Archive for August, 2012
Danish Vowels: O to Å Posted by Bjørn A. Bojesen on Aug 30, 2012
Yesterday’s trip through the Danish vowels continues… O Many foreigners think this is a U, as the two sounds are really close in Danish. The basic O is just a hair’s breadth more open than the basic U: to (two, pronounced somewhere in the middle of too and ”tuh”), skole (school). When short, however, most O’s open…
Danish Vowels: A, E, I Posted by Bjørn A. Bojesen on Aug 29, 2012
Language geeks love Danish. They’re amazed by the fact that the language is full of strange vowel sounds, and that we Danes pronounce our consonants with so much ”timidity” that the whole language sounds like a stream of vowels (our a soup, if you like 🙂 ). Yeah, if you analyze it at scientific level…
Højskole Highs Posted by Bjørn A. Bojesen on Aug 23, 2012
A few months ago, I met three students at Ry Højskole for a chat… Who’re you and what are you doing here at Ry Højskole? My name is Daniel and I’m a student here at Ry Højskole. I have chosen friluftsliv (outdoor life) as my main subject. We canoe and kayak a lot, and we…
Grundtvig and the Love of Learning Posted by Bjørn A. Bojesen on Aug 21, 2012
These days, elev/er (pupil/s, student/s) all over Denmark are coming back to school life after sommerferien (the summer vacation). Sweating, with the sun shining through the classroom curtains, they’re doing their best to rehearse and learn the answers the teacher would like them to write in their final eksamen [ekSAmen]. Everyone’s competing with themselves and everyone…
Land of Beaches Posted by Bjørn A. Bojesen on Aug 19, 2012
One of the really nice things about living in Denmark are the many strand/e (beaches). If you look at a map, you see that the country is more similar to Greece than you maybe thought: The only mainland is the slender Jylland (Jutland) peninsula, the rest of the country is a bunch of ø/er (island/s)…
Denmark at the 2012 Olympics Posted by Bjørn A. Bojesen on Aug 14, 2012
A tiny nation obsessed with hygge (having a good time in cosy surroundings, like when you’re sharing a birthday lagkage, layered cake, with your family), Denmark is rarely associated with athleticism. Wrote poet Piet Hein in 1950: Den slankekur en dansker gerne tager / i håbet om at blive let og mager / er søndagsturen…
Danish Compounds Posted by Bjørn A. Bojesen on Aug 2, 2012
Having taken a svømmetur (swim) at one of the lovely Danish beaches, you’ve just returned to your friends. A stupid cloud is drifting across the sun, and you’re drypvåd (soaking wet). You’re bound to reach out for your badehåndklæde (bath towel). The bold words above are all compounds – single words squeezed together to form new words. This…