Scandinavians reading the other scandinavian languages

[Deinonysus]

I know there are a bunch of scandinavians on this forum so I'd like to ask, when you read books in the other scandinavian languages do you read them translated or in the original? And what do typical children and adults do?

So for example, if a Norwegian child wanted to read Hans Christian Andersen, would they read it translated into Norwegian or would they just read the original Danish version? And if they wanted to read Pippi Longstocking, would they read it translated into Norwegian or would they read it in the original Swedish? And what would a typical adult do with adult literature in the other languages?

[Nogon]

I can't answer that question for Norwegians and Danes, and not for Swedish children either.
Swedish adults - at least those I know - don't read books in Norwegian or Danish. I often get asked, when reading in one of those languages, WHY I do that, and use to answer with asking why they don't. "För jobbigt" (too hard/exhausting) they usually answer, which really surprises me each time, as most of them wouldn't hesitate to grab a book in English.
They could - with a bit of effort - read those languages, but they don't, alas.

[tungemål]

I know there are a bunch of scandinavians on this forum so I'd like to ask, when you read books in the other scandinavian languages do you read them translated or in the original? And what do typical children and adults do?

So for example, if a Norwegian child wanted to read Hans Christian Andersen, would they read it translated into Norwegian or would they just read the original Danish version? And if they wanted to read Pippi Longstocking, would they read it translated into Norwegian or would they read it in the original Swedish? And what would a typical adult do with adult literature in the other languages?

Children would read translated versions. Adults as well, as long as they (the translations) exist.

I never read Danish or Swedish. But sadly I don't read much Norwegian books either. Mostly English, and at the moment Spanish. I could read Danish or Swedish, but especially Swedish would be tiring, as Nogon says, since I'm not used to it.

Meeting a Dane or a Swede, I wouldn't speak English however, that would feel weird.

[Iversen]

In a Danish library you will find a limited number of Norwegian and Swedish books (NO Icelandic ones) in between Danish and English books in the non fiction area, but literature in those languages has got separate shelves. Actually I think most Danes would grab a translation into Danish if there is one, but in a pinch, they probably could read a book in those languages if they had a good reason to do so. Actually I often hear that people don't even watch television from the other countries so I think the ability to understand them is heading downwards. Personally I don't use translations if I can avoid it, and I delight in reading Nynorsk - but the only place I often see it is in the subtitles of NRK.

When I was a child we had some scant time during the Danish classes allotted to the other Scandinavian languages, and I remember that I was presented with a text of Zacharias Topelius at the Danish (!) oral exam - and my teacher and censor were extremely happy that I knew he was born in FInland. But I don't know whether modern schoolchildren still get that kind of exposure. And if not, then that's a mistake...

And I simply refuse to speak English to other Scandinavians (monolingual Finnish speakers excluded). It will only happen if I'm in a group where some people can't understand the other nationalities and then choose to commit the abominable sin, but this has not happened recently. I may speak Danish to other Scandinavians, but if especially Swedes then look perplexed then they get my version of homebrewed Swedish (their punishment for not learning to understand Danish!). The Norwegians are a problem, since I can imitate some mixture of Norwegian tones and I know a fair number of purely Norwegian words - but I haven't really tried to learn it as a separate language...

yet.

[PfifltriggPi]

So ought one to infer from the above-said that most Scandinavians are not very familiar with the literature and culture of the other countries then? Or is the shared history and geographical proximity between the three countries strong enough that speakers of one language still would be at least somewhat familiar with the great authors and works of the other two?

And from an outsider's perspective, how much difficulty would learning to read the other two Scandinavian languages add to the task of learning one? From what I have read, it seems that learning Norwegian is usually advised as it is described as being "half-way in between" the other two, but the greater number of Swedish speakers, and thus the greater quantity of things written in it, would be an argument for learning Swedish instead, if one were most interested in the literature.

And how much could a speaker of a continental language understand an insular one, or vice versa? (Leaving aside the fact that the Faroese learn Danish in school, from what I have been told.) Otherwise said, how much more work would it be to learn to read one branch after learning to read the other, and which order would make more sense?

[Carl]

I know the question was directed at actual Scandinavians, but from my 10 years of living in Scandinavia, I was surprised at the extent to which adult literature from Norway and Denmark was available in translation in Sweden, and from Sweden and Denmark was sold in translation in Norway. I didn't think there'd be enough of a market for it to justify the translation costs. When I asked about it, I got answers similar to what Nogon reports: It's "för jobbigt" to read in a different Scandinavian language, and they'd rather read something in English.

I never really understood this. After two or three years in Sweden, with little exposure to Norwegian, I read Ibsen's En folkefiende (highly relevant during this pandemic, especially in the U.S., by the way) in Norwegian. It was slower going than Swedish, and I looked some things up, but it wasn't much of a challenge. But then, I was used to putting in some work to read Scandinavian at that point. Natives are used to effortlessly reading in their own language.

I'm trying to think what might be analogous for me, as a native speaker of English, to the experience for a Scandinavian of reading a different Scandinavian language (amongst Norwegian, Swedish, and Danish), especially across the line between Swedish and Norwegian/Danish. Maybe reading Elizabethan English? Well, when I read Shakespeare, I certainly appreciate having footnotes to explain archaic words and phrases. And it's not just me. In a recent local production of As You Like It, the director, who has done a Shakespeare play or two a year for quite a while, brought the parallel texts "No Fear" edition to every rehearsal and consulted it regularly as we were learning to interpret our lines. Since modern Scandinavian literature doesn't come with scholarly apparatus to help folks from other Nordic countries, I guess I can sympathize with the idea that it's "för jobbigt."

Speaking across Scandinavian language lines is different, in that the listener can ask about things that are unclear, and the speaker can read the room and rephrase things that seem to puzzle people. Words on a page just sit there, impassive.

[Mista]

Normally, in Norway, we read Norwegian translations. There are a couple of bookstores here in Oslo where you can buy Swedish and Danish books in the original - the same ones where you can get books in French, German and Spanish. You can also find books in all these languages at the library. But English books are much more available both in stores and libraries, and much more widely read.

Reading in Swedish is regarded as much more challenging than reading in Danish, for various reasons that all lead back to the fact that 200 years ago, Danish was the only written language we had in Norway. I'm studying pre-1700 literature at the university this semester, and we have read Dante's Divina Commedia in the Danish translation, because the best alternative is Nynorsk, and students in Oslo are assumed to prefer Danish to Nynorsk (Swedish would be regarded as more difficult than both). Personally, I never read Swedish until a few years ago, when I decided it was time to do something about it, and I got an Astrid Lindgren book to get an easy start. After that, I'm reading Swedish just fine, but considerably slower than Norwegian, maybe at half the speed. Of course, I started that project because I'm a language geek, but the bonus is that I've had the chance to read several very good Swedish books that have not been translated to any other language. Another bonus is that Swedish books are considerably cheaper than Norwegian ones.

I have also noticed that the bookstore with the largest selection of Swedish books actually has very few Danish books. My theory about that is that the Swedish books are mostly bought by Swedes living here, and that they are unlikely to read a book for pleasure in Norwegian, but that Danes living in Norway are more likely to get their books in Norwegian, since Norwegian books are easier to get hold of and they can read Norwegian just fine. I'm assuming that the difficulty will be about the same both ways, but don't know how true that is.

As for children - I'm pretty sure I read Donald Duck in Danish on vacation in Denmark when I was 5. Since I was a fresh reader and didn't know how to spell yet, it was probably even easier to read Danish back then. I knew it was Danish, though, because it said "Anders And" on the cover. But again - books get translated between Scandinavian languages, so the translation will always be easier to get hold of in Norway. So I guess it depends on the circumstances. My mother, who grew up with Swedish cousins and a tighter economy than we have nowadays, used to borrow and inherit books in Swedish, and has consequently never understood why I used to be so reluctant to read Swedish.

[Nogon]

And from an outsider's perspective, how much difficulty would learning to read the other two Scandinavian languages add to the task of learning one?

Not much, according to my experience. I read my first Norwegian book (one for adults), when my Swedish was about a low B1. I didn't have a dictionary, I had no previous knowledge about the book, but I made it through with only little more effort than through a Swedish book of similar difficulty at that time. But of course - having German as my native language, helped, as it helps with all Scandinavian languages.

And how much could a speaker of a continental language understand an insular one, or vice versa? (Leaving aside the fact that the Faroese learn Danish in school, from what I have been told.) Otherwise said, how much more work would it be to learn to read one branch after learning to read the other, and which order would make more sense?

Faroese and Icelandic are a different piece of cake. I only understand a word here and there in them being spoken. When trying to read a text, I understand a bit more, but not enough to enable me reading an entire book. From time to time I try to read a children's book in those languages, and get frustrated each time by my lack of understanding.
Reading Faroese is a bit easier though. Once I read a short story by William Heinesen translated to Faroese in a beautifully illustrated edition. Slowly, very slowly I made it through the story, without the help of a dictionary, but with good help of the illustration. Without the pictures, I don't think I could have understood it. I also read som Grimm's Fairy Tales, much helped by previous knowledge of the tales.
Now Icelandic is really frustrating - looking at a text, I feel like I ought to understand it, but I don't, even though I 30 years ago studied some Old Norse at the university.

[Ogrim]

As others have commented here, most Norwegian read Swedish and Danish literature in Norwegian translation, and I guess it is the same in Sweden and Denmark, that is, people are just too lazy to read in a very similar, but different language. I don´t blame them, most people read to relax or have an experience, not to struggle with possible unknown vocabulary or idiomatic expressions they don't understand. It is only us language nerds who like to dive into that kind of stuff.

Personally, ever since I started reading Swedish literature in the original, I could never dream of going back to reading translations into Norwegian. I love Swedish, and have no problem with reading Swedish, I hardly even think about it being another language, but that may have to do with the fact that I grew up watching Swedish children television programmes, so Swedish has always sounded to me like just another Norwegian dialect (no offence meant .

I admit I read less in Danish, but I have even less problem with that, given the similarity of the written forms of Danish and Norwegian (bokmål).

[Mista]

From what I have read, it seems that learning Norwegian is usually advised as it is described as being "half-way in between" the other two

What this means more precisely, is that Norwegian and Swedish are more similar in their phonological systems, while Norwegian and Danish are closer with respect to vocabulary and spelling conventions. That is also why Norwegians generally find it easier to understand spoken Swedish, but written Danish. The problem for Swedes and Danes is that they may struggle with both phonology and vocabulary, so Norwegians are more likely to understand both than they are to understand each other. But someone who wants to read Swedish books should study Swedish rather than Norwegian, there can't be any doubt about that

And how much could a speaker of a continental language understand an insular one, or vice versa? (Leaving aside the fact that the Faroese learn Danish in school, from what I have been told.) Otherwise said, how much more work would it be to learn to read one branch after learning to read the other, and which order would make more sense?

I'm used to thinking that as a Norwegian, you can get used to Swedish and Danish, but Icelandic and Faroese require some study. On the other hand, I recently heard someone claim that after spending half a year as an exchange student in Iceland (with English or Danish as teaching language, presumably), he could understand people speaking Icelandic without having studied the language at all. So maybe it's just lack of exposure that prevents us from understanding it.

The western branch of the scandinavian language group also includes western/coastal dialects of Norwegian, and I've heard that Icelanders find it easier to read Nynorsk than Bokmål, even if they have learned Danish in school (my impression is that they learn just enough Danish to understand it, and that Icelanders who actually speak Danish, do so because they have lived in Denmark). However, from my own experience with learning Icelandic, there is no doubt that the differences both in grammar and vocabulary are greater than with Swedish and Danish, although it is also true that Norwegian and Icelandic share some vocabulary (and grammar) that doesn't exist in the other two.