Scandinavian Languages (Specific Languages) Language Learning Forum

Scandinavian Languages
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Language Learning Forum : Specific Languages

22 messages over 3 pages: 1 2 3 Next >>

Impiegato
Triglot
Senior Member
Sweden
bsntranslation.
Joined 5432 days ago
100 posts - 145 votes

Speaks: Swedish*, English, Italian
Studies: Spanish, French, Russian

Message 9 of 22

16 January 2010 at 7:07pm | IP Logged

cordelia0507 wrote:

If I wasn't Scandinavian myself I would find this thread incredibly contradictory and confusing. There is a thread about it in the Scandinavian lounge too (in English), with slightly different views expressed.

The mutual comprehension varies a lot and it depends on exposure. Some people have got no problem whatsoever and can even speak like one of the other languages (my father, for one), Others have very little exposure to the other Scandinavian languages and find them confusing.

The situation has some similarities to the situation with Russian/Belarussian/Ukrainian which someone may be familiar with. However think our languages are CLOSER than those three Slavic languages.

To me, Swedish, Norwegian just sounds like someone very positive speaking and using lots of old-fashioned words and slang when he's speaking. Danish sounds like lots of slang, old-fashioned words and a rather challenging pronounciation, i.e. I have to focus to be sure that I heard the words right.

Reading either is a minor inconvenience because it looks like everything is misspelled. But it is completely comprehensible. I had to read some Danish books at university and it was no problem. Every now and then I read a Norwegian paper online.

There is no reason to make a big issue of this because it isn't. Just pick the language you fancy the most and start studying. You will soon understand what we are trying to say here.

I agree with you about the old words. Sometimes it looks like they use words that are taken from any Swedish book from the 19th century!
The spelling is, as you point out, often a bit different in a very confusing way. Also, idiomatic expressions are frequently combined with different prepositions. That is the reason why I think it is really hard for a Swede to become fluent in another Scandinavian language.
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densou
Senior Member
Italy
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Speaks: Italian*

Message 10 of 22

16 January 2010 at 7:31pm | IP Logged

Hej "Impiegato" ^^

well, I'm curious: what about the understanding of nynorsk then ? :P

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Impiegato
Triglot
Senior Member
Sweden
bsntranslation.
Joined 5432 days ago
100 posts - 145 votes

Speaks: Swedish*, English, Italian
Studies: Spanish, French, Russian

Message 11 of 22

16 January 2010 at 8:24pm | IP Logged

densou wrote:

Hej "Impiegato" ^^

well, I'm curious: what about the understanding of nynorsk then ? :P

I know just a little about Nynorsk. I think most words differ slightly between Nynorsk and Bokmål (which is almost the samt as Danish). There are probably Norwegians here who can answer the question. I have heard that Nynorsk is only (or mostly) used in the written language, not in the spoken. Bokmål is more important and more spread in Norway today than Nynorsk. When I look at words in Bokmål, I think they are more similar to Swedish words than those of Nynorsk. Nynorsk looks a little bit like Icelandic and the old Scandinavian language from the Medieval time.

I see that you are Italian. When I looked at web pages from Italian universities, I noticed that some of them have a Scandinavian department. They rarely teach Norwegian there and there is almost no university with courses in Danish. I am bit curious about this. Does it give a sign of which of the Scandinavian languages is the most "important" or just about the difficulty for foreigners regarding different Scandinavian languages or anything else?

Edited by Impiegato on 16 January 2010 at 8:28pm
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densou
Senior Member
Italy
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Speaks: Italian*

Message 12 of 22

17 January 2010 at 2:03am | IP Logged

Impiegato wrote:

I am bit curious about this. Does it give a sign of which of the Scandinavian languages is the most "important" or just about the difficulty for foreigners regarding different Scandinavian languages or anything else?

I called myself out of this system earlier. Don't mind pls, but judge the matter yourself. Here you are the ONE and ONLY official website which regroups every information about Nordic languages taught in Italy. (at Universities)
http://www.linguenordiche.it/

Plus I don't feel like to learn languages at Uni. (note: I have a past of autodidact)
Neither 'abroad' or I may lack proper motivation. People, who have told me it's an excuse, can go to hell. (I hate prejudicial hypocrisy)

P.S. ok, I admit it. I have a tremendous obsession for Scandinavia (Norway and Faroes at the top) *blushing*

Edited by densou on 17 January 2010 at 2:05am
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taKen
Tetraglot
Senior Member
Norway
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Joined 6116 days ago
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Speaks: Norwegian*, English, Dutch, French
Studies: German, Icelandic

Message 13 of 22

20 January 2010 at 2:01pm | IP Logged

Quote:

Au contraire! Sure, there are differences between the spoken and the written languages, but overall Nynorsk does a much better job of representing my speech. Currently 500 000 Norwegians write Nynorsk, albeit mostly in the West; where the language hasn't been influenced as much by Danish.

My dialect: Æ heite Ragnar og kjæm fra Norge. Høgar kar ska du sjå langt ætte!
Nynorsk: Eg heiter Ragnar og kjem frå Noreg. Høgare kar skal du sjå langt etter!
Bokmål: Jeg heter Ragnar og kommer fra Norge. Høyere kar skal du se langt ettter!

There are lots of other examples I could give.

My dialect "vart" Nynorsk "vart" Farose "varð" Icelandic "varð"Bokmål "ble"
My dialect "heim" Nynorsk "heim" Farose "heim" Icelandic "heim" Bokmål "hjem"
My dialect "noko" Nynorsk "noko" Farose "nakað" Icelandic "nokkuð" Bokmål "noe"
My dialect "koss" Nynorsk "koss" Farose "hvussu" Icelandic "hvernig" Bokmål "hvordan"

I'm not really able to put any heart into bokmål. It has never really felt as if it belongs to me and my kind. My roots are in my dialect. Nynorsk allows me to show my roots on paper.

Here's an excerpt from the "Norwegian Language Council" as to how Norway happens to have two written languages:

Quote:

Noreg – frå dansk skriftmål til bokmål og nynorsk

Her i landet er det altså dansken, som det gamle "kolonimaktspråket", som historisk sett svarar til svensken i Finland. Liksom i Finland, der overklassa var svenskspråkleg, hadde vi hos oss ei overklasse som brukte eit norsk-dansk talemål, medan folk elles snakka norske dialektar. Men ulikt den finske overklassa valde ikkje overklassa her i landet å "svike" sin eigen bakgrunn; tvert imot ville dei aller fleste halde på dansken. Likevel var dei nasjonale straumdraga så sterke at landsmål (dvs. nynorsk) vart formelt jamstilt med dansk som skriftspråk i 1885. Mot slutten av 1800-talet vart det etter kvart klart at det reine danske skriftmålet var nøydd til å tape i Noreg.

I 1907 kom så det endelege brotet med dansken: I dette året fekk vi ei reform som ein gong for alle gjorde slutt på den gamle skriftspråksfellesskapen mellom Danmark og Noreg. Seinare har vi fått fleire nye reformer som har gjort avstanden til dansken endå større. Ingen kan derfor vere i tvil om at dansk og norsk bokmål i dag er to ulike – om enn svært like! – skriftspråk.

Edited by taKen on 20 January 2010 at 2:56pm
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densou
Senior Member
Italy
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Speaks: Italian*

Message 14 of 22

21 January 2010 at 12:06am | IP Logged

o_O

Nynorsk: sjukehus
Bokmål: sykehus
Svenska: sjukhus
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Iversen
Super Polyglot
Moderator
Denmark
berejst.dk
Joined 6702 days ago
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Message 15 of 22

21 January 2010 at 12:46am | IP Logged

Dansk: sygehus
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j0nas
Triglot
Groupie
Norway
Joined 5541 days ago
46 posts - 70 votes

Speaks: Norwegian*, English, German

Message 16 of 22

21 January 2010 at 11:35am | IP Logged

taKen: 'Hvordan' in nynorsk is 'korleis', and not 'koss'. ;)

And you can use 'sjukehus' in bokmål as well.

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