A Danish Lesson from Italy Posted by Bjørn A. Bojesen on May 31, 2021
Måneskin! [mawneh-sken] This month, millions of music fans learnt a rare Danish word straight from the poetry box. The unlikely incident happened when the 2021 Eurovision Song Contest was won by the band … Måneskin from Italien (Italy)! Måneskin is the perfect example of a Danish sammensat ord (compound, literally ”put-together word”). Måne [mawneh], of…
Cheers to the Danish Oscar Posted by Bjørn A. Bojesen on Apr 30, 2021
And the Oscar goes to… For Danes, denne uges store overraskelse (this week’s big surprise) certainly was Oscar-prisen (the Oscar prize) awarded to the Danish film Druk [drawk]. Even though many people had guessed filmen (the film) would win the prize for bedste internationale film, it still felt surreal watching filminstruktøren (the director) Thomas Vinterberg…
Making it as a woman in Denmark Posted by Bjørn A. Bojesen on Mar 31, 2021
Did you celebrate kvindedagen (Women’s Day) on March 8th? This year, many people decided to turn all of marts (March) into a kvindemåned (Women’s Month) to highlight women’s achievements and ongoing struggle around verden (the world). For this month’s post my idea was to interview en dansk kvinde i et mandsdomineret miljø (a Danish woman…
Spring is in the Air Posted by Bjørn A. Bojesen on Feb 27, 2021
Der er forår i luften! (Spring is in the air!) Even though February is traditionally considered a vintermåned (winter month) in Denmark, the country surprisingly just jumped from frost og sne (frost and snow) to open blomster (flowers) – some say the temperatur increased more than 30 degrees in about a week (from -20 °C…
What’s Up with Danish TV for Kids? Posted by Bjørn A. Bojesen on Jan 22, 2021
For the small size of their country, Danes have really managed to create a lot of outrage. (Remember the prophet cartoon crisis or the killing of the poor giraffe Marius?) This January, Danes did it again – with a children’s tv show about a man and his very long private part. Er intet helligt (is…
Two Ways of Giving Posted by Bjørn A. Bojesen on Dec 17, 2020
Julen er gavernes tid. (Christmas is the time of gifts.) While many of us are still pondering to whom to give what, let’s look at the Danish grammar of giving. The Danish verb at give [at gheew’] is historically related to the English to give. Fortunately, it works in similar ways. Jeg ved ikke hvem…
The Mink Saga Posted by Bjørn A. Bojesen on Nov 30, 2020
”I’m a mink farmer from Hjørring [town in Northern Jutland]!” A man tries to impress a woman with a witty line in a pedestrian city street at night, just before the bars close at 10 PM due to COVID-19. She smiles – it’s early November, and Danish minks are suddenly the talk of the global…