Thus, many Norwegians find it fairly easy to read Danish and understand spoken Swedish, while often hard put to comprehend what Danes are saying ("Danish isn't a language but a throat condition," as the expression goes) and finding it somewhat straining to read Swedish. Danes and Swedes also understand each other in general, but with ample misunderstandings - sometimes compounded by cultural differences.
To communicate smoothly across the languages one has to learn a glossary of terms and, above all, be aware that words can have different meanings. 'Pule' for instance, means 'play' in Swedish and, well, 'fuck' in Norwegian. I imagine it's a bit like Spanish and Portuguese, but since I speak neither I don't really know how mutually intelligible those are. The world's northernmost desert wind.
Spanish and Portugese are really similar. I actually think that Catalan is father from Spanish than Portugese (and Gallego) is. I speak only Spanish, but I find that I can comprehend written Portugese with a little bit of trouble. I had a Brazilian friend who tried to help us learn some portugese, and then we taught him some English.
If you want to try to learn a really hard language try to learn Basque, it's nothing like Spanish. Speaking of Basque, I wonder if anyone else saw the mess at the illegal rally by the basque seperatist party Batasuna. You know how Scots have the cable toss? I think that the annual torch the trash bin and hurl towards the police might be the quintessential Basque sport. I think that this also explains the odd "No hot ashes" signs on trash bins near the apartment I lived in. And I'll give my consent to any government that does not deny a man a living wage-Billy Bragg
