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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…
The Plural Plurals of Danish Posted by Bjørn A. Bojesen on Jun 30, 2011
Let’s break away from the outer world of danskhed (Danishness), and take a look at an essential part of any grammar: plurals. It’s inevitable that you’ll sooner or later want to refer to more than one of the same thing. The same can be said of this blog, where I cannot let every guest-starring Danish…
Why Danish? Posted by Bjørn A. Bojesen on Jun 26, 2011
Why learn Danish? That is a question the Danes themselves in particular seem to be pondering. When you visit Denmark, you’ll discover that most Danes are very eager to practice their English skills with you! The foreigner who’s having a love affair with the Danish language can have a rather hard time informing everybody that…
Sankthans: Denmark from the Fireside Posted by Bjørn A. Bojesen on Jun 24, 2011
Let’s start this plunge into Danish language & culture with two short words: øl and bål. The first one is very frequent, and you’ll hear it in any Danish bar and indeed most places where people socialize… If you thought ”beer”, you are absolutely right! The ø is the same as German and Swedish ’ö’, or French ’eu’…