So what do they speak on The Bridge? Swedish or Danish?

Bron/Broen/The Bridge
Saga Norén (Sofia Helin), Martin Rohde (Kim Bodnia) in The Bridge © ZDF

I don’t know about you, but I can’t speak either Danish or Swedish. Along with many other fans of The Bridge (aka Bron if you’re Swedish, Broen if you’re Danish. Or maybe it’s the other way round), I’ve often wondered what language everyone speaks on the show: do the Danes speak Swedish in Sweden? Do the Swedes speak Danish in Denmark? Do they just speak their own languages wherever they are?

Happily, we have something of a definite answer from the writer of the show, who as well as discussing the creation of the show and the characters, gives us this little explanation for who speaks which language:

In real life Swedes and Danes can understand each other, but we don’t understand each other as well they do in the show.

The co-creators and I decided early in the process not to make anything of it. So every Dane speaks Danish and every Swede speaks Swedish.

And in addition, here’s a behind-the-scenes video where the actors from the two countries explain their own linguistic challenges and enjoyment, particularly Skumfidus:

Author

  • Rob Buckley

    I’m Rob Buckley, a journalist who writes for UK media magazines that most people have never heard of although you might have heard me on the podcast Lockdown Land or Radio 5 Live’s Saturday Edition or Afternoon Edition. I’ve edited Dreamwatch, Sprocket and Cambridge Film Festival Daily; been technical editor for TV producers magazine Televisual; reviewed films for the short-lived newspaper Cambridge Insider; written features for the even shorter-lived newspaper Soho Independent; and was regularly sarcastic about television on the blink-and-you-missed-it “web site for urban hedonists” The Tribe. Since going freelance, I've contributed to the likes of Broadcast, Total Content + Media, Action TV, Off The Telly, Action Network, TV Scoop and The Custard TV.

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