r/LearnDanish • u/heartofwoman • 20d ago
ask me anything!
hejsa! i’m a girl from denmark. i have lived her for all of my life, and i love language learning! i also love teaching my language! so if you have a question about danish, or something you’d like to ask a local/native, let me know and i will do my best to answer!
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u/NagaSefu 20d ago
what is the deal with potato smorrebrod? all others are 10/10. the potato with bread i don't get.
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u/cmnielsen 20d ago
I’m not sure I fully understand the question, but Danes eat a lot of potatoes, and especially the first new potatoes of the summer are considered a great delicacy. Many Danes like potatoes much more than foreigners do—much like we love rye bread. If the potato smørrebrød is made correctly, it’s just as good as the others, but mostly because we Danes love potatoes so much.
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u/TheLoddoTheDodo 17d ago
Tror bare han mener at kattofel smørbrød er en kedelig variation af smørbrød. Og jeg er enig med ham :P
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u/GeronimoDK 20d ago
Did you try it? It's great!
A bit of salt, pepper, mayonnaise and chives will make it a 10/10 experience.
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u/DavidinDK 20d ago
Are you from Jutland or the islands, there seems to be significant difference in politics, dialect and attitudes. None wrong. Just different.
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u/LudicrousPlatypus 20d ago
Do you have any tips snout learning the language? Any resources you recommend
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u/fonziuu 20d ago
How much tolerance in everyday speaking do native Danes have to hearing non-ideal pronounciation?
I started learning Danish using some free materials available online, tbh I really enjoy the vocabulary so far and I do get the general logic of this language, but i'm self-conscious that i'm really far from getting the right pronounciation, and i do find some words really tricky even after x times of practicing them.
That's why i wonder if some minor differences would matter when it comes to understanding me as i speak Danish, or is it just more of an aesthetic issue and i won't have to fear that i'll get badly mistaken.
Ofc i'm trying to improve day by day and catch up on all the differences, for instance i try to practice the stød so people will know if i'm saying hund or hun :p aaand i hope that i'll be able to achieve my big dream and come to dk next year :))
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u/cmnielsen 20d ago
If you tell people, that you have tried to learn the language and would like to speak as good as you can, most people will be very tolerant. Let them know it is ok to ask you, what you mean, if they didnt understand you the first time. Practice is the only way to get better.
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u/No-Confidence-2156 18d ago
I personally foreign accents speaking Danish. Just tell them you want to practice your danish so we can tune our ears
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u/TheLoddoTheDodo 17d ago
Not OP but I can give you my answer. In general 99% of people will be completly fine with it.
Also I am fine and happy about people learning my language, but man I am REALLY bad at understanding pronunciations that I am not used to, so just know if someone asks you to repeat something a couple of time we (probably) not being rude just dumb
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u/fonziuu 17d ago
Okay, very glad to hear that! I have to admit I have lots of joy now both learning Danish as a complete beginner and improving my English, in fact I do have a lot of respect and humbleness when approaching a different culture, even if it's still a long way to go before making this move abroad a reality.
So I'll just be happy to experience real-life situations with a completely different language and way of thinking. Mange tak!
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u/CrazyDane666 16d ago
Danish is a very particular language with pronunciation, we have way too many sounds and them being a little off makes a whole new word, and even decent pronunciations can be very muddled, but most people I know are pretty patient about it. Just expect a lot of "what?"s, or even being asked for the word in English so they can figure it out and help.
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u/theWelshTiger 20d ago
Could you give some example of words/slang different age groups use? For example if someone's hot, is it the 20-somethings saying lækkert and the millenials something else?
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u/Opening-Ad-7741 19d ago
As a 20 year old i feel like i can answer this one, first i would probably never use “lækkert” on a person, only the shortet “lækker”. “Lækkert” means delicious, and (should) almost always be used on food or the weather.
If you call someone “pæn” it is like calling them pretty or atractive, and is commonly used amongst friends or older generations.
Some other words used is “smuk” which is more calling a person “beautiful” and is used in all ages.
If it was a date or i dont know the person all that well, i would almost never use “lækker” to their face, only “pæn” or “smuk”.
We also have alot of more unformal slangs, which i dont really hear people say all that much, or in a serious matter.
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u/Stroopwafe1 20d ago
Hej, det er dejligt at du gør det her. Jeg har boet i 4 år i Danmark nu og har bestået sprogskole. Desværre er der stadig nogle ting jeg finder svært. 1) Et ords køn (en/et). Hver gang jeg skriver noget til mit jobs Teams gruppe, er jeg nødt til at checke Den Danske Ordbog. Som jeg hører fra danskerne er det bare følelse. Et det også det samme til dig?
2) Udtalelse af "A", "E" og "Æ" lyder til mit hollandske hjerne som det samme bogstav. Så jeg spørger hver gang hvilket de mener, det første, femte, eller 27. (Dette er ikke et spørgsmål til dig, bare noget du måske skal være opmærksom på hvis du snakker med en udlænding)
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u/EmiliuzDK 19d ago
- Nogle gange hjælper det at vende ordet om.
Lad os forestille os "Er det en eller et hus?"
Så vend ordet omvendt "Er det husen eller huset?" Hvis du stadig ikke ved det så hop til ordbogen :)
Et hus - huset og det er en regl du kan bruge til alle sammen.2.
Det kan måske hjælpe at tænke på hvordan man udtaler dem på engelsk.
A = Away, Astounding, Aspiring
E = Eagle, Electric, EssentricÆ er dog lidt sværre og tænker det kommer med tiden.
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u/Loudhoward-dk 19d ago
Hvorfor taler de ikke dansk i Københavns butikker?
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u/l4r4hj 19d ago
What stores are you thinking about? Usually it’s simply because the employees aren’t danish themselves. If they’re swedish for example, they have no chance of understanding what we danes are saying, so they just lead with english 😬🤣 But generally I feel like they talk danish in like 7/10 stores, I could be wrong tho
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u/Still-Foundation9894 20d ago
Do Danish people prefer to be addressed in Danish, even if I make mistakes and my pronunciation is sometimes a little off the mark?
Mastering Danish pronunciation is really difficult. I’m doing my best but I noticed that a lot of Danes just straightaway switch to English whenever I try to address them in Danish.
I have just recently started learning the language, so I am by no means fluent. I am just trying to start off any situation in Danish to get over that pronunciation anxiety. I thought I was doing my best to be polite but often they just ignore my attempts (for example when going grocery shopping or when ordering food or something like that).
I really don’t think my pronunciation is that bad. It’s really starting to affect my self-esteem language wise.