Scandinavian Languages: Discover Its History and Origin

Which term is correct? ‘Scandinavian languages’ or ‘Nordic languages’? Do you believe translation costs for hiring a Scandinavian language translator are particularly high? People often have such queries. So get a coffee and read this article to clear all your queries. 

Brief On Scandinavian Languages

The Scandinavian languages are excellent choices for language learning. They all have basic grammatical patterns; for instance, verbs do not alter their form within a particular tense. The relatively simple syntax allows students to advance quickly, develop fluency, and transfer word knowledge from English. Besides, you can get some knowledge of Danish Translations.

Speakers Of Scandinavian Languages

Denmark, Sweden, and Norway are the primary countries whose citizens speak Scandinavian languages. According to a study, a total of 21.5 million individuals speak Scandinavian languages, including 5.8 million Danish speakers, 10.3 million Swedish speakers, and 5.4 million Norwegian speakers.

Meanwhile, Finland’s second official language is Swedish. Danish is frequently spoken in northern Germany and is the second national language in Greenland and the Faroe Islands.

How Similar Are the Scandinavian Languages?

History Of Scandinavian Languages

In the 13th century, they were still called a single language, the ‘Danish Tongue’. This continued through the 16th century, with many Danes and Swedes still referring to North Germanic as a single language – the first Danish translation of the Bible does so, as does Historia de Gentibus Septentrionalibus, the ‘Description of the Northern Peoples’, Olaus Magnus’s seminal work on Scandinavian culture and customs from 1555.

Various dialects developed over this time. North Germanic was spoken from Russia to Iceland, and a diversion was inevitable, with travel restricted to ships, horses, and walking. Three significant dialects have been recorded and classified: Old West Norse, an umbrella dialect covering Old Norwegian and Old Icelandic, also spoken in Ireland, Scotland, and Normandy; Old East Norse, spoken in Denmark, Sweden, Russia, and England; and Old Gutnish spoken in Gotland and the eastern reaches of Norwegian settlements in Russia.

By 1600, as borders stabilised and the nation-states of the North had begun to come together, a different classification system emerged: Insular languages (Icelandic and Faroese) and Continental (Norwegian, Danish, and Swedish). This was helped by the unification of Norway and Denmark between 1536 and 1814, which saw significant Danish influence exerted on Norwegian up to and including the emergence of Bokmål, the standard written form of Norwegian that owes a good deal to Danish.

As the primary language of the Reformation in Scandinavia, Bokmål emerged during the union between the two countries and displaced written Norwegian. Gradually, Bokmål, known as ‘Educated Daily Speech’, became the language of the Norwegian urban elite by 1814 when the Dano-Norwegian union separated.

This political union and a later one with Sweden and Bokmål helped keep the Scandinavian languages similar to this day. Another Norwegian written language, Riksmål, developed in 1899 as a ‘national language’ separate from Danish, but until now, the Norwegian establishment has stuck mainly with Bokmål-derived dialects.

Are Scandinavian Languages And Nordic Languages the Same?

Swedish, Norwegian, and Finnish are most likely the Scandinavian languages that come to mind when asked to identify them. This is probably because these three nations are on the Scandinavian Peninsula.

The Nordic languages, in contrast, include Icelandic, Faroese, Finnish, and Greenlandic, in addition to the Scandinavian languages already listed. The latter is also spoken in the Nordic area. So, yes, Scandinavian languages are also known as Nordic languages. Meanwhile, you can discover more about UK translations. 

Is Finnish A Language From Scandinavia?

Finnish is not a Scandinavian language, despite Finland occupying a northwestern part of the Scandinavian Peninsula. It is so because Finnish closely relates to Estonian while belonging to a different language family, namely the Finno-Ugric.

Which Scandinavian Language Should You Learn?

The most widely spoken Nordic and Scandinavian language on the list is Swedish. In nations like Sweden, Finland, Estonia, Ukraine, and other Nordic countries like Denmark and Norway, it is spoken by about 10.5 million people. So you can think about learning Swedish.

Final Words

We think of Danish, Norwegian, and Swedish when we discuss Scandinavian languages. These languages share a common linguistic and geographic past. In the case of Norway and Denmark, their respective languages are more closely connected due to one being invaded by the other.

Next post A History of the Danish Language