Basically a lot of drunk jokes. I started thinking of it more in terms of area rather than countries, Danish won't just be useful in Denmark for example, it'll also be useful in southern Sweden where mutual intelligibility is relatively high. I learned a lot of Swedish while living in Sweden for awhile and could even read a lot of Danish when I was done with Swedish 1. If you can read Bokmal you automatically have like 90% reading skill in Danish.
Although it’s not as popular as either of these, if you want to learn more than one Scandinavian language, it’s best to start with Norwegian. Icelandic on the other hand is a little bit more complicated. The Swedish alphabet has 29 letters: the 26 usual letters plus 3 special characters. The Swedish language sounds to many foreigners very pleasant, as if someone is singing, like a bird on sunny spring day. Therefore they are exposed to the English language since an early age. Ask if you have more questions. Danes, lacking a word for 'please', express politeness with grammar - but they do like to say thank you. Native English speakers: his tea and their tea?
When languages are similar, this approach can prove useful.
So if your mother is Swedish and if it's mostly about connecting to your heritage, I'd say learn Swedish. It's kind of a running gag among Scandinavians, as you can see in this video. If you already speak English, then Swedish isn't the most difficult language to learn. With the country's population at just over 5.7 million, Danish is one of the smaller European languages. To view our full privacy policy click here.
However, despite the shared vocabulary, there are a few false cognates you should look out for.
So, no Scandinavian language is easier or harder when it comes to writing. There are 6 million Danish speakers, 4.5 million Norwegian speakers, and only 350.000 Icelandic speakers. One of the harder things to learn about Swedish were the genders. Image.
Achieve Swedish success when you download OptiLingo! For an English speaker, Danish has some familiar vocabulary, and grammar shouldn’t be too big a challenge. Both languages have a lot of resources and an interesting culture, you should really just choose whichever one you feel you can commit to better. Their writing is the same, and there’s not a lot of difference between vocabulary and grammar either. If you’re fluent in Norwegian, learning other Nordic languages will be much easier. Basic speaking, for example the ability to have a five-minute conversation in Swedish, introducing yourself: 3-6 months of studies (about 5-10 hours per week). I've been linked to it a couple of times and naturally I've watched it but I have no clue about what's going on there. This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Seriously. Those languages are sort of similar to each other.
No, it’s hundrede.
It’s very melodic and, unless you meet Swedes from the very south of Sweden, almost free of unpleasant ch-sounds [x], which you find plentiful in for example the German or Dutch language. It’s actually part of the Finno-Ugric language family. English has much more similarity with Danish than with, for example, Chinese, Russian or Basque.
If you follow any of the above links, please respect the rules of reddit and don't vote in the other threads. Unlike them, Danish has only nine verb forms. I also would love to learn a second language. The general consensus is that they are equally difficult and it doesn't really matter which you choose due to the mutual intelligibility anyways. Understand Swedish culture & quirks, read the book, How to be Swedish – A Quick Guide to Swedishness – in 55 Steps. Out of all the Nordic languages, most speak Swedish with 10 million Swedish speakers worldwide. The Danes are generally quite good as well though, and along with Danish pronunciation being as it is, it makes Danish even harder to practice. Understanding Danish can require a lot of concentration from Norwegians and Swedes alike. Swedish is harder. And if you insist, we can put a number on it. But, it’s best to learn one well before you begin to learn another foreign language. But, others are closer, so you have an advantage when you’re learning it. Others say that only a drunk Norwegian could understand a Dane. Learn how your comment data is processed. Some examples of 50, 70 and 90 are as follows: Halv-tre-sinds-tyve ~ half three times twenty ~ 2.5 x 20 = 50, Halv-fjerd-sinds-tyve ~ half four times twenty ~ 3.5 x 20 = 70, Halv-fem-sinds-tyve ~ half five times twenty ~ 4.5 x 20 = 90. Here’s a good example: Having a useful vocabulary list is crucial to achieving fluency.