Language

There are a large number of Languages spoken in Norway. Of these, the Norwegian language is the most widely spoken and the main official language of the country. Around 95% of the population speak Norwegian as their native tongue, although many speak dialects that differ significantly from the written language. Nevertheless, all of the Norwegian dialects are inter-intelligible. Several Sami languages are spoken and written throughout the country, especially in the north, by the Sami people. The Germanic Norwegian language and the Finno-Ugric Sami languages are entirely unrelated. However, the Finnish language is distantly related to the Sami language.

In Norwegian public schools, the most studied foreign language is English and is required for middle and high school-level students. Other language instruction courses offered in public schools and universities are Danish, Swedish, French, German and Russian.

Norwegian

The Norwegian language has two official written forms, Bokmål and Nynorsk. They have officially equal status, i.e. they are both used in public administration, in schools, churches, radio and television, but Bokmål is used by the majority.

Bokmål

Bokmål, the written language of more than 85% of the Norwegian population, is based on Riksmål, although it differs in terms of genders, lexicon, counting system, a tendency to permit concrete noun endings in abstract situations and diphthongs versus single vowels. Riksmål was officially changed to Bokmål in 1929.

Nynorsk

Nynorsk was developed by the linguist Ivar Aasen in the 1850's, based on rural, spoken Norwegian, rather than the cultured, Danish-influenced Norwegian spoken in cities. Its first official codification was in 1901, was given the name Nynorsk in 1929, and has been used officially (alongside Bokmål) since 1938. Its usage however has declined: in 1971, it was used by 30% of the population, today, some 15% of schoolchildren are taught Nynorsk as their written language, and is probably used by some 10-12% of the total population.

Høgnorsk

A more conservative variation of Nynorsk exists, called Høgnorsk. It has few active users, but is supported by the Ivar Aasen-sambandet organization, founded in 1965 to promote Samnorsk

Kven

Spoken by the Kven people, the Kven language is a Finno-Ugric language, closely related to Finnish, and spoken by some five to eight thousand people in northeastern Norway, particularly in Tromsø (in the county of Troms) and Finnmark. Mirroring the situation of Meänkieli in Sweden, Kven is sometimes considered to be a dialect of Finnish, and has a large degree of mutual intelligibility with the language.

Sami Languages

The Sami people were the original inhabitants of Northern Scandinavia, and though they mostly adopted Norwegian, Swedish, Finnish, or Russian, depending on the country in which they live, some still speak Sami languages, which belong, like Kven and Finnish, to the Finno-Ugric group. Sami languages spoken in Norway include Lule Sami (spoken by around 500 in Norway), North Sami (spoken by around 15,000 Norwegian Sami), Pite Sami (which is nearly extinct) and South Sami (which has around 300 speakers in Norway). Sami languages are official in six Norwegian municipalities

Romani

The Roma people, commonly called gypsies, are a diaspora population originating in India, and today are spread across all of Europe. The Romani language, an Indo-European, Indo-Aryan language (related to other languages spoken in India today), is split into a great number of dialects. Two of these, Tavringer Romani and Vlax Romani, are spoken in Norway, by populations of 6,000 and 500, respectively. Scandoromani is another Romani dialect indigenous to Norway, as well as Sweden. Because of the wandering nature of the Roma people, there is no geographic stronghold of the Romani language in Norway.

Norwegian Traveller

Spoken by the Norwegian Travellers, a gypsy population in Norway which intermarried with Romani and Yeniche (German Traveller) populations, the Norwegian Traveller language, also known as Rodi, is based on Norwegian, but has heavy borrowing from Northern Romani and Rotwelsch. There is no estimate on how many Norwegian Traveller speakers there are in Norway, but it is known that the language is alive.