I didn't think this video was going to be as fascinating as it turned out to be! Well done!

The flag is absolutely beautiful!

This not a bad idea, the unification of Scandinavia, similar in many ways to Pan-Slavism, the idea of uniting related peoples, and an attempt to create a single language based on the main languages of the Scandinavian countries, sounds really cool, I wish Scandinavia to unite.)^^ I hope we Slavs will unite too.)^^

I made a thread on Reddit some time ago called "samnordisk skriftspråk". I focused on the orthographical aspect, where I in fact suggested to keep all four letters: ä, ö, æ, ø, because it's not entirely 1:1 how Swedish and Norwegian/Danish use them, so it's possible to give each of them an individual use. For example "ä" in Swedish can correspond either to Norwegian "e" or "æ" - själ/sjel; populär/populær. So why not use ä in the first scenario and æ in the second one? And that of course doesn't mean "e" would go obsolete either, since for example there is the distinction en/enn, which in Swedish turns to en/än. Very elegant if you ask me. Vocabulary I feel would be the easiest part, as you very aptly demonstrated - there's enough overlap in understanding that either existing words can be easily taken over or new ones made. What remains to be sorted out would be the grammar - I'd be for going 50/50 a/e centric, kinda like Nynorsk is (that is if we count Danish as 100% "e" and Swedish as 100% "a"). Anyway, great video here, if you want to see what I came up with, here's the link to the reddit post: www.reddit.com/r/conlangs/comments/sgfy5d/yet_another_thread_with_the_good_ol_tried_and/

Norway has two official languages (variants of Norwegian). Nynorsk and Bokmål, and you included only bokmål in your video. If you would have included nynorsk, things would be evened out a bit more, as Bokmål is basically just a variant of Danish, which I assume you already know. Anyhow, an interesting topic indeed 👍🏼

@aimeerivers

Жыл бұрын

Ah yes, thank you for the clarification. I’m learning Bokmål and it feels a lot like Danish. Wonder why Duolingo doesn’t have Nynorsk? 🤔

@andurk

Жыл бұрын

@@aimeerivers the language situation in Norway is a bit different than most other nations, as we have two official ways of writing Norwegian, and no official way of speaking Norwegian (meaning that all Norwegian dialects are considered proper way of speaking Norwegian, and there are as many dialects as there are plces where people live). Bokmål and Nynorsk are written languages (only), and the majority uses bokmål, so I assume this is why it is not included in duolingo. I think the ratio is somewhere around 75%/25%. Nynorsk is not at all similar to Danish, but more similar to Swedish.

@andurk

Жыл бұрын

I participated in this video (link below), which may be of interest to you 😊 kzread.info/dash/bejne/iq5r0c6Dp9Tfd84.html

I've just found this video on my Watch Later list, and I'd forgotten I'd added it (I've recently whittled my list down to 279 videos from a horrifying 600+ a couple of weeks ago(!) so I'm doing quite well...). This is really fascinating, and I love your flag! Even though I don't know much of any of the languages, I was able to follow along with your process and understand what you were doing. You do seem to have a talent for this stuff. I'm still learning Scottish Gaelic at the moment, and I recently realised that there's a trapdoor mapping thing going on with the spellings... if I see a Gaelic word written down I can often pronounce it fairly well, but when I hear them spoken, I frequently find myself with about eight different spelling options - it's a nightmare. So what I've realised is that I should probably learn from vocabulary lists, more than by listening. If I learn the spellings, I can work out the pronunciations from them later. To what extent do you think this applies to Scandinavian languages? Is the spelling consistent in each one? I must admit, I find it hard to imagine knowing how to pronounce all three of them - that seems a hard thing to learn, as there are evidently subtle differences.

@aimeerivers

Жыл бұрын

I think it’s ok to learn to listen and speak before you can write. That’s the order in which most people learn their first language, after all. No, the spelling in Scandinavian languages is pretty straightforward. The rules are easy to learn and there aren’t many exceptions. There’s also so much similarity between Danish and Norwegian (at least Bokmål, not Nynorsk) that it just feels like Danish with a few changes in spelling and pronunciation plus a few different words and some special grammatical features. There was a time when I couldn’t differentiate any of the Scandinavian languages. Then I could tell Danish apart but couldn’t hear the difference between Norwegian and Swedish. Now having learnt some Norwegian I think I can tell it apart from Swedish, but there are probably still some dialects that will catch me out!

Frokost comes from German basically meaning early food. As a Dane that hardly have any appetite until 10 in the morning, I would have no trouble with frokost as the common word. Tho, from an English perspective frokost would be closer to brunch, when translating from Danish. Edit: try to translate 'kost' in all 3 languages... Google may say that it's broom in Danish, but it also means food or diet.

@Parallax-ec4ik

6 ай бұрын

Same in Norwegian "kost" can be understood as broom

Its not Needed because these languages ​​are so similar that you can understand them without any problem

that's so cool!

Hmm, interesting - I like your logic behind your choice of words. Though, creating a new Scandinavian language I think one the most important features should be to keep it as simple as possible. Meaning, for some cases you could apply an additional principle of simplicity. For example I would go with "kat" simply because the choices are very similar but saves a letter. Also, applying same principle I would go with "gut" because it is the shortest of the bunch etc. Also, we should fully eliminate the use of æøåäö.

@aimeerivers

2 жыл бұрын

That does make a make a lot of sense too. But I’ll fight to keep æøåäö - they make some great sounds!

@_-martin-_

2 жыл бұрын

@@aimeerivers Ha ha - well, my reasoning for eliminating the special characters is so that we can use _all_ keyboards! :) You should name your language "Scandi" :D

Hei jeg er fra Norge. Jeg liker ideen om et sammensatt Skandinavisk språk men det er to ting som plager meg litt. 1. Jeg forstår ikke den Danske dreng eller den Svenske ficka. 2. Det hadde vert veldig fint med en ordbok og en grammatikk liste for Skandinavisk. Jeg forventer ikke å få svar siden det er 5 måneder siden du la ut videoen. Jeg liker ideen veldig godt

@aimeerivers

Жыл бұрын

Hei Sofus, tusen takk for kommentaren din. Jeg vet godt at man ikke alltid kan stole på Google Translate, så det er ikke en stor overraskelse at det tar feil. Det er veldig godt å høre fra en norsktalende person. Se gjerne min siste video hvor jeg prøver å snakke norsk! 🇳🇴

This is a language I actually want to learn and I hope it can be used one day

A united Scandinavian language would be a great idea, but if that happens, it will mainly concern Norwegian and Swedish, which are already almost the same language. In such a case, the problem will mainly concern the standardization of the writing (ø/ö; e/ä; kk/ck). When we look at Norway, the Hedmark region have a dialect very close to Swedish, and western Norway which uses Nynorsk can be seen as Swedish with diphthongs. Nynorsk shares several common traits with Swedish (hovud/huvud; veka/vecka; vegar/vägar etc.) If a Scandinavian language will emerge, it would probably be a rapprochement of Swedish and Norwegian with a tolerance for alternative forms, as it is already the case in Norwegian today.

Hello from Norway! «I like» in Danish is «Jeg kan lide». That translate literally to «I can suffer». I like = I can suffer. That is Viking mentality! 😄👍🏻

@snakelemon

2 ай бұрын

It’s the exact same in German 😂 “ich kann dich gut leiden” means literally “I can suffer you well” and it means “I like you”

As someone who hops over the border to Sweden from Finland quite often, it would be nice to have an easy to learn language I can use to communicate if English fails. But I guess this language ended up being a non starter, as you seem to recommend Norwegian at the end. Cool idea anyway. Edit: just noticed on LangFocus channel's Danish and Norwegian comparison, at the end Paul comments that speakers of these languages will usually prefer to converse in English than try to understand one another's language. I thought that was pretty interesting.

@aimeerivers

Жыл бұрын

yes, well Scandinavians generally tend to be pretty comfortable in English .. i think it's largely because they prefer subtitling their English-language television programs, instead of dubbing, so they find English quite easy to use. I think it's funny how shows like The Bridge show people conversing together, for example one speaking Swedish and another speaking Danish, like they understand each other perfectly. In my experience, that's not really how it goes.

This is a really cool video. Just to let you know though, in Danish you can say things like “moren min” or “vennen min” but it is just a little old fashioned. It’s like saying, “The mom of mine” or “the friend of mine” in English. You can say it but it sounds a little fancy. If you listen to danish folk songs, they often use this old way of showing possession :)

@aimeerivers

8 ай бұрын

ooohhh that’s lovely to know! thank you so much for sharing this! 🇩🇰❤️

As someone doing all three languages（I personally love bokmål the most bc it seems to be the cleanest of the bunch） on duolingo， I love this video

@aimeerivers

11 ай бұрын

having first learned Danish, Norwegian Bokmål just feels like an even more hyggelig version of Danish! 🥰

@Parallax-ec4ik

6 ай бұрын

Honestly if scandinavian was made as a serious language I think Norwegian should be represented in nynorsk. Bokmål just sounds too much like the other two and nynorsk would bring more content to scandinavian as a whole

Can I ask, how have you made the translate system? I’d like to try with other languages, this concept is amazing.

@aimeerivers

Жыл бұрын

It’s using the Google translate API and text to speech api. Code here if it helps. github.com/sermoa/skandinavisk

"Aftensmat" wouldn't work as "middag" in Swedish because we already have a word for evening food (kvällsmat). "Middag" translates to "mid day".

Oh and about learning a Scandinavian language, I hear it all the time that people recommend learning Norwegian because of the reasons you mention, or that Norwegians in general have an easier time understanding all three languages. What they don't really take in account is that this is for native speakers, people from the outside who learn a Scandinavian language will have a harder time understanding and they most certainley can't read any other language. Let's say I want to go and buy flour and I say in Swedish "jag vill köpa mjöl", a Norwegian will understand it without any problems, a Dane might ask back "mener du 'mel'?" (do you mean flour?) If it would be someone from the outside, the one who learned Danish will hear "I shall ... ..." and have no idea what I want, and the one in Norway will understand I want to buy something, but will have no clue what "mjöl" is and can't make the connection "mjöl" to "mel". Swedish is the largest language and spoken in both Sweden and Finland, so that would be the most useful, but if you're a native English speaker then maybe Danish would be easier because it has more words in common with English and some are even prenounced basicley the same way, while if you're German then Swedish would be easier.

You said that if two languages have similar words, that will be used in Scandinavian. But then when Danish has a different word you use the Danish word. Also, I think there’s a bias towards Norwegian and Danish since they are more similar than Swedish are to the other languages. Also, I think the best way to develop a Scandinavian common language would be to just get a group of people together and let them speak their languages and then just solve the problems that come up, and learn what their different words mean.

@aimeerivers

Жыл бұрын

ah i think you misunderstood me there. but yeah you’re right, there is a bias towards Norwegian. this wasn’t meant as a serious thing, just an interesting exploration and an excuse to play with Google’s APIs 😊

Scandinavian is pretty much a single language already, with 4 different written languages. The verbal differences are just dialects.

Have a perfect set up of rules = immiedeately break the rules

It's mor in swedish too.

why is the website down :(

@aimeerivers

9 ай бұрын

i've no idea, sorry .. i saw that it is, but i haven't bothered to look into fixing it.

I want to support this conlang and become fluent

That would be "Blandinavisk" then "och Æ tycker at det kunne väre ganske gøy"

its funny how google chooses all that ... e.g. I love my mum is already the same in danish bokmål and swedish ... Jag älskar min mor, jeg elsker min mor, jeg elsker min mor ..... I am almost certain e.g. that danish and norwegians can also say mamma ...

Yes, i understand (Swedish)

@aimeerivers

Жыл бұрын

utmärkt! 😁🇸🇪

This is an odd concept, given they already HAD a common language... Norse... lol Fun exercise though

@aimeerivers

5 ай бұрын

that was my conclusion by the end of the video! 😅

Couldn't we just ignore Swedish and Norwegian, it's much easier? 😁

@aimeerivers

Жыл бұрын

Haha easier yes, but less interesting!

@Gert-DK

Жыл бұрын

@@aimeerivers From what I know, Swedish and Danish were very similar some hundred years ago. Then, Danish began to drift away, because of influence from the German language. There was a period where German was “fancy”, and it was even spoken at the Danish court (Hof). The spoken Norwegian can be a challenge for me, but the written is easy. I find Swedish easier to understand. There are maybe 10 words you have to learn, because we don't have them or have a different meaning, like "rolig". Swedish I read without problems. I have found out the same goes for the Swedes, they read Danish. My experience is from a place approx. 200 km NE of Gøteborg, where I have been a lot during my life.

@aimeerivers

Жыл бұрын

@@Gert-DK ah, all very interesting, thanks for sharing! I wonder how Danish got confused about frokost and made it lunch?! 😜

@Gert-DK

Жыл бұрын

@@aimeerivers I believe the correct terms in Danish are, morgenmad, middagsmad og aftensmad. When using the word frokost, it hints the kind of food, in this case cold food, basicly smørrebrød or something like it. Take Julefrokost, it´s often in the evening, in the old days it was smørrebrød. Middag hints hot food, I think it was common practice to eat hot food at noon on the farms, when you go back. I am not sure. I was born in 61, and we always used morgenmad, middagsmad og aftensmad. When my parent invited the neighbors to frokost at 7 pm, it was "det store kolde bord", with a lot of beer and snaps. I can say German "Frühstück" do mean breakfast. Früh = Early, stück = a piece. It could mean, an early piece of bread. I wonder if breakfast should have been lunch? Breakfast, a fast break?

@aimeerivers

Жыл бұрын

@@Gert-DK oh very cool! The English word breakfast comes from breaking your fast (fasting as in not eating overnight) 😊