What do norwegian people speak

At the end of the s, Norway united with Denmark, and so Danish was suddenly the prestigious language. Norwegian was still spoken by many people, but Danish was the language of the government and the elite. In that treaty, Norway was actually supposed to become part of Sweden, but Norway declared independence before that happened.

Norway did come under the power of the king of Sweden, but it was its own entity. And now that it was on its own, it had to do something about its language. About 95 percent of the population spoke Norwegian, but in the early 19th century there was no written standard. Still, both are used, and some people use other variations of these two. All of that has to do only with Norwegian as a written language, and spoken Norwegian is a whole different story.

There are 4,, speakers of Norwegian worldwide. Norwegian has two official standardized spoken and written varieties. The two varieties are used in public administration, religious services, and in the media. Newspapers, magazines and books are published in both varieties that have undergone a number of reforms throughout the 20th century. A movement to merge them into one standard was not successful.

Both written varieties are not correated with either geography or the with the spoken dialects. In addition, Norwegian has many local dialects which are usually divided into four major groups:. There are many differences in the pronunciation among the various dialects of Norwegian. Vowel length makes a difference in word meaning, e. In the table below length is indicated by a colon after the vowel. Rounded vowels are produced with protruded lips. The consonant system of Norwegian differs considerably from dialect to dialect.

Voiced consonants become voiceless at the end of words, e. Most of the dialects in eastern and central Norway use the retroflex consonants. Most western and northern dialects do not have them. Stress in native Norwegian words normally falls on the first syllable. Loanwords may have other stress patterns. In most forms of Norwegian and Swedish, pitch differences are regularly associated with primary stress. The difference is significant in polysyllabic words.

There are significant variations in pitch accent among dialects, and some varieties of Norwegian have by now lost the tonal accent opposition altogether. Norwegian grammar is similar to the grammar of other Germanic languages. However, due to the lack of a single standard, rules vary from one dialect area to another. The normal word order in declarative sentences is Subject-Verb-Object. In questions, the order is Verb-Subject-Object. Most Norwegian words are of common Germanic stock, supplemented by borrowings.

Much of the scientific terminology has Greek and Latin roots. Words are frequently formed by compounding native elements, e. This, as you can see, can result in very long words. The oldest records of Norwegian are runic Futhark inscriptions dating back to the 9th century. Around , Christianity came to Norway, bringing with it the Latin alphabet.

Norwegian manuscripts in the new alphabet began to appear about a century later. The letters c, q, w, x and z are used almost exclusively in borrowings and foreign names. Is your business looking for French translation or interpreting services? Well, which French do you Read More.

How people communicate with one another varies wildly from culture to culture. In our fully Topics: Localization , Translation , Service. Octave Login Search. Norwegian has four and a half million native speakers. Norwegian is somewhat mutually intelligible with the other nordic languages, danish and swedish. Canadian French vs. Gaelic vs. Norway is a popular destination for a variety of students, given its diverse programs, free education and its culture and history.

Take a minute to find out more about the structure of the education system in Norway! Do you need a visa to enter Norway to study? Learn more about the student visa process, and what you need to enter the country, depending on your citizen status. You will also be required to bring certain documents with you to passport control at the airport, which we cover as well. Norway is considered more expensive compared to other countries in Europe.

Tuition fees for degree programs in Norway may vary. However, in general, education at public universities is free for all students. The deadlines to apply for the autumn semester at most universities are in June, however, international students are strongly advised to apply as early as possible and to leave time for sorting out the details.

Ready to look at education in Norway? Use our search engine to find and compare top programs in Norway.