FAS, á Hillingatanga 2, 360 Sandavágur, Faroe Islands

Tel + 298 351 500 – After Hours On-Call + 298 333 198

Language

Faroese is the national language

Nordic languages are readily understood and spoken by all Faroese, and English is widely spoken, especially among the younger people.

The language of the Faroe Islands is a Nordic language, which derives from the Norsemen who settled the islands some 1200 years ago. Around the 16th century Danish became the official language and Faroese disappeared in its written form.

However, Faroese never disappeared as the spoken language, mainly because of its part as a cultural carrier of “oral litterature” in the form of stories and mainly ballads, which were sung along with the traditional Faroese ring-dance

In the middle of the 19th century a new Faroese written language was created on etymological basis. After decades of political dispute, the Faroese language was finally permitted in the schools in 1938 and as legal language in 1948.