Danish Online Translation Services

Number of people speaking:

Native Danish speakers are estimated to be approximately 5.6 million strong in total; there are also an additional 400,000 speakers in other parts of the world.

Dialects:

Standard Danish is a widely spoken dialect based on the language used in and around the capitol city of Copenhagen.  There is little in the way of regional variation for the most part, largely due to the dominance of metropolitan influence on government and culture.  Despite this there are three widely recognized broad regional dialects; these can in turn be sub-divided into thirty more exact specific dialects.  Insular Danish is spoken on the islands of Zealand, Lolland, Falster, Mon and Funen.  Jutlandic is spoken throughout Jutland, although slight regional variations exist in the North, West, East and South of the peninsula.  The Bornholmsk dialect or Bornholmian is spoken on the Baltic island of Bornholm, another term for it is Eastern Danish as it shares many characteristics with the dialect spoken on Scania. This similarity dates back to the loss of several Danish islands including Scania which occurred during a war with Sweden in 1658.

Countries Spoken:

Denmark, Iceland, in the Faroe Islands as a second language, in Greenland as one of the two official national languages and in Southern Schleswig on the Danish and German border.

Some Fun Facts about Danish:

Iceland has not used Danish as an official language since 1944 however it’s still taught in schools there as a mandatory subject.

Danish is widely spoken in the Southern Schleswig region of Germany, which shares a border with Denmark, Danish is recognized as an official regional language on the German side and this is reciprocated, as German is an official regional language on the Danish side of the border.