Nordic purchasing power

In 2018, the combined GDP of the Nordic region amounted to $1.64 trillion ¨C equating to ¨C an increase from $1.44 trillion in 2015. The 27 million inhabitants of the Nordic countries have a higher GDP per person than the EU, and imports play a significant role in these figures.??

Swedish consumers imported goods worth around in 2019, Denmark and Norway .? ?

In addition, they are at the . ?

Online is big bucks

Online purchasing plays an important role in this region, with the average Swedish consumer spending around?1000 euros annually on everything from fashion to groceries, literature and audiobooks, home furnishings, dietary supplements, medication and other pharmaceuticals, sports and leisure products, as well as movies and entertainment and much else besides. This is an attractive and lucrative market for those who are able to successfully place their market stall in the proverbial (or literal) Nordic town square.?

Gradual change but faithful consumers

As the market is smaller compared to the likes of China or Japan, many international companies¡¯ focus has been away from the Nordics. The region¡¯s market leaders have therefore been dominant for decades. So how do you best ensure that your products or services captivate Nordic consumers? There are three important behavioural patterns to consider when reaching out to these northern populations.

The loyal Nordic consumer

by Google and behavioural science experts, The Behavioural Architects, into consumer behaviour, found that the Nordic consumers tend to be faithful once they decide on a favourite brand.?

Willingness to try a second-choice brand is generally lower than in countries such as the UK. In fact, researchers found that the most important element to influence the Nordic consumer¡¯s choice was ¡°social proof¡±, i.e. testimony from others who are already using the product or service and have perhaps recommended it. This factor carried more weight than a recommendation from an expert or getting a free gift, two other example methods tested in the experiment, which simulated 310,000 purchase scenarios with 31 product categories using real in-market consumers.?

Moreover, according to statistics collated by Trustpilot, 79% of shoppers say they trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations. The judicious use of both online and printed reviews can really make a difference when enticing the Nordic consumer to purchase your product.?

Nordic consumers spend more time on their choices?

When searching online, Nordic consumers (two words is most common) before sifting through lots of hits over several days, while considering the various options ¨C 41% take two weeks or more before purchasing a product found online, and 57% carry out five?or more searches before purchasing consumer electronics.?

The good news is that such a careful decision-making process makes it easier for newcomer brands to have a chance at delighting the savvy Scandinavian consumer.?

Your web presence can be optimised for Nordic search behaviour by ensuring that key words fit with the sort of short search terms used by Nordics when looking for products or services, whether to buy online or to locate in the real world. And this leads us neatly to the third point:?

Nordic consumers prefer information in their own language?

The vast majority of Nordic people are proficient in English up to a point, yet 8 out of 10 Nordic consumers prefer a website to use their own language rather than English. ?

The vast majority of Nordic people are proficient in English up to a point, yet 8 out of 10 Nordic consumers prefer a website to use their own language rather than English.

Research by Nimdzi clearly shows that although Nordic consumers will tolerate an English website if a version in their respective languages does not exist, they prefer to interact with products in their native language, and give preference to brands that go the extra mile to localise their products and services. ?

The data also show that Nordic consumers are more receptive to advertisements that address them in the language that hits closest to home. As many as 9 out of 10 of these high-value potential customers will ignore a product that is not in their native language and well over half of them would be more interested were the content available in their own language.?

Moreover, two-thirds of e-commerce consumers consider when shopping online. So, whether you offer your goods online or offline in a physical store, having a sharp marketing copy and clear product information in the native language of your target audience will certainly improve your chances on the Nordic market. This includes localised search terms and expressions, along with local language versions of websites, brochures and product information and reviews. ?

Now let¡¯s take a closer look at the Nordic languages and what it means to localise into them.?

The linguistic specifics of the Nordics

The Nordic region is of course not only one country, and it most certainly does not have only one language. The three Scandinavian languages ¨C Swedish, Danish and Norwegian ¨C share a common origin across the three nations, whereas Finnish is distinct as a Uralic language.?

Then there is Iceland, whose language also belongs to the North-Germanic family of Indo-European languages, like Norwegian, Swedish and Danish. Icelandic is closely related to the Old Norse spoken by the Vikings who settled on the island in the 9th century. Iceland has taken a very?purist approach to its language, avoiding the adoption of foreign words and instead developing neologism ¨C new words ¨C for new phenomena and products. An example of this is theatre, which in the Scandinavian languages is teater, but in Icelandic is ±ô±ð¾±°ì³ó¨²²õ (literally playhouse, which of course we know from English, derived from the Old English plega plus the Old Norse(!) hus).?

You can read more on the Nordic languages in this blog post.??

Finding the right approach for going local

Understanding the linguistic diversity in the Nordics helps to develop a nuanced and pragmatic approach to localisation in this market. ?

One example of a cost-effective way to apply this approach is to use a method known as Scandimix, where the three Scandinavian languages are presented on the same line, with only those words added in the respective languages that are needed for clear and unambiguous comprehension. It works well where space is restricted, too.?

For marketing copy and text that is directed at consumers, you¡¯ll want something that holds a high level of quality and flow in the target language ¨C sentences that not only give a literal translation of the source text, but really communicate your brand, your product and your quality on every line. For this, the approach that tends to work best is trans-creation, a combination of translation and creative writing. ?

For technical, medical, financial or legal translation, and not least corporate communication and a plethora of other text types, Sandberg has distinct approaches and experts in the various fields to handle them correctly.?

How to get started?

When working with multilingual content, one of the first steps to effective communication is to create a style guide. Without detailed guidelines, everything is open to interpretation. A style guide is especially important during the process of international expansion, as it is essential to calibrate every possible factor that can impact the quality of the interactions and ultimately your capacity to persuade in the long-term.?

Another point to consider is consistency in the use of language. The same word or expression can be translated in different ways, but this hinders the effectiveness of your message. Developing a glossary of common terms is an easy and practical way to get your target audience familiarised with your brand¡¯s terminology.?

We at Sandberg have amassed cultural and language expertise over 25 years as we have supported businesses in building the linguistic and emotional bridges to the Nordic consumers¡¯ hearts and minds. If you¡¯d like to know learn more on how adapt your communication for Nordic consumers, we¡¯re happy to offer a free localisation consultation.?

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Have you ever wondered if the people of the Nordic countries swear? Finland and Denmark take turns being the happiest country in the world, and Iceland, Norway and Sweden are not far behind on the same metric.

So, do Nordic people even have reason to curse? If you ask them, the answer would probably be: of course! Across the Nordic countries, swearing is a widespread practice, from teenagers to jaunty grandmothers. Even younger children are known to throw in a swearword once in a while (sometimes under their breath, depending on the proximity of their parents).

If you¡¯re curious about this perhaps controversial language practice as performed in the Nordic countries, then this article is for you. Read on to get an idea of the nature of profanity in this part of the world, as well as specific examples of swearwords from each country.

So, hva faen are you waiting for? Have fun learning a bit about Nordic foul language!

The nature of Nordic swearing

As in other parts of the world, swearing in the Nordic countries is often done to let off steam. For instance, when you¡¯re angry with someone, you want to express annoyance at something, or you seek to (mentally) relieve the pain of stubbing your toe (we¡¯ve all been there!).

Just like swearing in other languages, swearwords in the Nordic languages reference things that are taboo in the local culture. However, swearing in the Nordic countries does seem to differ from swearing in the UK or the US, for example, in two particular areas: the perceived offensiveness of swearing and the themes of the swearwords.

Perceived offensiveness of swearing in the Nordic countries

Studies on the perceived offensiveness of swearing in English-speaking countries as well as the Nordic countries have been conducted and compared. The results suggest that Nordic people swear more freely than their English-speaking counterparts.

In general, Nordic people have a laissez-faire attitude towards swearing, and to many, swearing is an integral part of their everyday language. Whilst many in the UK share the same attitude, Nordic people often go further, swearing in contexts even Brits would find unacceptable.

To many Nordic people, swearing is an integral part of everyday language.

This laid-back relationship with bad words is evident when watching TV for instance. Even when guests on Nordic TV shows are instructed not to swear while on air, some just can¡¯t help doing so ¨C and the swearwords themselves aren¡¯t censored or bleeped out.

Although Nordic people tend to swear more freely, swearing is not considered good form. Given that swearing is a rather informal use of language, there are of course certain situations in which it would be inappropriate to do so.

At a job interview, for example, you¡¯d probably be better off keeping the swearing to a minimum ¨C or just refrain from doing it at all. That way you don¡¯t risk coming across as unprofessional.

However, if your potential employer is blown away by your wit, skills and vision, you might just get the job anyway.

Themes of Nordic swearwords

Some of the themes present in English-language swearing also exist in the Nordic languages.

Religion as a theme, or the incorporation of God, the devil or hell when swearing, is a prime example of this. In Sweden, for instance, many people use the swear word fan, which literally means ¡®the devil¡¯, as an exclamation for when something goes wrong.

You can also swear by ¡®hell¡¯ in all five Nordic languages. In Finnish, Icelandic, Norwegian and Swedish, you would exclaim Helvetti!, ±á±ð±ô±¹¨ª³Ù¾±!, Helvete! and Helvete!, respectively, whilst you would say For helvede! in Danish.

One theme that is not present in English-language swearing today is that of diseases. In Danish, this theme contains swearwords with reference to serious illnesses such as cancer.

Kraftedeme is an example of this as it is a contraction of Kr?ften ?de mig, which translates into ¡®may cancer eat me¡¯. This swearword acts as an oath: a curse that is used to strengthen a statement and underline the seriousness of the speaker. For example, Det er kraftedeme ikke i orden!, means ¡®This is not okay ¨C may cancer eat me if it is okay!¡¯.

Another theme that is exclusive to the Nordic languages as compared to English is numbers. In Sweden, you can exclaim Sjutton! or Attans! when something doesn¡¯t go according to plan. Meaning ¡®seventeen¡¯ and ¡®eighteen¡¯ respectively, these words are technically classified as euphemisms in Swedish, which makes them very unloaded and safe to use in any situation.

Danish has a similar euphemism ¨C For syv sytten!, literally meaning ¡®For seven seventeen!¡¯ ¨C which is used in a similar way to its Swedish counterparts.

The influence of English on Nordic swearing

Like other societies, the Nordic countries are heavily influenced by American culture in the form of TV, films, music and, as a consequence of this, language use.

In Denmark, code-switching (the act of alternating between languages in the same conversation) is not unheard of, especially within the younger generations. The occasional ¡®literally¡¯, ¡®honestly¡¯, ¡®sorry¡¯ or even typical English syntax often enter the conversation.

This English-inspired language use has also found its way into swearing across the Nordic languages.

The Nordic countries and their swearing are heavily influenced by American culture and English-language use.

Apart from swearwords originating from Nordic languages, the use of ¡®fuck¡¯ and ¡®fucking¡¯ can be heard and seen in each of the Nordic countries ¨C ¡®shit¡¯ has also been adopted by many Nordic people. Both four-letter words are used in much the same way as they are in the English-speaking countries, i.e. when something goes wrong.

In Danish, for instance, you could say Fuck, jeg har glemt mine n?gler!, meaning ¡®Fuck, I forgot my keys!¡¯. You could easily use ¡®shit¡¯ instead of ¡®fuck¡¯ in this example ¨C the swearwords are interchangeable in most situations.

Just like in English, the swearword ¡®fucking¡¯ is used descriptively to emphasise a negative attitude the speaker has towards someone or something. In Danish, Han er en fucking idiot! means ¡®He is a fucking idiot!¡¯.

The perceived offensiveness of English swearwords amongst Nordic people compared to Americans or Brits has been debated, as it seems that the aforementioned four-letter specimens don¡¯t have the same impact when used in the Nordic countries.

It could be that the theme of sex is just not as taboo as in the English-speaking countries¡­ or maybe swearing in a foreign language doesn¡¯t feel as bad as in your mother tongue.

In any case, ¡®fuck¡¯ and ¡®shit¡¯ have become an integral part of the Nordic vocabulary of swearwords. So much so that certain countries have developed their own spellings of ¡®fuck¡¯ and ¡®fucking¡¯. Icelanders, for instance, spell the words fokk and fokking, respectively, whilst the Norwegians often spell ¡®fuck¡¯ either fakk or f?kk.

Swearwords from each Nordic country

Are you curious to learn some bad language from each of the Nordic countries? Below is a list of the most common or remarkable swearwords from Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden.

Denmark

Finland

Iceland

Norway

Sweden

Now that you know more about the controversial linguistic practice of swearing in the Nordic languages, you¡¯ll be able to show off what you¡¯ve learnt. Nordic people tend to have a great sense of humour and they¡¯ll probably enjoy hearing a foreigner swear like a native!

Just remember to keep the swearing to informal situations ¨C Sandberg takes no responsibility for any lost job opportunities due to foul language!

Christina Bjerggaard is a Danish translator at Sandberg. She wrote her master¡¯s thesis on the translation of swearwords from English to Danish and, with her additional research for this article, is now our in-house profanity expert!

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Nordic dialect map

Learn about the languages and dialects of the entire Nordic region with our interactive map.

Nordic dialect map

Learn about the languages and dialects of the entire Nordic region with our interactive map.

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Nordic dialect map

Learn about the languages and dialects of the entire Nordic region with our interactive map.

Nordic dialect map

Learn about the languages and dialects of the entire Nordic region with our interactive map.

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Nordic dialect map

Learn about the languages and dialects of the entire Nordic region with our interactive map.

Nordic dialect map

Learn about the languages and dialects of the entire Nordic region with our interactive map.

The post 4 facts about the Swedish language appeared first on sa¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½.

In part 1, we introduced the ideas of digital minoritisation and domain loss and talked about how they are affecting Icelandic. We also looked at the language¡¯s history up until the turn of the millennium. In this part, we¡¯ll look at the current state of affairs and what the Icelandic government is doing to try and secure the future of the Icelandic language.

Unprecedented pace of change

In recent decades, a sea change has occurred in Iceland. The country has the of anywhere in Europe, at 97% in 2014. A staggering 93% of Icelanders have a Facebook account, and other (a majority of Icelanders use Snapchat, YouTube and Spotify). Never before has Iceland been so exposed to foreign languages and cultures to the extent it is now, and never on such an intimate level at all levels of society.

Over the past five years or so, growing use of smart devices has also prompted concerns about the youngest generation. Icelandic children play games and watch foreign-language YouTube videos on tablets before they have even reached fluency in Icelandic, and there are fears that this may have an impact on their native language skills in later life.

The University of Iceland is currently into the impact that digital devices are having on Icelandic, including Icelandic children¡¯s ability to master their native language. While the results have not yet been published, there is a firm belief that the study will show digital devices have a significant negative impact on Icelandic children¡¯s abilities in their mother tongue.

This is crucial for many reasons. Mastery of one¡¯s first language is a prerequisite of being able to learn a second language fluently. The Icelandic education system addresses this issue for children of immigrants by providing them with classes in their first language (e.g. Polish children are ), enabling them to reach a better level of fluency in Icelandic than they otherwise would. The government has yet to react and implement a plan for bolstering Icelandic children¡¯s first language skills, however.

The time for action

If Icelandic is to have a bright future in the digital era, then action needs to be taken, and quickly. There are signs of positive developments ahead. The Icelandic government recently committed funds to boosting the use of Icelandic online. ´¡±ô³¾²¹²Ô²Ô²¹°ù¨®³¾³Ü°ù is the organisation tasked with securing the digital future of the language.

Speaking in a , Stefan¨ªa Gu?r¨²n Halld¨®rsd¨®ttir, the chairman of the organisation, emphasised the need to press ahead: ¡°We have now come to the point when we actively need to decide to do this¡­ This is a big decision, and a big project. We are ready and everyone is ready with us.¡±

The organisation has set its sights high. One of the key strategies for securing the digital future of Icelandic is to collaborate with the tech giants. Without participation from the private sector, the project is unlikely to succeed. On this, Stefan¨ªa says: ¡°If we imagine that you are creating some program and can choose from a list and have it translated into Icelandic: [the tech] industry does that. Microsoft wants to come out in 60 languages, this is our ambition, [to be among them].¡±

The scale of the challenge is immense, however. Take the example of digital assistants like Alexa and Siri. To add a new language to a service like this, a gargantuan amount of data is required. First of all, the system needs to convert speech sounds into words a computer can interpret. This requires creating a speech recognition system able to cope with myriad different voices, speaking styles and contexts.

Secondly, the system needs to be able to extract meaning from the sentence it is given. This requires complex software able to analyse different parts of speech. Then to produce coherent output, the system needs to have an understanding of Icelandic grammar and syntax. Finally, to speak the reply, the system needs an Icelandic text-to-speech engine, which is no mean feat to develop.

Progress has been made in all of these areas, but a usable solution has yet to become commercially available. The work goes on, and every day time is running out. Perhaps with the government¡¯s renewed commitment to language technology, Icelandic stands a chance of not only surviving in the digital age, but truly thriving.

Learn more about STP’s Icelandic translation services here.

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This is perhaps surprising given the overall number of Swedish speakers on a global scale. Hindi for example, with its 295 million native speakers, ranks 39th with a 0.1% share. It¡¯s fair to say that Swedish punches well above its weight, as do Danish, Norwegian and Finnish, all of which rank significantly higher than Hindi in terms of usage online.

These statistics give us some idea that language use online does not necessarily reflect actual language use in the real world. There are many factors that play into this: levels of economic development in various countries, access to the internet and technology more widely, and attitudes to language, to name but a few.

But what about the situation in the Nordic region as a whole? While the ¡°big¡± languages mentioned above are used proportionally more online than in the real world, what about smaller Nordic languages like Icelandic, Faroese, Greenlandic and the S¨¢mi dialects?

In this two-part article, we¡¯re going to focus on one of these languages in particular: Icelandic. It¡¯s spoken by around 340,000 people, a drop in the ocean in terms of world population, but actually one of the more widely spoken languages in the grand scheme of things.

The case of Icelandic is fairly well documented, and Icelanders are aware of the situation they face in terms of outside pressure from English, and are taking action to make sure their language blossoms in the digital era. However, the language still faces immense challenges and obstacles which are not easily overcome.

Shrinking spheres of influence

The phenomenon by which languages with a solid footing in the real world are neglected online is known as digital minoritisation. In the case of Icelandic, it¡¯s a majority language in the real world: despite its small number of speakers, it¡¯s the main language of communication and business in Iceland and the vast majority of Icelanders speak it natively.

Online, however, it could be argued that Icelandic is a minority language. Icelanders are forced to use English online for many things, for example looking up information on Wikipedia, shopping online or when watching foreign media. Icelanders are diligent about using Icelandic online for interpersonal communication and most of them post on their social media accounts in their native language. Outside of this though, Icelanders are forced to use a foreign language (namely English) to access the material they¡¯re looking for.

Digital minoritisation is part of larger trend known as domain loss that has affected various languages at different points in time. This is where speakers stop using one language within a certain field, e.g. at work, and start using another. A common example of this is the use of English in business in Scandinavia. Many larger Scandinavian companies with an international presence , aware that limiting their potential pool of candidate employees to speakers of the Nordic languages may impede their ability to succeed globally.

This situation is analogous to the case of Icelandic online. Aware that the vast majority of information online is in English, it¡¯s only natural that Icelanders look up information on the English-language version of Wikipedia first, instead of trying the Icelandic-language version (especially if the topic doesn¡¯t relate to Iceland). Iceland also has a small media and creative sector compared to other countries (in absolute terms at least ¨C relatively, it punches well above its weight), meaning Icelanders are pushed to consume music, films and TV programmes from abroad, most of which are inevitably in English.

Icelandic before the digital era

Within a European context, Icelandic is a unique language in that it is the sole official language of a nation-state whose population is roughly equivalent to that of the English city of Leicester. The next smallest European nation-state in a similar position is Estonia, with its 1.1 million Estonian speakers.

Historically, the unique status of Icelandic was guaranteed by the island¡¯s geographical location. Cut off from the rest of Europe, Icelanders were free to use their language without outside interference, despite being colonial subjects of Norway and later Denmark. Foreign influence was relatively limited, peaking in the 17th century with the import of a large number of Danish loanwords, the majority of which were later eradicated by purists.

With the rise of nationalism, which took off in Iceland in earnest in the second half of the 19th century (somewhat later than the rest of Europe), Icelandic¡¯s status as a national language was crystallised and formalised. Eventually, Icelanders gained their political independence in 1944, but culturally, the tide was starting to turn.

British and American troops were stationed in Iceland throughout the second world war, bringing Icelanders into intimate contact with a foreign culture for the first time. The Americans were regarded more fondly and their cultural influence was more enduring than that of the Brits. This explains the very visible American influence in Iceland compared to the rest of the Nordic countries that lasts to this day.

Before the advent of the internet, the linguistic authorities in Iceland were able to keep American cultural influence in check. Foreign films and TV shows were meticulously given Icelandic titles and subtitled prior to being shown in cinemas or broadcast (e.g. Star Wars is called ³§³ÙÂá?°ù²Ô³Ü²õ³Ù°ù¨ª?), imported goods were repackaged and new terms were created for all the technological innovations of the era. This meant that foreign influence on Icelandic was relatively limited, and the public at large were not exposed to a great deal of English in their everyday lives.

In part 2 of the this article, we¡¯ll look at the current situation of Icelandic in a digital context and what actions the Icelandic government is taking to secure the language¡¯s future.

Learn more about STP’s Icelandic translation services here.

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