Interesting Facts about Scandinavian Languages

 

The World Happiness Report (WHR) recently released its 2022 ranking. One of the things we notice from this world ranking of happiness, is that the 3 leading countries are Nordic: Finland (1), Denmark (2) and Iceland (3). if we expand this list to the 10 leading countries of this ranking we will find that Sweden was ranked 7^th and Norway as 8^th. It means that all 5 independent Nordic countries are among the 10 best ranked countries of WHR.

Does this mean that we need to learn how to speak a Nordic language in order to be more happy? I don’t have an answer to this question. But there is no doubt that Nordic countries are collectively the best ranked in terms of which countries are the happy ones. I present here some interesting facts about Nordic languages.

1.- Nordic, Scandinavian: Are they the same?

Many people confuse the terms Nordic and Scandinavian. But they are not the same word, and this also affects languages. Politically there are 8 Nordic countries: Denmark, Iceland, Finland, Norway, Sweden, Faeroe Islands, Greenland and Åland. The first 5 are sovereign states, while Faeroe and Greenland are constituent countries in the Kingdom of Denmark and Åland is an autonomous region of Finland. But there are only 3 Scandinavian countries: Denmark, Norway and Sweden. 

Based on this explanation, there are only 3 Scandinavian languages: Danish, Swedish and Norwegian. But when we talk about Nordic languages, alongside with the Scandinavian languages, we need to include Icelandic, Faeroese, Finnish, Greenlandic, Saami and other languages. 

But the meanings of those terms change with the language too. What I explained is valid for English and Scandinavian languages ( I checked sources in Swedish). But if you read French or Spanish sources, both words are synonym. You can consult Larousse dictionary and the Dictionary of the Royal Academy of Spanish language. 

Not all Nordic languages belong to the same family. Danish, Norwegian, Swedish, Icelandic and Faeroese are Indo-European North Germanic languages. Finnish and Saami are Finno-Ugric languages and Greenlandic belongs to the Inuit branch of the Eskimo-Aleut language family. 

2.- Scandinavian languages: Mutually intelligible?

The standard versions of Danish, Swedish and Norwegian are mutually intelligible. For meetings of the Nordic Council, there is no interpretation service offered between those 3 languages. 

Intelligibility is not absolute. We need to consider factors such as level of education of those who participate in the conversation, dialects in use, experience.

Although Icelandic and Faeroese belong to the same branch, they are not intelligible with the Scandinavian languages. When Icelandic is used in the Nordic Council, interpretation services are offered. Usually Icelandic speakers can read Faeroese but do not understand it when it is spoken.

3.- If understanding problems persist, then use English!

It is not strange that English is spoken in meetings between representatives of different Nordic countries. Most of Nordic people can understand English better than other Nordic languages. People of those countries study English at school, watch a lot of movies in English, travel a lot, and as a final result, we have that in all Nordic countries (With the exception of Greenland), more than 92% of the population can speak and write in English. It is a Germanic language and has a lot of common roots with the Germanic languages spoken here. Knowing English is also a good start to immigrate to any of those places. Universities of those countries offer programs taught in English.

4.- Their own Alphabet

Before adopting the Latin alphabet, Scandinavia had its own script system: Runes, specifically Younger Futhark. Runes were actually used throughout Europe, but the Younger Furthak version is the runic script used to write Old Norse. Different versions appeared later in Norway, Sweden and Denmark. Here is an example of a Runic text in Old Norse. You can read more in Omniglot :

ᚠᛆᚦᛅᛦ ᚢᚭᛦ ᛋᚭᛘ ᛆᛋᛐ ᛁ ᚼᛁᛘᛚᚢᛘ

Faðer uor som ast i himlum, ... (Old Norse)

Our Father, who art in heaven, .... (English)

5.- Nordic Characters

Nordic languages have an interesting set of characters that are uncommon in other parts of the world where Latin script is used. They include the characters: Æ-æ, Ø-ø, Å-å, Ð-ð, Þ-þ. If you find one of those characters, I leave here a Pronunciation guide in IPA:

Character	Icelandic	Faroese	Danish	Norwegian	Swedish
Æ-æ	ai	ɛa/a/e:	ɛ/ ɛ:	æ/ɛ:	-
Ø-ø	-	ø	ø	ø	-
Å-å	-	-	ᴐ	ᴐ	o/ᴐ
Ð-ð	ð	No sound	-	-	-
Þ-þ	ɵ	-	-	-	-

6.- Which Norwegian?

There are 2 official forms of Norwegian: Bokmål and Nynorsk. Both are written variations of the language. Norwegians usually write in one of those variations but tend to speak in a dialect. Government should be able to serve in both languages. Norwegians learn both at school but then they chose which one they want to use in their daily lives. 

7.- Icelandic: Unchanged language

Among North Germanic languages, Icelandic is the closest one to Old Norse. In comparison to Scandinavian languages it has changed very little. It keeps many archaisms in its grammar. Students at schools in Iceland can read with almost no difficulties the old Norse Sagas in its original form.

It is believed that the isolation of Iceland contributed to maintain the language with little or no changes. But it is remarkable that Icelandic people generally refuse to incorporate new words to the language to name new inventions. We can see that in Icelandic they have words such as “ rafmagn “ for electricity (It literally means “Power of amber”), or “ útvarp “ for Radio. ( út = out and varp = projection).

8.- Icelandic: also the most uniform language.

Icelandic not only has been kept through the times with very little changes, but also has been kept almost unaltered among the different regions of Iceland. This means, there are no dialects of this language.

Learn this language is a very difficult task. But at least you will learn what people actually speak and write.

9.- Swedish and Danish: 2 Genders, but not Masc/Fem.

Originally, all Indo-European Nordic languages had 3 genders: masculine, feminine and neuter. This is still the case of Icelandic, Norwegian and Faroese.

Swedish and Danish instead, evolved into a 2 gender system, but not masculine or feminine like many other languages, but common and neuter, where common gender is a fusion of masculine and feminine. There is a theory explaining that gender feminine became so weak that basically those words joined the masculine class while neuter retained its character. At the end, there were no more differences between masculine and feminine and this new category became the common. 

10.- You can use numbers to swear

In Swedish, you can use certain numbers to express your frustration when something goes bad. You can Exclaim “Sjutton!” (Seventeen) which is used as euphemism for other words like “Satan” or “Skitt” (shit) which are much more rude. 

Other number used as euphemism is “Attans” (eighteen), for much less innocent words like “Fan” (devil). The idea of using numbers for swearing came from a time when use religious terms to swear was one of the worst things you could do. Numbers were already tied to swearing because it was a way to amplify it. Just leaving the number alone and people would know what you want to say. You can also use “Tusan!” (Old Swedish form for the number one thousand) as expressions like Hell or Damn are used in English.

11.- Weird Numeral System

Danish has a very particular way to count. This is evident when counting numbers over 20, and more interesting when counting numbers over 49.

Numbers between 1 and 20 are similar to their equivalent in English. From 21, numbers are said in inverse order than in English. Example, 23 is “treogtyve” (Three and Twenty). But counting above 49 can be really tricky as it is based on the vigesimal system. 60 is “tres” which is the short form of “tresindtyve” (3 times 20); 80 is “firs” (4 times 20). But 50 is “halvtreds” [(3 – 1/2) x 20]. 

But Danish apply this same system to tell the time: When you hear the phrase : “Klokken er halv seks om morgenen” you may understand that they say that it is half past six in the morning, but reality is that they just said it is 5:30 am.

12.- Multiple languages coexist

Different languages coexist in this area. In first place, we have 8 languages that have official status in any Nordic country or just in some areas. They are Danish (official in Denmark), Faeroese (Faeroe Islands), Icelandic (Iceland), Kalaallisut (or Greenlandic, official in Greenland), Norwegian (Norway), Sami languages (Official in some districts in Finland, Norway and Sweden), Suomi (Finland) and Swedish (Sweden, Finland and the Region of Åland). 

There are minority languages that have been present for centuries in the area. All Nordic countries (Except Iceland) have signed and ratified the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. Sweden recognizes as minority languages: Finnish, Lule Sami, Meänkieli, North Sami, South Sami, Romani and Yiddish. Norway recognizes: Kven, Lule Sami, North Sami, South Sami, Romanes and Romani. Finland recognizes: Inari Sami, Karelian, North Sami, Skolt Sami, Romani, Russian, Tatar and Yiddish, while provides official status to Swedish. Denmark recognizes German as minority language. Iceland does not have minority languages as per the Chart.

Regarding languages brought by immigrants, I leave this topic for another article.