I just learned tht there are two official Norwegian languages. I'd never heard of Bokmal. Can someone tell me something about its history, and why there are two Norwegian languages?

There are two official written forms of Norwegian: Bokmål and Nynorsk (literally 'Book Language' and 'New Norwegian' respectively). Bokmål is used by most Norwegians and is more closely related to written Danish. (The Danes used to rule Norway, and they and their language are somewhat looked down upon.) I work with a Norwegian programmer, and he always rolls his eyes and begins to rant about this silly situation, and how tough it is on Norwegian students whenever I mention it. The situation in Norway with two official languages is not unheard of. Modern Greek has two "official" forms of language, too: Demotic Greek, the current official language of Greece, and Katharevousa, which was the official language of Greece until 1976.

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This message has been edited. Last edited by: zmježd,

Gosh, Zmj, it's too bad Museamuse isn't on here any more! She's a Greek college professor who used to hang out here. I think you two would get along famously! Thanks for the info.

I met Metamuse at one or two of the chats when she showed up.

Actually, museamuse does pop in from time to time. However, I wish it were more frequently!

Indeed! Between her and Zmj we'd have all the Greek stuff covered! Besides, she usually has something fun and/or interesting to say!