Scandinavian languages are the group of languages that are spoken in Northern Europe. Generally, Scandinavian relates to only Norway and Sweden because of the Scandinavian Peninsula. However, it also relates to Finland and Denmark. People living in this area also speak Germanic languages including Swedish, Danish, and Norwegian.
The two terms Scandinavian and Germanic represent the sub-category of the Germanic language. The languages present in this sub-category are Danish. People living in Denmark and Faroe Islands, the Norwegian region, Icelandic and Greenland speak these languages.
There is a variation in Scandinavian languages. Because of this reason, people living in Sweden, Denmark, and Norway find great difficulty in communicating with each other. To mitigate the communication barrier, they can take the assistance of professional translation services.
Are the Cohesiveness among Scandinavian Countries Making Scandinavian Languages Mutually Intelligible or not?
The cohesiveness among Scandinavia countries makes the region one community. Although languages spoken in Scandinavian countries belong to the same family group as Dutch, English, and German. These Scandinavian languages developed together and influenced each other for centuries. The Scandinavian languages share many common features with West Germanic languages.
The old Norse language have a great impact on these languages from the time of their evolution in the Middle Ages. Therefore, these languages started being different from Germanic languages.
At that time, the people speaking different languages were unable to understand each other and many different dialects are considered to be part of one single language. Although the Scandinavian languages retain many original things, the two languages Danish and Swedish came from different literary and cultural backgrounds since 16c.
The difference between them was like the difference between Lowland Scots and Standard English. The linguistic situation in Norway is more complicated than in Scotland.
Languages emerge from one culture and many cultures come together, which resulted in the growth of other languages. In this way, a language tree is built with many branches. These branches are different dialects that blossom from the tree.
Many people consider that Danish, Swedish and Norwegian are different. This is because each of these countries is fiercely proud of its culture and language.
Whenever you find Finnish and Danish people sitting together, they can understand each other with some complicated questions that state which language ends and which language starts. To understand these questions, they should go for professional Finnish translation services and professional Danish translation services.
Similarities Among Scandinavian Languages
Some of the Scandinavian languages like Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, and Icelandic are mutually intelligible to some extent. In the 13th century, the Danes and Swedes as a North Germanic language were considered the single language. Different dialects came into existence with time.
People living in Russia to Iceland spoke North Germanic languages. People living in Ireland and Scotland speak old West Norse languages that cover the old Norwegian and old Icelandic languages.
In addition, people living in Sweden, Russia, England, and Denmark speak Old East Norse and people living in Gotland speak Old Gutnish. This language also assisted the Norwegian people that are settled in Russia.
During 1600, borders got recognition and the Northern side nations started to come together which resulted in the emergence of Insular languages like Icelandic and Faroese and continental languages like Danish, Norwegian, and Swedish.
These languages were supported by the collaboration of Denmark and Norway between the period from 1536 and 1814. It showed the significant Danish impact on the Norwegian language that gave rise to the new written form of the Norwegian language which is known as Bokmål containing a good amount of Danish.
To know how much Danish is contributing to this language, you can take the assistance of Danish translation services. It is the primary language of the reformation between the two countries. It replaced the written Norwegian and Bokmal became the language of Norwegian elite people.
It was named Educated Daily Speech in 1814. That political union helped in keeping the Scandinavian languages similar. The other Norwegian language that was formed is Riksmal which was developed in 1899. It is known as a national language but it is separate from Danish. The Norwegian establishment is still using derivatives of Bokmal dialects.
Is the Finnish Language Different?
The Finnish language is a different language. Therefore, it is considered an entirely separate linguistic tongue. When we consider its linguistic development, we observe, that it is from the Germanic branch of Indo-European languages that are spoken in the Middle East, Northern Africa, and Northern Asia.
Another important thing about the Finnish language is that it is from the different Uralic and Finno-Ugric branch that also includes Hungarian. It is astonishing to know how Norwegian and Finnish are entirely different if compared to other Scandinavian languages.
Wrapping Up
The differences and similarities in the language are because of regional and cultural intricacies. Due to the diverse geographic location of Scandinavia, many distinct dialects of a single language have developed.
Norwegian and Swedes have many common things in language. If you want to know the differences and similarities of the Finnish language with other languages, do take the assistance of Finnish translation services.
