learning Swedish or Norwegian

Im norwegian, with a bf currently learning norwegian, he says it has its stupid things, but most of it is ok. Be aware tho if u buy a dictionary in England, they seem to have quiet a lot of errors in them.

If you're getting some books, id recommend "Norwegian in 10 minutes" and "norwegian" by Margaretha danbolt simons :)

Good Luck,
T

I second the "Ten Minutes a Day" book recommendation. I used it extensively, along with a lot of other materials.

You mean the Kershul books?

<<Is it true that Dutch, Swedish, Norwegian, and Danish are all similar, also in terms of difficulty?>>

Maybe in terms of language structure, but I would say Danish must be significantly tougher pronunciation-wise than the other three. Modern Danish has some uniquely hellish pronunciation rules, not to mention ellisions, vocalizations and intervocalic non-rhoticity which contribute to an endless collection of incredibly bizarre pronunciations.

I mean, dear God, in what other language is /U/ an allophone of /b/ in some environments?

Danish is Korean of European languages. LOL

XD @ Guest.

Sweden is often compared to Japan, so what you say actually makes some sense.

(And Norway = Taiwan.)

Yesterday I met a girl from Oslo.
I talked to her in Swedish and she to me in Norwegian. We were able to understand each other.

If she had come from other parts of Norway I probably would have more trouble understanding her.

I'm Norwegian, and I second the statement someone here wrote.. "Norwegian as the middle language"..

Out of the three Scandinavian languages, I at least, feel that Norwegian is a mix of Swedish and Danish in WRITTEN FORM.. When it comes to pronouncation I also feel that it's much clearer and easier to talk than that of Swedish or Danish.. My Danish family also seem to think so.

You must also remember that there are three additional letters in the Norwegian and the Danish Alphabet (Æ, Ø and Å).. I'm not sure about Swedish but I think there's three there aswell (Shoot me if I'm wrong but I think it's: Ä, Ö and Å)..

My American friend managed to listen to a conversation I had with my mom in Norwegian, and he told me afterward that it sounded just like Japanese.. I'm not sure if he was being sarcastic or not but that's what he said.. I for one, who's learning Japanese can say that the two languages are not at all similar.. Not in any way possible.

Anyway, if you want to learn a Scandinavian language, I'd go for Norwegian first, THEN one of the other two (or both). I'm not saying this because I'm Norwegian myself, but because this is what I feel is true and correct. Maybe my opinion would be different if I was Danish or Swedish, I don't know, and will never know..

<< Anyway, if you want to learn a Scandinavian language, I'd go for Norwegian first... >>

-- Norwegian is simpler, easier to pronounce and to understand, and (even more than Swedish) has beautiful tones with its distinctive sing-song broadband prosody (that Danish sadly lacks).

That being said, there is an important reason for which Swedish should be preferred: the Swedes are quite proud of their language and are delighted when someone from Continental Europe can use it, whereas most Danes and Norwegians are rather eager to display what good English they speak. As a result there are more opportunities and encouragement to speak with locals in their own language in Sweden than in the neighbouring countries.

<< My American friend managed to listen to a conversation I had with my mom in Norwegian, and he told me afterward that it sounded just like Japanese.. I'm not sure if he was being sarcastic or not but that's what he said.. I for one, who's learning Japanese can say that the two languages are not at all similar.. Not in any way possible. >>

I had never really thought about it, but it's actually not that impossible that Swedish/Norwegian sounds like Japanese.
Japanese also has pitch accents. Double consonants are not that rare. The aspiration is also similar.


Interestingly, I've always thought Danish sounded like Vietnamese. No kidding.

Packard, have you decided which language you choose?

Right now I'm leaning toward Swedish. (The "Swedish or Norweigen?? CAN'T DECIDE!!!" thread helped convince me.) There's a lot more material I can get in Swedish, it has the bigger population, and it's more standardized. Everything I've read about Norwegian--two written standards, with very few dialects really matching either one--makes it sound like a moving target.

I can understand your considerations.
Good luck at learning Swedish!
Lycka till!

>> ight now I'm leaning toward Swedish. (The "Swedish or Norweigen?? CAN'T DECIDE!!!" thread helped convince me.) There's a lot more material I can get in Swedish, it has the bigger population, and it's more standardized. Everything I've read about Norwegian--two written standards, with very few dialects really matching either one--makes it sound like a moving target. <<

You'll probably never get the pitch accent right though. Why not learn Swedish with a Danish accent?

<< You'll probably never get the pitch accent right though. Why not learn Swedish with a Danish accent? >>

The pitch accent is not that important. There are different pitch accent patterns even among the native speakers. Many don't even distinguish pitch accents at all. So don't worry about it.