# Language spoken in Norway **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 18, 2006, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/language-spoken-in-norway/369258 "2006-08-18T18:04:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![slaphead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9bcb4/32.png) [@slaphead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slaphead)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2006, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/language-spoken-in-norway/369258/21 "2006-08-20T13:40:21Z")
[QUOTE=Priceguy] But in general terms, yes, Swedish, Danish and Norwegian are mutually intelligible, if we make the effort. [/QUOTE] Heh. Or unintelligible, if you decide to be obstructive. 😛 The relationship between the various Nordic countries is a bit like the England/Scotland/Wales thing (with Finland substituting for Ireland). They all spend a fair amount of time being snide about each other’s accents, habits, landscapes, diets and whatever, and are only united by mutual disdain of the other neighbours. Personally I find Swedish reasonably OK in both a written and spoken form, Danish looks like Norwegian with extremely wayward pronunciation, and sounds like someone gargling porridge. Mind you my norwegian is so rusty these days I sometimes struggle with that. [QUOTE=Spectre of Pithecanthropus] I’m hoping that one of our Scandinavian members will be here before long to elaborate on this, but I’d be surprised if the Nordic languages were mutually intelligible, without at least some basic lessons when going from your native language to one of the others. [/QUOTE] Sort of, for instance 20 is tjugon in Swedish, tjue in Norwegian (or tyve where I grew up). Milk is melk in Norwegian or mjolk in Swedish. If you didn’t know already you would figure it out from context pretty quickly, but as has already been pointed out most people have that level of exposure from TV, radio and meeting people from over the border. Once you get out in six-finger country though, all bets are off and you sometimes have to resort to hand signals. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Dunderman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecb155/32.png) [@Dunderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dunderman)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2006, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/language-spoken-in-norway/369258/22 "2006-08-20T14:24:09Z")
Actually “tjugo” and “mjölk”. Just doing my bit. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Jones](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/96bed5/32.png) [@Cat\_Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Jones)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2006, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/language-spoken-in-norway/369258/23 "2006-08-20T14:31:17Z")
[hijack]I always heard the “throat disease” joke said by Germans about Dutch![/hijack] ---
**Author:** ![Dunderman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecb155/32.png) [@Dunderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dunderman)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2006, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/language-spoken-in-norway/369258/24 "2006-08-20T14:41:29Z")
[QUOTE=Cat Jones] [hijack]I always heard the “throat disease” joke said by Germans about Dutch![/hijack] [/QUOTE] And by the Spanish about Basque. And by almost everyone about Welsh. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Jones](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/96bed5/32.png) [@Cat\_Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Jones)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2006, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/language-spoken-in-norway/369258/25 "2006-08-20T14:51:03Z")
[QUOTE=Priceguy] And by the Spanish about Basque. And by almost everyone about Welsh. [/QUOTE] Nooo! How dare they ? ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2006, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/language-spoken-in-norway/369258/26 "2006-08-20T17:53:49Z")
[QUOTE=Priceguy] But in general terms, yes, Swedish, Danish and Norwegian are mutually intelligible, if we make the effort. [/QUOTE] > [@slpahead](#): > > Heh. Or unintelligible, if you decide to be obstructive. Ladies and Gentlemen: I supmit we have the answer contained in those two posts! ---
**Author:** ![rekkah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ee59a6/32.png) [@rekkah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rekkah)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2006, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/language-spoken-in-norway/369258/27 "2006-08-20T20:17:06Z")
I’d like to point out this thread: [Does anyone else need subtitles for English movies](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=368612). I suspect it describes a similar problem - some American speakers of English can have trouble understanding British speakers of English (especially when on TV rather than face-to-face). Likewise, even within Britain some people find particularly strong regional accents difficult to understand. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2006, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/language-spoken-in-norway/369258/28 "2006-08-21T13:05:45Z")
[QUOTE=naita] Danes and Swedes do get radio and government jobs, and although they might speak Danwegian or Svorsk\* and be understood by most people, there are always those who’re not all that good at understanding non-standard spoken language. [/QUOTE] They’d speak Danwegian or Svorsk, as you put it, even while performing their official duties? They wouldn’t be required to speak proper Bokmal or Nynorsk (or the local dialect) while speaking on the radio or otherwise dealing with the public? ---
**Author:** ![slaphead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9bcb4/32.png) [@slaphead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slaphead)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2006, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/language-spoken-in-norway/369258/29 "2006-08-21T13:13:12Z")
[QUOTE=rekkah] Likewise, even within Britain some people find particularly strong regional accents difficult to understand. [/QUOTE] Yeah, for whatever reason some people find accents easy, others struggle really badly. Some bloke with a monster geordie accent stopped me in Trafalgar square once to ask for directions. I sent him off to wherever he needed to go and the person I was with said “I didn’t know you spoke German”. 😃 [QUOTE=Priceguy] Actually “tjugo” and “mjölk”. Just doing my bit. [/QUOTE] :smack: Ah well, it is better to try and fail and all that
 [QUOTE=acsenray] They wouldn’t be required to speak proper Bokmal or Nynorsk (or the local dialect) while speaking on the radio or otherwise dealing with the public? [/QUOTE] I think it used to be the case that you had to stick closely to ‘official’ useage, especially with regards to the whole Nynorsk/Bokmal thing, but nowadays they’ve slackened off on the Language Police. In much the same way the BBC is happy to make anyone who can string a sentence together a prime-time presenter, whereas they used to insist on Received Pronunciation. I guess it’s the same in the US. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2006, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/language-spoken-in-norway/369258/30 "2006-08-21T13:24:50Z")
[QUOTE=slaphead] I think it used to be the case that you had to stick closely to ‘official’ useage, especially with regards to the whole Nynorsk/Bokmal thing, but nowadays they’ve slackened off on the Language Police. In much the same way the BBC is happy to make anyone who can string a sentence together a prime-time presenter, whereas they used to insist on Received Pronunciation. I guess it’s the same in the US. [/QUOTE] In both the United Kingdom and the United States, restrictions on what _accent_ you use has loosened, but you would still be required to use standard language as a broadcaster, especially of something like a government weather service, certainly not a language that any member of the English-speaking public could claim to not understand. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2006, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/language-spoken-in-norway/369258/31 "2006-08-21T14:11:29Z")
I’d love to know what it _feels like_ to have a language that is close enough to other languages as to be partially intelligible; I can’t help thinking that the _accent_ analogy is going to be inaccurate, because accents typically change the shape of nearly every word, but not so much of the grammar. ---
**Author:** ![naita](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naita/32/5862_2.png) [@naita](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/naita)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2006, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/language-spoken-in-norway/369258/32 "2006-08-21T14:49:33Z")
[QUOTE=acsenray] They’d speak Danwegian or Svorsk, as you put it, even while performing their official duties? They wouldn’t be required to speak proper Bokmal or Nynorsk (or the local dialect) while speaking on the radio or otherwise dealing with the public? [/QUOTE] Well, with languages that are so close it’s very hard to get it completely right. Takes slaphead’s examples for instance. “Tjue” and “melk” is standard bokmĂ„l, but, “tjuge” is common in dialects, and “mjĂžlk” is not only standard in nynorsk, it’s a standard “side form” in bokmĂ„l. There are lots of examples that are actually different (Swedish â€œĂ¶rngott” = pillowcase, Norwegian “putevar” = pillowcase), and some that can cause serious confusion (Danish “mĂ„â€ = may, Norwegian “mĂ„â€ = must). But as long as a Dane or Swede is aware of such words, and makes an effort to use words and enunciation understandable to Norwegians, there’s little extra benefit from the comparatively difficult effort to weed out your native 
 language melody, or words that are just slightly different but mean the same, or words that exist in many dialects or
 But it’s not like there are lots and lots of Swedes and Danes in the radio, just that you wouldn’t be totally surprised if you heard one, and most people would have no problem understanding him or her. ---
**Author:** ![Ximenean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/aca169/32.png) [@Ximenean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ximenean)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2006, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/language-spoken-in-norway/369258/33 "2006-08-21T16:40:01Z")
[QUOTE=Mangetout] I’d love to know what it _feels like_ to have a language that is close enough to other languages as to be partially intelligible; I can’t help thinking that the _accent_ analogy is going to be inaccurate, because accents typically change the shape of nearly every word, but not so much of the grammar. [/QUOTE] Maybe it’s like an English person listening to someone speaking broad Scots? You can tell they’re speaking something closely related to English, and get the gist of what they’re saying, but there are grammatical differences in addition to differences in vocabulary and pronunciation. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2006, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/language-spoken-in-norway/369258/34 "2006-08-21T17:08:11Z")
I’m harbouring a wish that one of our gracious Scandinavian contributors will get the opportunity to watch this movie and explain precisely what the situation is. ---
**Author:** ![naita](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naita/32/5862_2.png) [@naita](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/naita)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2006, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/language-spoken-in-norway/369258/35 "2006-08-21T21:06:45Z")
[QUOTE=acsenray] I caught a bit of the movie [Monsterthursday](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0399365/) on T.V. It’s set in Norway, and a guy is trying to learn how to surf. At first, they can’t figure out when to go to the beach (for the best waves), so they stop in at some weather bureau. At the weather bureau, they ask about waves and at first they are told to listen to the wave report on the radio. Their reply is “We don’t understand that.” And then someone shows them a map with colored bars indicating the height of waves. That threw me for a loop. Why wouldn’t they understand the wave report? Is it too complicated or technical? How would it be very different from what they were told directly in relation to the map? These guys seemed to be fairly educated and well off – at least not illiterate or sub-literate. What would it take for them to simply not understand a government broadcast? Then one of the guys starts dating the girl at the weather bureau and he’s telling his friend about it. He says that it was difficult to talk to her because “I can’t understand her Danish” or something to that effect. So, I think, maybe they didn’t understand the wave report because it’s also in Danish. But that’s even more confusing So, what’s the deal here? Official government radio reports in Norway are given in Danish, a language that common people (evidently) don’t understand well? And government employees speak Danish instead of Norwegian? What gives? [/QUOTE] After acsenray’s nice request that someone Scandinavian see the movie I went down to 7-11 and rented the DVD. By the way acsenray, you owe me $8. The guys go to a weather bureau, that doesn’t actually exist\*, and told to speak to an intern. The intern is Sara, played by Danish actress Iben Hjejle. She speaks Danish throughout the movie, nice and enunciated Danish, but definitelly Danish. When the guys explain they want to know when there will be waves, she asks them to listen to the radio, specifially the weather report for the North Sea. They don’t understand that, which is perfectly understandable, cause neither do I. The North Sea weather has a lot of talk about wave heights and wind, but it’s related to the fishing banks and areas of the ocean, such as the Dogger bank and “Jutish reef”. I definitelly wouldn’t have any idea how this translated to waves and wave heights at any specific part of the Norwegian coast. So that’s one question answered. Speaking regular Danish as Sara does she would not get a speaking job in broadcasting, but she’s an intern for a meteorological company, not someone who’d be on radio or TV. Sara (Iben Hjelje) and Skip (Kim Bodnia), who teaches the main character (Even) surfing, speak Danish throughout the movie. They’re not subtitled in any way for the Norwegian audience, and the characters seem not to have a problem with understanding them. And neither did I, or at least it wasn’t significantly harder than understanding anyone else. The exception is when Even and his buddy Bjþrklund are driving to the beach and talking about Sara. The conversation goes thus: Bjþrklund: She’s in love with me, Even. Even: Did she say that? Bjþrklund: No. Well not in so many words, but it’s a bit hard to understand what she’s saying, her being Danish and all. Since she (tiny spoiler alert :D) _isn’t_ in love with him, he’s obviously just talking nonsense trying to justify his own perception of her feelings. Additional fact: Most of the Norwegian characters speak the dialect of South Western Norway where the movie takes place. It’s my least favourite Norwegian dialect, for no good reason. Just chauvinism. 😃 \*Arriving at the weather bureau they are met by Siri Kalvig who founded and leads Storm Weather Center, Norway’s “other” meteorology institution, the “real” one being the government funded Norwegian Institute of Meteorology. ---
**Author:** ![naita](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naita/32/5862_2.png) [@naita](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/naita)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2006, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/language-spoken-in-norway/369258/36 "2006-08-21T21:22:07Z")
Sheesh. I forgot the essense of that footnote. The point was the Storm Weather Center is in Bergen, which would be a long drive for those guys to get some weather info. Also here are the fishing areas that Norwegian Radio reports the weather for: [http://met.no/kyst\_og\_hav/fiskefelt1a.html](http://met.no/kyst_og_hav/fiskefelt1a.html) And here are some of those, and some different ones, from the BBC shipping forecast: > **[Shipping Forecast](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shipping_Forecast)** > > The Shipping Forecast is a BBC Radio broadcast of weather reports and forecasts for the seas around the British Isles. It is produced by the Met Office and broadcast by BBC Radio 4 on behalf of the Maritime and Coastguard Agency. The forecast dates back over 150 years. There are currently four broadcasts per day at the following (UK local) times: 00:48, 05:20, 12:01, and 17:54. > In the forecast, the waters around the British Isles are divided into 31 sea areas, also known as weather areas. The... ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2006, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/language-spoken-in-norway/369258/37 "2006-08-21T21:25:07Z")
**Naita** , you are the coolest ever. Will you take a check for the $8? (I take it that means you didn’t really like the movie.) So, in answer to my questions: 1. They can’t understand the wave report because it’s too technical and full of jargon. 2. When Bjþrklund says Sara’s Danish is hard to understand, he’s just bullshitting. In essence, None of this has to do with the complicated linguistic situation in Scandinavia and so I have been chasing a red herring. Next question: Do they have red herrings in Norway? ---
**Author:** ![Dunderman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecb155/32.png) [@Dunderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dunderman)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2006, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/language-spoken-in-norway/369258/38 "2006-08-21T22:45:31Z")
[QUOTE=acsenray] Do they have red herrings in Norway? [/QUOTE] Yes. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2006, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/language-spoken-in-norway/369258/39 "2006-08-22T01:27:34Z")
[QUOTE=naita] and some that can cause serious confusion (Danish “mĂ„â€ = may, Norwegian “mĂ„â€ = must). [/QUOTE] Maybe the analogy with estuary English and broad Scots is particularly apt here, if _mĂ„_ is cognate to English _may_ and Scots _maun_. The same semantic split you noted is found there, as I learned from reading [Thomas the Rhymer](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_the_Rhymer)– “That is the road to fair Elfland where thou and I this night maun gae.” (‘must go’) So as far as this word goes, English takes after Danish more while Scots takes after Norwegian more–which isn’t at all surprising given the patterns of Norse colonization in the British Isles. England had the Danelaw while Scotland had Norn. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2006, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/language-spoken-in-norway/369258/40 "2006-08-22T01:34:45Z")
Is there a dialect continuum between Norway and Sweden? I’m assuming Denmark wouldnt be part of that continuum due to the water crossing involved, but maybe I’m wrong about that
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