Danish Dialects
The Danish language has some variants worth understanding before hiring a Danish translation service.
Standard Danish
The language that is based on dialects spoken in and around Copenhagen (the capital of Denmark) is called Standard Danish (Rigsdansk). Different than other Scandinavian languages, Danish only has one regional speech norm. Unlike Swedish and Norwegian, Danish does not have more than one regional speech norm. Over 25% of all Danish speakers reside in the urban area of Copenhagen. Additionally, most government agencies, institutions, and large businesses are located in the capital city of Denmark.
It is thought by most people that Standard Danish is based on a form of the Copenhagen dialect. Despite this, the exact norm (like the majority of most language norms) is not easy to identify. Throughout history, Standard Danish came about as a mix of the dialect of Zealand and Scania. The beginning of it can be seen in east Danish provincial law texts such as Skånske Lov.
Not surprisingly, standard Danish is the main choice for companies translating into Danish.
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Rural Dialects
Even though Denmark had a very centralized government, the divided geography of the country caused rural dialects to thrive over the centuries. These dialects are referred to as genuine and previously spoken by most in Denmark. Yet since the 1960s, the appearance of these dialects has decreased significantly. Despite this, they still exist in communities out in the countryside. Yet when most speakers are spoken to in Standard Danish, they tend to reply in a regionalized form of Standard Danish. This is typically a form of the local dialect to Rigsdansk.
Danish Translation Varieties
Danish is divided into three distinct dialect groups, but most of our clients will choose to translate into a neutral Danish language. Learn more about our Danish translation services by contacting us at: sales@thetranslationcompany.com.
These groups are then subdivided into roughly 30 categories. The three main categories are Insular Danish (dialects of the Danish islands of Zealand, Funen, Lolland, Falster, and Møn), Jutlandic (further divided in North, East, West, and South Jutlandic), and the Bornholmsk dialect (the dialect of the island of Bornholm).
The term Eastern Danish is sometimes used for Bornholmian but also involves the dialects of Scania. Scanian is a similar group of dialects that formed part of the old Scandinavian dialects. This is because of the loss of the Danish provinces of Blekinge, Halland, and Scania to Sweden in 1658. This means that the spoken language in this part of Sweden comes from a local variation of Danish. Despite this, the written language used in this area is standard Swedish (developed in Uppsala and Stockholm, Sweden).
Similar to this, the Norwegian language is thought to come from West Norse. While this is so, the written language used by most in Norway is derived from an older version of Standard Danish. Long ago, the classical dialects that existed in the southern Swedish provinces were thought to be more Eastern Danish than Swedish (similar to the dialect of Bornholm).
Clients targeting a certain area in Denmark may want to choose a specific dialect to translate their content into.
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sales@thetranslationcompany.com
800.725.6498
#1 Contact us to get a free quote or questions answered, or
#2 Upload your files for an instant translation quote, or
#3 Schedule a free Zoom meeting with our team now.