Danish and the Scandinavian Linguistic Community
The modern written languages of Scandinavia, and here Danish, Norwegian and Swedish in particular, are closer to one another than the dialects of the particular country, which deviate the most. In the case of Danish and Norwegian the matches in vocabulary are greater than 95 %, for Danish and Swedish about 85-90 %. From a linguistical perspective, Danish, Swedish and Norwegian could be considered as dialects of the same language because the languages are mutually understood. Three stand-alone languages have been held on to, however, for the sake of political and cultural tradition.
It has only recently come to pass that many Scandinavians are conversing in English.
Danish emerged in conjunction with the Swedish and Norwegian out of an Ancient Nordic language. The countries have continued to be closely linked across the centuries, politically, culturally and economically. Today, the languages of "continental" Scandinavia vis-à-vis Insular Scandinavian on the Faröe Islands and Iceland, whose languages have retained an archaic character.
