Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Location: The western periphery of Terra Australis
24,544 posts, read 56,029,399 times
Reputation: 11862
Advertisements
Quote:
Originally Posted by belmont22
I disagree. I see Finland and Sweden's relationship being very much like England and Ireland, the difference being most Irish people today speak a distinct dialect of English and only a minority speak Irish to a great extent, while most Finns speak Finnish and only a minority speak Swedish.
Finland was actually part of Sweden for a long long time and if the Kalevala wasn't written I wouldn't be surprised if Finland was simply eastern Sweden today.
Yes but essentially it doesn't change the facts the Swedes are much closer to the Danes and Norwegians.
The fact remains that some of us feel closer to the finns, and more so the closer you get to the border.
I have never felt any connection with Denmark as it is too far away.
Interesting Wiki article and pretty much how I, as a Norwegian see it...and I am from the north-north and have 1/4 Kvæn/Sami ancestry. Scandinavia[a] is a historical cultural-linguistic region in Northern Europe characterized by a common ethno-cultural Germanic heritage and related languages that includes the three kingdoms of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. Modern Norway and Sweden proper[b] are situated on the Scandinavian Peninsula, whereas modern Denmark is situated on the Danish islands and Jutland. The term Scandinavia is usually used as a cultural term, but in English usage, it is occasionally confused with the purely geographical term Scandinavian Peninsula, which took its name from the cultural-linguistic concept.[1] The name Scandinavia historically referred vaguely to Scania. The terms Scandinavia and Scandinavian entered usage in the 18th century as terms for the three Scandinavian countries, their peoples and associated language and culture, being introduced by the early linguistic and cultural Scandinavist movement. Sometimes the term Scandinavia is also taken to include Iceland, the Faroe Islands, and Finland, on account of their historical association with the Scandinavian countries.[2] Such usage, however, may be considered inaccurate in the area itself, where the term Nordic countries instead refers to this broader group.[3]
The southern and by far most populous regions of Scandinavia have a temperate climate. Scandinavia extends to the north of the Arctic Circle, but has relatively mild weather for its latitude due to the Gulf Stream. Much of the Scandinavian mountains have an alpine tundra climate. There are many lakes and moraines, legacies of the last glacial period, which ended about ten millennia ago.
The Danish, Norwegian, and Swedish languages form a dialect continuum and are known as the Scandinavian languages—all of which are considered mutually intelligible with one another. Faroese and Icelandic, sometimes referred to as insular Scandinavian languages, are only intelligible with continental Scandinavian languages to a very limited extent. Finnish and Sami languages are related to each other, as well as to Hungarian, Estonian and several minority languages spoken in Western Russia, but are entirely unrelated to Swedish, Norwegian and Danish.[c] They do, however, include several words that have been adopted during the history from the neighboring languages, just as Swedish, spoken in Finland today, has borrowed from Finnish.
The vast majority of the human population of Scandinavia are Scandinavians, descended from several (North) Germanic tribes who originally inhabited the southern part of Scandinavia and what is now northern Germany, who spoke a Germanic language that evolved into Old Norse and who were known as Norsemen in the Early Middle Ages. The Vikings are popularly associated with Norse culture. The Icelanders and the Faroese are to a significant extent, but not exclusively, descended from peoples retroactively known as Scandinavians. The extreme north of Norway, Sweden and Finland, as well as the most North-Western part of Russia, is home to the region's original inhabitants, the today's minority of Sami, who originally inhabited a much larger area, before the expansion of the Scandinavians northward.
I lived in Sweden for some years and I can tell you with absolute certainty that they are NOTHING like Finland. The Finnish language is more like Russian (though there is a small pocket that speaks Swedish, the native Swedes can't really understand them, or claim not to). The Finnish culture is very different, people are different...they're just nothing alike.
Norway - well, Sweden considers Norway "Scandinavian Hillbillies". No Swede I met could understand Norwegian, but I was in Skane. Maybe in the far North, they can or try to understand each other better. But the North of Sweden and mid Sweden (Stockholm) can barely understand the southern Swedes at all. It's all very weird. Apparently, Skane Swedish is like West Virginia or Kentucky sounds to the rest of Americans. The Swedes I knew said Norwegians sounded like they had a mouth full of marbles. But Norwegians can understand Swedish, at least a little.
If I had to compare the two, I'd say Sweden is more like Norway, only because their social systems are similar. They are Parliamentary Socialists. If you grew up in Scandinavia, you'll think that your country is the best and that everyone else in the world is poor and has a bad life. If you are a foreigner that is living in Sweden anyway, you'll love it at first but then will start seeing the cracks and start feeling lonely because people are not friendly or outgoing. They like to drink a lot and the weather is dreary, it's depressing having it get dark at 3:00pm when the sun only just came up at 11:00am.
If you're young and single, you would probably like any of the Scandinavian countries because young people are usually liberal and healthy so you'd have little need for using healthcare and would like the seemingly open society (nudity, porn, drinking underage, wild teens & young adults, gay pride, not really any religion other than Islam) But if you're older, you'll feel lonely and resentful of co-workers not being very friendly and then the sticker shock when you only get 40% of your check.
I visit Sweden, Denmark and Norway frequently but I would not live there again.
No one in Sweden understands the scanian accent either.
I regret I didn´t learn finnish when I was younger though, but at least I can order a cup of coffee.
Haha! That explains why I did not really begin to understand/be understood until I moved to Södertälje.
I lived in Sweden for some years and I can tell you with absolute certainty that they are NOTHING like Finland. The Finnish language is more like Russian (though there is a small pocket that speaks Swedish, the native Swedes can't really understand them, or claim not to). The Finnish culture is very different, people are different...they're just nothing alike.
Complete horse manure. The Finnish language and culture has nothing to do with Russia. And as a Swedish speaking Finn myself, my Swedish language has been understood in Sweden, Denmark and Norway without any problems. As a matter of fact, I have difficulties to understand what they're saying except for Swedes.
If Finland and Sweden was one country for 700 years, it's complete idiocy to claim that the countries have nothing in common.
Your whole post is so filled with old boring stereotypes, I find it hard to believe you've actually lived in Sweden.
Norway - well, Sweden considers Norway "Scandinavian Hillbillies". No Swede I met could understand Norwegian, but I was in Skane. Maybe in the far North, they can or try to understand each other better. But the North of Sweden and mid Sweden (Stockholm) can barely understand the southern Swedes at all. It's all very weird. Apparently, Skane Swedish is like West Virginia or Kentucky sounds to the rest of Americans. The Swedes I knew said Norwegians sounded like they had a mouth full of marbles. But Norwegians can understand Swedish, at least a little.
B.S
most swedes (from south to north) can understand norwegian pretty well. danish, however, is a completly different story. and that stockholmers barley can understand southern swedes? plz. its just complete nonsense.
Finnish people had a big Swedish influence, however Swedes had little Finnish influence. Norway and Sweden are culturally very similar, Norway being like a "child" of Denmark and Sweden.
Fins on the contrary are originally a completely different culture, not even Western, with roots in Siberia. Of course they had strong Swedish influence, but they are still quite different from other Scandinavians. Moreover, they had some Russian influence which is exceptional for a Western European nation.
In Russia there are still Finnish villages, which had little Swedish or Scandinavian influence. These people are not Westerners by any standard.
I lived in Sweden for some years and I can tell you with absolute certainty that they are NOTHING like Finland. The Finnish language is more like Russian (though there is a small pocket that speaks Swedish, the native Swedes can't really understand them, or claim not to).
What???
Now that was funny))))
If Finnish language is completely different with Swedish, it doesn't mean automatically that it has got anything to do with Russian))))
Finnish people had a big Swedish influence, however Swedes had little Finnish influence. Norway and Sweden are culturally very similar, Norway being like a "child" of Denmark and Sweden.
Fins on the contrary are originally a completely different culture, not even Western, with roots in Siberia. Of course they had strong Swedish influence, but they are still quite different from other Scandinavians. Moreover, they had some Russian influence which is exceptional for a Western European nation.
In Russia there are still Finnish villages, which had little Swedish or Scandinavian influence. These people are not Westerners by any standard.
Who are these people with big Russian letters above them???
Mari? Udmurt? Chuvash???
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
That explains why I did not really begin to understand/be understood until I moved to Södertälje.
