Scandinavia

=== North Germanic languages ===
{{main|North Germanic languages}}
[[File:Nordiska språk.PNG|thumb|
Continental Scandinavian languages:
{{legend|#6262ff|Danish}}
{{legend|#0000ff|Norwegian}}
{{legend|#00009f|Swedish}}
Insular Scandinavian languages:
{{legend|#00ffff|Faroese}}
{{legend|#00ff00|Icelandic}}]]
The North Germanic languages of Scandinavia are traditionally divided into an East Scandinavian branch (Danish and Swedish) and a West Scandinavian branch ([[Norwegian language|Norwegian]], [[Icelandic language|Icelandic]] and [[Faroese language|Faroese]]),<ref>{{cite book| title = Aschehoug og Gyldendals store norske leksikon: Nar – Pd| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=YdRoPgAACAAJ| year = 1999| publisher=Kunnskapsforlaget | isbn = 978-82-573-0703-5| access-date = 23 April 2023| archive-date = 23 April 2023| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20230423132223/https://books.google.com/books?id=YdRoPgAACAAJ| url-status = live}}</ref><ref>Gordon, Raymond G., Jr. (ed.), 2005. ''Ethnologue: Languages of the World,'' Fifteenth edition. Dallas, Tex.: SIL International</ref> but because of changes appearing in the languages since 1600 the East Scandinavian and West Scandinavian branches are now usually reconfigured into Insular Scandinavian ({{lang|sv|ö-nordisk}}/{{lang|no|øy-nordisk}}) featuring [[Icelandic language|Icelandic]] and [[Faroese language|Faroese]]<ref>Jónsson, Jóhannes Gísli and Thórhallur Eythórsson (2004). [http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract;jsessionid=72768CEEDB6A49E6E7A7224C321A3A45.tomcat1?fromPage=online&aid=355925 "Variation in subject case marking in Insular Scandinavian"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160504233812/http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract;jsessionid=72768CEEDB6A49E6E7A7224C321A3A45.tomcat1?fromPage=online&aid=355925 |date=4 May 2016 }}. Nordic Journal of Linguistics (2005), 28: 223–245 Cambridge University Press. Retrieved 9 November 2007.</ref> and Continental Scandinavian ({{lang|sv|Skandinavisk}}), comprising Danish, Norwegian and Swedish.<ref name="Heine 2006">{{cite book| author = Bernd Heine| author-link=Bernd Heine| author2 = Tania Kuteva| author2-link=Tania Kuteva|title = The changing languages of Europe| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=EF5wAAAAIAAJ| year = 2006| publisher = Oxford University Press, US| isbn = 978-0-19-929734-4| access-date = 23 April 2023| archive-date = 23 April 2023| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20230423132202/https://books.google.com/books?id=EF5wAAAAIAAJ| url-status = live}}</ref>

The modern division is based on the degree of mutual comprehensibility between the languages in the two branches.<ref name="Torp">{{cite book| author = Iben Stampe Sletten| author2 = Nordisk Ministerråd| title = Nordens sprog med rødder og fødder| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=YinXAAAACAAJ| year = 2005| isbn = 978-92-893-1041-3| page = 2| publisher = Nordic Council of Ministers| access-date = 23 April 2023| archive-date = 23 April 2023| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20230423132203/https://books.google.com/books?id=YinXAAAACAAJ| url-status = live}}</ref> The populations of the Scandinavian countries, with common Scandinavian roots in language, can—at least with some training—understand each other's [[standard language]]s as they appear in print and are heard on radio and television.

The reason Danish, Swedish and the two official written versions of Norwegian (''Nynorsk'' and ''Bokmål'') are traditionally viewed as different languages, rather than dialects of one common language, is that each is a well-established standard language in its respective country.

Danish, Swedish and Norwegian have since medieval times been influenced to varying degrees by [[Middle Low German]] and standard German. That influence was due not only to proximity, but also to the rule of Denmark—and later Denmark-Norway—over the German-speaking region of Holstein, and to Sweden's close trade with the [[Hanseatic League]].

Norwegians are accustomed to variation and may perceive Danish and Swedish only as slightly more distant dialects. This is because they have two official written standards, in addition to the habit of strongly holding on to local dialects. The people of [[Stockholm]], Sweden and [[Copenhagen]], Denmark have the greatest difficulty in understanding other Scandinavian languages.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20160307122939/http://www.norden.org/en/news-and-events/news/urban-misunderstandings "Urban misunderstandings"], Nordic Council and the Nordic Council of Ministers, Copenhagen.</ref> In the Faroe Islands and Iceland, learning Danish is mandatory. This causes Faroese people as well as Icelandic people to become bilingual in two very distinct North Germanic languages, making it relatively easy for them to understand the other two Mainland Scandinavian languages.<ref>[http://www.norden.org/webb/pressrelease/pressrelease.asp?lang=6&id=1183 Faroese and Norwegians best at understanding Nordic neighbours] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081225105103/http://www.norden.org/webb/pressrelease/pressrelease.asp?lang=6&id=1183 |date=25 December 2008 }}, ''Nordisk Sprogråd'', Nordic Council, 13 January 2005.</ref><ref>[http://www.ismennt.is/vefir/namskra/g/tungumal/danska/inngangur.html Aðalnámskrá grunnskóla: Erlend tungumál] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171020071650/http://www.ismennt.is/vefir/namskra/g/tungumal/danska/inngangur.html |date=20 October 2017 }}, ISMennt, EAN, 1999.</ref>

Although Iceland was under the political control of Denmark until a much later date (1918), very little influence and borrowing from Danish has occurred in the Icelandic language.<ref>{{Cite journal | doi = 10.1023/A:1017918213388| year = 2001| last1 = Holmarsdottir | first1 = H. B. | journal = International Review of Education | volume = 47| issue = 3/4| page = 379|title=Icelandic: A Lesser-Used Language in the Global Community| bibcode = 2001IREdu..47..379H| s2cid = 142851422}}</ref> Icelandic remained the preferred language among the ruling classes in Iceland. Danish was not used for official communications, most of the royal officials were of Icelandic descent and the language of the church and law courts remained Icelandic.<ref>Hálfdanarson, Guðmundur. [http://www.stm.unipi.it/Clioh/tabs/libri/3/01-Halfdanarson_1-14.pdf Icelandic Nationalism: A Non-Violent Paradigm?] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081001152130/http://www.stm.unipi.it/Clioh/tabs/libri/3/01-Halfdanarson_1-14.pdf |date=1 October 2008 }} In ''Nations and Nationalities in Historical Perspective''. Pisa: Edizioni Plus, 2001, p. 3.</ref>