serbianfan
Senior Member
British English
Sounds good, doesn’t it? No more difficulties! But unfortunately it’s not so simple - now you have to rise to the occasion, because all your “vanskeligheter” have become “utfordringer”! The n-graphs for both Norwegian and English show a very clear picture. “Challenges” has replaced “difficulties” to quite an extent in English (especially in American English), but in Norwegian it’s even more extreme: “utfordringer” has really kicked “vanskeligheter” to the bottom of the graph!
In both countries the sharp rise of “challenges/utfordringer” began in the 1980s, which fits in with my experience: when I lived in Norway in the 1970s, people only had “vanskeligheter”, “vansker” and “problemer”.
Well, I’ve got nothing against the word “utfordringer” but there is (or should be) a difference in meaning from “vanskeligheter”. “Vanskeligheter” is a relatively neutral word, while “utfordringer” suggests the person can/should do something about the problems. So if you start using “utfordringer” instead of “vanskeligheter” all the time, this difference is lost.
Has there been a similar development in Danish and Swedish?
In both countries the sharp rise of “challenges/utfordringer” began in the 1980s, which fits in with my experience: when I lived in Norway in the 1970s, people only had “vanskeligheter”, “vansker” and “problemer”.
Well, I’ve got nothing against the word “utfordringer” but there is (or should be) a difference in meaning from “vanskeligheter”. “Vanskeligheter” is a relatively neutral word, while “utfordringer” suggests the person can/should do something about the problems. So if you start using “utfordringer” instead of “vanskeligheter” all the time, this difference is lost.
Has there been a similar development in Danish and Swedish?
