Hør dog hvad de siger - Note-to-Self: Trials & Errors

lications of the scholars mentioned in note 1 – one of them has already appeared in print,
Nyström Höög (2005b).
6.1. Readings of the inter-Nordic
To begin with, there are recurring problems and misunderstandings of the three questions. On
closer inspection, these problems are in themselves quite illustrative of the ideology of the
Nordic today. The questions explicitly deal with the inter-Nordic, i.e., both with core Scandi-
navia, and with the more peripheral societies of non-Scandinavian speakers. However, in the
Scandinavian interviews ‘inter-Nordic’ is by most informants understood as synonymous with
inter-Scandinavian. Consistently, the other Scandinavian languages (and countries) are
brought up (as problematic or non-problematic) in the interviews with Danes, Swedes and
Norwegians; the non-Scandinavian countries are hardly ever mentioned if this aspect is not
elicited by the interviewer. We see this in the first excerpt from the Danish material – as a re-
sponse to the question on inter-Nordic communication in Scandinavian. Together with the se-
cond excerpt from the Norwegian material it also shows how the choice of English in inter-
Nordic communication is not even made an issue when Finland and Iceland are included.
(1) Det er jo problematisk (.) netop fordi de der fra Stockholm de ikke fatter hvad
man siger. er Finland også med i Norden? Ja okay (latter) så kan man sige øh...
Og Island? jamen så er jeg jo øh (.) så er jeg jo ret enig (.) altså hvis Finland og
øh Island også er med fordi (..) det går ligesom ikke rigtigt. Jeg tror ikke rigtigt
vi kan finde noget øh fælles...
‘It’s difficult, because people from Stockholm don’t understand what you say.
Is Finland also a part of Norden? Yes, ok (laugh) then you might say um... And
Iceland? Ok, then I quite agree, that is, if Finland and Iceland are also included,
because that wouldn’t work. I don’t think we can find anything common
[=language].’
(2) skulle eg ha snakka med ein finne så hadde eg jo ikkje hatt noka anna mulegheit
enn å bruka engelsk
‘If I were to talk with a Finn, there would be no other possibility than for me to
speak English.’
The Scandinavian responses are seemingly based on two assumptions: on the one hand that
Scandinavians tend to be able to understand each others’ languages, and on the other that non-
Scandinavians do not. Thus, the quantifiable (‘ticked off’) answer (reported on in chapter 5)
will depend on the reading of the word inter-Nordic. Some, like the informant in (1), change
their reading of inter-Nordic and thus their quantifiable attitude; others do not, and maintain a
more pro-Scandinavian attitude due to their more limited view of what is asked for.
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