Why do Swedes and Danes insist on pretending they speak the same language?

There's something heroic about the way Danes and Swedes insist on trying to communicate with one another using their own languages, but more often than not end up nodding, smiling, and only pretending to understand. Why not give up and just speak English?

Why mastering English isn’t all good news for Danish workers and their companies

Taxi drivers in Denmark to face language requirement under new law

Danes are ‘world’s second-best’ speakers of English as a foreign language

Has the Danish language stopped borrowing English words?

Danes still worst English speakers in Scandinavia (but they’re getting better)

Five reasons English speakers struggle to learn foreign languages

Foreign doctors must meet Danish language standards: minister

The Anglo-Saxons were more menacing than the Vikings, and the English language can prove it

Essential phrases and customs to survive the Danish winter

Danes the ‘worst’ English speakers in Scandinavia (but still among world’s best)