Norwegian is a Germanic language that descended from Old Norse, making Danish and Swedish its closest cousins. More distant relatives include Icelandic—and even more distantly—German, English, and Dutch.

Norwegian didn’t really emerge as a distinct written language until the 1800s. Today, there are actually two standard written forms: one used by about 90% of the population, and the other by around 10%. This divide dates back to a time when Norwegians were resisting rule by a Danish royal house and culture.

Norwegian is technically mutually intelligible with Swedish, but Norwegians tend to have more difficulty understanding Danish due to its pronunciation.

There are 26 standard letters in Norwegian, plus three additional Scandinavian characters. Before adopting the Latin alphabet, Norwegians used a runic writing system.

In some cases, Norwegian can be a tonal language, where the pitch of your voice can change the meaning of a word or phrase.

Norwegian is somewhat like Icelandic in that it tries to create its own unique words instead of borrowing from English. However, Norwegian has adopted far more English loanwords than Icelandic—mostly related to technology and pop culture.

In Norwegian society and language, it’s very common for people to be on a first-name basis, even in relationships such as student and teacher.

There is a wide variety of Norwegian dialects spoken throughout the country.

Idioms are a little rare in Norwegian compared to English, as the language tends to be more direct and serious in this regard.

Double negatives are also very uncommon in Norwegian.