What is a Nordic layout? – The list of all Nordic layouts with explanation

What is the Nordic keyboard layout?

Nordic QWERTY is a modification to the standard QWERTY. It is used in the Nordic region.

It is not very different from the standard QWERTY. The main purpose of this layout is to enable typing for people from the Nordic region.

There are many versions of this layout. Nordic is not just one layout. There are many countries that use this layout. It means that there are many languages that this layout needs to serve.

There’s a version of this layout for: Danish, Faroese, Icelandic, Norwegian, Swedish, and more. It has many modifications.

The nordic layout is the layout that’s used in countries from the Nordic region. This layout is required to type in the languages from the North Germanic branch. It’s mostly similar to QWERTY (as on the image). A nordic layout is a name for a group of layouts, not a specific layout (look at the whole list of Nordic layouts).

This is an example of a few Nordic layouts:

It is pretty much a QWERTY layout with extra letters used in specific languages. In this layout, it’s the Swedish letters are added.

What is the difference between Nordic and QWERTY?

Why is Nordic a different keyboard layout than a regular QWERTY?

That’s because it has a different job to do. Nordic is meant to enable people to type in Nordic languages. Because of that, it has few other symbols on top of regular QWERTY.

Let’s get for example a Norwegian layout. This is what it looks like:

It is mostly just like QWERTY. The only difference is that the Norwegian layout has more special letters – the ones that are unique to the Norwegian language.

Nordic is a group of layouts. Let’s take the Swedish layout (which is Nordic) for example. It is pretty much QWERTY but with special characters. Those letters are the ones from the Swedish alphabet (look at the image to see a detailed comparison). This change is required to enable typing in the Swedish language.

Those special characteristics are what makes Nordic layouts different from the standard QWERTY. Here are those characters from the Swedish layout compared to QWERTY:

The difference in languages creates the need for a special layout. In American English, there are no such special characters except the dollar symbol. All the letters you need are already in the QWERTY layout.

That’s also because QWERTY was created by an American. If you want to read more about the QWERTY layout, I can recommend my article. It goes in-depth about QWERTY with some interesting tests. Here is the article – ARTICLE ABOUT QWERTY

The list of all Nordic layouts

Here are every single keyboard layouts that are a part of the Nordic language group. Those layouts are in alphabetical order. This is a list that consists of the 7 most popular Nordic keyboard layouts.

There might be some layouts that are not included like the Norwerty layout (which is a Norwegian layout designed for US keyboards).

1. The layout of Denmark

What layout does Denmark use?

Danish is the official language of Denmark. This language has some unique letters which are not present in English. That’s why there has to be a layout that lets you type in Danish.

Denmark uses the Danish layout. It is called that because of the official language of Denmark – the Danish language. To be able to type in Danish you need some special letters which the Danish layout has.

What is a Danish layout?

Danish layout is used to type in the Danish language. It is mostly used in Denmark, as Danish is the official language of Denmark. It is a keyboard layout that’s based on standard US-QWERTY. It has some important changes in special characters and letters (as in the picture).

Here’s what this layout looks like:

2. The layout of the Faroe Islands

What layout do Faroe Islands use?

For those of you who don’t know. The Faroe Islands is a region with its own government but also a part of the Kingdom of Denmark.

There are two official languages of the Faroe Islands – Faroese and Danish.

The Faroe Islands use mainly two keyboard layouts – the Faroese layout and the Danish layout. That’s because there are two official languages of the Faroe Islands – Faroese and Danish. To type in Faroese you need a Faroese layout. To type in Danish you need a Danish layout.

What is a Faroese layout?

Faroese layout is one of the country-based layouts. It is required for the Faroese language. To type in this Faroese, you need some letters on the keyboard that aren’t present on the standard QWERTY.

Faroese layout is a layout created for the Faroese language, which is the official language of the Faroe Islands. Faroese layout on the side of the Danish layout is used in the Faroe Islands. It is a layout that’s based on US-QWERTY and modified for the Faroese language (look at the layout on the picture).

Here’s what the Faroese layout looks like:

3. The layout of Finland

What keyboard layout does Finland use?

What is the layout that people in Finland use? When you look for this information it’s not that straight-up. That’s why I wanted to give a quick answer to this question.

People from Finland use the Finnish layout to type in their native language. The official language of Finland is the Finnish language. To type in Finish you need the Finish keyboard layout.

What is the Finnish keyboard layout?

This is the layout you need when typing in Finnish. It is sometimes used in countries like Sweden, Norway, or Estonia. That’s where some Finnish people live.

Of course, Finnish layout is used all around the words by people who speak Finnish.

Finnish layout is a keyboard layout that’s needed to type in Finnish. It is mostly used in Finland, as Finnish is the official language of Finland. Finnish layout is a US-QWERTY-based layout with the addition of special characters and letters that are required to type in Finnish (as you can see in the picture).

This is what the Finnish layout looks like:

4. The layout of Greenland

What layout does Greenland use?

Like every Nordic country, Greenland also has its own layout. Of course, it’s because Greenland has a unique language. To meet the needs of people typing in Greenlandic there is a layout for them.

Greenland uses the layout called Greenlandic layout. It is required to type in the official language of Greenland. To type in Greenlandic you need some special letters. This is what the Greenlandic layout was created for.

What is a Greenlandic layout?

Most of the Nordic countries need a special layout for their language. It’s no different when it comes to Greenland. To provide the right layout for this country Greenlandic layout was created.

Greenlandic layout is needed to type in the Greenlandic language. It is mostly used in Greenland as a primary layout. Greenlandic layout is based on standard US-QWERTY. This layout has some important changes in special characters and letters to make typing in Greenlandic possible (detailed look of the layout on the picture).

This is the look of the Greenlandic layout:

5. The layout of Iceland

What layout does Iceland use?

Iceland has its own language. Like all Nordic languages, it is far different from English. There are many additional letters in the Icelandic language.

That’s why Iceland needs its own keyboard layout. But what layout is that?

Iceland uses the layout that’s called Icelandic. It is a keyboard layout that lets you type in the Icelandic language. On top of that this layout lets you type also in English. As Icelandic is the official language of Iceland, this is the layout that Iceland uses.

What is the Icelandic keyboard layout?

What is that layout that’s called Icelandic? What does it give you and when do you need it?

The Icelandic keyboard layout is mostly used in Iceland. It is required to type in the Icelandic language. This layout is a US-QWERTY-based layout with some changes in special characters and letters (detailed layout on the picture). Icelandic is an official layout of Iceland.

Here’s what the Icelandic layout looks like:

6. The layout of Norway

What keyboard layout is used in Norway?

Norway is a Nordic country. It has its own language. Like every Nordic language, it is quite far from English. That’s why people in Norway can’t use a standard QWERTY layout.

They need a unique layout just for their needs. But what is that layout that they use?

Norway uses the layout that’s called Norwegian layout. The official language of Norway is the Norwegian language. That’s why people in Norway use the special layout for their country. Norwegian layout doesn’t only let you type in Norwegian. It also lets you type in English.

What is the Norwegian layout?

As you might already guess Norwegian layout is required to type in the Norwegian language which is the official language of Norway.

The Norwegian keyboard layout is mostly used in Norway. It is a US-QWERTY-based layout with the additional special characters and letters required to type in the Norwegian language (more details on the picture). It is a standard layout used in Norway.

7. The layout of Sweden

What keyboard layout does Sweden use?

Sweden has one official language – Swedish. The hard part when typing in Swedish is that you need some special letters to type. Those letters are the natural part of the Swedish language but aren’t present in English. That’s why Sweden people type in their own keyboard layout.

The official language of Sweden is Swedish. That’s why the keyboard layout that they use is a Swedish layout. It lets you type in Swedish with the extra letters present in the layout. It also lets you type in English almost like on regular QWERTY.

What is the Swedish layout?

There is that layout called Swedish layout. What is it for and why do people use it?

Swedish layout is a layout that’s used to type in the Swedish language. It is primarily used in Sweden. Swedish layout is based on US-QWERTY. However, it has some important changes with special characters and letters (as the picture shows).

This is what the Swedish layout looks like:

Conclusion

The Nordic layout (sometimes called Nordic-QWERTY) is not a real layout. It is a group of layouts that are the layouts of Nordic countries.

Those layouts are the layout of Denmark, Faroe Islands, Finland, Greenland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden. All of those are Nordic layouts.