# Swedish or Danish? Where will they speak it back to me?



## languagelearner23

Hi everyone,
I'm interested in learning a Scandinavian language and would like to learn either Swedish or Danish. 
I'm a native English speaker, am as good as fluent in Irish (Gaelic) and have a good working knowledge of German. I'm also relatively competent at written French, currently working on the aural and oral... 

So, given my current knowledge of languages, which would be the more interesting (not necessarily easier) for me to learn? 
But, more importantly, if I were to go on holiday to either Sweden or Denmark (I've never been to either), where would they be more likely to talk back to me in Swedish or Danish? Whenever I've been in German-speaking places, people often speak back to me in English, despite me addressing them confidently (albeit with an English accent) in German...  I don't want to waste my time learning a language that will require me to be fluent in it before I'll get to practise it on real people!

Thanks in advance for any replies!


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## hanne

languagelearner23 said:


> where would they be more likely to talk back to me in Swedish or Danish?


This is what I think will cause you most problems, and I don't think there's any difference between Denmark and Sweden in this matter. Furthermore, I think Scandinavia is even "worse" than Germany in this, because the general level of English is higher - and unfortunately that doesn't mean that people are less eager to practise it . So prepare yourself to insist very long and hard if you want to speak any language other than English around here.

When it comes to "interesting", I think Danish and Swedish are so similar that it's difficult to see one as more "interesting". Regarding proximity to German, Danish probably wins by geography, but there are also similarities between German and Swedish that Danish doesn't share, so it's pretty much a tie.

In terms of general "easy to learn"-ness, Danish has a notoriously bad reputation being pretty difficult (especially the aural part, because we tend to eat half of the words - in a less predictable way than the French do!) - basically there's a lack of correspondence between spoken and written Danish. But of course you didn't ask for that .


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## Alxmrphi

> because we tend to eat half of the words


Ah, so that's what is happening!! 
I tried to follow the lyrics of a Danish song recently and I honestly doubted the person put the correct subtitles on the video, until I saw / heard '_København'._


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## kepulauan

Based on my own experience, Swedish definately wins. I once walked into a ticket office where I asked a question in English. The clerk (a young woman) responded in Swedish. I then asked a follow-up question, again in English. She did not switch. The conversation continued this way until I had all the information I needed. I left without either of us commenting on the strange event that just happened, not even a smile.

A few days later the same thing happened to my friend when a swede tought him to play backgammon! The whole lesson was bilingual. No problem.

So.. being allowed to practice the native language doesn't seem to a problem in that country. They will even refuse to switch to yours.


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## Tjahzi

Swedish is generally considered to be somewhat easier, mainly due to the higher level of correspondence between the written and spoken language, as mentioned. Despite pollodia's amusing anecdotes, I would say that you are not very likely to find someone who would reply to you in Swedish. The people encountered by pollodia and his friend were probably simply not confident enough to speak English which, ironically, can be considered a result of the generally high proficiency in it. So many people speak just so well that those who aren't just that good are ashamed of it and do not dare speaking, which of course in turn results in their ability to speak stagnates, despite that the fact that they, obviously, again judging from pollodia's experience, understand English very well. However, it is my firm opinion that these people constitute a minority.

That said, if you pick your "victims", with care, you could be successful. Younger people with lower education (such as those opting to work as a shopping clerk rather than go to university), elder people (who might have learnt English 30-50 years ago and not practiced it since) or possibly adult immigrants (who are unlikely to have learned English very good in their home country, and since arriving in Sweden, been busy learning Swedish). If you were to address any of the above people in English, they would probably pretend not to speak English (which could be true, although they would probably understand it). In broken Swedish however, they would certainly be confused, but not refuse to speak with you.

Hopefully, that outlined the "would they speak Swedish with me"-question.   Also, I must say I think the above presentation would more or less fit in on Denmark/Danish/Danes as well.


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## Dan2

A topic I find interesting. I'd like to try to add to the excellent replies already given...
1.


languagelearner23 said:


> I'm a native English speaker, ... and have a good working knowledge of German. ... Whenever I've been in German-speaking places, people often speak back to me in English, despite me addressing them confidently (albeit with an English accent) in German


I clearly have a foreign accent when I speak German (probably readily identifiable as American) and yet when I've traveled in Germany and Austria, essentially all my interactions have been in German.  I don't doubt that you have a good knowledge of German, but it might have to be even better to accomplish what you want in Germany, and your Swedish or Danish even _better _than _that, _since true fluency in English is considerably more widespread in Scandinavia. That may help you calibrate how much work you have ahead of you if you want to reach the point in Swedish or Danish where your conversations will be in the local language.

2. It's relatively easy to reach the level (in any language) where you can ask basic questions ("Where can I find a restaurant?", etc.), but far more difficult to get to the level where you can understand a random fluent response.  If you ask the question, but fail to understand the reply, the local person, either because s/he wants to be helpful, or for lack of time, will often switch immediately to English. In relaxed settings I've had some success with, "I speak only a little X, but I'd like to practice, can we try?" But for most tourist interactions, efficiency is key, and in northern Europe that means English unless you are a) quite good in the local language or b) insistent; preferably both.

I don't mean to be discouraging, just realistic. Nevertheless, it's fun, and can be useful, to learn even a small amount of the language of the country you're visiting.

3. If you learn to read Danish, you get a reading knowledge of Norwegian (Bokmål) almost for free.

4. You mentioned Scandinavian languages in the context of holiday travel but didn't mention Norwegian.  Norway is a beautiful country.  (Not to say that the others aren't...)


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## Sepia

languagelearner23 said:


> Hi everyone,
> I'm interested in learning a Scandinavian language and would like to learn either Swedish or Danish.
> I'm a native English speaker, am as good as fluent in Irish (Gaelic) and have a good working knowledge of German. I'm also relatively competent at written French, currently working on the aural and oral...
> 
> So, given my current knowledge of languages, which would be the more interesting (not necessarily easier) for me to learn?
> But, more importantly, if I were to go on holiday to either Sweden or Denmark (I've never been to either), where would they be more likely to talk back to me in Swedish or Danish? Whenever I've been in German-speaking places, people often speak back to me in English, despite me addressing them confidently (albeit with an English accent) in German...  I don't want to waste my time learning a language that will require me to be fluent in it before I'll get to practise it on real people!
> 
> Thanks in advance for any replies!


 

I don't think that will make any real difference - pick whichever language you find more attractive. In Copenhagen they will respond in English no matter what accent you have, even before checking if you speak Danish better than they speak English. Even before checking if the other guy even understands English. So do the Swedes. In a few regions of Denmark they will be more likely to respond in German. 

Grammar-wise they are similar (very) and have more similarities with English than English has with German. Pronounciation-wise both languages have their very special problems (and differences).

It is like trying to decide if you would rather buy a SEAT or a VW: From the engine and down they are almost the same, they just look different.


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## Lili Marlen

As someone attempting to learn Swedish in Sweden, I would say that if you are really keen on speaking Swedish, you will get to speak Swedish, no problem. The above anecdotes are definitely interesting. I have had it happen to me before, just yesterday in fact. I don't even know if the girl was aware that she was switching to Swedish, and sometimes certain sentences in English and Swedish sound almost exactly the same, so you're not even sure if the person is speaking English with a Swedish accent or actual Swedish.  At least in my own experience.

I've always had people speak back to me in Swedish if I spoke in Swedish, unless it was obvious that I was having difficulty understanding them or perhaps making too many grammar mistakes, in which case they would switch to English. I have also had people switch to English, then switch back to Swedish. 

In terms of the language, I would highly recommend Swedish, as it is one of the easiest languages to learn as an English speaker. As people have already pointed out, in its spoken form it is also much more enunciated in general compared to Danish, which is certainly a plus.


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## argentina84

Hej! I suggest you learn Swedish. People here are very keen on speaking their own language. 

When I came here I thought it would not be necessary for me to learn their language fast but I was totally wrong. And if they switch to English and you insist on them speaking in Swedish, they will be really glad. 

Regards


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