Norwegians primarily speak Norwegian, a North Germanic language closely related to Danish and Swedish.

Quick Scoop: What Norwegians Speak

  • The main language in Norway is Norwegian , used by around 95% of the population as their first language.
  • Norwegian has two official written standards: Bokmål and Nynorsk.
  • Norway also has another official language: Sámi, used by the Indigenous Sámi people, mainly in the north.
  • English is very widely spoken as a second language, especially among younger people and in cities.

A Bit More Detail

Norwegian belongs to the North Germanic branch of the Germanic language family and evolved from Old Norse, the language of the Vikings. It is mutually intelligible to a large degree with Danish and Swedish, so speakers of these languages can often understand each other fairly well.

There are two main written forms of Norwegian:

  • Bokmål (“book language”), historically influenced by Danish and used by the clear majority of Norwegians in writing.
  • Nynorsk (“new Norwegian”), based more on rural Norwegian dialects and especially common in western Norway and some inland regions.

Spoken Norwegian, however, is very dialect-rich; people in different regions may sound quite different, even though they are all speaking Norwegian.

Other Languages You’ll Hear in Norway

While Norwegian dominates daily life, Norway officially recognizes Sámi languages, spoken by a small minority of Indigenous Sámi people across the northern areas. There are also recognized minority languages like Kven, Romani, and Romani-related varieties, each tied to specific historical communities.

Because English is taught from an early age in school and is present in media, many Norwegians speak it fluently, and visitors can usually get by in English without trouble.

TL;DR: Norwegians speak Norwegian as their main language (with Bokmål and Nynorsk as written forms), Sámi also has official status for Indigenous communities, and English is widely spoken as a second language.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.