Historically, many of the people of the Nordic countries were able to understand each other. Besides the islands, Faroese is also spoken by inhabitants of Denmark and Iceland. It is also known as Mean Kieli and MTI and Tornedalen.The Kven language is spoken by the people of Northern Norway. In fact, a Finnish-speaking person wouldn’t understand a word – written or spoken – of Icelandic or Danish. Danish, Norwegian and Swedish are very similar because Norway was ruled by Denmark from the 14Swedish is spoken by the most people amongst all the five Nordic languages – 10 million people.

Faroese is a Nordic language that was brought over by Norsemen that settled the islands. The Finno-Ugric category includes only Finnish. The language itself has a deep history and is intensely important to the preserving the culture and identity of the region. I know it's worth learning any language. Meänkieli is used in textbooks and in schools alongside Swedish. It most closely resembles Norwegian pronunciation.This Eskimo-Aleut language is spoken by 60,000 people throughout Greenland and Denmark. Swedish — Sweden’s national language and one of Finland’s national language — and Danish are written in a similar manner. Norway gained its independence in 1905, Finland in 1917 and Iceland in 1944. Well, not quite, but there’s no denying that the Scandinavian countries share a common history, culture, and heritage thanks to the Vikings.Nordic languages are made of two categories: North Germanic and Finno-Ugric. West Greenlandic is preferred as it is the main dialect used in schools throughout Greenland. It is similar to Norwegian, Danish, and Swedish with familiar words and grammatical structures. Let’s have a closer look! In other positions (e.g., when followed by a nasal sound plus a consonant) *o yielded u in all the languages: Proto-Germanic *dumbaz, Gothic dumbs, Old Norse dumbr, Old English, Old Frisian, and Old Saxon dumb, Old High German tumb ‘dumb In the South Schleswig area, Danish has been one of several official languages since 2015.Finnish is recognised as a minority language spoken in the Republic of Karelia, in north-west Russia.Nordic co-operation involves a certain degree of parallel language use between the three Scandinavian languages (Danish, Norwegian and Swedish) on one side, and English on the other.Danish, Norwegian and Swedish are the working languages of official Nordic co-operation. “Declaration on Nordic language policy” explains the status of the languages and for key areas of Nordic language policy. Wordminds linguists pride themselves on being fluent in all Nordic languages.Wordminds Translations Ltd. | Registered in England & Wales, Company No. These dates, however, are not absolute, since written Old Norse is found well into the 15th century. Along with Faroese, Greenlandic and Sámi, they are the languages that our societies and culture are based on. However, the fact that political co-operation is rooted in the mutual understanding of the neighbouring Nordic languages (Danish, Norwegian and Swedish) sends a positive signal of cohesion across linguistic and national boundaries.The Nordic countries have concluded several agreements on Nordic language co-operation.For example, the Council of Ministers has a special focus on listening comprehension between Danish, Norwegian and Swedish. This Fenno-Ugrian language is spoken by 25,000 to 35,000 people with a total of approximately 10 Saami languages identified in the region. For meetings of the Nordic Council and the Nordic Council of Ministers, an interpretation service is offered between Finnish, Icelandic and Scandinavian, but never between the Scandinavian languages. Here are some links to legal databases in the Nordic countries. Small minorities also speaks Karelian in Finland; Kven in Norway, and Meänkieli i Sweden, languages not readily understood by speakers of the main Nordic languages.As well as the spoken languages, the Nordic countries also have their own national variants of sign language, which are again divided into eastern and western branches. Translating one Nordic language to the other requires a skilled and experienced translator that understands the nuances of both the source and target language. For example, in 2016, the Norwegian online drama Upper-secondary teachers across the Region have used the series to focus on and work with the neighbouring languages, and to explore shared Nordic cultural and social references.