Archive for 'Uncategorized'
Danish Diphthongs Posted by Bjørn A. Bojesen on Sep 14, 2012
Having looked at the Danish vowels, the Danish diphthongs are next in line. A diphthong is a vowel glide, consisting of a main vowel that unnoticeably ”slides” into a different, quieter vowel (a ’semivowel’) to form a single syllable – as in English joy, ”joᵉᵉ”. Your ”Danish for Nerds” handbook will tell you there are…
Aarhus Festuge 2012 Posted by Bjørn A. Bojesen on Sep 12, 2012
As I write this, Århus is slowly recovering from last week’s festuge [FESToo’eh] (festive week, party week). With a quarter of a million indbyggere (inhabitants), the second largest city of Denmark and the capital of Jylland (the Jutland peninsula) has indeed got the human resources to stage a party! 🙂 Århus Festuge (or Aarhus Festuge…
Danish Vowels: O to Å Posted by Bjørn A. Bojesen on Aug 30, 2012
Yesterday’s trip through the Danish vowels continues… O Many foreigners think this is a U, as the two sounds are really close in Danish. The basic O is just a hair’s breadth more open than the basic U: to (two, pronounced somewhere in the middle of too and ”tuh”), skole (school). When short, however, most O’s open…
Danish Vowels: A, E, I Posted by Bjørn A. Bojesen on Aug 29, 2012
Language geeks love Danish. They’re amazed by the fact that the language is full of strange vowel sounds, and that we Danes pronounce our consonants with so much ”timidity” that the whole language sounds like a stream of vowels (our a soup, if you like 🙂 ). Yeah, if you analyze it at scientific level…
Højskole Highs Posted by Bjørn A. Bojesen on Aug 23, 2012
A few months ago, I met three students at Ry Højskole for a chat… Who’re you and what are you doing here at Ry Højskole? My name is Daniel and I’m a student here at Ry Højskole. I have chosen friluftsliv (outdoor life) as my main subject. We canoe and kayak a lot, and we…
Land of Beaches Posted by Bjørn A. Bojesen on Aug 19, 2012
One of the really nice things about living in Denmark are the many strand/e (beaches). If you look at a map, you see that the country is more similar to Greece than you maybe thought: The only mainland is the slender Jylland (Jutland) peninsula, the rest of the country is a bunch of ø/er (island/s)…
Denmark at the 2012 Olympics Posted by Bjørn A. Bojesen on Aug 14, 2012
A tiny nation obsessed with hygge (having a good time in cosy surroundings, like when you’re sharing a birthday lagkage, layered cake, with your family), Denmark is rarely associated with athleticism. Wrote poet Piet Hein in 1950: Den slankekur en dansker gerne tager / i håbet om at blive let og mager / er søndagsturen…