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All About The Scandinavian Languages - The Language Pedia Podcast
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May 15, 2025
**All About The Scandinavian Languages** Hello language enthusiasts! It's Oualid here with another exciting video. Today, we're going to talk about Scandinavian languages. It provides an overview of Swedish, Danish, and Norwegian, highlighting their similarities and differences in grammar, pronunciation, and vocabulary. The episode also covers other Scandinavian languages like Icelandic, Faroese, and the Sami languages, discussing their historical significance and current status. The author explores resources for learning these languages and emphasizes their cultural importance. You can read the full article here: https://lingualid.com/the-scandinavian-languages/ š Don't forget to subscribe and hit the bell icon so you won't miss out on any new videos. š For more in-depth discussions and articles, check out my blog, Lingualid: https://lingualid.com **Social Links:** - š Pinterest: https://pinterest.com/lingualid - š¦ Twitter: https://twitter.com/lingualid - šø Instagram: https://instagram.com/lingualid - Podcast: podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/oualid-cheddadi **Affiliate Links:**
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0:00
all right let's uh jump right into it
0:02
today we are diving deep into the world
0:05
of Scandinavian languages ooh exciting
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it is isn't it and to guide us on this
0:10
journey we'll be using an article from
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lingual liid called and it's a good one
0:14
the Scandinavian languages everything
0:16
you need to know I love that site they
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really uh break down language learning
0:20
in a fun way they do okay so in this
0:23
deep dive we are going to uncover what
0:25
defines these languages we'll Trace them
0:28
back to their Roots think Vikings of
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course got to have Vikings oh yeah and
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we'll touch on some of their unique
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characteristics you know stuff like the
0:36
melodic tones of Swedish yeah and we
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can't forget about the gladle stops in
0:39
Danish those are always fun fun for some
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and of course we can't just stick with
0:43
Swedish Danish and Norwegian we're going
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to explore some other fascinating
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languages too oh absolutely those hidden
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gems are often the most interesting ones
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totally now before we get lost in the
0:54
fjords of linguistic details let's um
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let's start with the basics what exactly
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makes a language
1:00
Scandinavian okay so the ones you hear
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about most often like Swedish Danish and
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Norwegian they all fall under the north
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Germanic language family okay and that's
1:12
part of a much bigger family tree the
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Indo-European family ah so it's like a
1:16
family tree you've got the big trunk and
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then it branches out into different well
1:20
branches yeah exactly it's all about
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tracing the ancestry seeing where these
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languages came from and how they've kind
1:27
of grown and developed into their own
1:28
unique things right right and those
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differences they're not just about
1:32
vocabulary oo interesting you start
1:35
looking at their grammatical structures
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and well it tells the story a story
1:38
about their history their culture all
1:40
that good stuff exactly you can hear
1:41
those stories you know the way each
1:44
language feels sounds I like that so
1:47
like give me an example how's a
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Scandinavian language sound unique well
1:52
take Swedish for instance it's known for
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being almost musical like you're singing
1:57
when you speak yeah that's mostly
1:59
because of something called vowel
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Harmony the vowels yeah basically the
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vowels in a word they have to play nice
2:05
with each other play nice well they have
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to harmonize in how they're pronounced
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and then there's something called pitch
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accent where the tone you use on some
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syllables it actually changes what the
2:14
word means wow that's pretty wild like
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the same word can mean different things
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just because of how high or low you say
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it yeah pretty much makes you realize
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how much can get lost in translation
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even with languages that share Roots
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absolutely okay so before we go any
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further we can't talk about Scandinavian
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languages without mentioning those
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incredible explorers the Vikings oh of
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course not so what role did they and
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their language Old Norse play in shaping
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all of this well think of the Vikings as
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the stars of this linguistic show they
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sailed they conquered and as they did
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their language Old Norse it spread
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leaving its Mark wherever they weren't
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exactly and that Mark is still visible
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in the Scandinavian languages we hear
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today so it's like Old Norse is the
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grand grandparent and all these modern
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Scandinavian languages are The
3:03
Descendants each with their own what
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their own modern twist I like that
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analogy it's spun on and what's even
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more fascinating is that some languages
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held on to more of that Old Norse Legacy
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than others take Icelandic for example
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it's like a time capsule the closest
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living language to Old Norse oh wow like
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if you want to hear what Vikings sounded
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like go to Iceland in a way yeah it's a
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glimpse into the past both
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linguistically and culturally it's
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pretty incredible I can only imagine it
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makes me want to book a flight right now
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but uh we should probably s to the plan
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definitely we've got a lot more ground
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to cover exactly we've got to talk about
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the big three Swedish Danish Norwegian
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starting with Swedish what makes it
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stand out in this family well for
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starters it's the most spoken of the
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bunch official language of Sweden
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obviously but surprised it's also an
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official language in parts of Finland no
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way I did not know that yep now we've
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talked about its musicality but it's
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vocabulary it's got this interesting mix
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thanks to you guessed it history I was
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going to say Vikings but I'm guessing
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it's something else well they played a
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part but Swedish also borrowed a lot
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from German and French shows you how
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Sweden interacted with different
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cultures over time so languages they're
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not just these static things right they
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absorb adapt change with the time
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exactly they're constantly evolving okay
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so what about Danish does it have that
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same like musicality that Swedish has H
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it shares some similarities with Swedish
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for sure but it's got its own quirks
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especially when it comes to
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pronunciation you've got Denmark
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Greenland the Pharaoh Islands all
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speaking Danish and one thing that sets
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it apart is its use of gladle stops
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glottal stops yeah it's like this uh
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this abrupt closure in your throat when
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you're speaking can sound a bit like a
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like a catch in your voice huh I can see
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how that would be tricky to master oh
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definitely one of the trickier aspects
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of Danish for non-native speakers I bet
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all right so Norwegian now this one this
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one I'm really curious about because
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I've heard it's got two official forms
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what's that all about ah yes Norwegian
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now its linguistic landscape it reflects
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a lot about its history and its cultural
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identity they have two official written
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forms Bach mol and N orsk okay two forms
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that's interesting it is so Bach ball
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that's the one you'll see most often
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it's been influenced a lot by Danish
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because of their shared history you know
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yeah makes sense but then there's n orsk
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it's a liberate effort to kind of move
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away from that Danish influence to
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create a written form that's more true
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to well traditional Norwegian dialects
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so like two sides of the same coin each
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representing a different part of
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norwegian's like linguistic Heritage
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precisely and this this whole Duality
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thing it's caus some debate you know I
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bet about national identity the future
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of the language it just shows that
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languages they're not just words they're
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tied to culture to politics they're
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living evolving things things that is a
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perfect way to transition to our next
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segment we've got the big three down but
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there's more to explore we've got these
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hidden gems right Icelandic ferose the
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Samy languages what's the story with
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them they're kind of off on their own
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aren't they they are geographically and
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linguistically and that isolation well
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it's had a big impact on how theyve
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developed let's start with Icelandic we
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talked about how it's super close to Old
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Norse like really close yeah but it's
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not just the words the grammar the
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sentence structure it's all remarkably
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similar to Old Norse so you're not just
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like understanding Viking words you're
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understanding how they thought exactly
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their worldview and that's what makes
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Icelandic so fascinating for linguists
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for historians it's a window into a
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completely different way of thinking of
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course that also makes it a tough
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language to learn oh I bet but rewarding
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right incredibly okay so
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fero where does it fit in well it's
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spoken in the Pharaoh Islands which are
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a remote archipelago between Norway and
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Iceland and the language it's this
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fascinating blend of Old Norse and
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danish huh interesting it's like imagine
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a language that holds traces of Viking
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raids and then later Danish rule it's
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history all layered into the words wow
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that's a cool way to think about it so
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fose is like a bridge between those two
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worlds you could say that and what's
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really cool is that even though it's
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only spoken by about let's see 66,000
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people it's got this Rich literary
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tradition its own grammar vocabulary it
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stands out from the other Scandinavian
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languages that's really impressive shows
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that even a smaller language Community
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can have a big impact okay so onto the
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Samy languages these are in a whole
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other category they are they're unique
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all the Scandinavian languages we've
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talked about so far they belong to that
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Indo-European family remember yeah the
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big family tree right but the Samy
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languages they belong to the uralic
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family completely different branch oh
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wow so geographically they're right
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there with Scandinavian cultures but
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linguistically they come from somewhere
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else entirely
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exactly and that difference is important
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it shows that the Samy languages they
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represent a distinct cultural and
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linguistic Heritage separate from
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Scandinavian cultures even though of
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course there's been interaction
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influence over the years it makes you
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think about well the struggles that a
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lot of indigenous languages face you
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know when there's a more dominant
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language around are the Sammy languages
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facing those same kinds of pressures
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sadly yes a lot of indigenous languages
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are the same languages are up against
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Swedish Norwegian Finnish Russian those
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are the official languages in the areas
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where the Sammi people live and there's
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definitely worry about language loss
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especially among younger Generations
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that's really sad to hear it makes you
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realize that preserving a language it's
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about More Than Just Words it's about
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preserving a culture a history a way of
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life exactly there are people
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organizations working really hard to
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revitalize the Sammy languages what are
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they doing well there are language
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immersion programs they're documenting
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traditional stories songs even creating
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digital resources to help people learn
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the Samy languages so there's a sense of
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urgency but also like hope definitely
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the samur people are resilient they get
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how important it is to keep their
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linguistic Heritage alive that's
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inspiring yeah okay so before we move on
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got to ask the question I think
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everyone's wondering if you speak one
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Scandinavian language can you just like
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automatically understand the others ah
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the million-dollar question the answer
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as is often the case in linguistics is
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it depends Swedish Danish Norwegian
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they're all from the same branch of the
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family right so there's definitely
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overlap vocabulary grammar especially
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when you're looking at written language
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so like I could pick up a Norwegian
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newspaper and kind of get the gist even
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if I only speak Swedish you might be
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surprised by how much you can understand
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but pronunciation idioms some of the
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finer points of grammar those can be
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quite different especially when you
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bring in Regional dialects makes sense
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so you might get the main idea but you
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could also miss some things maybe even
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misunderstand things exactly it's like
10:02
different dialects in English think
10:04
someone from the southern us trying to
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chat with someone from Scotland they
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could probably figure out what each
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other are saying but there will be some
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heads scratching moments maybe even some
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laughs H oh absolutely but that's what's
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so great about language isn't it it's
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not just about understanding words it's
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about appreciating those differences the
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nuances the humor it tells you something
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about a culture couldn't said it better
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myself so for anyone listening who's
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thinking hey maybe I should learn a
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scandinav avian language what's your
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advice where should they start well the
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good news is there are tons of resources
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out there these days you've got sites
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like dualingo Babel they've got great
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interactive courses in Swedish Danish
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Norwegian and don't forget about apps
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podcasts even online communities you can
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chat with native speakers really immerse
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yourself in the language so many options
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something for everyone no matter how
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much time you have for sure and learning
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a Scandinavian language it's more than
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just being able to speak it it opens A
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Whole New World new cultures new
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experiences think travel for example and
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it can even help you understand your own
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language and culture better plus you can
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impress everyone with your Viking
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knowledge and perfect glottal stop uhuh
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exactly there's something magical about
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learning a new language it's a journey
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discovering new words new ways of seeing
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the world this whole Deep dive has been
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a journey we've looked at history unique
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features even the challenges these
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languages face but before we wrap up I
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have one more question we've talked
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about how Scandinavian languages have
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changed over time but what about the
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future what's going to shape how these
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languages kid you know developing that's
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the big question isn't it the one that
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linguists cultural experts they're all
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trying to figure out and one of the
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biggest factors is
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globalization the influence of English
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you know technology media it's all
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connecting us and English has become
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that common language especially for
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business entertainment things like that
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yeah it's kind of like a double-edged
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sword good because everyone can
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understand each other but well does that
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hurt smaller languages exactly It's
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Tricky and then you've got language
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policies within the Scandinavian
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countries themselves like we talked
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about Norway with its two forms of
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Norwegian right Bach mall and N orsk yep
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there's this whole debate going on do
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they keep both do they try to make
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things more unified it's about finding
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that balance I guess keeping the
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languages unique but also like keeping
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the country unified right it's tough and
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we can't forget about technology digital
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communication AI it's all having a hugee
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impact on language think about machine
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translation voice recognition even just
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the way we use language online it's
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mind-blowing when you think about it
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technolog is changing how we talk how
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languages themselves work it is and then
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there's the human element languages are
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shaped by the people who use them every
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generation comes along with New Slang
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new Expressions new ways of well making
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the language their own it's always
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changing isn't it just like the world
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around us exactly so can we know for
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sure what's going to happen to
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Scandinavian languages not really but we
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could be sure of one thing they'll keep
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adapting keep evolving they're resilient
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they're beautiful couldn't have put it
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better myself this deep dive has been
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incredible we've learned so much not
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just about these specific languages but
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about how language Works how it ties
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into culture how we express ourselves
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I'm glad you enjoyed it if there's one
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thing I hope our listeners take away
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it's a sense of curiosity go explore the
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world of languages there's so much to
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discover absolutely so to everyone one
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listening if you're feeling inspired
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pick a language any language that
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interests you and dive in Icelandic
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Swedish ferose they're all waiting to be
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discovered and remember it's a journey
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enjoy the challenges the discoveries the
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joy of connecting with other cultures
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well said until our next Deep dive keep
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exploring keep learning and keep those
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language fires burning