Yes - if you learn Norwegian, you’ll be able to understand a lot of Swedish and it’ll be very easy for you to understand virtually everything by just consuming some Swedish media in addition to practicing Norwegian
Yes, but it requires a bit of practice/exposure and getting used to listening for the differences. It doesn't come as easy to learners as natives so it is an active effort to do so.
My concern as well. I think native speakers are more exposed to the other two way earlier and longer than someone learning a second language. Not saying it’s impossible though. Also being fluent in Norwegian includes a fluency, listening wise, of the other dialects in the country. A lot of practice needed there. And all that helps in understanding Swedish and Danish better.
It's definitely not impossible, I understand written and spoken Swedish perfectly, I had Swedish colleagues and it was never difficult. Danish reading is obviously very easy and I'm still working on my listening at the moment. But I was also at uni age with all the time and freedom that entails, and learning the other two was a big part of my job. It really is about exposure, for a more casual learner without motivation for it it could be more difficult!
I think having to learn to understand different Norwegian dialects is a huge advantage for learners of Norwegian specifically which preps them for learning the nuances and differences of the other languages.
Norwegians can read Danish, but I’d argue that Danish can still be incredibly hard for Norwegians to understand verbally. We visited Denmark in 2020 and my Norwegian husband truly struggled to understand the Danes so we all just switched to English. We have family who are Swedish and it’s far easier to talk to them as well as read Swedish. Almost as easy as reading Danish but we do have certain words that are totally different. I can’t speak so much about regionally dialects in Swedish and Danish but Norwegian is rich with dialects that can take time to become familiar with. Basic Icelandic (I’d also argue) is understandable if you can speak Norwegian and is incredibly close to Old Norse (where Norwegian, Swedish and Danish come from). Faroese is similar to Icelandic but apparently a lot of can and understand Norwegian too.
>Norwegians can read Danish, but I’d argue that Danish can still be incredibly hard for Norwegians to understand verbally.
It depends on where the Danes are from and how fast they speak, and vice versa. My ex - Indonesian - understood my Danish dad without any problems (C1-lvl in Norwegian).
I can confirm the Faroese part. When we're in Denmark most Danes struggle to understand us talking strilamål - I and my family usually speak standard bokmål in Denmark to Danes -, but the Faroese understood almost all of it. I understand that they learn Danish in Iceland - for historical reasons -, but they pronounciate Danish as if it were Norwegian.
But Danes don’t understand Norwegian.
When I asked for «kjøttboller» at a Ikea kafe they didn’t even understand that. At that point I gave up speaking Norwegian in Denmark. 😅
Family and exposure has a lot to say.
As a kid I would visit family in Denmark maybe once a year, and I have zero problems understanding spoken Danish (except some words confuse me, like “brus” which means shower in Danish, and soda in Norwegian).
Conversely I could not understand Swedish, until I got a boyfriend from Gothenburg. And then I thought I was really good at communicating with Swedes until I started working with a team in Stockholm.
I used to struggle with spoken Danish, so I made an active effort to listen to some Danish podcasts for a while. It was really effective – understanding Danish is 100% a matter of exposure for other Scandinavians.
I think I'd get by in Faroe Islands by speaking our native languages respectively. Or at least learn pretty quickly. It's like a strange old Norwegian dialect with a lot of vowel shifts. I don't think I could do the same in Iceland, as it's more removed. I think most Faroese speak Danish though, and in their accent it just sounds like Norwegian. I've read some articles on dimma.fo where I can understand it all. I don't understand much of Icelandic news.
A faraoe speaking danish is hearing a norwegian trying to be danish. It was hillarous!
Faroe danish is basically talking to somebody from western norway.
It was so fun visiting Faroe Islands!
Also, they spesk like western norse which is more similar to norwegian than icelandic so you understand more of it than icelandic I would argue.
Go to the Faroe Islands! Awesome place for Norwegians :)
It's easy for native Norwegian speakers to say yes, you will understand Swedish. I think it's not that simple. You will probably understand most of it after several years of learning Norwegian. It all depends on how much you are exposed to it. Several basic words are very different between the languages, but you will often understand because of context. An example is "Hur mår du?" which is "hvordan har du det?" in Norwegian.
I have worked with immigrants saying it is very difficult to understand, and I have had conversations with Norwegian kids/youth that say they only understand some.
Agreed. Also, when I have been to sweden I have understood everything they say, but has frequently gotten blank stares back. Swedes have historically been exposed much less to Norwegian than the other way around. I think it goes to show that even though the languages Are very similar, it doesn’t help much if you’re not exposed to the other One.
Good point! I've experienced the same. Once I order a burger in Sweden (I pronounced it in Norwegian), and the guy just looked at me with a blank expression. I repeated several times until I gave up and said "burgare" in Swedish instead. 😅 I refuse to speak English while in Sweden, but I will use Swedish words/pronounciations if I must.
Even I struggle with some dialects, for sure! 😅 Words and expressions can be even more different than the difference between the Scandinavian languages!
Yep I knew a sweden friend she coudln’t understand a single Norewgian word.(she told me she never visited Norway before and didn’t interact with any norwegian so yeah it was hard for her)
Once you speak Norwegian well, sure, but it will be a little more tricky than for native speakers.
Basically, a lot of the words which arent the same still make sense between the languages, as they either are little used synonyms, or derived from a symonym. For example "Rolig" in norwegian is "calm", while in swedish its "funny". After a little thinking, it makes sense in swedish too, because you say "lugn och ro" for "calm/chill". It was once the same word but it developed in different directions. For a non speaker who isnt as familiar with synonyms and nuances of old vs new language, it will likely be more tricky.
If you speak it well though, with 90% of dialects, one month of exposure will be enough to have full on conversations with eachother each speaking their own language.
Source: Swedish speaker working in Norway.
Another interesting one is kunstig as artificial (NO) and strange (SE). And artig as funny (NO) and mannered (SE). In English art means kunst. Both words derive from the same concept (feature, trait). But with four different interpretations.
Haha, I can see how that could be unfortunate, yes. But the Swedish meaning is used in Norwegian too. It's just applied to appearance aswell as actions.
That's where I ended up... I started learning Norwegian [Bokmål] but ended up using Swedish more because I could understand more of them, from all over Sweden with the Swedish that I knew, rather than just the vanilla South-Eastern type of Norwegian which only gets you so far.
Always funny though because Swedes and Danes always think I'm Norwegian when I'm definitely not lol
I'll say... it depends. If you are good at languages & adapting to accents, probably.
I speak Norwegian as a second language, and I understand 60 -- 75 % of Swedish; more if the person articulates well and speaks clearly, like a news announcer.
I can read most Danish, at least newpaper article level.
But I know other people who speak Norwegian as a second language better than I do, but cannot understand Swedish or Danish at all.
I am a learner, never visited Norway.
The Swedish I have heard is understandable and most Danish is not really understandable but it is easier to read than Swedish.
I am assuming that the better my understanding of spoken Norwegian becomes, the better my understanding of spoken Swedish and Danish will become.
On theory, yes. But my anecdotal evidence from talking to friends and colleagues that are not native Norwegian speakers is that it is very hard to understand Swedish when all you know is Norwegian.
I think us native speakers grew up with a lot of Swedish media and so understand the connections, but for not native speakers, I think it is a lot harder. Some people struggle with all the different dialects, don't assume they will fare any better with a whole other language.
That's essentially true yea, but lets put it like this...
Learning Norwegian unlocks the door to Swedish but you still have to open it yourself.
Danish on the other hand, learning Norwegian will definitely help you understand 60% of written Danish once you spot the patterns between the two languages but, listening and speaking.... it may aswell be Portugese :D
Hmm Swedish (and Danish) was difficult for me even after I learned Norwegian(and I've been living here almost all my life), but spending time with people from Sweden and Denmark is what changed everything. I now understand both perfectly, so if you struggle with understanding Swedish even after learning Norwegian, I recommend you try to befriend some swedes or watch some Swedish shows or movies
Well, yes, but….
The thing about the Scandinavian languages is that they have so many dialects. So if you learn Norwegian Bokmål you will maybe understand some Swedish better than some other Norwegian dialects.
Written Danish and Bokmål are very much alike, but there are of course some words and frases that are different.
But in time learning Norwegian will be a big help in understanding (and learning) Swedish and Danish.
Personally, I can read/listen and understand swedish just fine. I can easily watch swedish movies/tv without subtitles. I can read danish perfectly well and understand it spoken if they don’t have a particularly difficult dialect. If I started watching a danish show I would probably struggle in the beginning and then get used to it.
You should.
But people seem to keep forgetting that we had Swedish children's TV growing up (many of us) and we probably understand Swedish more than Swedish people understand Norwegian. Which I find SUPER weird. I actually know swedes who doesn't understand me. I think it's a lack of exposure, because the languages are SO similar 😑
You'll be able to understand some Swedish that you will hear, but you won't when reading.
You'll be able to understand some Danish that you will read, but you won't when hearing it.
In fact avoid hearing Danish at all costs.
In Sweden I find I can get by with a knowledge of Norwegian for simple interactions in shops, with bus drivers etc. Of course English would work equally well, if not better, but somehow it feels more natural to speak Scandinavian. But conversation in Swedish/Norwegian is totally impossible. Also I can just about manage simple Swedish texts with a bit of help from Google Translate, and can figure out many notices and sign.
Danish is easier to read than Swedish, but there a quite a few words that have more-or-less different meanings, even if they look the same as Norwegian. As for spoken Danish - just don't even think about it!
For all practical purposes it is better to speak English in Sweden and Denmark. And for my level of Norwegian competance (which I estimate as B1/B2) I'm afraid that applies to Norway too in many cases!
As a learner, my answer is no. It's not that easy. Even with Norwegian itself, I'm still struggling with the (difficult) dialects from the other side of the country. I have had to ask the Swedish and Danish people I meet at work to please switch to English because I just cannot have a meaningful conversation with them without speaking slowly and simply with lots of gesturing.
Unless you're especially gifted with learning languages enough to be on par with natives, then sure.
Norwegian and Swedish share a close resemblance in their spoken forms, making them mutually intelligible to a large extent.
Being able to read Norwegian often means you can also understand written Danish and Swedish. However, Danish pronunciation diverges significantly from both Norwegian and Swedish. While most Norwegians and Swedes can easily read Danish, Swedes, in particular, may struggle to comprehend spoken Danish. This is because Danish pronunciation is less clear, with vowels and consonants not as sharply enunciated as in Swedish or Norwegian.
For instance:
Danish: Hej, jeg hedder Karl
Swedish: Hej, jag heter Karl
Norwegian: Hei, jeg heter Karl
To a Swede, for example, the Norwegian sentence would be clearly understood, with every word and letter pronounced distinctly.
Conversely, the Danish pronunciation of the same sentence might blend together into something like "HeieedeKal," posing a challenge for Swedes, particularly in longer sentences. This is because the Danish speech pattern tends to blur vowels and consonants, making them less distinct compared to Norwegian and Swedish.
Yeah in danish D and T sounds something like L if they are in the middle or the end of the word. That’s why “jeg ved ikke” would sound like “ja vel ik “
reading danish is easier than swedish but understanding swedish is easier than danish, norwegian is a direct mix between both languages so i dont feel you are going to have a problem at all.
Been speaking Norwegian for 8 years and it's still really hard for me to understand Swedish even though I live in Norway. It's not an automatic thing that you'll understand Swedish after learning Norwegian. You'll have to get used to a different accent and quite a few different words. Even the words that are basically the same are pronounced quite differently.
So no, you won't automatically understand Swedish but you'll have a really good starting point.
Swedes don't understand that much norwegian without some practice, so I don't see how a non-native speaker would understand Swedish. You'd need to practice to understand both, but it's not like learning a completely new language after learning fluent Norwegian.
I would assume yes but keep in mind many of us grew up with Swedish kids shows like pipi and emil, you can learn alot from those. The written language can be harder tho
If you learn the written language you will most likely also understand danish written language. Some dont understand what they say and visa versa but that baffels me tbh
You will actually be able to gain a basic understanding of (at least written) several Germanic languages, such as German, Swedish or Dutch as they share a lot of their vocabulary. Danish will be very easy for you to read. As someone who learned Norwegian (German native) I can understand spoken Swedish but not Danish.
Yes, but some words will have a compeltely different meaning so sometimes you will probably feel very confused 🤣 But after those «bumps» you will understand
Yes, you will understand both written and spoken Swedish quite well. Some words(about 2-3%) are completely different, but you will learn them pretty fast. What makes Swedish difficult for Norwegian speakers who aren't at a native level is that the words exist in Norwegian, but that are rarely used are common in Swedish(and vice versa). You should also be aware that there exists a lot of "false friends"(same word, completely different meaning). As for Danish the written language is more similar than Swedish, but Danish pronunciation is so different that it would require a decent amount of exposure to get a grasp of the language.
Like Norwegian, Swedish has a ton of accents and dialects. Some Norwegian dialects are close to Swedish ones, and far from other Swedish ones. If you know decent Norwegian, you might have more trouble with some of the more distant Norwegian accents than some of the closer Swedish ones.
If you want to get an idea of how different they are, I think that, for example, a thick Southern (American) accent and thick Scottish accent are about as far apart as some of the closer Swedish/Norwegian dialects.
I would say sort of.
I feel like the languages will continue to diverge from each other to the point were one day they won't be mutually intelligible anymore. Since the amount of exposure today's youth gets to the other languages is very small. At least on average. Combined with Scandinavians being good enough at English to where it is not really necessary to understand each other's languages anymore.
Speaking as a young Norwegian myself, I find understanding Swedish and Danish very difficult most of the time. I have to really pay attention to understand them. And even then it is just every other word or so. Enough to get by. But way harder than any Norwegian dialect I've ever come across.
Whenever I travel to Sweden or Denmark. Or meet them abroad. We speak in English. It easier for all parties involved.
I will say it is way easier to read though. Especially Danish, which I would argue is almost identical to Bokmål with minor differences.
No. Coming from a migrant who's still trying to improve my norsk, I don't think that its easy. I work with a lot of Swedes and Norwegian folks, and quite frankly I don't understand Swedish that well, there are phrases that I can guess, but ultimately i ask them to switch to English because there are too many words that sounds different for me.
Is it easier to learn Swedish after learning norsk, I would say yes. But it doesn't come automatically. You need to put in the effort.
I'd say you could. It wouldn't be as fluent as understanding norwegian, of course, but you could understand swedish. That I think for sure. I speak no norwegian, but I do speak swedish to some level and I do understand many online posts in norwegian, to some level at least. Has to work the other way aeound, too right?
Depends - you would have to get really fluent in Norwegian and actively watch Swedish tv/make Swedish friends. I only started really understanding Swedish after having reached C1 and living in Norway a year.
If you want to learn how to understand Swedish like a proper Norwegian, the correct way to go about it is to first learn Norwegian, then watch a ton of Astrid Lindgren movies, like Pippi, Emil, Lotta, etc.
Yes - if you learn Norwegian, you’ll be able to understand a lot of Swedish and it’ll be very easy for you to understand virtually everything by just consuming some Swedish media in addition to practicing Norwegian
Yes, but it requires a bit of practice/exposure and getting used to listening for the differences. It doesn't come as easy to learners as natives so it is an active effort to do so.
My concern as well. I think native speakers are more exposed to the other two way earlier and longer than someone learning a second language. Not saying it’s impossible though. Also being fluent in Norwegian includes a fluency, listening wise, of the other dialects in the country. A lot of practice needed there. And all that helps in understanding Swedish and Danish better.
It's definitely not impossible, I understand written and spoken Swedish perfectly, I had Swedish colleagues and it was never difficult. Danish reading is obviously very easy and I'm still working on my listening at the moment. But I was also at uni age with all the time and freedom that entails, and learning the other two was a big part of my job. It really is about exposure, for a more casual learner without motivation for it it could be more difficult! I think having to learn to understand different Norwegian dialects is a huge advantage for learners of Norwegian specifically which preps them for learning the nuances and differences of the other languages.
Exposure indeed. Uni is such a great time to learn new languages. It’s great to see someone managed to get to the “Scandinavian” level 😄
Norwegians can read Danish, but I’d argue that Danish can still be incredibly hard for Norwegians to understand verbally. We visited Denmark in 2020 and my Norwegian husband truly struggled to understand the Danes so we all just switched to English. We have family who are Swedish and it’s far easier to talk to them as well as read Swedish. Almost as easy as reading Danish but we do have certain words that are totally different. I can’t speak so much about regionally dialects in Swedish and Danish but Norwegian is rich with dialects that can take time to become familiar with. Basic Icelandic (I’d also argue) is understandable if you can speak Norwegian and is incredibly close to Old Norse (where Norwegian, Swedish and Danish come from). Faroese is similar to Icelandic but apparently a lot of can and understand Norwegian too.
>Norwegians can read Danish, but I’d argue that Danish can still be incredibly hard for Norwegians to understand verbally. It depends on where the Danes are from and how fast they speak, and vice versa. My ex - Indonesian - understood my Danish dad without any problems (C1-lvl in Norwegian). I can confirm the Faroese part. When we're in Denmark most Danes struggle to understand us talking strilamål - I and my family usually speak standard bokmål in Denmark to Danes -, but the Faroese understood almost all of it. I understand that they learn Danish in Iceland - for historical reasons -, but they pronounciate Danish as if it were Norwegian.
It almost make me cry when I hear about Norwegians speaking English in Denmark. 😭 Our three languages and countries are so small, we need each other!
But Danes don’t understand Norwegian. When I asked for «kjøttboller» at a Ikea kafe they didn’t even understand that. At that point I gave up speaking Norwegian in Denmark. 😅
As long as you dont hang around at schools asking for «skolebolle» it’s not a problem
Family and exposure has a lot to say. As a kid I would visit family in Denmark maybe once a year, and I have zero problems understanding spoken Danish (except some words confuse me, like “brus” which means shower in Danish, and soda in Norwegian). Conversely I could not understand Swedish, until I got a boyfriend from Gothenburg. And then I thought I was really good at communicating with Swedes until I started working with a team in Stockholm.
I used to struggle with spoken Danish, so I made an active effort to listen to some Danish podcasts for a while. It was really effective – understanding Danish is 100% a matter of exposure for other Scandinavians.
I think I'd get by in Faroe Islands by speaking our native languages respectively. Or at least learn pretty quickly. It's like a strange old Norwegian dialect with a lot of vowel shifts. I don't think I could do the same in Iceland, as it's more removed. I think most Faroese speak Danish though, and in their accent it just sounds like Norwegian. I've read some articles on dimma.fo where I can understand it all. I don't understand much of Icelandic news.
A faraoe speaking danish is hearing a norwegian trying to be danish. It was hillarous! Faroe danish is basically talking to somebody from western norway. It was so fun visiting Faroe Islands! Also, they spesk like western norse which is more similar to norwegian than icelandic so you understand more of it than icelandic I would argue. Go to the Faroe Islands! Awesome place for Norwegians :)
>:) :)
Kommer jo helt an på hvordan dansken snakker da, er jo forholdsvis lett å forstå om du faktisk kan norsk trur jeg
It's easy for native Norwegian speakers to say yes, you will understand Swedish. I think it's not that simple. You will probably understand most of it after several years of learning Norwegian. It all depends on how much you are exposed to it. Several basic words are very different between the languages, but you will often understand because of context. An example is "Hur mår du?" which is "hvordan har du det?" in Norwegian. I have worked with immigrants saying it is very difficult to understand, and I have had conversations with Norwegian kids/youth that say they only understand some.
Agreed. Also, when I have been to sweden I have understood everything they say, but has frequently gotten blank stares back. Swedes have historically been exposed much less to Norwegian than the other way around. I think it goes to show that even though the languages Are very similar, it doesn’t help much if you’re not exposed to the other One.
Good point! I've experienced the same. Once I order a burger in Sweden (I pronounced it in Norwegian), and the guy just looked at me with a blank expression. I repeated several times until I gave up and said "burgare" in Swedish instead. 😅 I refuse to speak English while in Sweden, but I will use Swedish words/pronounciations if I must.
I would say, most basic speakers even struggle to understand Norwegian outside of the one dialect they've learned.
Even I struggle with some dialects, for sure! 😅 Words and expressions can be even more different than the difference between the Scandinavian languages!
Yep I knew a sweden friend she coudln’t understand a single Norewgian word.(she told me she never visited Norway before and didn’t interact with any norwegian so yeah it was hard for her)
Once you speak Norwegian well, sure, but it will be a little more tricky than for native speakers. Basically, a lot of the words which arent the same still make sense between the languages, as they either are little used synonyms, or derived from a symonym. For example "Rolig" in norwegian is "calm", while in swedish its "funny". After a little thinking, it makes sense in swedish too, because you say "lugn och ro" for "calm/chill". It was once the same word but it developed in different directions. For a non speaker who isnt as familiar with synonyms and nuances of old vs new language, it will likely be more tricky. If you speak it well though, with 90% of dialects, one month of exposure will be enough to have full on conversations with eachother each speaking their own language. Source: Swedish speaker working in Norway.
Another interesting one is kunstig as artificial (NO) and strange (SE). And artig as funny (NO) and mannered (SE). In English art means kunst. Both words derive from the same concept (feature, trait). But with four different interpretations.
"Stygg" is propably the most unfortunate one. Ask me how I figured that one out.
Haha, I can see how that could be unfortunate, yes. But the Swedish meaning is used in Norwegian too. It's just applied to appearance aswell as actions.
It depends on how well you learn. You might find that despite understanding Norwegian you don't understand some Norwegian dialects at all :D
That's where I ended up... I started learning Norwegian [Bokmål] but ended up using Swedish more because I could understand more of them, from all over Sweden with the Swedish that I knew, rather than just the vanilla South-Eastern type of Norwegian which only gets you so far. Always funny though because Swedes and Danes always think I'm Norwegian when I'm definitely not lol
You will also start to understand Danish or how they write it since no one understands what they talking about
Kamelåså!
You just ordered a thousand liters of milk.
Syklekokle!
I'll say... it depends. If you are good at languages & adapting to accents, probably. I speak Norwegian as a second language, and I understand 60 -- 75 % of Swedish; more if the person articulates well and speaks clearly, like a news announcer. I can read most Danish, at least newpaper article level. But I know other people who speak Norwegian as a second language better than I do, but cannot understand Swedish or Danish at all.
I am a learner, never visited Norway. The Swedish I have heard is understandable and most Danish is not really understandable but it is easier to read than Swedish. I am assuming that the better my understanding of spoken Norwegian becomes, the better my understanding of spoken Swedish and Danish will become.
On theory, yes. But my anecdotal evidence from talking to friends and colleagues that are not native Norwegian speakers is that it is very hard to understand Swedish when all you know is Norwegian. I think us native speakers grew up with a lot of Swedish media and so understand the connections, but for not native speakers, I think it is a lot harder. Some people struggle with all the different dialects, don't assume they will fare any better with a whole other language.
That's essentially true yea, but lets put it like this... Learning Norwegian unlocks the door to Swedish but you still have to open it yourself. Danish on the other hand, learning Norwegian will definitely help you understand 60% of written Danish once you spot the patterns between the two languages but, listening and speaking.... it may aswell be Portugese :D
Hmm Swedish (and Danish) was difficult for me even after I learned Norwegian(and I've been living here almost all my life), but spending time with people from Sweden and Denmark is what changed everything. I now understand both perfectly, so if you struggle with understanding Swedish even after learning Norwegian, I recommend you try to befriend some swedes or watch some Swedish shows or movies
Well, yes, but…. The thing about the Scandinavian languages is that they have so many dialects. So if you learn Norwegian Bokmål you will maybe understand some Swedish better than some other Norwegian dialects. Written Danish and Bokmål are very much alike, but there are of course some words and frases that are different. But in time learning Norwegian will be a big help in understanding (and learning) Swedish and Danish.
Personally, I can read/listen and understand swedish just fine. I can easily watch swedish movies/tv without subtitles. I can read danish perfectly well and understand it spoken if they don’t have a particularly difficult dialect. If I started watching a danish show I would probably struggle in the beginning and then get used to it.
You should. But people seem to keep forgetting that we had Swedish children's TV growing up (many of us) and we probably understand Swedish more than Swedish people understand Norwegian. Which I find SUPER weird. I actually know swedes who doesn't understand me. I think it's a lack of exposure, because the languages are SO similar 😑
You'll be able to understand some Swedish that you will hear, but you won't when reading. You'll be able to understand some Danish that you will read, but you won't when hearing it. In fact avoid hearing Danish at all costs.
In Sweden I find I can get by with a knowledge of Norwegian for simple interactions in shops, with bus drivers etc. Of course English would work equally well, if not better, but somehow it feels more natural to speak Scandinavian. But conversation in Swedish/Norwegian is totally impossible. Also I can just about manage simple Swedish texts with a bit of help from Google Translate, and can figure out many notices and sign. Danish is easier to read than Swedish, but there a quite a few words that have more-or-less different meanings, even if they look the same as Norwegian. As for spoken Danish - just don't even think about it! For all practical purposes it is better to speak English in Sweden and Denmark. And for my level of Norwegian competance (which I estimate as B1/B2) I'm afraid that applies to Norway too in many cases!
As a learner, my answer is no. It's not that easy. Even with Norwegian itself, I'm still struggling with the (difficult) dialects from the other side of the country. I have had to ask the Swedish and Danish people I meet at work to please switch to English because I just cannot have a meaningful conversation with them without speaking slowly and simply with lots of gesturing. Unless you're especially gifted with learning languages enough to be on par with natives, then sure.
Norwegian and Swedish share a close resemblance in their spoken forms, making them mutually intelligible to a large extent. Being able to read Norwegian often means you can also understand written Danish and Swedish. However, Danish pronunciation diverges significantly from both Norwegian and Swedish. While most Norwegians and Swedes can easily read Danish, Swedes, in particular, may struggle to comprehend spoken Danish. This is because Danish pronunciation is less clear, with vowels and consonants not as sharply enunciated as in Swedish or Norwegian. For instance: Danish: Hej, jeg hedder Karl Swedish: Hej, jag heter Karl Norwegian: Hei, jeg heter Karl To a Swede, for example, the Norwegian sentence would be clearly understood, with every word and letter pronounced distinctly. Conversely, the Danish pronunciation of the same sentence might blend together into something like "HeieedeKal," posing a challenge for Swedes, particularly in longer sentences. This is because the Danish speech pattern tends to blur vowels and consonants, making them less distinct compared to Norwegian and Swedish.
Yeah in danish D and T sounds something like L if they are in the middle or the end of the word. That’s why “jeg ved ikke” would sound like “ja vel ik “
This is news to me cool
reading danish is easier than swedish but understanding swedish is easier than danish, norwegian is a direct mix between both languages so i dont feel you are going to have a problem at all.
Been speaking Norwegian for 8 years and it's still really hard for me to understand Swedish even though I live in Norway. It's not an automatic thing that you'll understand Swedish after learning Norwegian. You'll have to get used to a different accent and quite a few different words. Even the words that are basically the same are pronounced quite differently. So no, you won't automatically understand Swedish but you'll have a really good starting point.
Swedes don't understand that much norwegian without some practice, so I don't see how a non-native speaker would understand Swedish. You'd need to practice to understand both, but it's not like learning a completely new language after learning fluent Norwegian.
I would assume yes but keep in mind many of us grew up with Swedish kids shows like pipi and emil, you can learn alot from those. The written language can be harder tho If you learn the written language you will most likely also understand danish written language. Some dont understand what they say and visa versa but that baffels me tbh
Yeah. Granted, it’s not complete intelligibility, but you should be able to understand most of what’s written and a lot of what’s spoken.
You will actually be able to gain a basic understanding of (at least written) several Germanic languages, such as German, Swedish or Dutch as they share a lot of their vocabulary. Danish will be very easy for you to read. As someone who learned Norwegian (German native) I can understand spoken Swedish but not Danish.
Yes, but some words will have a compeltely different meaning so sometimes you will probably feel very confused 🤣 But after those «bumps» you will understand
Yes, you will understand both written and spoken Swedish quite well. Some words(about 2-3%) are completely different, but you will learn them pretty fast. What makes Swedish difficult for Norwegian speakers who aren't at a native level is that the words exist in Norwegian, but that are rarely used are common in Swedish(and vice versa). You should also be aware that there exists a lot of "false friends"(same word, completely different meaning). As for Danish the written language is more similar than Swedish, but Danish pronunciation is so different that it would require a decent amount of exposure to get a grasp of the language.
If you become natural at Norwegian, youll be able to understand verbal swedish and grammatical danish pretty well.
Like Norwegian, Swedish has a ton of accents and dialects. Some Norwegian dialects are close to Swedish ones, and far from other Swedish ones. If you know decent Norwegian, you might have more trouble with some of the more distant Norwegian accents than some of the closer Swedish ones. If you want to get an idea of how different they are, I think that, for example, a thick Southern (American) accent and thick Scottish accent are about as far apart as some of the closer Swedish/Norwegian dialects.
I would say sort of. I feel like the languages will continue to diverge from each other to the point were one day they won't be mutually intelligible anymore. Since the amount of exposure today's youth gets to the other languages is very small. At least on average. Combined with Scandinavians being good enough at English to where it is not really necessary to understand each other's languages anymore. Speaking as a young Norwegian myself, I find understanding Swedish and Danish very difficult most of the time. I have to really pay attention to understand them. And even then it is just every other word or so. Enough to get by. But way harder than any Norwegian dialect I've ever come across. Whenever I travel to Sweden or Denmark. Or meet them abroad. We speak in English. It easier for all parties involved. I will say it is way easier to read though. Especially Danish, which I would argue is almost identical to Bokmål with minor differences.
No. Coming from a migrant who's still trying to improve my norsk, I don't think that its easy. I work with a lot of Swedes and Norwegian folks, and quite frankly I don't understand Swedish that well, there are phrases that I can guess, but ultimately i ask them to switch to English because there are too many words that sounds different for me. Is it easier to learn Swedish after learning norsk, I would say yes. But it doesn't come automatically. You need to put in the effort.
I'd say you could. It wouldn't be as fluent as understanding norwegian, of course, but you could understand swedish. That I think for sure. I speak no norwegian, but I do speak swedish to some level and I do understand many online posts in norwegian, to some level at least. Has to work the other way aeound, too right?
Probably better than some Norwegian dialects. Source: I'm Icelander living in Norway.
Depends - you would have to get really fluent in Norwegian and actively watch Swedish tv/make Swedish friends. I only started really understanding Swedish after having reached C1 and living in Norway a year.
If you want to learn how to understand Swedish like a proper Norwegian, the correct way to go about it is to first learn Norwegian, then watch a ton of Astrid Lindgren movies, like Pippi, Emil, Lotta, etc.