Norwegian, Swedish and Danish (living, work, Finnish, Scandinavians)
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Is it true that those 3 languages are very similar? Can they understand each other (a Norwegian can understand Swedish?), it looks like Norwegian is understand well by Swedish and danish, can a norwgian speaker read maps in Swedish, read books in swedish?
Many Swedes (not the ones living in Norway) have a hard time understanding Norwegian. I have experienced that many times, especially from my colleagues in Sweden. I got a similar problem with spoken Danish.
A Dane understands everything I'm saying if I'm speaking Swedish, but I don't understand a thing he's saying. Norwegian is comprehensible if they speak clearly and slow. Not good at reading Norwegian, though.
Is it true that those 3 languages are very similar? Can they understand each other (a Norwegian can understand Swedish?), it looks like Norwegian is understand well by Swedish and danish, can a norwgian speaker read maps in Swedish, read books in swedish?
I speak Norwegian to Swedes and Danes, and they speak their languages back to me. It works, although there might be a confusing word from time to time. The basics of the three languages are very similar, so you don't start from scratch if you move to any of the other countries within Scandinavia. You will adapt quickly.
Reading is no problem. I can easily read Danish and Swedish books and I have never taken classes in any of these languages. I guess this goes for most Norwegians at least.
Norwegian is the most versatile of the three. It's more similar to Sweden than Danish is in their spoken forms, and it's only a little different from Danish in their written forms.
I have never understood danish. I know more finnish than danish.
Norwegian is much easier.
Using of translator helps a lot...Six-pack translator helps at first hand but if you need to understand danish perfectly, you need to use 2 x six-pack translator
There was a survey made back in the 1970s about how much Scandinavians understood eachother when communicating with their own languages. Here is an illustration (Lytter = Listener)
This survey was made on 19 year olds from Oslo, Copenhagen and Stockholm. Swedes have huge problems with Danish, but there is a factor here since Stockholm is so far away from both Norway and Denmark. Malmö would probably be a better city to use.
It still pretty much sums up what I've experienced.
1. Norwegians understand Swedish a bit better than Swedes understand Norwegian.
2. Norwegians and Danes understand eachother about equally well.
3. Danes understand Swedish better than Swedes understand Danish, but there is a great deal getting lost in communication.
Using of translator helps a lot...Six-pack translator helps at first hand but if you need to understand danish perfectly, you need to use 2 x six-pack translator
I live so far away from Denmark I will probably never need to understand it, but I´ll take the translator anyway.
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