Similarities Between Norwegian and Frisian

Can Norwegian and Frisian speakers understand each other? In this episode we showcase some of the similarities and test the degree of mutual intelligibility between Norwegian and Frisian. It should be noted that Frisian refers to a group of languages which are closely related and in this video West Frisian is represented.

We start the video with a list of common words that share the same Proto-Germanic origin, and then we move on to the more challenging part where Tjitske (Frisian speaker) and Luke (Norwegian speaker) will each read one short sentence and a longer one in their respective languages to see how well they can understand one another.

Please follow and contact us on Instagram if you have any suggestions or if you speak a language that has not been featured before and would like to participate in a future video: https://www.instagram.com/BahadorAlast

For those who may be interested, Luke will be turning his Instagram page into a learn Norwegian/Celtic language page, and will be giving history and information regarding each of the languages. Here is the link: https://www.instagram.com/amluee/

Norwegian (norsk) is the official language of Norway. It is classified as a North Germanic language and the descendant of Old Norse, the common language of the Germanic peoples living in Scandinavia during the Viking Age. Norwegian is more or less mutually intelligible with Swedish, and Danish, which are also North Germanic languages. Other living North Germanic languages include Faroese and Icelandic which are also close to Norwegian, but not mutually intelligible.

All Germanic languages share a common ancestor, known as Proto-Germanic, which was a single language spoken in Iron Age Scandinavia. As one of the main branches of the Indo-European language family, Germanic languages are further split into 3 subdivisions:

- West Germanic languages: English, German, Dutch, Afrikaans, Yiddish, Scots, Luxembourgish, Limburgish varieties, and the Frisian languages. 

- North Germanic languages: Swedish, Danish, Norwegian, Icelandic, and Faroese.

- East Germanic languages: Gothic, Burgundian, and Vandalic, all of which are now extinct.

Despite the differences, these languages still share a lot in common, and have a large number of cognates with the same roots.

The Frisian languages consist of a group of West Germanic languages. They are primarily spoken in the southern fringes of the North Sea in the Netherlands and Germany. West Frisian (Frysk) is the one represented here in this video. It is the one with the most number of speakers and has official status is the Dutch province of Friesland where it is primarily spoken. There is also a significant community of Frisian speakers in the province of Groningen.

The other two Frisian languages are:

- North Frisian (nordfriisk), which is primarily spoken in North Frisia (Nordfriesland) or Northern Friesland in the German state of Schleswig-Holstein.

- Saterland Frisian, also known as Sater Frisian or Saterlandic (Seeltersk), spoken in the municipality of Saterland in the Lower Saxon district of Cloppenburg, Germany.

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