Reciprocal Comprehension of Neighbour Languages in Scandinavia

Abstract

Maurud, 0. 1976. Reciprocal Compreheasion of Neighbour Languages in Scandinavia. An Investigation of How Well People in Denmark, Norway and Sweden Understand Each Other's Written and Spoken Languages. Scand. J. educ. Res. 20, 49‐72. Soldiers in the three countries were exposed to spoken and written texts in the two other Scandinavian languages and their comprehension was tested by asking them questions about the contents and by asking them to translate certain central words in the texts into their own language. Questions about certain important non‐linguistic factors such as education level, domicile, travels to the other Scandinavian countries, reading in the other Scandinavian languages, exposure to radio and television programs from the other Scandinavian countries, own estimation of other Scandinavian language comprehension and attitudes towards these languages were also included. The answers to these questions were used to throw light on the results of the language test.