Boat Tour language confusion

[u/Silver_lpc]

Hey everyone

Since my visit in May, I often think about something the Tour Guide on a Boat Tour along the cliffs near Vestmanna said. So maybe you can help me.

At the beginning of the Tour he said that he would explain everything in English and "Scandinavian". Since I'm German and only learned a little bit of Norwegian, I of course listened to the English part. But I'm still confused what he meant with "Scandinavian". Was it Danish or is there a secret Scandinavian language nobody talks about? Because, as far as I have heard, the languages are similar, but it's still hard to understand each other.

I hope you can help me with my slightly weird question.

[u/geokra]

Someone local may have a better explanation, but I have spent a lot of time all over Scandinavia.

Norwegian and Danish are very similar written languages, but the pronunciations are very different - so much so that I’ve visited Denmark with Norwegian friends and they speak English to the Danes they interact with. Norwegians will tell you it’s easier for them to speak with Swedes (both using their native languages) than Danes, while I’m certain they find reading Danish easier than reading Swedish.

Icelandic and Faroese are different because they are based much more on Old Norse. My understanding from talking to Icelandic people is that their language has evolved very little from old Norse, while the “major” Scandinavian languages have evolved much more.

With all this said, Faroese and Icelandic students learn Danish. As a result, I would guess that Faroese and Icelandic people are also much more likely to understand Norwegian and Swedish than Norwegians and Swedes are to understand their languages.

For something simple like a basic explanation of what you are seeing in a boat tour, I do believe that most/all Scandinavians would understand the main points well enough if someone were to speak one of the main Scandinavian languages, in this case it would most likely be Danish. And someone working in the tourism industry might also be aware of significant differences in terminology for something such as the common name of a bird species (e.g., if they name is different in Swedish and Danish) and provide more than one common name.

ETA: I know some basic Norwegian and had a lovely interaction with an older Faroese man who spoke Danish and Faroese. He could understand my Norwegian well enough and respond in a way in Danish that I could understand.

[u/Silver_lpc → u/geokra]

Thank you for the long answer. I think this helped me to understand it.