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Ja, vi elsker dette landet: Norway

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"Yes, we love this land," Norwegians affirm in their national anthem. Few peoples balance patriotism and reason, national pride and democratic values, as successfully as this one. As usual, a survey of linguistic issues provides a revealing core sample of the dynamics of this unique culture.

Inaccurate references to "the Norwegian language" obscure the fact that this tiny country, deeply divided by fjords, mountains, and vast stretches of Arctic topography, enfolds hundreds of traditions. These conditions conspire to create an archipelago of small, isolated communities, fertile ground for linguistic mutation. As a result, Norwegians speak a broad spectrum of dialects, most more or less mutually intelligible. (Small but culturally significant Sámi and Finnish minorities exist in the north). But Norway is "bilingual" in that it has adopted two standardised forms of its Nordic language. Anywhere else, this situation would provoke jealousy, rivalry, and good old-fashioned intolerance, but in Norway it creates remarkably little friction.

The language usually labelled "Norwegian" is in fact Bokmål, or "Book Language." Formerly known as Riksmål ("National Language"), Bokmål is a form of Danish, recalling Norway's five centuries of political union with Denmark. When the Treaty of Kiel handed Norway to Sweden in 1814, the Danish connection was severed. Post-Napoleonic nationalism swept Norway, and in the late 19th century, Ivar Andreas Aasen assembled a new model from dialects spoken in Norway's most isolated communities. Theorising that these traditions more closely resembled the Vikings' Old Norse, and were therefore more "Norwegian," Aasen proposed that his Landsmål ("Homeland Language") become the national standard. Now ironically called Nynorsk, or "New Norwegian", this tradition was accepted by just short of half of literate Norwegians at its height. While Nynorsk-teaching schools have since shrunk to about twenty percent of the total, Nynorsk is still strongly represented in rural communities and remains the norm across large slabs of Norwegian soil.

The following Baha'i prayer offers an opportunity to compare the two:

Bokmål:
Jeg bevitner, o min Gud, at Du har skapt meg for at jeg kan kjenne Deg og tilbe Deg. Jeg vitner i denne stund om min maktesløshet og Din styrke, om min fattigdom og Din rikdom. Der er ingen annen Gud enn Deg, Hjelperen i fare, den Selvbestående.

Nynorsk:
Eg vitnar, o min Gud, at Du har skapa meg så at eg kan kjenna Deg og tilbe Deg. Eg vitnar i denne stund om mi maktesløyse og Din styrke, om min fattigdom og Din rikdom. Der er ingen annan Gud enn Deg, Hjelparen i fare, den Evig Sjølvståande.

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