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Danish for a Non-Dane Posted by Bjørn A. Bojesen on Feb 28, 2018
A while ago a British guy in Denmark, Barnaby, kindly sent me his thoughts about learning Danish as a foreigner. Although I didn’t actually interview him, I’ve tweaked his most important points into an interview’ish text in order to make it more readable. What’s tricky about learning Danish? Phrasal verbs are tricky. Why does ”Jeg…
Danish Newspapers Posted by Bjørn A. Bojesen on Feb 25, 2018
At læse aviser er en god måde at lære sprog. (Reading newspapers is a good way to learn languages.) Hvadenten du er til korte eller lange artikler, finder du helt sikkert den rigtige udfordring. (Whether you’re into short or long articles, you’ll surely find the right challenge.) 🙂 You can very easily find danske aviser…
Cake Parties in Southern Jutland Posted by Bjørn A. Bojesen on Jan 31, 2018
Sønderjylland – the southernmost part of Jutland – is known for its sønderjysk kaffebord (Southern Jutish ”coffee table”), a cake extravaganza made in heaven. I met two women with Sønderjylland roots, Ditte and Marie, for a talk about the unique tradition. M: Back in the day when the Prussians took over Sønderjylland, the Danes used…
Talking about food Posted by Bjørn A. Bojesen on Jan 28, 2018
Mmm, lækkert! 🙂 People everywhere in the world like to eat mad (food) and talk about it, and Danes are certainly no exception! Eating together with natives can be a great opportunity to hone your language skills, so let’s take a look at some useful things to say uden mad i munden (”without food in…
Looking Back and Looking Forward Posted by Bjørn A. Bojesen on Dec 31, 2017
Så blev der minsandten nytår igen! (Then it really became New Year again!) Nytårsaften (New Year’s Eve) is a time for looking back at året der gik (the year that went) as well as looking forward to det nye år (the new year). Let’s look in both directions in this post. 🙂 To recall something…
Danes and Snow Posted by Bjørn A. Bojesen on Dec 21, 2017
Det sner! (It’s snowing!) Snow in Denmark isn’t so common as people abroad sometimes imagine. Maybe because of klimaforandringer (climate changes), Danes go through weeks and weeks of gray winter rain, and then – bang! The miracle occurs, covering marker (fields), skove (forests), haver (gardens) and tage (roofs) with a beautiful hvidt tæppe (white carpet). Still…
Danish Homonyms Posted by Bjørn A. Bojesen on Nov 30, 2017
Good Knight! What would ordspil (puns) be without homonyms – words that sound the same, yet have quite different meanings? Og så var der den om… harpespilleren der var streng. (And then there was the story about… the harpist who was strict/a string!) Here’s a list of some danske homonymer. You never know when you’ll…