Jennifer is a Canadian, but has chosen Denmark as her new home country.
Hello Jennifer! You’re from Canada, right?
Hi! Yes, that’s right. I’m from Calgary, Alberta.
Wow, that is a long way to travel! What brought a Canadian like you to Denmark?
Well, I married to a Dane, that’s why. I met him fourteen years ago. Since then we’ve been travelling a lot, but our home base, you could say, is here in Denmark. We settled down here a year and a half ago.
Where do you live?
It’s a small town called Knebel. There’s about 640 people.
Quite another thing than Calgary, I presume!
Yes, coming from a town of over a million to something about 600 is quite a change. But it’s a very quiet town and there’s a lot of families in the area, and it has many facilities. It’s very close to the national park called Mols Mountains [Mols Bjerge] – which are not really mountains, but Danes call them mountains!
(She chuckles.)
Had you been to Denmark before moving here, or was it all new to you?
I knew very little about Denmark actually, before I met my husband. I think the only thing I knew about Denmark was – like many people – the Little Mermaid and H.C. Andersen. So I was pleasantly surprised! It’s a beautiful country, the landscape is nice, but I knew very little about Denmark before I came here. And many people actually confuse Denmark with Holland! They’re quite similar in topography, so many people, when they meet my husband, they’ll ask him: Do you speak Dutch?
Do you speak Danish?
Yes, I do. A little bit. I can get by with my Danish, but of course pronunciation is very difficult for foreigners.
How long time did you spend studying Danish?
In total I would say 6 months. 3 months when I met my husband, 3 months about a year and a half ago.
OK, I cheated: I actually heard you speaking Danish before. And you did it really well!
I think for people who speak English as their native language Danish is much easier to learn than for people who speak other languages. So that’s one thing. I guess also my Danish improved quite a bit after we had our son. Because then we spoke Danish at home. Otherwise my husband and I usually speak English together. So I think that’s why my Danish has also approved a lot over the past seven years!
(She laughs.)
Stay tuned for the next part of this interview with Jennifer!
