Cipher or unknown language - historical perspective

[oshfdk]

To me 

Ég hef ekki hugmynd um hvað þessi setning þýðir.

looks very foreign, even though most character shapes are familiar. I have no idea how to read any of it and I would struggle to guess the language.

I'm pretty sure they would recognize this as a Germanic language. Without speaking any Scandinavian or looking this up, I can guess from my knowledge of English, Dutch and German:

I didn't mean this as a test for the scribes, I just said that personally for me not only the meaning would be totally unclear, but I wouldn't even be sure if this is a language or a code. I'm familiar with a few Romance languages and English, I don't speak German or Dutch, and I don't recognize a single root here.

If you want a similar effect for your linguistic background, maybe the following will work:

ni vigumu kiasi kupata mfano mzuri wakati kila mtu anazungumza lugha nyingi

Is this a cipher or a foreign language? All shapes are normal Latin characters.