> > A thousand years ago they spoke one
> language in Scandinavia and several in Germany. Today it's the other
> way around.
This is only a matter of perspective and labelling. The forms of speech
actually spoken across Germany are not mutually comprehensible. The
standard language is for almost all Germans an artificial language at
greater or lesser distance from their natural speech, learnt at secondary
school.
The "one language" they are alleged to have spoken in Scandinavia at one
time, is likewise more a collection of related forms of speech.
Peter