The Scandinavian languages are the three mutually intelligible North Germanic languages spoken in Scandinavia: Danish, Norwegian and Swedish. They are related to, but not intelligible with, the other North Germanic languages spoken outside Scandinavia (like Icelandic). In some cases the differences between the languages are smaller than the differences between the dialects within one of the languages. The three languages, or four, since Norwegian is actually two different languages, are therefore sometimes considered to be only one language.

All North Germanic languages diverged from Old Norse about a millennium ago, but the three Scandinavian languages were later strongly influenced by Low Saxon (German).

Norwegian diverged from the common Danish-Swedish language but was during middle ages heavily influenced by Danish, while still retaining its pronounciation which is common to Swedish. This has lead to the complicated situation that, to put it simple, Danish distinguishes itself from Swedish and Norwegian by its distinct pronounciation, Swedish by its vocabulary, and Norwegian by its grammar. The differences are though small enough for the Scandinavian people to be able to understand the other languages in written form, and with some difficulty, particulary with Danish, also in spoken form.

Differences between the Norwegian and Danish languages

External links

• Språksituationen i Norden och den nordiska språkförståelsen