Greetings! Posted by Bjørn A. Bojesen on Nov 16, 2011
Hej Pronounced almost like its American equivalent ’hi’, hej is the universal greeting in Denmark, used between young and old, men and women. It is quite informal, though, so using it to greet the Queen probably wouldn’t be a good idea! It is often combined with little tail phrases, as in Hej, hvordan går det? ’Hi…
Hygge Posted by Bjørn A. Bojesen on Nov 12, 2011
No blog on Danish is complete without a post about hygge. This phenomenon – pronounced with the clear, fronted ”u” sound of French nom de plume or German Zürich – may just be the epitome of danskhed (Danishness). Danes repeatedly refer to it, to the slight bafflement of foreigners: What on earth are they talking about? Basically…
Verbs With Muscles: Learning Danish Through English Part III Posted by Bjørn A. Bojesen on Nov 3, 2011
As we’ve seen, Danish and English share en god del (a good deal) of common vocabulary. This should make it easy for English-speakers to find a footing in the language. The flip side is, of course, that the gates are opened for false friends and stuff. Now let’s look at another joint venture: verbs. Verbs are…
Halloween in Danish Posted by Bjørn A. Bojesen on Oct 31, 2011
Today, the 31st of October, the hekse (witches) and spøgelser (ghosts) have come out of the dark to haunt and terrorize mankind. No one is safe in the skove (forests) or the crooked gyder (alleys) of the small landsbyer (villages). To protect themselves, people have carved grinning faces into orange græskar (pumpkins, the singular is the…
Why Denmark? Posted by Bjørn A. Bojesen on Oct 28, 2011
I’ve already given you some pretty good reasons to learn Danish. (Which I hope you’re now devoting huge parts of your spare time to! 😉 ) Whatever your motivation to learn the language, I feel that I ought to tell you why you should care about Denmark. Why do I spend so many posts writing…
Asking Questions We Like, Yes? Posted by Bjørn A. Bojesen on Oct 24, 2011
A Danish newspaper recently claimed Danish university students were too shy to ask questions at lectures. Too bad for them – asking a lot of questions helps you keeping an open mind. And with your eyes and ears wide open you’ll quickly assimilate a lot of words and succeed in your mission to learn the…
Living among Danes Posted by Bjørn A. Bojesen on Oct 21, 2011
So, Jennifer, you said you were ’positively surprised’ by Denmark? What’s the best thing about living here? Definitely not the weather! I guess I’d say the best thing – and I think many people agree – is the social wellfare system… Denmark has also a very good educational system and that was one of the…