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Easiest Scandinavian language?

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LanguagePhysics
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 Message 1 of 74
17 October 2013 at 6:43pm | IP Logged 
I know that Swedish, Danish and Norwegian all have very similar grammar, but is there one which could be considered more grammatically simple than the others?
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Henkkles
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 Message 2 of 74
17 October 2013 at 6:53pm | IP Logged 
The grammatical differences are so minimal that as you I would just go with the one that I'd feel most invested in.

Although I think that Swedish has the most complicated noun paradigm, consisting of five or six different declension types, as opposed to the Danish four (correct me anyone if I'm wrong)

Like in Swedish a noun can have -ar, -or, -er or -r in indefinite plural, but I think in Danish the only options are -er and -r.
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Josquin
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 Message 3 of 74
17 October 2013 at 6:54pm | IP Logged 
Well, in terms of morphology Danish is simpler than Swedish and Norwegian, but this is compensated by the complex Danish phonology, i.e. pronunciation.
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Josquin
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 Message 4 of 74
17 October 2013 at 6:58pm | IP Logged 
Henkkles wrote:
Like in Swedish a noun can have -ar, -or, -er or -r in indefinite plural

You mean -or, -ar, -er, -n, or "zero"-ending (plus -on for the irregular nouns "öga" and "öra").

Edited by Josquin on 17 October 2013 at 7:01pm

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Henkkles
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 Message 5 of 74
17 October 2013 at 7:02pm | IP Logged 
Josquin wrote:
Henkkles wrote:
Like in Swedish a noun can have -ar, -or, -er or -r in indefinite plural

You mean -or, -ar, -er, -n, or "zero"-ending plus -on for the irregular nouns "öga" and "öra".

Yes, I was doing loads of other stuff simultaneously and my train of thought was cut.
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Solfrid Cristin
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 Message 6 of 74
17 October 2013 at 7:06pm | IP Logged 
Henkkles wrote:
The grammatical differences are so minimal that as you I would just go with the one that
I'd feel most invested in.


Amen to that.
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tarvos
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 Message 7 of 74
17 October 2013 at 7:08pm | IP Logged 
Josquin wrote:
Well, in terms of morphology Danish is simpler than Swedish and
Norwegian, but this is compensated by the complex Danish phonology, i.e. pronunciation.


I would find the pronunciation of either difficult to get right and can't really say it
matters much. Danes have a particular way of assimilating sound that doesn't exist in the
other two, but then you have to do the tonal contours properly.

Either way: who cares. Pick one and go for it.
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Josquin
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 Message 8 of 74
17 October 2013 at 7:33pm | IP Logged 
Yeah, of course the OP should pick the language that he likes best, I'm just giving him information.

The problem with Danish phonology that I was referring to is not obtaining native-like pronunciation but understanding what people are saying.

Nobody really cares if you don't get your Swedish pitch accent right and nobody will care if you can't reproduce the Danish glottal stop or the soft d like a native. But when you can't understand people because of slurred language you will need a lot of practice to overcome this obstacle.

Anyway, choose whatever floats your boat.


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