What language do Scandinavians speak when getting together for a beer in a pub?

[Al'Kimiya]

Originally posted by Gangerolf

There, there Most swedish dialects are horrible as well

[Al'Kimiya]

Originally posted by Provost Harrison
So how does English sound to you lot, in terms of noise (you said Danish sounds like they have a potato stuck in their throat). I am just curious...

In English it depends on the speaker (and to a degree accent). Ironically, when danish people speak english, the "potato" sound isn't as disturbing. Maybe they get their act together when they have to translate what they say ad hoc

[Rasbelin]

Well, if I need to talk with some from Iceland, I would most likely use English as the differencies are too great for me. Understanding Norwegian works, but Danish is abit harder for me.

I similar issue is among Finno-Ugric languages and especially Estonian and Finnish as it's a very common encounter.

[catullus]

Scandinavia has more language differences within each language than between the main dialects of each. IMHO, of course. Most people coming from other parts than the capital are used to talk capital-ish ("official" language) when talking to people from other regions. I remember as a kid that my cousins often couldn't understand me, although they live only 600km from my home place. So I had to try to speak "TV language".
Oslo Norwegian is usually well understood by both Swedes and Danish, and Norwegians understand both the other languages, especially if spoken slowly.
I've been on some Nordic IT-security meetings, and all speak their own language. Sometimes, if you know the words are very different in the languages, you try to repeat it, translated. Like if I speak about security threats, I would use, at least the first time, both the word "trussel" and "hot".
The Finns speak their own funny version of English unless they try (and fail miserably) to speak Swedish. Best practice for Finns: Shut up.
Icelanders most often speak what they call "Skandinaviska", which is a mix between Swedish and Danish, very often quite easy to understand for all parts.
At the pub, we still speak own language, except the Finns, who are now too drunk to say anything, and the Icelanders, who turn to English.

C.

[Wilderess]

The reason for my asking this is quite serious, believe it or not.

Finland is a bilingual country. This derives from Sweden’s rule over Finland for many centuries until 1809: Swedish was the language of the rulers and of the upper class in Finland. We still have a small minority of Swedish-speaking people here, as well as a handful of Samish-speaking ("Lappish"?) aboriginals in Lapland.

According to the rules and regulations, every Finnish child must learn Swedish at school. Since there is only a limited amount of hours in the day and school day in particular, and there is a strong need to study also other languages, this has been something of a problem. The majority of Finns never really need Swedish in their later lives. Practically all Swedish-speaking people in Finland are really bilingual and speak Finnish as well as Swedish.

There’s a severe quarrel going on between those who think that Swedish should be studied voluntarily at school, and those who think that, for ”historical reasons”, Swedish must be learned by every single Finnish child.

I’m for free choice of languages at school, but I also see the importance of the Northern dimension in Europe. If all the other Nordic people communicate using their own language each, and must change into English when a Finn joins the group, it must be a drawback for us Finns.

[Buck Birdseed]

Many of the differences between the scandinavian countries' languages are basically politically enforced rather than anything else. Ignoring terms for modern phenomena that have grown different, most of the northern half of Norway could be construed as speaking a dialect of swedish or vice versa. There are "languages" with considerably bigger internal differences than even Swedish and Danish... German being a notable example. I mean, the "dialect" Low German is basically Dutch and fully understandable by dutch people, whereas you can get something as extreme as Bavarian or Austrian on the other end of the scale, all considered "German" for political reasons.

[Gramphos]

most of the differences is there because of different language reforms in the countries.

[Rasbelin]

Wilderess,

the name for the minority is Finno-Swedes, not Swedish speaking people. But as for the actual issue, I agree that only 2 languages should be compulsory, Finnish and a 2nd language (English, German or French). Swedish would be a B2 categorised language.

[Meticulous Man]

In my Utopia, all Finns would be learning English and/or Swedish already in kindergarten so they would learn to speak them as well as their mother tongue

[Wilderess]

Rasbelin, the official term should be Finland-Swedish, if I'm not completely mistaken. Doesn't Finno refer to something related to Finland, which Swedish is not apart from geography?

Are French-speaking people in Canada Canada-French then?

I'm glad you have the only rational view on the issue.

[Ned]

Originally posted by Buck Birdseed
Many of the differences between the scandinavian countries' languages are basically politically enforced rather than anything else. Ignoring terms for modern phenomena that have grown different, most of the northern half of Norway could be construed as speaking a dialect of swedish or vice versa. There are "languages" with considerably bigger internal differences than even Swedish and Danish... German being a notable example. I mean, the "dialect" Low German is basically Dutch and fully understandable by dutch people, whereas you can get something as extreme as Bavarian or Austrian on the other end of the scale, all considered "German" for political reasons.

A German I know said that Germans from the South many times cannot understand the Germans from the North. They end up communicating in English.

[Dinner]

Originally posted by Wilderess
Are French-speaking people in Canada Canada-French then?

The French speaking people of Canada are refered to as French-Canadian... or simply as frogs.

P.S. my mother's family is French-Canadian.

[zapnic]

jep
if you get really drunk no matter what language
you are speaking
you get really fine with everbody