Reading habits: Danish gives way to English

Pupils in Faroese schools prefer to read Faroese books, according to a new qualitative study on reading habits, published last autumn.

The study also indicates that Danish, which has long been considered the official second language in the Faroes, has now had to give way to English when it comes to pupils’ preferred language for reading.

The reading habits study is based on interviews with sixth formers in 12 schools across the country.

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Sixth formers were selected for a reason as it has been suggested that this is the age at which children’s interest in reading starts to wane and also the time when children start exploring other forms of media.

A general conclusion of the study is that pupils face a great variety of challenges at school.

Pupils reported reading little in their spare time and having very limited exposure to literature.

Many pupils also said that they are rarely reminded to read and that they struggle to find a book they feel they can and want to read.

Read the Faroese version of this article here.

More Faroese News in English.