Hvordan går det?

As promised ...

I have previously (inaccurately) written a couple of phrases in Danish but have since learned more about this complex language. To my Danish friends who read this, my apologies in advance if you are offended by my tongue-in-cheek look from a sometimes frustrated but curious danske sprog studerende. Here are a few (skewed) basics:

1) There are 29 characters in the Danish alphabet. My new friends are (Æ)æ, (Å)å and (Ø)ø. They look cool and take practice.

2) Danish is not German or Dutch. Don't even try.

3) What is written vs. what is said? Completely different animals. A fine example is the word 'meget' whose closest equivilant I can pronounce is the French word 'mal'. It means 'very' as in "I'm very poor at learning this language."

4) There is no "sh" sound. Lyshåret is 'lus-hoerl' and Bronshøj is not, as I was saying for ages 'Bronsh-oi' but rather 'Brawns-hoy'.

5) The letter 'y' is pronounced like a 'u'. Can't fight it and it creeps into other languages for me.

6) I love the word 'ikke'. Slaps the positive out of any phrase. Er det ikke?

7) Some words make me giggle inside like 10 year old (see above photo).



Very friendly ...

Since my arrival here (almost 6 months!), I have had the good fortune to speak English pretty much everywhere I go. I have also been encouraged by people I meet and people I know to speak Danish where I can. They know when I get stuck and let me off the hook most times but like learning any new language, beer helps. There are some that switch to English almost immediately when hearing my accent. But it's not the accent you might think ...

It would seem, from my Scottish/Canadian background, that  have a slight sing-song way of saying things. When a phrase is uttered in my hauntingly melodic voice, I sound Swedish! I have refrained from saying 'Bork'. I thought I was just being teased until a bartender I'd ordered from a couple of times discovered my origins looked surprised and said "I would have sworn you were Swedish". I don't think we really spoke enough for him to discern my native tongue, but still!

And the rest?`

I can read a Swedish menu alright and I can make out the safety instructions on Norwegian Air but I'm happy at that level for now please. Soumi? Nej tak.

Tak for læsning!