it more specific if you are pointing out a particular course.