Faroese language

Originally Old West Norse was spoken on the Faroese islands. The language is still very close to Old Norse and has kept a lot of the grammatic system, just as the Icelandic language. The Faroese language was already from the beginning and onwards a little influenced by the celtic language.
In the 15th century, norwegian evolved away so that the languages became more different than alike, mostly because of Danish administration in Norway and with the reformation in 1536 when Danish was used in churches in Faroese Islands as well. Even though the Faroese language was not used in official documents for over 300 years it was still spoken. In 1854 a Faroese written standard collection was published. In 1937 Danish was no longer the official language and in the following year, Danish agreed to this. Further on, in March 13th in 1939, Faroese also became authorized as the church language.

In both Iceland and the Faroe Islands, danish is still taught as a compulsory foreign language in schools and therefore many people there speak danish and with that ability, they may talk to norwegians and swedes quite well too.

External links

Faroese language
Faroese language conflict
Faroese folklore - The Faroese language
Regluation governing the Faroese Language Committee