Archive for July, 2011
Danish Plurals Revisited Posted by Bjørn A. Bojesen on Jul 29, 2011
While Grammar and definitions may not be as interesting as drinking beer at a small café table in the sun while watching for the next attractive member of the opposite (or same) sex, those aspects of Danish are certainly important if one wishes to avoid confusion. (Author Lars Henriksen wrote an entire short story centering…
Land of Bicycles Posted by Bjørn A. Bojesen on Jul 18, 2011
One of the first things that struck a Mexican friend visiting me in Denmark, was the huge number of cykler (bikes, cykel in the singular, the c is pronounced like s) driving past her wherever she seemed to turn her head. Mænd (men) and kvinder (women) of all aldre (ages) were pedaling their sleek two-wheelers…
Tunø Ain’t Got No Traffic Jams Posted by Bjørn A. Bojesen on Jul 11, 2011
3,5 kvadratkilometer of dry land (3.5 square kilometres – in Danish, as in most European languages, we use a comma rather than a dot to denote decimals). 120 or so human inhabitants, and a considerable number of animals, including rådyr (deer), fasaner (pheasants) and harer (hares). Plenty of fields of kartofler (potatoes, kartoffel in the…
Strawberry Time Posted by Bjørn A. Bojesen on Jul 6, 2011
Sommer (summer) has come, and it is strawberry season in Denmark! Although some people take pride in growing their own strawberries in their haver (garden lots), most jordbær are gathered in special fields in the countryside. The island of Samsø, situated between the peninsula Jutland and the main island Zealand, has a particularly rich soil…
Roskilde Forever Posted by Bjørn A. Bojesen on Jul 3, 2011
As I write these lines, the 2011 Roskilde Festival is drawing closer to its end. The last koncerter are culminating on the six scener (’stages’, scene in the singular), sending the vibes of electric guitars, passionate vocals and the cheering of the crowds into the damp night. For many hours the more than 75.000 participants…