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What’s in a flag? Posted by Bjørn A. Bojesen on Jan 30, 2014
In 1219, the Danish King Valdemar Sejr (Victory) and his brave Christian troops were fighting the heathens in Lyndanise, Estland (Estonia). The savage Estonians were getting the upper hand, and the Danish troops were on the point of leaving their konge (king). Then, miraculously, a giant flag [flay] fell from the sky. It was red as…
Eating Danish Posted by Bjørn A. Bojesen on Jan 26, 2014
Some people say that danskere snakker med en kartoffel i munden (Danes talk with a potato in their mouth). While I would never recommend that you scorch yourself just to get the words right, there might be some truth to the saying… Your traditional Dane does eat a lot of kartofler (potatoes), and maybe eating…
The Danish Dream of Working Less Posted by Bjørn A. Bojesen on Jan 9, 2014
You take the blue pill – you get your drømmejob (job-of-your-dreams), with long, interesting, busy days and en fed løn (a fat salary). You take the red pill – you get a deltidsjob (part-time job) with short days and a lot of fritid (leisure time) – but considerably less penge (money). I hope you forgive…
Unwrapping the gifts of Christmas Posted by Bjørn A. Bojesen on Dec 30, 2013
Hvad fik du i julegave i år? (What did you get for Christmas this year?) Most Danes are crazy about giving & getting gaver (gifts). Too bad you can only celebrate fødselsdag (birthday) once a year. Heldigvis (fortunately), julen (”the Christmas”) is there to save every Dane from despair… During the December days leading up…
Lazy phrases Posted by Bjørn A. Bojesen on Dec 22, 2013
Kan du tale dansk? (”Can you speak Danish?”) Danish and English are related languages. As your study of Danish progresses, you’ll see that there are a lot of things that you already ”kind of know” when it comes to grammar and vocabulary. Nevertheless, the language does have at least one grammatical feature that does not…
Oh When The Nisser… Posted by Bjørn A. Bojesen on Dec 14, 2013
Okay, I promised you some more grammar, but I just have to show you this marching band of nisser, who brought December to town a handful of days ago: Julemanden (Father Christmas) was throwing karameller (caramels) – and børnene (the children) loved it! To the delight of many small drenge (boys), even brandbilen (the fire…
4 Easy Ways to Become Posted by Bjørn A. Bojesen on Nov 29, 2013
You’ve already learnt how to say that you are something. Unlike English verbs (I am, you are, she is), the Danish ”action words” don’t care who’s doing the action (or who’s being!) So, it could hardly be any easier: jeg (I) er/var/har været/havde været – or whoever or whatever is/was/has been/had been. However, just being…