Language
The Danish language, in short, is pretty difficult to learn. It's a Germanic based language, so if you've learned German, you might have a slightly easier time.
If you've already learned another Scandinavian language, you're pretty much good to go for Danish.
If you've learned a language like Spanish, French, Italian, etc, you're kind of out of luck for picking up Danish easily.
Arguably the single biggest reason Danish is difficult to learn is the "o" with a slash through it. It's one of 3 extra letters that Danish has over English (besides Danish not having "w"), and it's pronounced differently depending on the word. Even when it's used twice in the same word, it's sounds differently in the two parts of the word.
For me, it was nice to grow up with extended family who could speak English, but learned it as a second language. They learned it with a different fundamental structure, so picking up Danish in bits and pieces was a little easier for me. If anything, it put things in perspective.
But, you're all in luck!
1. Danish people (especially students) learn English early on, and they speak it very, very well. Sometimes they're accents are incredibly weak too, so you can barely tell they're not American.
2. DTU, in conjunction with some local organization, has a free Danish course for anyone with a CPR number. If you're up for learning a new language. They'll talk about it during Welcome Week, so make sure to look into it if you're interested.
Culture
In general, Danes are very private people. However, they are very nice. One great analogy I heard was that they're like eggs: hard on the outside, but gooey on the inside. (This sounds weird, I know, but I'd say it's pretty accurate).
If you say hi to a random person on the street, it's slighly frowned upon. You can say "hej" and they'll say "hej" back *maybe*, but it'll end there. There won't be any "how are you".
This isn't directly apparent with students, because we're still kids at heart, so to speak. We're all social. Which segways perfectly into my next point about...
...Beer. Beer is huge in Denmark, and in all of Scandinavia, for that matter. Perhaps they picked that up from the Germans. Hanging out with your fellow students over a casual beer, going out on the weekend, etc is pretty common. Remember that the drinking age there is 18, and bars are literally part of campus buildings. An interesting difference as compared to the US is that they won't drink a lot of other kinds of alcohol in between beers.
I'd say another big thing about Danes is that they're pretty environmentally conscious and friendly. You'll of course notice how many people are biking or using public transport, how few cars there are, recycling, etc. They take good care of their land.
If you want to know a little bit more about Danish culture, I recommend watching the TV show "Welcome to Sweden." You're probably thinking, this blog is supposed to be about Denmark, not Sweden. And you'd be right. Without a doubt, there are lots of difference between Denmark and Sweden. But I'd say there are quite a few common aspects as well. And hey, it's a funny show at times.
The Danish language, in short, is pretty difficult to learn. It's a Germanic based language, so if you've learned German, you might have a slightly easier time.
If you've already learned another Scandinavian language, you're pretty much good to go for Danish.
If you've learned a language like Spanish, French, Italian, etc, you're kind of out of luck for picking up Danish easily.
Arguably the single biggest reason Danish is difficult to learn is the "o" with a slash through it. It's one of 3 extra letters that Danish has over English (besides Danish not having "w"), and it's pronounced differently depending on the word. Even when it's used twice in the same word, it's sounds differently in the two parts of the word.
For me, it was nice to grow up with extended family who could speak English, but learned it as a second language. They learned it with a different fundamental structure, so picking up Danish in bits and pieces was a little easier for me. If anything, it put things in perspective.
But, you're all in luck!
1. Danish people (especially students) learn English early on, and they speak it very, very well. Sometimes they're accents are incredibly weak too, so you can barely tell they're not American.
2. DTU, in conjunction with some local organization, has a free Danish course for anyone with a CPR number. If you're up for learning a new language. They'll talk about it during Welcome Week, so make sure to look into it if you're interested.
Culture
In general, Danes are very private people. However, they are very nice. One great analogy I heard was that they're like eggs: hard on the outside, but gooey on the inside. (This sounds weird, I know, but I'd say it's pretty accurate).
If you say hi to a random person on the street, it's slighly frowned upon. You can say "hej" and they'll say "hej" back *maybe*, but it'll end there. There won't be any "how are you".
This isn't directly apparent with students, because we're still kids at heart, so to speak. We're all social. Which segways perfectly into my next point about...
...Beer. Beer is huge in Denmark, and in all of Scandinavia, for that matter. Perhaps they picked that up from the Germans. Hanging out with your fellow students over a casual beer, going out on the weekend, etc is pretty common. Remember that the drinking age there is 18, and bars are literally part of campus buildings. An interesting difference as compared to the US is that they won't drink a lot of other kinds of alcohol in between beers.
I'd say another big thing about Danes is that they're pretty environmentally conscious and friendly. You'll of course notice how many people are biking or using public transport, how few cars there are, recycling, etc. They take good care of their land.
If you want to know a little bit more about Danish culture, I recommend watching the TV show "Welcome to Sweden." You're probably thinking, this blog is supposed to be about Denmark, not Sweden. And you'd be right. Without a doubt, there are lots of difference between Denmark and Sweden. But I'd say there are quite a few common aspects as well. And hey, it's a funny show at times.
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