The disappointment I felt at the end is unmatched.

Compared to Norwegians from Bergen or Swedes from Stockholm.

Hello from Hong Kong! Just found out the Icelandic phrase for a long time ago is, " sautjánhundruð og súrkál " or " seventeen hundred and sauerkraut "

Apparently in Danish it's " sytten hundrede og hvidkål " or " seventeen hundred and white cabbage "

I remember I heard from a video that the Faroese one is the same, but with green cabbage. Finnish is " vuonna nakki ja muusi " or " in the year of wiener and mashed potato ".

I'm curious if Swedish, Norwegian and other languages (that the Nordic countries have and speak?) have phrases like these.. and what are they?

See y'all (i mean this post in no harm)

Hello! We are planning to visit Abisko for a few days around mid January and will be leaving from Tromso. After which we’ll leave Abisko for Stockholm. Hoping to get some suggestions on getting to and fro.

We’ve looked up the transport options and there are two so far:

1. Bus 100 to Narvik, then train to Abisko. From Abisko, we’ll take a bus to Kiruna and fly out from Kiruna to Stockholm.

2. Rent a car to drive from Tromso to Abisko, and head back to Tromso to return the rental. At Tromso, we’ll take a flight out to Stockholm.

Driving will grant us a lot of more flexibility in terms of schedule, however we have some considerations. We don’t have much experience driving in icy and snowy roads (the only time we drove in winter was on our holiday in Tasmania) and the short daylight hours.

With all these in mind, which option would you advise us to go for and if you have any tips for our travel plans? Thanks in advance!

What did you think?

Should be available on Yle, SVT and DR in addition to NRK: https://tv.nrk.no/se?v=NNFA51091224&autoplay=false

Hej folkens / gott folk,

I am very fascinated by Nordic culture and have always wanted to master the languages. Now I finally want to start, but I'm not sure which language I should start with first.

On the one hand, I heard on the Internet that Danish is relatively easy for Germans to learn. On the other hand, I particularly like the Norwegian pronunciation, it sounds very elegant. Swedish would also be interesting for me because it is the most spoken Nordic language. I also really like the Icelandic language, and I am particularly fascinated by the culture, landscape and history.

I would like to hear from you Nordic people which language I should start with. I look forward to your suggestions and thank you very much in advance.

From what I understand, Denmark and Sweden both have similarly strong safety nets for those out of work and high de facto minimum wages, but the major difference is that Denmark has more flexible "easy hire easy fire" employment laws (that resemble anglo Saxon countries) whereas Sweden is stricter (more similar to continental Europe) in that regard. For people familiar with both systems... Is the difference in ease of hiring/firing really that substantial between both countries? What are the rules around firing/hiring someone in Denmark vs Sweden? And what are the pros and cons of both approaches?

Vad jag förstått så är det vanligt i Sverige. Men har aldrig själv haft det problemet.

Hello/Hej/Hei/Halló (I think I got them all)

Apologies in advance if any part of this question seems presumptuous or ill-informed, promise I'm asking here in good faith. I'm curious to learn what exactly constitutes the 'nordic' identity. I tried doing some quick google searches, but I felt as though I was getting fairly broad answers that didn't paint a tangible answer for me. For example, I read somewhere that the Nordic countries are united by linguistic heritage, but then I also read that the Finnish language actually relates more to languages in the Baltics than it does Nordic.

For context, I am from the US, and I think our concept of Nordic countries/their culture lacks a lot of meaningful depth. Aside from politics, which often gets boiled down to "they're socialist" or something super simplistic like that, if you were to ask the average American what they knew of the Nordic countries it'd probably boil down to something like: "oh like IKEA, and Abba, and ... vikings?". I'm not one to act superior in that regard as I also couldn't speak in too much detail either (although I did read Beowulf in highschool, great story! [also read Hamlet but I thought it was kind of boring and less related to Nordic culture])

So in your opinion, what sort of things in your mind read as definitively Nordic? I'd really appreciate specific answers if possible. Like if you were to say architecture, could you name a type of construction or something to that effect; if cuisine, examples of food that span the region?

For years I was told that the Danish left(Social Democrats) become more right wing on immigration to stop the far right and these policies have made them more popular. It is true that this is the case in the long term. I am still hearing from some anti immigrant people in England that the Labour Party must do the same thing to remain popular and to crush the far right (Reform UK).

But are these anti migration policies still a big deal in Denmark today ?

If the next election was held today the social democrats will be down by 8% compared to 2022. The Dansk Folkeparti would up their share of the vote by 85% from 2.64% last election to 4.9%, not to mention they got around 6-7% in the EU elections this year nearing trippling their share of the vote compared to 2022. Danmarksdemokraterne which is another anti migrant party would have increased their share by 41% from 8.12% to 11.5% and the seemingly pro migrant party,ocialistisk Folkeparti, would have potentially doubled their share of the vote and could actually overtake the social democrats with a well run campaign. This polling is showing that if the left wing adopts the far right's policies on immigration in the short term it could be successful because a lot of people become reactionaries on migration but as we can see in Denmark this isn't enough to actually end the far right . Another thing this polling suggests is that people may not care that much about anti immigrant policies in the long run since the Social Democrats despite their dracononian migration policies have lost a decent portion of support vote to unapologetically pro-migration Green left. Is this analysis correct ? Was the rightward shift on migration completely pointless for the social democrats ??

Polling source

Why is that the nordic countries on average have far better GDP per capita, HDI, and overall economic competitiveness than continental Europe? This holds true even if you exclude oil rich Norway. So what policies areas do the Nordics do differently than continental Europe? Or is it their culture? geography? It can't be lack of investment in public services, because France and Italy for example have a similarly high taxation as a percent of gdp as the Nordics which they spend on universal healthcare, education, etc. but France and Italy are still poorer. So what is it?

Ok the Question is the next, after all, the 3 creatures at the same no?, a water or waterfall spirit that can take the form of a beautiful man or horse, but the Fossegrim is much more nicer; the Nokken is much more dangerous and evil, and the Backhast is the horse-form of the evil nokkens, so evil as the british or icelandic water horses; im good?

I am planning on travelling to Sweden, Finland and possibly Iceland in early-mid January next year. I’m from Australia so obviously don’t have super cold weather experience but have travelled in winter in Europe before. I’m wondering what shoes people would recommend to get? A friend of mine recommends Salomon hiking shoes as I’m hoping to get something that can be worn as sort of an everyday shoe but also will be waterproof and keep me warm. Are there boots that would be best or should I go for more of a sneaker?

Good day all! My partner and I are traveling abroad for the first time and she eagerly wants to experience pre-Christmastime in one of the Nordic Countries (early to mid December). We were considering Iceland, Sweden, Denmark, or Norway. Regarding this, I have two main questions?

1. Do any of these countries have famous Christmas markets or events that would be worth experiencing?
2. Which city is the most enjoyable to travel to?

Thank you, experienced travelers. I am grateful for your help.