“Do you want me to enter judgment?” I looked a little confused at the lady behind the counter in the interior shop in central Stockholm. Wasn’t that exactly what she had done? She had actually scanned the barcode on the two boxes of drinking glasses that I had placed in front of her. I was ready to pay and could not in my wildest imagination understand why she asked. “Yes, thank you…” I said a little tentatively, but still politely. After all, she had to punch them in at the till for me to pay. I understood that. Was there some kind of permission she needed? A confirmation that I should have the goods? Not at all. Shot for the bow Before I knew it, the lady had slapped on change notes and wrapped one box in light green and pink paper with a white bow on top. Here in the interior design shop, my self-proclaimed good knowledge of Swedish had received a significant boost. I couldn’t let her go on. Not only were there people behind me in the queue – I really had no need to go home with two pretty, if somewhat gaudy, wrapped gifts for myself. It was enough with one. I explained the misunderstanding and we laughed a bit about it. “What’s it called in Norwegian then?” “Pack in.” “I’ll try to remember that the next time there’s a norrbagge”, she said. And laughed a little again. BEWARE: A shopping trip in Sweden can present linguistic challenges. Photo: Martin Meissner / AP Tired of “glamour girls” The Scandinavian languages are almost like dialects. Or to put it another way: the budget for interpreting services at news’s Nordic office is extremely low. Our linguistic community is perhaps the strongest bond between us Scandinavians. Nevertheless, English is becoming more and more common. English takes over in everyday speech and is used as a common language in the Nordics. The Finns have, to a greater and greater extent, lost their Swedish, for example. It is partly a political issue where several parties, including Sannfinländarna, want to remove compulsory teaching in Swedish. LESS SWEDISH: In Finland, fewer and fewer people speak Swedish. Photo: LEHTIKUVA / Reuters But many Swedish speakers in Finland also say that they have experienced threats from more or less nationalist organizations and private individuals because they speak Swedish – not Finnish. About half of the country’s population can still carry on a conversation in Swedish. But there are fewer and fewer who want to. In Iceland, it was not until 1999 that English took over from Danish as the first foreign language in school. But the students must still learn Danish, Norwegian or Swedish. Nevertheless, Icelandic young people are the ones in the Nordics who like to speak English the most. In one of his many poetry series, the Swede wrote under the pseudonym Kar de Mumma about English in the Swedish language. He worried that young people could not speak Swedish without mixing in English words such as “weekend”, “make up”, “pullover”, “sandwich”, “cocktails”, “party”, “shopping”, “show” and “glamour girls”. But what upset him the most was that the play Roberta, which had its triumphant run at the Oscar theater at Norrmalm in Stockholm, was pronounced “Robørta” by the city’s young people. THEATER: Oscarsteatern in Stockholm in 2023. In 1946, the pronunciation of the play “Roberta” caused frustration for a writer. Photo: Joakim Reigstad / news By the way, the Kåseriet was written in 1946, so the issue raised here is anything but new. But it points to something symptomatic. Norway best in class In 2021, the Nordic Council of Ministers examined this. They asked 2,000 young people between the ages of 16 and 25 about how they experienced the understanding of the Nordic languages: 65 percent of the Danes and 57 percent of the Swedes answered that they mainly use English when meeting someone who speaks another Scandinavian language. In Iceland, the corresponding figure was 82 per cent, in Finland 79 per cent. That the Scandinavian language understanding is best in Norway is clear, because 36 percent of the Norwegians in the survey answered that they use English in Scandinavia. Then it’s a good idea to tell another story. From last year’s election campaign here in Sweden. Slightly irritated Minister of Education Education Minister Tonje Brenna was in Stockholm to talk about the differences in Norwegian and Swedish funding models for schools. Since the topic was quite topical in Sweden, because certain parties wanted to remove the Swedes’ ability to profit from the operation of independent schools, Brenna was to be interviewed by telephone by a Swedish newspaper to explain the Norwegian model. SWEDISH-NORSE; Education Minister Tonje Brenna at a press conference ahead of the special interview with a Swedish newspaper. Photo: Joakim Reigstad / news “The Norwegian school system is based on not allowing … ah … what is the dividend called in English again, then?” The latter, in Norwegian, she said to herself a little annoyed. The reporter on the other end had insisted that the interview be conducted in English. The person claimed that he, or she, did not understand Norwegian. The Minister of Education paused in his reasoning. “Then it must be better if we speak Norwegian and Swedish, just a little slower?” she suggested. This is how it turned out. And maybe that’s how it should be? The Dane must, the Norwegian can Of course we face challenges when we communicate in different languages, including Scandinavian languages. Who knows how many more Danish-Norwegian marriages there could have been if the Norwegians had not bluntly refused the Danes’ request “do I have to come along?” with the particularly disarming “no, no, you absolutely must not follow along!”. MUST OR SHOULD: The city tour in Copenhagen can end sooner than thought if you don’t master a little Danish. Photo: Joakim Reigstad / news For the record: The word “must” in Danish means “can” in Norwegian, and is often a source of misunderstanding between Norwegians and Danes. “Follow” here means “follow” … for example home from the city. If we put it a little more to the point: Imagine a Trønder who does not understand everything a parishioner says. Had they started speaking English? If you hadn’t asked “what do you mean?” And rather than using another language, rather created better conditions for understanding each other better next time. Safer in the mother tongue Because it is possible to overcome the linguistic barriers. I myself have gone a long way in learning the Scandinavian languages, but you don’t need to know grammar and all the idioms to make yourself perfectly understood. Last autumn, Queen Margrethe of Denmark received the Nordic language prize. In her acceptance speech, she spoke about precisely how we can preserve the language community in the Nordic region: SPEECH: Queen Margrethe of Denmark thanks the Nordic Language Prize in Oslo on 26 September last year. Photo: Javad Parsa / NTB So one might well think that this is a small matter. That it might not be so dangerous if English takes over, neither at home nor in the Nordics elsewhere. But where does that leave us? This corner of the world, which the Nordic prime ministers back in 2019 set their sights on, would become the world’s most integrated region by 2030. Without the language, the Nordic community could soon be reduced to a regional collaboration. On a par with what many countries have with their neighbours. Then it is perhaps better to bear going home with a neatly wrapped box of drinking glasses every once in a while. Or without a possible future spouse. It usually comes with a good story anyway.
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Is the common Nordic language understanding about to die out? – news Urix – Foreign news and documentaries
