Jeevan shares his story and tips on learning Danish online before moving to the beautiful land of Denmark.
Moving to a new country is a big decision. You don’t always know what to expect in terms of society and culture. One of the best ways to adapt to a new country is to learn the language. Even though it is not considered difficult to survive in Denmark, knowing only English, speaking the locals’ language will unlock more opportunities and add lots of value to your experience. Not every International that lives in Denmark decides to learn Danish. And even fewer choose to learn the language before coming here.
Let me introduce to you the hero of the day- Jeevan. He is originally from the UK, currently a medical student located in Poland, and is planning to pursue a medical career in Denmark. Around four months ago, he started making his first steps in learning Danish. Having a Danish girlfriend helps a lot as he always has someone to exercise with.
My girlfriend is Danish, and I would like to move to Denmark once I finish my studies and hopefully start a career there. These would be the main reasons I am currently learning Danish.
He has been visiting Denmark quite often in the last period. It helped him gain an understanding of the Danish culture and lifestyle.
I didn’t know what to expect before visiting the country. Denmark is very different from the places I have been to before, including the country I come from. It is very peaceful, and I have the sensation people take everything easy. I enjoy especially visiting the countryside. Spending the last three months in Denmark, I had the opportunity to get more familiar with the language, as I heard many other people speaking it.
Learning Danish Online- Getting started
He was first introduced to Swap Language by his girlfriend.
My girlfriend showed me a Swap Language Facebook ad. At that time, I was learning Danish using an app. I didn’t quite like this app because I was introduced to complicated words and phrases right from the beginning. Danish is definitely a difficult language to learn. The pronunciation especially gives you a hard time. I signed up with Swap language in December and have been starting to move on slowly. In the last weeks, I have been more consistent.
Danish is not the first language he is learning. Living in Poland for the last three and a half years, he has already achieved a good level in Polish.
Learning Danish can be considered easier than learning Polish from some perspectives. There are a lot of words that are similar to English. At the same time, the sentence structure is also similar to the English one. On the other hand, in Polish, you read the words the same way you write them. So every time you find a new word, you already know how to pronounce it.
Therefore, extending your vocabulary when it comes to Danish takes more time. But after some lessons, I can already make a few sentences.When trying to talk to the natives, in the case of Polish, I can also say that it is quite frustrating when people understand that you are not a native speaker but still expect you not to make mistakes.
The Danish culture and the common phrase Tak for mad
As we know, the behavior and culture of a nation are reflected in its language. When learning a new language, you start as well seeing things from a new perspective. Some things positively surprise you, and some may even upset you.
One of the things that have surprised me so far is the phrase “Tak for mad.” In English, we sometimes say, “The food was loving,” but it is not such a common thing to do.
Indeed, saying thank you for food is an essential part of the Danish meal culture. Throughout history, the meaning Danes have attached to saying thank you for food has changed a lot. According to an article written by Jens Ulrich, from a historical perspective, in the first place, it is not about saying thank you to the person who made the food. No, we are going up in the higher air layers. We must look for the one who has made it all possible. Once again, we can see how many years of history and traditions a simple phrase can carry.
Another thing that I observed is how often fillers are used in Danish.
As a matter of fact, the use of fillers is quite common in the Danish language. A study conducted by the University of Copenhagen shows that sounds as øh, mm, øhm, årh, åh, hm are the most often utilized.
3 Tips on learning Danish online
We are very interested in the way people structure their language learning process, so we asked what advice would Jeevan give to those that just started learning Danish.
- Get exposed to the language.
I think that at the beginning, especially for those who didn’t have a lot of contact with the language, it would be good to get exposed to the language as much as possible to start feeling the rhythm. - Take it slowly.
Learning a language is a complex process so that it will take you some time. You have to be patient. - Be consistent.
It can be hard to organize yourself when you have to take care of multiple things simultaneously, but even when you are busy, taking 20 minutes here and there to learn something new in Danish helps you stay on track.
Last but not least, setting goals for yourself gives you focus and makes it possible to measure your progress and, at the same time, stay motivated.
My goal is to have a basic understanding of Danish by the end of the year and, eventually, get a job in medicine.
We wish you lots of luck to Jeevan, and we are here with new Danish language lessons every week. Nicklas and Vigdis, our teachers, try to make it as easy and fun as possible. Join us and let the process begin.
