Danish

About Danish

Danish (dansk) is a North Germanic language spoken in Denmark, some areas of Greenland and the northern parts of Schleswig-Holstein (Southern Schleswig). While regional dialects can diverge from each other substantially, Standard Danish (rigsdansk) is widely spoken and understood by speakers. Danish is closely related to Norwegian and Swedish, and most speakers of one of the three languages can understand the others to a certain extent. In writing, the differences between the Danish and Norwegian Bokmål are not much bigger than the difference between British and American English, though it will often be harder to understand each other in speech. The Scanian dialect of southern Sweden is especially similar to Danish. Danish is also related to Faroese and Icelandic, but has diverged significantly and is not mutually intelligible with them, though many cognates will still be recognisable, particularly in written form.

As Danish is a Germanic language, speakers of other Germanic languages like German, Dutch or even English will be able to recognise many cognates.

Most younger adult Danes are able to speak English, so learning Danish is generally not necessary to get by. Nevertheless, you may occasionally find the odd person who does not speak English, especially when dealing with young children and the elderly, so some knowledge of Danish would be useful in such situations.

Overview adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA)。Photography via Wikimedia Commons.