I’ve been taking the module 1 Danish language class for English speakers all semester. The course is not affiliated with RSLIS. I was able to take module 1 for free since the municipality pays for non-EU citizens to study the local language. On Tuesday I took the test and surprisingly I passed! The requirements were very low, however. The test consisted of 2 parts. Part 1 involves either giving a summary (in Danish) of one of 3 second-grade level Danish books OR describing yourself (in Danish). You would draw from a hat which one you’d do, so you had to prepare for all 4 possibilities.

The second part involved asking and answering questions (in Danish) about a photograph we brought in. Altogether the test was very informal and was supposed to last less than 10 minutes. I was nervous all the same, lol. Since I was in Turkey on the official test date, I arranged to be tested as soon as I came back, this past Tuesday. It was just me and the instructor. I ended up having to talk about one of the 3 books, and then of course my photo.

The instructor (whose name is Jacob) said that I had given one of the best presentations of that particular book he’d ever heard. That was surprising, because I was definitely not the best student in the class. He also said my command of the grammar was very good, but that I shouldn’t be nervous when speaking Danish. And of course my pronunciation and accent were terrible, but they don’t expect module 1 students to be able to pronounce words properly. All they care about is whether you can express yourself in simple, continuous Danish.

So Jacob said he’d mail my module 1 certificate to the States. I will continue with Module 2 when I return to Denmark in the future (I’m hoping to).

I can say that reading those second-grade level books has dramatically increased my vocabulary and understanding of the language. I can recognize infinitives, plurals, adjectives, conjunctions, 3 basic tenses and definite articles. When I see something written in Danish I can figure it out, the simpler the better, with the help of my English-Danish dictionary. But I cannot carry on a conversation in Danish. It’s still very hard to understand spoken Danish. I can pick up words and phrases but native speakers talk so quickly and slur their words together, it’s very difficult to follow. Whenever I try to order food in Danish, the cashiers immediately switch to English because they can tell I’m not a native speaker. Or, if they don’t switch to English, they ask me questions in Danish which I can’t understand, meaning we have to switch to English anyway.

While I’m at home in the States I will definitely continue to study Danish and increase my vocabulary. I’m serious about learning the language, but it will take lots of time and patience. I may even start a blog about it to stay motivated, we’ll see! I’m tired of English, really. I need a new language to express myself in. :-)

So I’ve been in Copenhagen for a month already! Yesterday I went to a lecture at Copenhagen University; the class is a course in Danish culture. Yesterday’s lecture was about mythology and legends. It was pretty interesting! I am not enrolled in the class so it felt kind of funny to sit there, but it was a large lecture class and so people probably thought I was enrolled. The lecture hall was very stylish, by the way. If I go again I’ll try to take some pictures. It’s true that the Danish people seem to love well-designed and stylish buildings. At least,  it seems true from what I’ve seen so far in Copenhagen!

Well, on to the purpose of this entry. Here are some Danish words I’ve picked up from my first month of living in Copenhagen. It is far easier for me to read them than to pronounce them, though. I can get by with speaking English, but it is fun to try to understand the local language.

First, a little about Danish:

• The Danish alphabet – the Danish alphabet uses the same 26 letters that the English language does, plus 3 vowels that do not occur in English. These vowels are represented by Æ (with lowercase æ); Ø (with lowercase ø); and Å (lowercase å). They come at the end of the alphabet, after “Z”, in the order I’ve presented them.
• So, “æ” is pronounced close to “e” in English word “best”
• “ø” is pronounced close to the “i” sound in the English word “bird”
• “å” is prounounced like “o” in “coke” or “often.”

Some Danish words I picked up this past month (note – many of these words look similar to English but are pronounced totally different):

• Days of the week (in order): mandag, tirsdag, onsdag, torsdag, fredag, lørdag & søndag.
  • I’ve noticed that days of the week are not capitalized when used within a sentence.
• dag = day
• i dag = today
• og = and
• med = with
  • I’ve even seen “m/grøntsager” meaning “with vegetables”, the same way we would write “w/vegetables” in English!
• mod = against
• tryk = push (I’ve seen it on doors)
• udgang = exit
• adgang = entrance
• grøntsager = vegetables
• kort = card
• næste = next
• til = to (as in “going to some location”) or can also mean “until”
• klokken = “at …. o’clock”; for example, the time for my kitchen’s weekly dinner is written on the board as Kl.19:00, meaning 7:00 p.m.
• åben = open
• på = on; at; in
• parkering = parking
• øl = beer
• løg = onion
• have = garden
• hvidløg = garlic
• vask = washing
• vaskeri = laundry
• varm = hot or warm
• lufthavn = airport
• luft = air or sky
• frugt = fruit

Well, it’s Tuesday afternoon, so come tomorrow I’ll have been here exactly a week. A lot has happened since I arrived, and it’s been a whirlwind. Sometimes I feel as though I’m in way over my head and wonder, “what was I thinking, coming this far from home for so long?” and other times I’m so excited to be here and try to relish the experience as much as I can! So let’s see, since I have so much to update and I’m too lazy to write out long paragraphs, I’m going to resort to what I call the “bulleted-list” update. The text will be fragmentary, but no less informative! Without further ado… Read the rest of this entry »