Archive for 'Uncategorized'
Soft D’s Are Not Hard Posted by Bjørn A. Bojesen on May 11, 2012
If there was a Miss Denmark contest for sounds of speech, the soft D (blødt D) would run off with the gold medal. Danes love asking foreigners to pronounce the phrase rødgrød med fløde (which, as you may remember, means ”red fruit pudding with cream”). That’s four of the difficult ladies, lined up with exotic…
New Look + Some Handy Links Posted by Bjørn A. Bojesen on May 3, 2012
As you’ve probably noticed, Transparent is getting a facelift. All the blogs have been moved from http://www.transparent.com/YourLanguange to http://blogs.transparent.com/YourLanguage. The blogs’ design is being changed too. Don’t worry – everything is going to be just as nice and functional as before, if not better! While we’re at it, here are some useful online resources for…
Cakes in the Making Posted by Bjørn A. Bojesen on Apr 30, 2012
This is a continuation of yesterday’s interview with the baker Lars. Do you know all your recipes by heart? Yes, in my section I do. There are two sections here at the bakery: one for rugbrød (rye bread) and wienerbrød (Danish pastry) and everything with gær (yeast), and another one for cakes. I’m at the yeast…
A Visit to the Baker Posted by Bjørn A. Bojesen on Apr 29, 2012
To many people, there’s nothing quite as Danish as a baker’s store, with its rugbrød (rye bread) and rundstykke/r (roll/s) and loads of delicious cakes… One early morning, I took a trip to my local bakery where I met the baker Lars. How long have you been working as a baker? I was apprenticed at…
Sounds R Us Posted by Bjørn A. Bojesen on Apr 15, 2012
There are basicaly two ways of pronouncing the letter R in Danish: as a consonant and as a vowel. As a sound you can’t sing and as one you can make part of a melody… If that sounds strange, just think about British English: In words like random and princess, where R introduces a vowel…
The Secret of Danish Pronunciation Revealed Posted by Bjørn A. Bojesen on Apr 1, 2012
For many foreigners trying to learn Danish, the natives’ pronunciation is a tough nut to crack. How on earth do they do it? I met Henrik Jørgensen, lecturer and researcher at the Scandinavian Department at Aarhus University. Mr. Jørgensen, you and your colleagues are rumoured to be on the scent of a brand new theory…
The Danish Soup Posted by Bjørn A. Bojesen on Mar 25, 2012
For those who’ve come to enjoy the beauty of for example Danish poetry, the numerous comparisons of Danish with gray, grainy substances may seem a bit over the top. In fact, I suspect those dull descriptions stem mostly from Danes themselves. (Keeping an ironic, ”lowbrow” attitude can only make you pleasantly surprised when the prestigious speakers…