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Scandanavian Languages | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Specific Languages |  | |
| Draemr72 Newbie Ireland Joined 5664 days ago 7 posts - 8 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German | Message 1 of 10 25 May 2009 at 10:31pm | IP Logged | ||
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Hi there.
I'm thinking about learning a Scandinavian language but I don't know whether to try Swedish, Danish or Norwegian. I think that they are mutually intelligible to a degree. I read somewhere that Norwegians understand Danes and Swedes better than Danes and Swedes understand each other. So I wanted to know is this true? Also, I think Danish is a compulsory language in Iceland and Greenland, which would increase the number of speakers. So, what's your advice. I know they are not widely spoken outside of Scandinavia but, disregarding that, which language would be most useful of the three? Thanks. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Julie Heptaglot Senior Member PolandRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 6903 days ago 1251 posts - 1733 votes  5 sounds Speaks: Polish*, EnglishB2, GermanC2, SpanishB2, Dutch, Swedish, French | Message 2 of 10 25 May 2009 at 10:59pm | IP Logged | ||
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Use the search engine, there were plenty of threads about it (that's just one of them, and not even the most interesting one). This forum is a great resource, believe me.
In making your choice don't forger about your preferences - maybe you're more interested in one language than in the other ones? Edited by Julie on 25 May 2009 at 10:59pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Draemr72 Newbie Ireland Joined 5664 days ago 7 posts - 8 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German | Message 3 of 10 25 May 2009 at 11:41pm | IP Logged | ||
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Whoops, I'm sorry I didn't even realise there was a search engine. Sorry. :-O
As for preferences. Norwegian or Danish probably. Mainly from my dabblings in the three. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| cordelia0507 Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5838 days ago 1473 posts - 2176 votes Speaks: Swedish* Studies: German, Russian | Message 4 of 10 26 May 2009 at 1:09am | IP Logged | ||
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Hi Draemr72 - I am Swedish, below are some answers to your questions. It sounds like you are already quite well informed!
*** I'm thinking about learning a Scandinavian language but I don't know whether to try Swedish, Danish or Norwegian. I think that they are mutually intelligible to a degree. --Yes for the most part they are completely mutually intelligible! *** I read somewhere that Norwegians understand Danes and Swedes better than Danes and Swedes understand each other. So I wanted to know is this true? --I always thought that Norwegians understood Danish better than Swedes, but recently I have found out that Norwegians think that Swedes understand Danish better than they do... Danish uses guttural Rs and can sound a bit "unclear" in the way that it is pronounced. It is a matter of experience/exposure though. Everybody in Southern Sweden can understand Danish without any problems due to the proximity. In its' written form I never have any problems understanding it. *** Also, I think Danish is a compulsory language in Iceland and Greenland, which would increase the number of speakers. -- Many Icelanders spend time in one of the Nordic capitals for a while in their 20s. Some study in another Nordic country. They can usually switch to "Scandinavian" so that other Scandinavians can speak with them. I wasn't aware that Danish was compulsory - I always think they sound Norwegian when they speak "Scandinavian". The entire population of Iceland is no more than a few hundred thousand people. Greenland is Danish and Danish is spoken by everybody there, along with Greenlandic, a native language. The whole territory has something like 50,000 inhabitants. *** So, what's your advice. I know they are not widely spoken outside of Scandinavia but, disregarding that, which language would be most useful of the three? ---Swedish is spoken by 10 million people in Sweden and Finland as mothertongue. Additionally most people in Finland can communicate in Swedish to varying standards (= add ca 5 mil). Danish and Norwegian have a lot fewer speaker each, but in their written form they look quite similar and they are marginally closer to Icelandic than Swedish. But you will not automatically be able to understand Icelandic from knowing any of the other languages.) Many people consider Norwegian to sound very charming and Danish to sound cool. English is spoken to a very good standard by all well-educated people throughout the Nordic countries and to a good basic standard by everybody else. After English, the most commonly spoken foreign language is German. I can't make a recommondation other than a very partial "Swedish is best!!!" :-) It really depends on what your motivation is for wanting to learn. If you think you might want to live/work in one of the Nordic country, than go for that language. For business purposes, Swedish to a HIGH level is probably the most useful language, simply because Sweden is the bigger country of the three. However - if you are successful, you really get "3 for the price of 1". The important thing is: Make up your mind and stick with it.. *** Julie is right we've seen this question before... Let's refer to a standard response on this. There is no simple answer and it takes a while to explain the whole thing... Edited by cordelia0507 on 26 May 2009 at 1:46am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| SteiniDJ Newbie Iceland Joined 5661 days ago 1 posts - 1 votes | Message 5 of 10 26 May 2009 at 3:03am | IP Logged | ||
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Hey guys. I stumbled on this website earlier today and thought I should give you my
thoughts on this question. You could say that the Scandinavian languages (Finnish excluded) are based on Icelandic. Many, many years ago, an older form of Icelandic (better known as Old Norse) was spoken by Scandinavians. Students in Iceland read old sagas and poems written in Old Norse, and the only difference is spelling (k was used a lot more back then, but now we've shifted to g. Example: Old Norse word for and: ok - Icelandic word for 'and': og) but the pronunciation remains the same. I hope you won't mind me posting some samples I found on Wikipedia: Old Norse manuscript, letter by letter: ÞgeiR blundr systor s egils v þar aþingino & hafði gengit hart at liþueizlo við þst. h bað egil & þa þstein coma ser t staðfesto ut þangat a myrar h bio aðr fyr suNan huit a fyr neþan blundz vatn Egill toc uel aþui. oc fysti þst at þr leti h þangat fa ra. Egill setti þorgeir blund niðr at ana brecko En stein fǫrði bustað siN ut yf lang á. & settiz niðr at leiro lǫk. En egill reið hei suðr anes ept þingit m flocc siN. & skilðoz þr feðgar m kęrleic Old Norse manuscript, normalized: Þorgeirr blundr, systursonr Egils, var þar á þinginu ok hafði gengit hart at liðveizlu við Þorstein. Hann bað Egil ok þá Þorstein koma sér til staðfestu út þangat á Mýrar; hann bjó áðr fyrir sunnan Hvítá, fyrir neðan Blundsvatn. Egill tók vel á því ok fýsti Þorstein, at þeir léti hann þangat fara. Egill setti Þorgeir blund niðr at Ánabrekku, en Steinarr fœrði bústað sinn út yfir Langá ok settisk niðr at Leirulæk. En Egill reið heim suðr á Nes eptir þingit með flokk sinn, ok skildusk þeir feðgar með kærleik. And the same text in modern Icelandic: Þorgeir blundur, systursonur Egils, var þar á þinginu og hafði gengið hart að liðveislu við Þorstein. Hann bað Egil og þá Þorstein að koma sér til staðfestu út þangað á Mýrar; hann bjó áður fyrir sunnan Hvítá, fyrir neðan Blundsvatn. Egill tók vel á því og fýsti Þorstein, að þeir létu hann þangað fara. Egill setti Þorgeir blund niður að Ánabrekku, en Steinar færði bústað sinn út yfir Langá og settist niður að Leirulæk. En Egill reið heim suður á Nes eftir þingið með flokk sinn, og skildust þeir feðgar með kærleik. Even if you don't understand what is written, the similarities should be obvious (even the letter by letter version makes sense to me, although the writer didn't spell it the way he probably should have! :) ) Eventually, the countries started forming their own languages, based on this one. They all evolved into slightly different directions, but the similarities are there. As a native speaker of both Icelandic and Swedish, I had no problems understanding Norwegians, but Danes proved to be a bit more challenging (but far from being impossible). Learning one of the Scandinavian languages has great benefits and if I had to pick one, I'd go with Swedish. Icelandic, although not exactly a Scandinavian language is an exciting choice, but it won't be very useful outside Iceland (due to the fact that its only spoken by about 320.000 people). Icelandic students learn English at an early age (around the age of ten), Danish starts around the age of eleven and usually at the age of 16, they have to pick French, German or Spanish. But if a tourist comes to Iceland, he's probably best off speaking English. :) Hope you found my post helpful. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Masked Avenger Triglot Senior Member Antarctica Joined 6134 days ago 145 posts - 151 votes Speaks: English, French*, Danish Studies: Finnish, Latin | Message 6 of 10 26 May 2009 at 1:22pm | IP Logged | ||
Yes, I approve of that. Take your English-speaking self to Finland, catch one of the natives who often speak better English and muddle your way through Swedish, the same language a majority of Finns are forced to learn in school. They'll love you for that. :) 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| cordelia0507 Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5838 days ago 1473 posts - 2176 votes Speaks: Swedish* Studies: German, Russian | Message 7 of 10 26 May 2009 at 3:15pm | IP Logged | ||
I see you are up to date on the language politics of Finland on "Antarctica", lol! For the record, my Swedish is not muddled, I am a native speaker from Stockholm. Let me assure you that the compulsory Swedish issue is Finland's internal matter. Their own government is passing the laws on what languages are compulsory in Finnish schools. Certainly nobody from Sweden if that's what you are implying. When Swedes and Finns communicate they choose either English or Swedish depending on what both parties can speak the best. It tends to be Swedish, but not always. Well-educated Finnish speakers tend to speak good Swedish and rightfully take pride in it - it is incredibly impressive. Why then switch to English? I (and most other Swedes) have been to Finland many times and am familiar with the language situation there. All Swedes are happy to take the cues from the Finns as to what language they prefer to speak (unless they are extremely drunk just as they come off the ferry - but that goes both ways...) At any rate we don't need any lectures on it from Antarctica. Edited by cordelia0507 on 26 May 2009 at 6:13pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Masked Avenger Triglot Senior Member Antarctica Joined 6134 days ago 145 posts - 151 votes Speaks: English, French*, Danish Studies: Finnish, Latin | Message 8 of 10 26 May 2009 at 6:10pm | IP Logged | ||
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I think there was a misunderstanding on your part...
I took your advice and I applied it to the OP, a native English speaker. Someone with a heavy English accent trying to speak Swedish to native Finns is bound to be awkward. Förstått? 1 person has voted this message useful |
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