Author: Chiara

Faroese vs Icelandic: Old Norse and its daughters

Discover Faroese – today spoken by about 80,000 people in the North Sea archipelago- as Icelandic still has much in common with Old Norse in grammar and vocabulary

Faroese (Føroyskt) is the language spoken in the Faroe Islands (Føroyar), located between Scotland, Norway and Iceland. Faroese people’s ancestors were Norsemen, and despite centuries of Danish rule, they managed to preserve their language through oral tradition. Faroese and Icelandic are closely related to Scandinavian languages, but still look much more like the language of their ancestors.

How similar is Faroese to Icelandic, and Scandinavian languages?

As follows, some basic expressions in Faroese, Icelandic, and Swedish/Danish/Norwegian. Although Faroese and Icelandic are closer, you can easily see that they belong to the same language group.

FaroeseIcelandicScandinavian
yes/noja/neijá/neija/ nej/nei
thank youtakktakktak(k)
excuse meorsakaafsakaðuse:ursäkta / no,dk:un(d)skyld
sorryumskyldafyrirgefðuse:förlåt/ no:beklager
here you go/you’re welcomeger so vælgjörðu svo velvarsågod
what’s your name hvussu eitir tú?hvað heitir þú?(h)va(d) heter/hedder du?
good daygóðan dagingóðan daginngod dag

Faroese-Icelandic Differences in Spelling: tell them apart

Faroese has a written form based on etymology, making it look much closer to old Norse (and Icelandic), than its pronunciation.

  • No Þ (thorn) in Faroese: þ, pronounced as English th in mouth, is not present in the Faroese alphabet. Where Icelandic has a Þ, Faroese usually has a T: tú (you); tað (this) vs þú, það. In Scandinavian languages this is usually a D: du, det
  • No é in Faroese: Faroese alphabet does have just like Icelandic and unlike Scandinavian languages several accented vowels: Á Í Ó Ú Ý, It does however not have é (‘I’ in Faroese: eg, Icelandic: ég)
  • Faroese Ø/ Icelandic Ö
  • -ggj ending in Faroese: oyggjar, nýggj, kríggj (islands, new, war)

Learn to tell Iceland and Faroese apart from all Nordic languages

FaroeseIcelandicScandinavian
þ?x
þú, það		usually T:
tú, tað		often turned into a D:
du, det
ð?x
hvað, við		x
(silent, sometimes T: hvat, vit)		–
usually D/T/silent: (h)va(d)
é?x
ég (I)		–
eg		–
á, í, ó, ú, accented yxxno accents
ö/øøödk/no: ø/ se: ö
æ/äæædk/no: æ/ se: ä
å?–
often á when Scandinavian has å: ár, fá, blá		–
often á when Scandinavian has å: ár, fá, blá		X
år, få, blå,

Faroese vocabulary: Language purism, Danish loanwords, and a sprinkle of Irish

A language committee has invented words to prevent more influential languages to take over Faroese, similarly to Icelandic language purism. The Faroese Jóhan Hendrik W. Poulsen (1934-2022) invented words as:

  • Telda (computer), Fartelda (laptop), Far­tele­fon (mobile phone) – In Icelandic (far)tölva and (far)sími
  • Tal­gild­­ur (digital), fløga (CD) ‘thick slice’
  • tyrla (helicopter) – in Icelandic þyrla from tiril=whirl, Far­støð (terminal) ‘distance/travel place’
  •  flogbóltur (volleyball), ‘fly ball’
  • Gosbað (jacuzzi) ‘air bath’

At the same time, being under the Kingdom of Denmark, Faroe islanders incorporated loanwords form Danish in their language: snakka, forstanda – speak, understand – are used colloquially instead of tosa and skilja (Icelandic tala, skilja). Bike is súkkla (cykel in Danish, reiðhjól in Icelandic), War is kríggj (krig in Danish, lögregla in IS)

Faroese vocabulary is of course North Germanic, but as Norsemen brought Celtic women from their settlements in the Irish Sea, you also find a few traces of that, mainly regarding cattle and fields apparently.

Grammar: genders, declensions, verbs

Faroese and Icelandic are Insular North Germanic languages- and thanks to their isolation they retained many aspects of Old Norse that Swedish, Danish and Norwegian dropped.

FaroeseIcelandicScandinavian
genders/articles3 (m/f/n)3 (m/f/n)2 (m/n)
cases3 (often 2 when spoken)4–
verb endings (present)3/4: -i,-r,-a/u (plural=1 ending)5/6: -,-t, -r,-um,-ið,-a/u1: -r

Here are explanations regarding the table above:

Genders

Both Icelandic and Faroese have masculine, feminine and neuter gender.

in Scandinavia, only Norwegian partially kept the masculine/feminine distinction, while Swedish and Danish have only general and neuter – Norwegian was actually grouped as West- North Germanic together with Faroese and Icelandic before shifting towards the languages in the continent. What is neuter in Icelandic and Faroese usually is also in Scandinavian, as feminine when used in Norwegian. There is some overlap also with German and Dutch, so speaking multiple Germanic languages helps when in doubt!

The gender can be often assumed from the endings:

  • Masculine: -UR, -I: dagur, matur (day, food)- Scandinavian languages lost the ending: dag, mat; tími
  • Feminine: -, -A: bók, nátt/nótt; kirkja, gøta/gata (book, night, church, street). A often stays in Swedish, but is an E in Danish: kyrka/kirke, gata/gade
  • Neuter: -, -I, A: barn, hús, stykki, kaffi, eyga/auga, eyra/oyra, hjarta (child, house, piece, eye, ear, heart)

In addition, Faroese and Icelandic have declesions for numbers until 3 (Faroese) and 4 (Icelandic). The number changes depending on the gender: ein maður/kona, eitt barn; tveir menn, tvær konur, tvey børn and so on. This does happen in Scandinavian languages only for one/a: en bok, ett barn.

FaroeseIcelandic
1/a man, woman, childein maður/kona, eitt barneinn maður, ein kona, eitt barn
2 men, women, childrentveir menn, tvær konur, tvey børntveir menn, tvær konur, tvö börn
3tríggir, tríggjar, tryyþrir, þrjar, þrjú
4–fjórir, fjær, fjogur

What about articles?: there is no undetermined article. ‘a man’ is simply maður. As in all North Germanic languages, the determined form is made by adding a suffix to the substantive, which varies by gender:
-in, -n, -ið: Masculine maðurin(n) (the man), feminine-n konan (the woman), neuter-ið: husið (the house).

in Scandinavian you do have en/ett as undetermined article, becoming -en, -et for the determined form: ett hus, huset. Norwegian might also have feminine ei as ei bok (a book), becoming boka, the book. Another interesting common trait with some varieties of Norwegian is that the possessive adjective can be put after the noun: boka mi – bókin min vs min bok/bog in Swedish and Danish.

Cases

In Faroese and Icelandic, a noun changes depending on the grammatical case according to its gender/number, and the prepositions it follows.

  • Faroese: Bátur(in): (the) boat – eg síggi bátin: i see a boat
  • Icelandic: bátur(inn) – ég sé bát

Icelandic retained 4 cases: Nominative (subject), accusative (object), dative, genitive, as for example German does – while Faroese 3, dropping the genitive, considered obsolete, very formal, or only in fixed expressions- or even 2, as in spoken Faroese the accusative is often used instead of dative!

So the name of the Faroe Islands is Føroyar, but: í Føroyum (in the Faroes), and you have the Føroya Banki (Bank of the Faroes); the Faroese language is called Føroyskt, but in Faroese is á føroyskum.

How to Learn Faroese?

You find resource to learn Faroese, Icelandic and all Scandinavian languages in my free language resources list – many of these are free!

https://talkinfaroese.com/best-faroese-resources
  • Faroese is now available on google translator, though the Faroe Islands started their own translation service Faroe Islands Translate in 2017, with sentences human-translated.
  • talkinfaroese.com has a lifetime subscription for 97 USD.
  • some publishing company Sprotin has online dictionaries. Listen to Faroese with public radio KVF. The crime drama TROM is set in the Faroe islands
  • You can join Faroese language summer courses at the Faroe islands university!

Sources for this article:

  • Faroese – a language course for beginners – J. Adams, P. P. Petersen
  • talkinfaroese.com
  • setur.fo
  • Discoverfaroeislands, Guide to faroe islands

Thanks to @ malmedmatze for reminding me of some points!

Scandinavian Embassy bakery and cafe in Amsterdam zuid

On a trip to Amsterdam, I decided to test Scandinavian Embassy and both of its two locations, starting with the bakery in europaplein. The two locations are in Amsterdam zuid: Saphatipark and Europaplein: in the former, a more central location, you can sit but it has fewer items than the bakery in Europaplein. The bakery,…

Chiara's avatar by Chiara

Celebrating Norway’s National Day outside Norway

Norwegian Seamen Churches all over the world host 17th May celebrations. I attended the festivities in Rotterdam, joining the parade and eating a pølse i lompe!

Last year I found out that the Norwegian seamen churches in Holland- which as the other Nordic seamen churches organise Christmas markets around November – also hosts national day – 17th May – celebrations, and that is according to the Norwegian tradition: hotdogs, a parade, and games for children!

The Norwegian seamen church of the Netherlands is located in Rotterdam, with a nice park where the parade takes place. So I had a trip there to check it out, equipped with my Norwegian flag!

I arrived there slightly after the start of the program (thanks train), so I missed seeing the flag being raised.

People, a lot dressed in their beautiful bunads, were entering the building, where you could get cakes, stuff as flags and løyse (brooches/ribbons), and waffles or hotdogs outside. I got my vaffel and as I could I just went a bit mad with jam and brunost toppings..

As follows 2025 17 mai Program:

  • 11:00 Flaggheising – flag raising
  • 12:00 Gudstjeneste – church service
  • 13:00 Taler for dagen – speeches of the day, among others the ambassador
  • Folketog – parade,
  • grilling, leker, pølse i lompe – parades, bbq, games
  • celebrations closing at 16:30
17 mai rotterdam journal art

Just as the parade in the park with the marching band was starting, i got my pølse i lompe, hotdog in a wrap!

Who knows, maybe I’ll be back for 2026! Stay tuned to find out about more Nordic events!

More posts:

5 symbols of Sami culture

Sámi people, indigenous people of North Scandinavia, have a distinct culture, symbolised by its unique flag and traditional clothing, and part of it are Duodji handicrafts and unique musical expression through yoik.

Chiara's avatar by Chiara

Scandinavian Embassy bakery and cafe in Amsterdam zuid

On a trip to Amsterdam, I decided to test Scandinavian Embassy and both of its two locations, starting with the bakery in europaplein.

The two locations are in Amsterdam zuid: Saphatipark and Europaplein: in the former, a more central location, you can sit but it has fewer items than the bakery in Europaplein. The bakery, on the contrary, barely has any places to sit.

scandinavian embassy amsterdam

First we got an almond bun, that was delicious!then, for the savory part, we got a mushroom & cheese danish, and apricot drinks!

Afterwards we decided to check out the cafe too, where I got a biskvi, served in a paper cup to-go 🙂

i had wanted to try their biskvi for a while, and I did at the cafe, slightly closer to the centre! so here it is

scandinavian embassy bakery
biskvi scandinavian bakery fika

The classic cinnamon and cardamom bun were on the sweets menu as well, as the chocolate balls and an almond cake (toscakaka?)

We happened to pass by Arket later, which had special buns and tebirkes

Scandinavian Embassy also serves typical seasonal Swedish treats as semlor and lussekatter! Subscribe to see more

Who are Greenlanders? 3 symbols of Greenlandic culture

Discover Greenland, home to the Inuit Kalaallit, and its most iconic aspects as its flag, language and folk costumes. The biggest island of the world has a rich history of indigenous culture intertwined with Norse colonization and later Danish rule.

Chiara's avatar by Chiara

An introduction to Estonian: sister language of Finnish

Estonian is a Finnic language, sharing many similarities with its ‘bigger’ sister Finnish, while being unrelated to all their bigger language neighbours

24th February is Estonian Independence Day! To celebrate, here is some info on one of the closest relatives of Finnish and insight on Uralic languages.

Finnish and Estonian are both Uralic languages, belonging to a different family than most languages spoken in Europe, from Icelandic to Italian, which are all Indo-European languages. Find out more about Finnish compared to other Nordic languages. I already wrote in Estonian culture in general compared to Finland after my trip to the Baltics last summer.

Finnish and Estonian: Finnic sister languages

Estonian is the second biggest Finnic language after Finnish , spoken by around 1 million people, (Finnish has 5 millions). Other related languages exist in the Baltics, although most have very few speakers left: võro, Livonian (in Latvia).

There are many similarities exist betwenn Finnish and Estonian. Although they are not always mututally intelligible, Finns and Estonians can often understand each other, particularly in written form. Estonians in particular used to be able to understand Finnish very well thanks to access to Finnish media they had access to during the Soviet occupation.

Unique Finnic language features

  • Gender-neutral pronoun: The English third person pronoun has a gender distinction – he/she. Finnish and Estonian have only one, neutral version: “hän” in Finnish and “ta” in Estonian.
  • Vowel Length (2 in Finnish, 3 in Estonian): Both Finnish and Estonian have short and long vowels: you often see double ones when bumping into these languages – aa, ää , ee, oo, ii etc. For example: mutta ‘but’ vs muuttaa ‘to change’ in Finnish.
    Estonian, has however not two, but three vowel lengths: kala (fish) Long: kaala (weigh), kaalla (with a neck).
  • 14-15 inflections of grammatical cases (simplified in Estonian): Both languages often convey meaning through inflection: I go to Estonia – Tulen estii Finnish stayed more conservative, while Estonian started using more prepositions instead and dropped the accusative case.

Finnish and Estonian vocabulary

There is a large Finnic common vocabulary: the following words are the same in Finnish and Estonian, unrelated to indoeuropean languages:

  • water: vesi
  • moon: kuu
  • money: raha
  • tree: puu
  • snow: lumi
  • hand: käsi
  • expensive: kallis
  • sea: meri

Countries around Finnic people got similar, distinct names in their languages, notice the following: Finland, Sweden, Germany, Russia, Denmark:

  • Finnish: Suomi, Ruotsi, Saksa, Venäjä, Tanska
  • Estonian: Soome, Rootsi, Saksamaa, Venemaa, Taani. Maa means ‘Land’ also in Finnish

Finnish got many loanwords from Sweden, being its neighbor and ruling power. Similarly, Estonian has borrowed as much from German. As a common Finnic feature, many words which originally had S with another consonant after it, dropped the S.

FinnishEstonianSwedishGerman
schoolkoulukoolskolaSchule
chairtuolitoolstolStuhl
to paintmaalatamaalimamålamalen
hamkinkkusinkskinkaSchinken
cakekakkukookkakaKuchen
kitchenkeittiököökköketKüche
mirrorpeilipegelispegelSpiegel

Tell Finnish and Estonian apart

Estonian and Finnish look similar, so if you’re not familar with any you can tell if it is Estonian instead for these features:

  • Estonian has the unique letter Õ, and – unlike Finnish – uses Ü, B and G in native Finnic words (Finnish only in foreign words). Š and Ž can also be rarely seen in words of foreign origin in Estonian, although not officially part of the alphabet
  • diphthongs not present in Finnish: if you see two different vowels next to each other, that cannot be Finnish – but if it looks like it, it might be Estonian: päev.
  • No vowel harmony in Estonian: In Finnish, words contain vowels from only front or back vowels – so ä, y, ö cannot be together in the same word with a, u, o. In Estonian, mixing them is possible.

Spoken Estonian tends to sound softer and more fluid, while Finnish pronunciation is more rythmic. This might be due to dipthongs and consonant length distinction in pronunciation, stricter in Finnish, where the difference between short and long consonants is stronger.

Finnish and Estonian language days

Both countries have a day dedicated to their respective languages.

Estonian language day, also Mother Tongue day, Emakeelepäev, is celebrated on 14th March since 1999, birthday of the poet Kristjan Jaak Peterson. Poetry readings including a 12-hours reading marathon mark the day.

Finnish language day is on 9th April in honour of Michael Agricola, a 1500s clergyman considered the father of written Finnish for having published the first book in this language.

sources

7 fun facts about Lucia, Sweden’s pagan saint

Lucia brings light in the darkest night of the year and is a mix of pagan and christian traditions. It is celebrated in Scandinavia with processions, saffron buns and church concerts.

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Nordic findings in japan

Nordic culture experienced in Japan: Moomins, Dala horse stationery, Nordic-inspired foods and books about Scandinavia seen by the Japanese.

Chiara's avatar by Chiara

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Scandinavian carnival buns (and where to eat them in the Netherlands)

Cream buns are enjoyed in Nordic and Baltic countries during shrovetide, between January and February. Sweden’s classic semla has almond paste, while other countries variations include jam, vanilla cream, and chocolate icing top.

Whipped cream-filled buns are eaten and baked in Nordic countries during shrovetide (carnival for catholics), Fastelavn in Danish/Norwegian, Laskiainen in Finnish. This period would anticipate the lent before Easter, and culminates on Fat Tuesday – Fettisdagen in Sweden, or Shrove Sunday.

Lent was abolished with the reformation, but the buns stayed! To the point that Icelanders call the day when you eat bollur, shrove Monday, bolludagur, ‘bun day’.

National Variations of Shrovetide buns

In Sweden the semla is filled with almond paste and whipped cream. It is traditional to eat it soaked in hot milk, known as hetvägg. Swedish King Adolf Frederick died from digestion problems after eating 14 hetvägg!

Mormors bageri Semla in Lund
Almond paste inside Broodnodig’s Semla in Utrecht


in Finland, Laskiaispulla – or fastlagsbulle in Swedish-speaking Finland – instead of almond paste you find jam. Estonian Vastlakukkel is more simple, genereally only with whipped cream, but sometimes also contain jam, and Norwegian fastelavnsboller can be filled with vanilla cream, jam, chocolate and almond paste.

Danish fastelavnsboller, similar to bollur in Iceland and Føstulávintsbolli in the Faroe, are made from puff and choux pastry, often with chocolate icing on top and besides whipped cream filled with vanilla cream, whipped cream and jam.

Besides the traditional version named above, there are more and more variations including liquorice, pistache and so on, with curious semlor made up each year.

Mentioning Dutch culture, a Danish/Icelandic fastelavnsbolle reminds me of a Bossche Bol, although the latter are completely coated in chocolate. I believe Italian Maritozzo is very similar to a plain semla, without almond paste.

Where to try them in the Netherlands

In Amsterdam, Selma’s Nordic bakery and Scandinavian Embassy make Semlor. Selma was also serving Finnish-style laskiaispulla in 2025, with a fruit compote, and a Danish fastelavnsbolle in 2026!

I also tried Broodnodig’s classic almond paste semla in 2026, a very big one!

Nordic cafe fika

In Den Haag semlor are also available Norvolk (in Scheveningen)

Arket made an interesting Danish-Swedish twist, with the classic wienerbrød Tebirkes cut and filled with whipped cream and almond paste like a semla!

arket tebirkes semla
arket tebirkes semla

subscribe for more Scandinavian treats..!

sources:

How Nordic are Baltic countries

Are Baltic countries Nordic at all? I explored Latvia and Estonia, noting their ties to Nordic culture, from languages to Rye bread and Midsummer.

Chiara's avatar by Chiara

5 symbols of Sami culture

Sámi people, indigenous people of North Scandinavia, have a distinct culture, symbolised by its unique flag and traditional clothing, and part of it are Duodji handicrafts and unique musical expression through yoik.

The Sámi are an indigenous people inhabiting Sápmi, Northern Scandinavia. The Sámi have historically been known as Lapps or Laplanders, offensive terms. There are about 100,000 Sámi people, who share a common history, culture and languages across borders.

Sami flag

The colors found in Sami clothing inspired the Sámi flag – designed by Astrid Båhl, from Skibotn, Norway, and approved by the Nordic Sámi Council in1986. The circle is a symbol for the sun (red) and the moon (blue), emphasizing Sami people’s connection to nature.

The colors found in Sami clothing inspired the Sámi flag –

Reindeers

One of the most typical traits of Sami culture is the central role of reindeers: around 10% of Sámi practice reindeer herding nowadays, which in some parts of the Nordic countries can be practiced only by Sámis.

Sami languages

There is no single Sámi language, but a group of around 10 distinct Sámi languages which belong to the Ugro-Finnic language family (as Finnish and Estonian). Sami languages are relatively closely related, but not mutually intelligible to each other. North Sámi is the most widely used language and is spoken in all the four countries.

traditional clothing

The Sami traditional clothing, gákti/gapta/gábdde in Sami languages, kofte/kolt in Norwegian and Swedish, is well dinstinguished from Norwegian bunads and Swedish national dresses. It is worn at important occasions and varies depending on the gender, family, area one is from and status.

handicrafts: duodji•

Important parts of Sami culture are Sami handicrafts, known as duodji, which include accessories, clothing, various objects – from drums to infant beds and knives. There is a Duodji certificate to prove that what you are buying is made by a Sami.

Yoik

Another unique cultural element is the Yoik (or jojk), a traditional song-chant, with different functions, and can be about each other, places and animals. it is however inappropriate to sing a yoik about oneself, as this would be a form of self-flattery. Sami national jojk is Sámi eatnan duoddariid by Nils-Aslak Valkeapää, who modernised the yoik tradition. A famous example of yoik is Daniels jojk by Jon Henrik, a yoik tied to his late friend, which was sung at tv-show Sweden’s got talent.

The best Scandinavian language to learn

How to choose the language to study among Swedish, Danish and Norwegian

Many people interested in learning languages of North Europe probably start with this question, Which, among Swedish, Norwegian and Danish, is the best language to study?

Surprise surprise, there is of course no answer, but you can pick one or the other depending on some factors which make one more “suitable” to your interests and goals.

You can first of all learn about general features and learn how to tell Scandinavian languages apart. Do not start all or two of them at the same time if you do not have solid knowledge of one, you can read how I managed to study all Germanic languages.

Some factors you might take into account

The next points can be considered for any language you want to study, with some specific information regarding the three Scandinavian languages:

#1 – Your personal interest

The first factor to consider is personal: is there a reason that makes a country/language more special than the other to you – A travel destination? Friends from there? Some book you would like to be able to read in the original language? Regardless what the reason is, it is good to have something motivating you, whether it is needing it to live somewhere or because you like how ø looks.

#2 – the language that opens the most doors

It is generally handy to speak a language that will give you “access” to the most other languages. The three Scandinavian languages are quite similar to each other, so it won’t make a huge difference. The one having a bit more than the others in common with the other two could be Norwegian: Danish and Norwegian have a more similar spelling due to historical reasons, but Norwegian sounds similar to Swedish, while Danish is….Danish.

Norwegian is theorically a West-North Germanic language as Icelandic, as opposed to Swedish and Danish which are grouped as East-North Germanic. There are traces of that in some Norwegian dialects, but for geographical and historical reasons Norwegian got a lot closer to Swedish and Danish. Icelandic (unfortunately?) retained its heavy grammar. More about the Icelandic grammar

#3 – the language which allows you to reach most people

Another factor people often take into consideration when starting a new language is how many people you will be able to communicate with. All Scandinavian languages are pretty small (all three make in total around 20 million speakers) but Swedish is significantly more spoken than all other languages of Nordic countries (as big as Danish and Norwegian together), and is present in Finland as well.

Some more or less tricky features

Grammar

Their grammar is very similar and essentially equally hard, with maybe the exception that Norwegian has the feminine gender too, although not used everywhere.

Pronunciation

Danes speak as if they have potatoes in their mouth. (While it is said Norwegian and Swedish sound like singing…) Some sounds like stød can be hard for foreigners to reproduce, saying rødgrød med fløde is a classic. Swedish Pronounciation has a sound similar to German ch in Bach, try this tongue twister: Sju Sjuka sjömän med sju sjuka sköterskor. People from Skåne, Sweden’s southernmost region, might sound to you like Danes speaking Swedish…Centuries ago, Skåne was actually a part of Denmark!

Language variation

Norwegian is famous for its dialects, “I” can be written/pronounced in a number of ways: jeg, Æ, eg.. Being already used to jump from a Scandinavian language to the other, hearing a new Norwegian dialect is not too scary I guess.. And it has two written standards, bokmål and nynorsk. Bokmål is far more popular than Nynorsk though.

This would mean Norwegian is probably the most convenient to learn: vocabulary/spelling lean towards Danish and Pronounciation to Swedish, while you will spare yourself the (for most people) struggle of learning how to pronounce Danish.

My journey

I personally started with Swedish and still keeping it as my “main”, although i learned the others on the way, I look at Swedish as my Scandinavian mother tongue or something, haha. There was no particular reason for this, Sweden and Swedish culture were just somehow more present in my mind and knowledge than the other two, and I just felt like learning Swedish without thinking much.

Truth to be told, many people are not particularly found of the sound of Danish. Not me though, pronouncing Danish is a guilty pleasure of mine.

If you find all of them interesting, just be patient and once you got to a decent level with one you can start picking up the others just by immersion!

Novels and books to study Nordic languages in 2026

my 2026 language plans with books: continue reading Swedish novels and Norwegian non-fiction, and studying Finnish.

As I did for my Nordic books 2025, here is an updated list of books I will be reading and textbooks I want to use in 2026

Below my trackers for 2025 and 2026: in 2025 I mostly studied Japanese and read Swedish novels

Book I am reading in Swedish and Norwegian

Novels to finish

  • Straff, Ann-Helen Laestadius – Sami kids taken away from their families to a Sami-hostile environment, who meet again 30 years later.
  • Allting växer, Lyra Koli – dystopic novel about a Scandinavian girl set in a post- world war and climate catastrophe world.

Norwegian books got from the thrift book shelf at the Norwegian Seamen Church

  • Europeere, Simen Ekern – an essay on the European Union, written around 10 years ago. This was how I opened my 2026 readings!
  • Norges Historie – encyclopedia-ish book on Norwegian History, from Vikings to the 70s, when it was published

Books to study Finnish

Later this year, I want to try focusing on Finnish for a while. I still have my coursebook I purchased a couple years ago, and can work on vocabulary thanks to the Ultimate Finnish Notebook (get a discount on such books for a lot of languages! – code ChiaraBeretta)

Due to my limited time, i had no time for Finnish last year, also because I tried to fully focus on studying Japanese (as for Japanese – I will use Irodori/いろどり free online textbooks/resources). I recently purchased an Assimil book for Finnish, which should make learning Finnish while commuting easier thanks to it’s compact format and bite-size lessons

Icelandic and Danish for fun

As I wrote last year, I might try to improve my Danish with the German Assimil edition. Other books, as Swedish assimil and Short Stories in Icelandic, were started in the past and I might continue (for Icelandic) or review (for Swedish) them later.

What books/resources will you use in 2026?

Who are Greenlanders? 3 symbols of Greenlandic culture

Discover Greenland, home to the Inuit Kalaallit, and its most iconic aspects as its flag, language and folk costumes. The biggest island of the world has a rich history of indigenous culture intertwined with Norse colonization and later Danish rule.

Many have heard of Greenland lately because of what is going on in the world. Here is an introduction to its culture and history, with iconic aspects from this Arctic nation.

Greenland – Kalaallit Nunaat – an Inuit nation between the Vikings and Colonisation

Most of Greenland’s population – the Kalaallit – are Inuits, the indigenous peoples of the Arctic, from North America to Siberia. Although the current Greenlanders’ ancestors, the Thule people, migrated from Alaska around 1000 years ago, Inuits were already present in Greenland in 2500 BC.

Greenland also had Norse inhabitants for a while – Its norse name Grønland, ‘green land’ was given by Erik den Røde, arriving around 1000 a.D after being exiled from Iceland. Norsemen left around 1400, probably due to the worsened climate conditions of the little ice age. A sign of the Norse settlement are the ruins of the Hvalsey church.

The Scandinavians returned with the Danish colonization from the 1700s, beginning with an expedition to find remaining Norse inhabitants. This time led to suppression and attempts to westernize its people, and despite this, Greenland now proudly preserves its Inuit culture, with its language, traditional clothing, and in its flag.

Flag and coat of arms of Greenland

The Greenlandic flag is called Erfalasorput (‘our flag’) and was introduced in 1985, flying for the first time on Greenland’s national day, Summer Solstice.

It symbolizes the sun rising in the arctic Greenlandic landscape, on a light midsummer sky. The red-white colors reference the Danish flag.

It was designed by the Greenlandic artist Thue Christiansen (1940-2022), and was voted as the winner among many other concepts, in particular against a Nordic cross.

Greenlandic Language

the Greenlandic Inuit language, Kalaallisut, is spoken by around 50.000 people – the majority of Greenland’s population – While Danish is taught and spoken as a second language. Greenlandic belongs to the Eskimo-Aleut languages, spoken by indigenous peoples of the arctic area. Loanwords from Greenlandic present in all languages are kayak and anorak.

A distinctive feature is that a single word can express what in English and most European languages would be an entire sentence: Silagissiartuaarusaarnialerunarpoq means “The weather will slowly and gradually become good again”…

Greenlandic incorporated many loanwords from the Danish language (and western culture): biili (bil – car), iipili (æble – apple), juulli (jul – Christmas), as well as greeting as“kumoorn” (god morgen – good morning).

A more detailed post about the Greenlandic language will follow!

Greenlandic national costume

The Greenlandic national costume – probably the only women’s folk costume in the world with pants instead of a dress or skirt! – is worn on special occasions and is a symbol of Greenlandic identity.

Besides festive days as Christmas/Easter, Weddings, confirmations and Birthdays (on a child’s first birthday in particular), the national costume is worn on Greenland’s National Day (21st June, summer Solstice), and typically by children on their First day of school.

The national costume features a top, pants, and kamik boots. Anorak is the name of the top’s outer! Much is made with sealskin, which was the only material used for clothing until fabric were introduced by Europeans in the 17th Century.

Follow for more info about the culture and language of Greenland!

sources:

  • guidetogreenland.com
  • lex.dk
  • Preciosa-Ornela.com
  • Nunatta Katersugaasivia Allagaateqarfialu – Greenland National Museum & Archives
  • omniglot
  • wiktionary

7 fun facts about Lucia, Sweden’s pagan saint

Lucia brings light in the darkest night of the year and is a mix of pagan and christian traditions. It is celebrated in Scandinavia with processions, saffron buns and church concerts.

Luciadagen is celebrated in Scandinavia, especially in Sweden, on 13th December, marking the start of Nordic Christmas, Jul, season. Sankta Lucia is typically depitcted with a wreath of candles.

1. Lucia was a dangerous night…– the pagan origin

Lussinatta was observed between Norway and Sweden. On that magic night, Lussi, a dark, female creature, would come with witches and trolls, punishing those who misbehaved or did not observe Yule preparations -also by going down the chimney (reminds me of somebody…) and blowing up the house… To protect oneself, it was necessary to stay indoors and respect the tradition of Lussevaka, staying awake and watching out on the longest night of the year. Candles would also help protect.

2. The real Lucia was Sicilian – the christian origin

Saint Lucy was a Syracusan martyr of the 4th century AD. Some say she brought food to Christians hidden in the Roman catacombs, with candles on her head to have her hands free. A figure who brings light in the darkness, much needed in the Northern winter, replaced the dark creatures of Lussinatta!

3. Lucia’s modern look came from Germany

The current celebration of Lucia is derived from the German tradition of Kindchen Jesus or Christkind (child Jesus). The Christkind was represented by a girl dressed in white, wearing a crown and lights, who handed out gifts to children. The tradition was brought to Sweden in the 1700s, where the name became Kinken Jes and spread from southwestern Sweden. It became common among wealthy families that a girl dressed as Lucia would serve breakfast in the 1800s.

Findus-Lucia with pepparkakor!
Mu

4. A Lucia is elected each year

The girls representing local Lucias in processions are elected each year, as is one national Lucia for whole Sweden. The first public procession in Sweden took place in 1927, when a newspaper in Stockholm elected an official Lucia of that year for Stockholm. There used to be Lucia contests, but nowadays it is more about children processions, with schools which often let chance decide who’s to be Lucia, for example by organising a draw.

5. Lucia’s male counterparts are Star boys, gingerbread men and christmas elves

The processions include the Lucia at the head, giving out sweets, accompanied by other angel girls and boys dressed as stjärngossar “star boys”, in white, wearing a cone hat with golden stars and holding a star stick. They are linked to stjärngossespel, a tradition from middle ages consisting in ‘star’ children going door to door singing songs, representing the Three Kings.
Other children are pepparkaksgubbar (gingerbread men) and tomtenissar (Christmas elves). Lucia songs as are sung, as Natten går tunga fjät “the night comes heavily”. It is actually based off a song by a Neapolitan composer.

6. Lucia’s treats: Saffron buns

Around Advent time Sweden is full of Saffron buns, especially the classic Lussekatter, shaped like an S with raisins, which would be shaped as curled-up cats with some fantasy.

lussekatt pepparkaka lucia in the netherlands
lussekatt, with a pepparkaka
saffransbullar

Other Advent-time treats as pepparkakor (spiced cookies) and glögg (mulled whine) are also commonly linked to Lucia traditions.

7. Lucia is celebrated in the rest of Scandinavia…and Italy

The Swedish-speaking population of Finland celebrates Luciasfester. Finland elects its Lucia since 1949, when she was elected and crowned in the cathedral of Helsinki, but the very first Finnish Lucia might have been elected in a school in Åbo/Turku in 1898.
In Denmark and Norway, Lucia started being celebrated during and after WW2, and it is mostly celebrated in schools and kindergartens. In 1944, the tradition was brought to Denmark with the first procession in Copenhagen, as a way to strengthen common Nordic traditions in the dark times of German occupation.

Some parts of Italy also celebrate Lucia! That is mostly around Bergamo, North Italy, where Lucia comes on a donkey and brings presents in the night, and children leave some treats as cookies for her. The 13th is also a special day in schools! It is also celebrated in Sicily, where it is more christianity-centered.

Sources: