If you decide to study, live or work in one of the Scandinavian countries, without the knowledge of the languages of Northern Europe, you can not do. Which languages are spoken in the Scandinavian countries? First of all, in Swedish, Danish, Icelandic, Norwegian and Faroese. Swedish, Danish and Icelandic are close to each other. Their common ancestor – Old Norse – existed in the Viking Age. The basis of the Danish and Swedish lay down his eastern dialects, and the western dialect formed the basis for the Norwegian language.
But the similarity of their strong today. As a result of colonization Norwegians Iceland and the Faroe Islands were born Icelandic and Faroese. This occurred in the IX-X centuries. From the continental these languages differ significantly by geographic distance. Icelandic language reminiscent of Old Norse, while the Faroese combines the western Norwegian and Icelandic dialects.
Sometimes attributed to the Scandinavian languages and Finnish, but, strictly speaking, he belongs to the Finno-Ugric language group. Finnish language – one of the most complex and archaic in Europe. Affixes, case endings in it in abundance. Vocabulary also combines with one hand, the original words, on the other – words borrowed from the western Indo-European languages. Credit: David Barger -2011. The main difficulty in the study of Scandinavian languages is phonology. The fact is that the majority of the letters there are a few options for reading. For example, to transmit sound to the letter j in the Swedish language there are seven ways. It is difficult for our ears become accustomed to the subtleties in the arrangement of accents. The stress tone – almost like the Chinese. One and the same sound, depending on whether he uttered a long or short, can radically alter the meaning of the word. For example, the word in modern Swedish, spoken with a different emphasis, would mean 'fashion' or 'mother'. But the grammar of the Scandinavian languages much easier. True, it is worth noting two features: the definite article is added to the end of a word + is a synthetic form of liability that formed by adding the verb suffix-s. Experts say that to master the basics of a language can have for three months. Maybe someone will seem that the study of Scandinavian languages – employment is absolutely useless – why, because there is an international English. But sometimes the knowledge of these languages is a professional necessity. For example, in the near future will be a study of Norwegian and Finnish Russian border guards serving in Murmansk region. And one of the main challenges posed by today to the northern border, is just training – today all Russian border guards have to learn languages of the countries bordering the regions in which they serve. In addition, in connection with a complete transition to contract service by 2010, border troops will serve only non-commissioned officers and officers. This means that the rank and file of contractors who serve on border, will also be sent to study in college.