An introduction to Norwegian, Swedish & Danish
Wednesday, 19th November 2008
A brief overview of the Scandinavian languages of Norwegian, Swedish and Danish
The principal languages of Scandinavia are Norwegian, Swedish and Danish. Classified as the North Germanic or Continental Scandinavian languages, the standard dialects spoken in Norway, Sweden and Denmark are mutually intelligible: the populations of each country can more or less understand each other’s languages in both written and spoken form.
Norwegian is spoken by almost 5 million people worldwide, most of these in Norway where it is the official language, and some also located in small Norwegian settlements in the US. There are two official forms of Norwegian in its written form: Norwegian Bokmål and Norwegian Nynorsk. Although Norwegians are educated in both, Norwegian Bokmål enjoys much more widespread usage, whereas Norwegian Nynorsk tends to be limited to more rural areas.
Swedish is spoken by some 9 million people. Again, most of these are in Sweden itself, with others found in parts of Finland. Swedish is very closely linked to Norwegian and, to a lesser extent, Danish. There is just one standard form of Swedish, although there are some regional dialects that bear little resemblance to their national language: these older variations are mainly confined to small populations in rural communities.
Danish, another North Germanic language, is spoken by approximately 6 million people. It is the official language of Denmark and also a minority language in the Schleswig-Holstein region of Germany, home to some 50,000 Danes. Further afield, it is spoken in the self-governing Danish province of Greenland and the Faroe Islands, in Iceland, and in Danish language communities in North America and Argentina. For a ‘small’ language, it has travelled the world.
When compared to other Scandinavian languages, Danish is probably most similar to Norwegian Bokmål. Danes have more trouble understanding Swedish (and vice versa), while Norwegians appear to be in the best situation as they find it easier to understand both Swedish and Danish.
Tags: scandinavian, danish, sweden, norway, denmark, norwegian, swedish, languages
Posted by Sarah Watkins 2008-11 under Language guides,
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