What is the Hardest Scandinavian Language to Learn?

There are languages that are hard and simple to learn, but in this case we are dealing the main Scandinavian languages and the Continental Scandinavian languages including Icelandic and Faroese.

Take a look and try to figure out which is the hardest Scandinavian languages;

Main Scandinavian languages

From the three main Scandinavian languages such as Danish, Swedish and Norwegian – Danish is claimed to be the hardest Scandinavian language to study due to its speaking standard. The manner of speaking in Danish is quicker, compared to the other Scandinavian languages.

Danish is said to be easy commonly in grammar – it has nine verbs with passive forms which are much known to English speakers. Also, Danish has many Germanic based cognate and vocabulary as well.

Continental Scandinavian languages including Icelandic and Faroese:

According to a report from FSI (Foreign Service Institute) Norwegian, Danish and Swedish got the first bracket, which are the easiest languages to learn specifically for an English speaker that takes an estimated 24-30 weeks of thorough study.

While Icelandic is the hardest got the third category with 44 weeks or 11 months need. Faroese language is out of the category as it is not an official language, but it would be in between 36 weeks in-depth learning along with the German language.

From the data above, we can see that of all the Continental Scandinavian languages such as Norwegian, Danish, Swedish, Icelandic and Faroese rank the first bracket according to the FSI report which is the easiest languages to learn for an English speakers.

Meaning Icelandic is the hardest language in this category, followed by Faroese in a reason that Icelandic needs 44 weeks or 11 months to take before mastering the language.

However, when comparing the main Scandinavian languages – Danish, Swedish and Norwegian the great pick for the hardest language from these three is the Danish language.

Therefore, if you plan to learn Danish you will take almost a year to reach the fluency level of the said language than Norwegian and Swedish. So, what does your goal do you take the challenge or pick another Scandinavian language? Maybe you like Swedish or Norwegian?

Now, take a moment to read deeper on this blog for you to find out which language is very useful, hardest and easiest.

For more information, you can watch: The Names of Scandinavia Explained

9 Ways to Speed up Learning the Scandinavian Languages

Have you ever tried to think of how to speed up learning a new language? Did you ever think that when learning a skill involves a great sacrifice to succeed? Well, in this post we are going to discuss some ways to speed up and level up your learning process that will benefit you.

Scandinavian languages belong to a huge Germanic language group.

It refers particularly to the languages of the three Scandinavian countries, leaving aside the small-town groups of Faroese and Icelandic.

We are focusing mainly the three Scandinavian languages – Danish, Norwegian and Swedish.

So, you’re ready to visit the vast countries and to learn one or perhaps more of the Scandinavian languages.

But, taking the lessons of any language is not as simple and not as easy as finger snapping. You need to have a ton of time and effort to obtain a degree of fluency.

Don’t worry; here are the ways to speed up the learning of a Scandinavian language.

Learn the differences between the Scandinavian languages

How to spot the difference?

Do your research or join group forums and compare the differences between these languages. If you are an English speaker most learners advised English to take Norwegian, because Norwegian has a lot of similarities in English and it’s widely spoken all over Norway.

Think how Danish, Swedish and Norwegian languages build up – Is Danish is the hardest to learn than Swedish? Do these languages are mutually intelligible?

In truth, two Scandinavian languages are closely related and these three languages have similarities.

But if you’re opting to elevate the process you can learn all these three – Norwegian is a good start.

Norwegian is widely understood language entirely in Scandinavia. Danes and Swedes find easy to understand this language than understanding their each other’s languages.

Apart from that, the pronunciation is closely similar to that written Norwegian and Danish too. Norwegian writing text is similar to Danish however, sounds like Swedish.

Norwegians are persistently exposed to a wide assortment of dialects that forces them to relate to the society who have a dissimilar manner of speaking, thus making them easier to grasp Swedish or Danish.

Know the conversational sentences and words

Focus on the words or sentences used in communication. Learn the common words used by the Scandinavians when communicating with people. You’ll be able to grasp almost half of the language and enabling you to absorb what the native speaker is relying on you.

Get a private tutor

Helping you to get started is to take the lessons and have a private tutor or taking live classes online. This is a very crucial way as private tutor can give you a direct feedback about your performance and guiding you on your linguistic journey. You will advance to the next level and you’re speaking perception and fluency is well monitored. This makes you speed up and master the language than doing self-study.

Devote

It is very important to devote yourself to what you are doing and commit your work to succeed. When learning a language being devoted to your goal to learn is something a great help to fulfill in learning a language. You might end up losing if you don’t do any effort and commitment to learning the language.

Those successful students invest the ample time required to be able to focus on the lessons. If you have no time, then you are only wasting your money, as learning a language is somewhat pricey.

Of course, you can learn free, but almost all online classes offer only an introductory lesson. As mentioned above, you can speed up the learning process if getting a private tutor online.

Talk with a native

The goal here is to be able to communicate and to do that talk with a native or a great Scandinavian speaker. Thanks to the awe of Skype, you can talk directly with the natives without traveling to Scandinavia and getting an expensive fare.

This is the best way how to weigh your speaking skills by facing a Scandinavian without spending much. When doing this frequently, you will see quick results.

But, wait – how can I find a native Scandinavian speaker to talk with?

Don’t fret. There are many websites online offering language lessons, allowing you to converse with a native speaker to experience real communication while staying in the comfort of your home.

Application Software

When you have the eagerness to study, you will learn quickly. We are lucky today as technology continually rise up where different software is innovated and accessible nowadays. Even in mobile phones you can download and install the application software that can be helpful in your learning in a fun way.

Be resourceful

Find reading materials that are available out there and watch movies that will boost your learning process. You can read books written in Bokmal and some other useful resources.

Find a good language program

A good language program is very crucial in learning a new language. Whatever language you are interested to learn Norwegian, Swedish or Danish the development of your learning relies on the quality of the language program. How the process implemented and how advanced the software is.

Listen to Scandinavian music

Listening to music increases your comprehension in learning the Scandinavian languages utmost. Music can enhance the quality of your life in many ways. It lessens stress and anxiety, uplifts your spirit, boosts mental health and even makes you smarter.

Listening to your favorite songs in the Scandinavian languages is another best way to internalize the tone, grammar, and inflection of the language. By blending up the words you will be able to remember certain words by singing, resulting to a further understanding.

These guides are posted not to push you to become lazy, for doing everything in a quick way, but to encourage you to focus and to strive in your language journey. The above details will surely help you in speeding up your learning process; it will guide you and motivate you in every way.

Related Questions:

What are the differences and similarities of the continental and the main Scandinavian languages?

Looking for the best Scandinavian language to learn? I might say your here because you’re searching for an insight of what language to learn from all the Scandinavian languages.

What language is useful and which is easy or hard?

Getting started on your language journey with Basic Phrases in Scandinavian Languages!

https://youtu.be/8MKKXToZzAI

Well, you are on the right track!

A lot of people are very confused about the Scandinavian languages – some thought that Scandinavian languages are the same dialect or mutually intelligible with one another. Some are puzzled by how many Scandinavian languages are listed. Others think that Nordic countries are all Scandinavian countries.

Don’t worry too much. You’ll figure out and we will try to answer all these questions in detail.

Here I am going to cite the main Scandinavian and the continental Scandinavian languages;

Norwegian language

This is the spoken language in Norway and the official language. Due to globalization, it bears a dialect set of more or less common intelligible native and regional varieties.

There are primary variations in pitch accent between dialects – the high pitch dialects and the low-tone dialects. In this case, Norwegian has a high pitch accent, resulting its speaking like a “singing” quality.

Norwegian language sentences are constructed the same to Danish. When it comes to tone, Norwegian language has a tonal ‘pitch accent’ like Swedish and its homonyms stress on the first or second syllable of the word.

The language has no standard oral pattern, however, the same in any places the language of the capital district appeared a standard language though in this scenario it formed unofficial language.

The language we are talking about is the standard East Norwegian but, others call it ‘Bokmal.’ The mountain valley dialect and the West Norwegian are much more complex than East Norwegian language.

Norwegian has a simple grammar and has an easy sound system compared to Swedish.

Swedish language

Written in Norwegian and Danish are barely easier to grasp by local Swedish than the spoken languages itself, because of the dissimilarity in tone, pitch accent and intonation.

Swedish too has a simple grammar but a bit complex compared to Danish and Norwegian.

Its morphology is the same to English which words have relatively few inflections. It has two genders and is entirely describe to have two grammatical cases – nominative and genitive but it has different rules compared to English.

Danish language

Danish is an ancestor of Old Norse, the usual language of the Germanic natives who dwell in Scandinavia when the times of the Viking Era.

Danish has a wide vowel composed of 27 phonemically unique vowels, and its elements of speech, including tone, stress, intonation and rhythm characterized by the typical phenomenon ‘stød,’ (laryngeal phonation type).

Because of the several pronunciation variety that made Danish apart from other languages, specifically the vowels, hard prosody and consonants, it is often considered to be the hardest language to learn and understand.

Danish is quite has a harder pronunciation than Swedish and Norwegian.

It has nine verb forms, involving the passive and a ton of Germanic-based cognate vocabulary words as well.

Icelandic language

This language is spoken in Iceland along with Faroese and recently comprised West Nordic. On the contrary, with the other Scandinavian languages, Icelandic remains a four grammatical case likely to German language which is seen as more conservative and characterized by utilized inflections.

Icelandic is determined by a vast amount of different ‘irregular declensions.’ Also, have many circumstances of using “oblique cases” without any rules in a word, like Latin.

This is the reason why Icelandic was seen as the hardest language to learn compared to Faroese.

Faroese language

Is a North Germanic language spoken largely by locals about 72,000 people as a first language, around 49,000 residents on the Faroe Islands and 23,000 other people in different areas, particularly in Denmark.

Faroese has 29 alphabets and originated in Latin script and has 26 vowels like with most Germanic languages. The vowel sharing is the same with the other North Germanic languages with short vowels in closed syllables, but the long consonants and long vowels visible in open syllables.

Faroese grammar is the same and very similar to that of modern Icelandic and Old Norse. It is an inflected language with three grammatical genders and four cases: accusative, dative, nominative, and genitive. The pronunciation, however, always varies considerably from the written text. The letter ð, for e.g. hasn’t particular phoneme connected to it.

When scaling the level of difficulty Icelandic language is a bit harder than Faroese. English speaker has a favorable bet on this language due to its origin the Old Norse.

What is the application software that can be useful in learning the Scandinavians languages?

Here is the three application software downloadable free in your mobile phones or any gadgets;

  • Like Anki mobile app you will be able to learn through virtual flashcards. It tests your vocabulary skills in different categories.
  • Memrise uses flashcards too. Knowing and learning vocabulary words into a fun experience.
  • Duolingo is known for its language classes online, but today they created a free app that enables you to choose an everyday goal and set a definite time you like to learn. It has added a translation feature for you to read and understand different languages, particularly the Scandinavian languages.

Conclusion:

It is very possible to be understood even if you’re speaking incorrect grammar in Icelandic because the word order is not being influenced by the grammar cases in the spoken language and disregarding some other harder sounds.

The simplified Icelandic is simpler than Danish to which the regular range of accuracy is much harder for an English speaking person than speaking Danish.

You could observe the first level is moderately decreasing, but the language journey reaching fluency is far longer.

Norwegian is only simple compared to Swedish and Danish if you disregarded that written form (Nynorsk), the huge number of elective forms, and that vast variety of dialects that are used daily. If you sum up this profoundness and interested to master both written texts and comprehend the main dialects making you a bit harder than Swedish and Danish.

The provided ways of speeding up learning Scandinavian languages might help you to overcome these hardships in learning. If you apply these tips it will help you level up your study in-depth and thorough learning.

Please keep in mind that learning a language is a long journey that needs determination and focused.

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