If Swedish SOUNDS like Norwegian and Danish LOOKS like Norwegian does it mean that Danish and Norwegian are..?

Question

..very different... in sound and on paper?

Would Norwegians and Danes be able to understand each other ( speaking or writing each other's language) or would they both have to change to Swedish to have any chance??

Answer 1

No no, not at all. Swedish can be very difficult to understand for Danes, Norwegian is quite easy. I have often been reading a short text (like on my box of cereal) and not realize that it is Norwegian, and not Danish. Norwegian looks like the phonetic spelling of Danish.

Swedes have told me, they too understand Norwegian better.

Norwegian came from Danish, and developed into it's own language. I think it got mixed a little bit with Swedish, so that is part of the reason it is different from Danish, and that Swedes understand them better.



I would say, Danish and Norwegian are brothers, Swedish is our cousin.

Answer 2

Bokmål (Norwegian) slowly evolved out of older Danish -- which was the language of church and culture during the 400 years of Danish hegemony in Norway. Thus written bokmål is very similar to written Danish.



The population however to speak its naturally evolved dialects. The mainland Scandinavian languages (current Norwegian and Swedish) are a speech continuum not two discreet languages. If you walk eastward from Bergen (in Norway) to Stockholm, the dialects change gradually (if you can avoid the 'learned' pronunciations that are learned in school). So if you hear Norwegian (especially mid-central) it sounds like Swedish.



The writing system evolved in separate traditions (to the point of using ä, ö and å in Swedish but æ, ø, and å in Norwegian.



See the link below for a pretty good summary of today's mainland language situation.



And as an aside, a lot of understanding each other has to do with exposure -- Norwegians have watched both Swedish and Danish TV for a long time. In addition, Norwegians grow up with a broader appreciation for differences in dialects.



I'd be happy to discuss the situation more completely if you are interested



PS -- your question looks like an answer I previously gave someone.

Answer 3

Swedish is like norwegian when you speak.

Danish and norwegian got a very similar writing, only a few words that's different.

Swedes have a harder time understanding danes, but we understand the most of it, and vice versa.

Icelandic is not like any of these languages, they stick more to their "old words". You can understand a few words or phrases probably, but not more, at least i feel that way as a swede.

I think that danish has a more "rounder" pronunciation, that reminds me more of German than swedish, norwegian and finnish that has more like.. .k & t sounds, while they've got g & d (for example)



my thoughts.. yes

Answer 4

Danish and Norwegian is quite similar.



Personally i understand Norwegian very well, while i have the a bit trouble with Swedish both written and spoken.

Answer 5

Nope, us Norwegians can pretty much understand both Swedes and Danes. Actually, there's research on this, and we understand Swedish and Danish better than Danes understand Swedes, and vice versa.



We can usually also read Danish and Swedish, though arguably it is easier to read Danish than Swedish, because Danish look a lot more like one of the written languages in Norway (Bokmål) than Swedish does.

Answer 6

I'm from Denmark and I can pretty much understand Norwegian and Swedish. I can most of all understand Norwegian, but I can also understand Swedish a little bit. And yeah, I can also read Swedish and Norwegian...



And I know why we can understand each other: that is because Denmark, Norway and Sweden once were one big country.

Answer 7

I would agree with zarn abit, my understanding is all the scandanavian languages are very similar,

Danish being the simplest and Icelandic one the hard ones,

Even go too say that Dutch and German speakers can understand at least 80-90% of the Scandinavian languages!

There are words in Dutch that are exactly the same in Norweign,Danish,Icelandic and Swedish.

for example in dutch the word 'weet" means knowing is the same in Icelandic.

Swedish has alot of words similar to german and the old gothic, gaulish tounges.

Icelandic is similar to Norweign and Old Norse.

Icelandic is one of the oldest scandinavian tounges and hasnt changed since the vikings,

So to your answer I agree that yes these different languages can understand each other.

or at least get the gist!

Answer 8

Not quite the truth. Norwegians, Danes and Swedes only THINK they understand each other.

Broad Geordie can sound exactly like Danish, and mean the same thing.

e.g. " Ahm gannin yam" = I'm going home

Answer 9

No everyone can use there own language here and be understood.