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.
Swedish and Norwegian is 2 of the most similar official languages in the world, both in written and spoken form, along with Czech-Slovakian, Serbian-Croatian, Macedonian-Bulgarian and Turkish-Azeri etc. Swedish and Norwegian are mutually intelligible and are indeed very similar, but native speakers can of course notice the difference, kind of like a distinct dialect. Infact there is archaic and complicated Swedish dialects that are alot more different from Standard Swedish than Standard (south-east) Norwegian is. Conversations between Swedes and Norwegians are almost always in their respective languages.
Danish is also similar to these 2, but easily distinct since they have a completely different pronounciation that reminds more of German and Dutch, even if the words are mostly the same as in Swedish/Norwegian. Even many Danes often mistakes Norwegians for Swedes, and so does the Germans.
So here is a test, do you hear any difference between Swedish and Norwegian? The question is of course mostly to those who are not familiar with these languages.
When I watched the movie "Insomnia", I thought it was pretty easy to tell when they were speaking Swedish and Norwegian, even though I do not understand either language. To me, Norwegian sounds more choppy and guttural.
When I watched the movie "Insomnia", I thought it was pretty easy to tell when they were speaking Swedish and Norwegian, even though I do not understand either language. To me, Norwegian sounds more choppy and guttural.
Yes, Swedish is more melodic.
Insomnia is actually a good Norwegian movie. One of the few I like.
And there is of course Swedish dialects that are a whole lot closer to Standard south-east Norwegian than Standard Swedish is. The dialects in south-west Sweden (in particular Bohuslän and Värmland) sounds alot like Norwegian, I can't find many videos of true Bohuslandish dialect, but here is one:
And in my opinion Danish spoken by Faroese people (who speaks Danish as second language, but WITHOUT the guttural Danish pronounciation) sounds even more like Standard Swedish than Standard south-east Norwegian does, just listen to this interview with Faroese singer Eivør in Danish with Faroese accent:
Will you stop going on about "standard south-east Norwegian"?? There is no parallel to "BBC English" in Norway.
I know that in Norway there is no official standard dialect, unlike in Sweden and Denmark where there is Standard Swedish (rikssvenska) and Standard Danish (rigsdansk). Therefore I rather used the term "standard south-eastern Norwegian" which is the one most associated with Norway in the rest of Scandinavia and is very commonly spoken on Norwegian TV and news, at least on NRK. And I think its also the one taught to foreign students, or am I wrong? I agree that using the word "standard" might be still a bit wrong though, since there is no official "Standard Norwegian".
Norway is a much more dialect-friendly country than Sweden and Denmark, in these 2 countries the official standard version of the national language is the norm, even when I watch the local Blekinge news (Blekingenytt) on SVT it's in Standard Swedish, even though we in Blekinge have our own dialects (västblekinska and östblekinska). And you can forget about ever hearing Sønderjysk on Danish TV.
I am also well aware of that there is Norwegian dialects that are alot more guttural than the one in the south-east, like Bergensk which reminds me of Danish and South-Swedish dialects, but a whole lot easier to understand than Danish of course.
Some dialects are similar to those on the Swedish side of the border, but not similar to Standard Swedish. Trøndersk is similar to Jamska (spoken in Jämtland and Härjdedalen), but Trøndersk and Jamska are not similar at all to Standard Swedish. Here is Jamska by the way: Liselotte Bergner - Jämtlandssången på jamska - YouTube
Last edited by Helsingborgaren; 12-27-2013 at 03:49 PM..
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.
I like it.
