Gregory's ServerNorwegian is also kind of "a dozen languages in trenchcoat" situation tough. Or actually two trenchcoats... I think there are dialects within Norway that are further apart than e.g. some pairs of Norwegian and Swedish dialects.
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Of course they are a natural part of languages! My point was rather that the division into languages in Scandinavia has more to do with the political boundaries than how people actually speak. As an example, Swedish from Bohuslän is closer to my Norwegian dialect (from Oslo/Akershus area) than some western Norwegian dialects. Also, for people learning Norwegian as an adult, the variety of dialects can be quite bewildering.  Languages are mainly dialects with a bigger army… I live in Western Liguria, and every valley has its own variant of the Ligurian language (the most of them not even related with the language of Genoa, the capital). |
@GustavinoBevilacqua @kyrsjo Disagree strongly with that description. Dialects are a perfectly natural part of languages!
Sweden haven’t really taken care to make sure their dialects survive. That’s why they have way less diversity in that department.