Scandinavian Studies 401.
Contemporary Scandinavian Languages. (Mellor, Schmidt, Thresher) 
(3 credits; repeatable for credit) 

In this course, students who already know one of the three Scandinavian languages--Danish, Norwegian, or Swedish--learn to understand the other two. After a general survey of distinctive features (phonology, morphology, and vocabulary), time is equally divided between the three languages (5 weeks on each), usually beginning with Norwegian bokmål (since it is generally considered to be the language most easily understood by all Scandinavians). Classes, consisting of conversation on given topics, are taught in the three Scandinavian languages by three teachers. Texts (handouts) are taken partly from modern short prose collections, partly from the contemporary journals and daily newspapers. Students write one essay per week in the language of their specialization. During the class periods as well as at the final exam, students are asked to use the language of their specializa-tion, though they also learn to understand the spoken as well as the written form of the other two languages.