‘Scandinavia’ represents the Northern European region consisting mainly of Norway, Sweden and Denmark and also includes both Iceland and Faroe Islands on account of their socio-political and cultural association. Norwegian, Swedish, Danish, Icelandic and Faroese are all Scandinavian languages which belong to the North Germanic branch of languages. These are further segregated as Continental (Danish, Swedish, and Norwegian) and Insular (Icelandic, Faroese). Although these languages are known to be mutually intelligible; it is the geographical isolation from the other countries that has led to the division into insular languages, and has also played a role in the way Icelandic and Faroese have evolved over time i.e. having characteristics not common to the continental Scandinavian languages.
Apart from their country of origin, these languages are also spoken elsewhere in the world. Below is a summary of the same :-
| NAME OF THE LANGUAGE | OFFICIAL LANGUAGE | OTHER COUNTRIES / TERRITORIES | NO. OF SPEAKERS |
| Danish | Denmark | Greenland, Faroe Islands, Germany (minority language) | 5.6 million |
| Norwegian | Norway | USA, Canada, Sweden | 4.7 million |
| Swedish | Sweden | Canada, Estonia, Finland, Norway, United Arab Emirates, and USA | 9.2 million |
| Icelandic | Iceland | USA, Canada, Denmark | 3.1 million |
| Faroese | Faroe Islands | Denmark | 66 thousand |
The Continental Germanic languages are mutually intelligible; however, they cannot be labeled as same because each one of them is distinctive in some way or another. For instance, Danish and Norwegian are similar in their vocabulary and writing system, whereas, Norwegian and Swedish have resemblance in their pronunciation.
Scandinavian countries do have a linkage with India due to various reasons. A prominent one being Danish colonization, wherein the remnants are seen in the education system, history and culture of respective cities in Tamil Nadu. Swedish presence has been in India since the 20th Century and we have around 150 companies of Swedish origin including ABB, IKEA, Ericsson, Atlas Copco, Volvo Trucks and Buses, etc. Sweden is a major hub for innovation in technology and India is a brilliant market for its products and services, as well as, to get human resources since IT is a significant field of study here. According to a report by The Hindu, Swedish companies provide employment directly or indirectly to 7,50,000 people in India. Chemicals, manufactured goods, food and beverages, etc are both exported and imported between the two countries. Around 90 Norwegian companies are fully functional in the country and an additional 100 are seeking to pursue business relations with India. Electronics, shipbuilding, IT, telecom, energy, infrastructure etc. are the industries wherein both India and Norway have cooperated with each other.
The Scandinavian countries have had smooth collaboration with India and one of the primary factors that has helped to bridge the gap is translation and localization of varied content from the Scandinavian languages to English or the local regional languages. At CMM Languages, we provide a wide range of quality translation services in 65+ languages including Norwegian, Danish, Swedish and Icelandic.