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Are Danish Norwegian and Swedish the same language?
Danish, Norwegian (including Bokmål, the most common standard form of written Norwegian, and Nynorsk) and Swedish are all descended from Old Norse, the common ancestor of all North Germanic languages spoken today. Thus, they are closely related, and largely mutually intelligible.
Are Swedish and Danish dialects?
Danish is a Germanic language of the North Germanic branch. Other names for this group are the Nordic or Scandinavian languages. Along with Swedish, Danish descends from the Eastern dialects of the Old Norse language; Danish and Swedish are also classified as East Scandinavian or East Nordic languages.
Are Norwegian and Swedish dialects?
They are dialects for all purposes but national borders. They’re mutually comprehensible and grammatically identical. Vocabulary has diverged a bit, as will happen over time. Pronunciation has as well, particularly in Danish, which can be difficult to understand spoken for Swedes and Norwegians.
How different are Swedish Danish and Norwegian?
Danish and Norwegian are very similar, or indeed almost identical when it comes to vocabulary, but they sound very different from one another. Norwegian and Swedish are closer in terms of pronunciation, but the words differ. Danish, the young rebel, smokes indoors and no one “gets” her.
Is Swedish a Germanic language?
Swedish, with Danish, Norwegian and old Norwegian (the language of Northern Norway and Iceland) belongs to the North Germanic subgroup of the Indo-European languages. The languages are very similar and are seen as dialects flowing into one another (this is also the case along borders).
What are the similarities between Danish and Norwegian and Swedish?
Danish, Norwegian and Swedish are originally Germanic languages and therefore have the same basis. Many words are similar, but the pronunciation is different per country. Danish is the most complicated in that respect: the last half of a word is swallowed. One of the first sentences I learned was “My name is John”.
Generally, speakers of the three largest Scandinavian languages (Danish, Norwegian and Swedish) can read and speak each other’s languages without great difficulty. This is especially true of Danish and Norwegian.
Can Danish speakers understand Norwegian?
Danish speakers generally do not understand Norwegian as well as the extremely similar written norms would lead one to expect. Many Norwegians – especially in northern and western Norway – also have problems understanding Danish.