Editing Danish language (section)

== Geographic distribution and status ==
=== Danish Realm ===
Within the [[Danish Realm]], Danish is the national language of Denmark and one of two official languages of the Faroe Islands (alongside [[Faroese language|Faroese]]). There is a Faroese variant of Danish known as [[Gøtudanskt accent|Gøtudanskt]]. Until 2009, Danish was also one of two official languages of Greenland (alongside [[Greenlandic language|Greenlandic]]). Danish now acts as a ''lingua franca'' in Greenland, with a large percentage of native Greenlanders able to speak Danish as a second language (it was introduced into the education system as a compulsory language in 1928). About 10% of [[Demographics of Greenland#Ethnic groups|the population]] speaks Danish as their [[first language]], due to immigration.{{sfn|Frederiksen|Olsen|2017}}

Iceland was a territory ruled by [[Denmark–Norway]], one of whose official languages was Danish.{{sfn|Jacobsen|2003}} Though Danish ceased to be an official language in Iceland in 1944, it is still widely used and is a mandatory subject in school, taught as a second foreign language after English.

No law stipulates an official language for Denmark, making Danish the ''de facto'' official language only. The Code of Civil Procedure does, however, lay down Danish as the language of the courts.{{sfn|Rischel|2012|pp=822–823}} Since 1997, public authorities have been obliged to follow the official spelling system laid out in the Orthography Law. In the 21st century, discussions have been held with a view to create a law that would make Danish the official language of Denmark.{{sfn|Heltoft|Preisler|2007}}

===Surrounding countries===
[[File:Learn Danish in Germany, 2012, ubt.JPG|thumb|''Learn Danish'' banner in [[Flensburg]], [[Germany]], where it is an officially recognized [[regional language]]]]
In addition, a noticeable community of Danish speakers is in [[Southern Schleswig]], the portion of Germany bordering Denmark, and a variant of Standard Danish, [[Southern Schleswig Danish]], is spoken in the area. Since 2015, [[Schleswig-Holstein]] has officially recognized Danish as a [[regional language]],<ref name=deofficial-law>{{cite web |title=§ 82b LVwG, Regional- und Minderheitensprachen vor Behörden – Gesetze des Bundes und der Länder |url=http://www.lexsoft.de/cgi-bin/lexsoft/justizportal_nrw.cgi?xid=148815,381 |website=www.lexsoft.de |access-date=20 December 2022 |archive-date=3 August 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180803163533/http://www.lexsoft.de/cgi-bin/lexsoft/justizportal_nrw.cgi?xid=148815,381 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="deofficial-tvsyd">{{cite news |last1=Nygaard |first1=Jørgen |last2=Møller |first2=Ernst |title=Dansk er blevet officielt sprog i Slesvig |url=https://www.tvsyd.dk/sydslesvig/dansk-er-blevet-officielt-sprog-i-slesvig |access-date=20 December 2022 |work=TV SYD |date=14 May 2015 |language=da |archive-date=4 December 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221204225405/https://www.tvsyd.dk/sydslesvig/dansk-er-blevet-officielt-sprog-i-slesvig |url-status=live }}</ref> just as [[German language|German]] is north of the border. Furthermore, Danish is one of the official languages of the [[European Union]] and one of the working languages of the [[Nordic Council]].<ref name=norden>{{cite web|title=Nordic language co-operation|url=http://www.norden.org/en/about-nordic-co-operation/areas-of-co-operation/language/nordic-language-co-operation|publisher=Nordic Council|access-date=1 January 2013|archive-date=7 February 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130207182526/http://www.norden.org/en/about-nordic-co-operation/areas-of-co-operation/language/nordic-language-co-operation|url-status=dead}}</ref> Under the [[Nordic Language Convention]], Danish-speaking citizens of the Nordic countries have the opportunity to use their native language when interacting with official bodies in other Nordic countries without being liable for any [[interpreting|interpretation]] or [[translation]] costs.<ref name=norden />

The more widespread of the two varieties of written [[Norwegian language|Norwegian]], {{lang|no|[[Bokmål]]}}, is very close to Danish, because standard Danish was used as the ''[[de facto]]'' administrative language until 1814 and one of the official languages of [[Denmark–Norway]]. {{lang|no|Bokmål}} is based on Danish, unlike the other variety of Norwegian, {{lang|no|[[Nynorsk]]}}, which is based on the Norwegian dialects, with [[Old Norwegian]] as an important reference point.{{sfn|Torp|2006}} Also [[North Frisian language|North Frisian]]<ref>{{cite web |title=Wie bitte? Friesisch? Was ist das denn? (Seite 2) |url=https://www.ndr.de/kultur/norddeutsche_sprache/friesisch/friesisch2_page-2.html |publisher=NDR |access-date=17 January 2023 |language=de |archive-date=14 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230114144433/https://www.ndr.de/kultur/norddeutsche_sprache/friesisch/friesisch2_page-2.html |url-status=live }}</ref> and [[Gutnish|Gutnish (Gutamål)]] were influenced by Danish.<ref>Bengt Pamp: ''Svenska dialekter''. Natur och Kultur, Stockholm 1978, {{ISBN|91-27-00344-2}}, p. 76</ref>

===Other locations===
There are also Danish emigrant communities in other places of the world who still use the language in some form. In the Americas, Danish-speaking communities can be found in the [[US]], [[Canada]], [[Argentina]] and [[Brazil]].{{sfn|Kühl|Petersen|Hansen|2020}}