If you want to go that route, it's fun to imagine a "unified Germanic" achieved by systematic reform to bring the main Germanic language closer together.
Start by purging English of French influence, starting with words where words of Germanic origin exists with a similar meaning. Simplify German grammar. Undo some consonant shifts. E.g (the German and Dutch I had to check/adjust w/Google translate; no guarantees for accuracy):
Swedish: En dag kan vi alla tala samma språk
Norwegian: En dag kan vi alle snakke samme språk (or "det samme språket")
Danish: En dag kan vi alle tale det samme sprog
German: Eines Tages können wir alle dieselbe Sprache sprechen
Dutch: Op een dag kunnen we allemaal dezelfde taal spreken
English: One day we can all speak the same language
Now consider "speech" as an alternative to "language" in English (alternatively: "tale" is valid but archaic in Norwegian in this context and we have the English cognate "talk"), and undo that D->T consonant shift in German (e.g. compare Tag to Low German "Dag"), and replace "the" (compare det/de/die/das/der etc.).
There are a whole lot of simple spelling and sound changes that'd bring the above languages a lot closer together very easily.
Of course it's easy in theory - in practice I've lived through multiple Norwegian language reforms and know how excruciatingly slow it can be to get people to adapt (e.g. Norway changed the spoken form of numbers above 20 in 1952 from the equivalent of "four and fifty" to "fifty-four"; my parents learned the new forms in primary school, yet I still picked up the old forms from them in the late 70's and still switch back and forth between the old and new forms now)
Start by purging English of French influence, starting with words where words of Germanic origin exists with a similar meaning. Simplify German grammar. Undo some consonant shifts. E.g (the German and Dutch I had to check/adjust w/Google translate; no guarantees for accuracy):
Swedish: En dag kan vi alla tala samma språk
Norwegian: En dag kan vi alle snakke samme språk (or "det samme språket")
Danish: En dag kan vi alle tale det samme sprog
German: Eines Tages können wir alle dieselbe Sprache sprechen
Dutch: Op een dag kunnen we allemaal dezelfde taal spreken
English: One day we can all speak the same language
Now consider "speech" as an alternative to "language" in English (alternatively: "tale" is valid but archaic in Norwegian in this context and we have the English cognate "talk"), and undo that D->T consonant shift in German (e.g. compare Tag to Low German "Dag"), and replace "the" (compare det/de/die/das/der etc.).
There are a whole lot of simple spelling and sound changes that'd bring the above languages a lot closer together very easily.
Of course it's easy in theory - in practice I've lived through multiple Norwegian language reforms and know how excruciatingly slow it can be to get people to adapt (e.g. Norway changed the spoken form of numbers above 20 in 1952 from the equivalent of "four and fifty" to "fifty-four"; my parents learned the new forms in primary school, yet I still picked up the old forms from them in the late 70's and still switch back and forth between the old and new forms now)