Danish dialects

Danish traditional dialects are divided into three main dialect areas: Jutlandic dialect , Insular Danish and Bornholmish. Bornholmish is the only Eastern Danish dialect spoken in Denmark, since the other Eastern Danish dialects (Skånsk, Blekingsk, Hallændsk) were spoken in areas ceded to Sweden and subsequently assimilated to Standard Swedish. Danish is a Germanic language of the North Germanic branch. Other names for this group are the Nordic or Scandinavian languages.

The language that is based on dialects spoken in and around Copenhagen (the capital of Denmark) is called Standard Danish (rigsdansk).

Different than other Scandinavian languages, Danish only has one regional speech norm. Unlike Swedish and Norwegian, Danish does not have more than one regional speech norm. It is spoken in the big cities, taught in schools, and used in the media.

Below, you can read about some of the biggest differences between the various Danish dialects. Why don’t you play with it yourself? Impress your Danish friends and roommates with bizarre facts and sounds that are present in this Nordic country.

Follow the link to the dialect map and see if you can figure out why ”ø” sounds like ”ye”, ”øje” or ”e”.

The map is in Danish , of course. Let’s have a very rough look at the main ”regionalects”: Sjællandsk (Zealandic). Because of Copenhagen, this is standard Danish to most people. Other Danes think sjællændere talk a lot and a bit fast. A language profile for Danish.

Listen to the different dialects here. Get a detailed look at the language, from population to dialects and usage. There are no sharp dialect boundaries between the Scandinavian languages, and the differences between Danish , Swedish and Bokmål-Norwegian are so small that with a bit of practice and patience, the languages are mutually understandable, especially in writing. Most Danish dialects are extinct now and there is a very low tolerance towards what remain of them. As a general rule all dialect use will get you perceived as hickish, backwards, a bit stupid etc.

Scandinavian languages - Scandinavian languages - Dialects and standard languages: The teaching of the standard languages in the schools and the high levels of literacy have tended to spread the urban norms of speaking. There are Danish dialects with one, two and even three genders (there are also three-gender dialects in Sweden), and even dialects with definite article in the noun, as opposed to definite suffix. These groups are then subdivided in roughly categories. While there are few dialects such as Bornholmsk, Jutlandic, however, a significant majority speak and understand Standard Danish (Rigsdansk). It is based on dialects spoken in and around the capital, Copenhagen.

Geographically, Finland could be considered Scandinavian.

However, Finnish is not a part of the North Germanic family. Of course, we took a lot of words from Danish. There are about nine hundred Danish words in Standard English, and another nine hundred that linguists cannot be sure whether they come from Danish or were already in Anglian English.

Moreover, in English dialects , especially in the North and in Scotlan there are thousands of Danish words. If you already have a good understanding of standard danish , it may be worth to have a look at it. Danish language games: Digital Dialects Danish learning games are free to use and are suitable for both kids and adults for Danish language acquisition. And what does it matter?

There are many different dialects of English and they have different words and grammar. Most learners of English learn the standard dialects of the language. Is there some kind of technical distinction, the way there is between a quasar and a pulsar, or between a rabbit and a hare?