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Cinema Season Posted by Bjørn A. Bojesen on Nov 24, 2013
At være født i november/har lagt en dæmper/på mit liv. (Being born in November/has put a damper/on my life.) The words come from a well-known song by Danish songwriter and poet Benny Andersen. True, November isn’t exactly the funniest month to be in Denmark! Det er vådt og koldt. (It’s wet and cold.) And, as…
100 Most Common Written Words in Danish Posted by Bjørn A. Bojesen on Oct 31, 2013
Is it possible to learn Danish in 3 months? The popular ”alternative life-style guru” Tim Ferriss thinks so. Well, if you spent 3 months doing nothing but studying grammar and going to Danish bars, then maybe… In my experience, though, a language is more like a tree that is gradually spreading its branches in your…
If it’s a downer it’s an again’er! Posted by Bjørn A. Bojesen on Oct 11, 2013
The suffix -er makes magic in Danish as well as English. You just have at tænke, to think, and poof! you’re en tænker, a thinker. You want at flyve (to fly), and there you go: en flyver! Well, okay, that’s not a ”flier”, but an airplane… The last example is actually shortened from flyvemaskine – airplane…
Going Social Posted by Bjørn A. Bojesen on Sep 30, 2013
In Denmark, most folks are online, and to many people sociale medier (social media) like Facebook are just as important as brød or mælk. I don’t know if Danes are heavier Facebook-brugere (FB users) than for example Californians, but I imagine that we do spend more time in front of our computere and smartphones (or smarttelefoner) than…
Apples and blackberries Posted by Bjørn A. Bojesen on Sep 28, 2013
What comes to mind when you hear the word ”Denmark”? Do you think of romantic fairy-tales like H.C. Andersen’s Den grimme ælling (The Ugly Duckling), or does your internal cinema start replaying episodes from tv serials like Borgen and Forbrydelsen (The Killing), showing the jetset way of life in central København? The Danish tourist industry likes to stress…
Hello Houses! Posted by Bjørn A. Bojesen on Aug 31, 2013
Danes love their hus/e (houses). According to Patrick Kingsley, author of ”How to be Danish”, Danes have the second-largest houses in Europe. (I wonder where the largest houses are…) I have never been in another country where people spend so much time fixing every little detail of their hjem [yem] (home) and turning every stone…
Are Danes afraid of foreigners? Posted by Bjørn A. Bojesen on Aug 25, 2013
This week I’m going to tackle a less charming side of Denmark. After all, as a Danish saying goes, livet er ikke lutter lagkage [LEEWeth air eck LOOTor LOWka-yeh] – life isn’t only a layered cake. After den 11. september, a lot of Danish people, especially in the countryside, became increasingly afraid of foreigners, especially muslimer (Moslems)…