Tet's Journal: Ask Tuxette: Bokmål vs Nynorsk

Actually, it's a general ask a subset of Slashdot, but I doubt many of you would be able to answer. What I want to know is... how similar are Bokmål and Nynorsk. Are the differences mainly written, or do they appear in speech as well? Are there differences in grammar and sentence structure, or is it just use of different verbs, stress, etc. From what I gather, words from the two languages share the same roots, and so are mutually intelligible. But how similar/different are they? Is like, say, someone from Glasgow trying to communicate with someone from rural Alabama? Both are nominally the same language, but pronunciation varies wildly, as does the meaning of various words, etc. Or is it more similar/different than that?

Why do I ask? Nothing more than good old fashioned curiosity...

differences

[tuxette]

Here I am, sitting at an extreme sports café, enjoying its wireless network... this will be brief ;-)

To answer your question, an explanation is given here on Wiki [wikipedia.org].

They are quite different, both written and spoken. I find nynorsk rather unpleasant to listen to. I can understand it, but if I hear it, the first thought that comes to my mind is "shut the fuck up." But I don't mind readin it, at least not now (I used to hate havingto read it)...

Yellow bend

[panZ]

I dated a Norwegian gal for a while and asked the same question whilst attempting to learn Bokmål. She said that a lot of people in her generation learned both and can understand one another reasonably but those that only know one have some trouble conversing with the other. Much like with Swedish and Bokmål, with considerable exposure to the other, they communicate quite easily allowing for some random strangeness. As an English comparison a Swede would use the word Banana, similar to the germani