Danish ....

[hoolahoop]

I'm trying to learn this language and it's hellish to get a grasp of .
Reading it with a working knowledge of German and some Swedish ; I can almost understand a lot of what I see . However ' spoken ' Danish both in terms of speed and pronounciation seems nigh on impossible .... It's unintelligible !

Has anyone on here managed to master this language, which on the surface appears possible but rendered nigh on impossible unless spoken very very slowly  ? 

[Bentley Bullet]

All foreign languages are double dutch to me. Why can't everybody just speak English? Bloody laziness if you ask me.

[hoolahoop]

All foreign languages are double dutch to me. Why can't everybody just speak English? Bloody laziness if you ask me.

     
Haha Bentley that's what the Danes think too, even they struggle with it even the numbers aren't simple . The sounds of the numbers bear little resemblence to the written word .

[Jenny]

My friend has been living in Denmark for 2 years with regular lessons and still hasn't mastered it.

[drfchound]

I'm trying to learn this language and it's hellish to get a grasp of .
Reading it with a working knowledge of German and some Swedish ; I can almost understand a lot of what I see . However ' spoken ' Danish both in terms of speed and pronounciation seems nigh on impossible .... It's unintelligible !

Has anyone on here managed to master this language, which on the surface appears possible but rendered nigh on impossible unless spoken very very slowly  ?

I wonder whether the local dialect where you are has anything to do with you struggling to pick up what is being said.
It would be like someone from another country learning the Queens English and then going to somewhere where a strong local accent is prominent, like in say, Barnsley or Newcastle or Cornwall.

[hoolahoop]

Good thinking hound but I haven't gone out there yet , daughter goes in July so health/ money  permitting I intend to get out there and feel the Scandinavian vibes at much as possible It's infuriating as a lot of it looks like German even Swedish but once you hear it spoken it could be from the Planet Zog ; I understand the regional variations are all but impossible for those from Copenhagen to follow too . 5.3 million people that seemingly find theirselves more at home speaking English imagine us feeling more at home speaking French !
I wonder if we could annex them .....There's a thought

[hoolahoop]

My friend has been living in Denmark for 2 years with regular lessons and still hasn't mastered it.

Jenny , I know Dutch, Swedish / Norwegian are difficult to get to grips with in terms of their vowel sounds but this is more guttural, strangled in the throat stuff almost like the words can't get out of your mouth.
Your friend has my sympathy but I'm told should manage if she can slow them down a bit - I hope she doesn't need to be fluent in the language for work purposes.
I love learning languages but have so far managed to give this one a wide berth .......trust our young'un. Lol

[BillyStubbsTears]

Hoola

A mate of mine who is well versed in other languages tells me that Danish is the hardest language he’s ever come across. Identically spelled words with subtly different pronunciations end up with wildly different meanings.

Sounds a bit like trying to communicate with someone from Barnsley.

[darren61]

I worked in Denmark for over two years and came home with very little Danish, i was going out with a Danish girl while i was there and i could never even pronounce her name properly, it was spelt Bridget but involved a strangled gargle somewhere in the middle when saying it, i just called her love.

[hoolahoop]

I worked in Denmark for over two years and came home with very little Danish, i was going out with a Danish girl while i was there and i could never even pronounce her name properly, it was spelt Bridget but involved a strangled gargle somewhere in the middle when saying it, i just called her love.

Darren that is so funny , that sounds even worse than Billy's mate who says its like understanding Dingleese. 
You can imagine her saying " darling why don't you ever call me by my name ? " and him replying something like " when we really love girls in Yorkshire,  we call them lass or love NEVER  by their name.....now where's me Carlsberg ?  " PMSL.

[Colemans Left Hook]

really weird this i,ve just posted  about Middelfart football club on the "who will you be watching thread" and i see this


watching them on the internet  you can listen to the Danish crowd as we all know the best way is to "slice the bacon" with a Danish girlfriend

[hoolahoop]

really weird this i,ve just posted  about Middelfart football club on the "who will you be watching thread" and i see this


watching them on the internet  you can listen to the Danish crowd as we all know the best way is to "slice the bacon" with a Danish girlfriend

Great name CLH.

[bahrain rover]

Tagalog the Philippines national language is a bugger also. And to top that off they have over 200 regional languages as well.

[hoolahoop]

I think I will give that a wide berth then too.

[Metalmicky]

I worked in Denmark for over two years and came home with very little Danish, i was going out with a Danish girl while i was there and i could never even pronounce her name properly, it was spelt Bridget but involved a strangled gargle somewhere in the middle when saying it, i just called her love.

I also lived and worked in Denmark (Viborg) for 2.5 years and had a Danish girlfriend.  My problem was that because the Danes speak such good English, I never needed to master the language...... other than the odd 'tak for det' (thanks for that) or 'selk tak' (you're welcome)..... or the ever useful 'Jeg taler ikke dansk' (I don't speak Danish)..... 

I got by without issues though - thanks in the main to the lovely people of Denmark, who were ever so patient and helpful.

[bobjimwilly]

I recently translated a website for work into Danish using Google translate - just simple things like help text and button text.
One of our clients in Denmark asked us to change it back to English as it made no sense and they would prefer to do it for us 

[Pancho Regan]

My niece's ex-boyfriend was Danish and I asked him if he could teach me a few words.

Two weeks intensive studying later, I learnt how to say one short phrase "en fjre bliver til fem hons" ..... which roughly translated means "One feather becomes 5 hens".

It has come in handy on numerous occasions......

[hoolahoop]

I worked in Denmark for over two years and came home with very little Danish, i was going out with a Danish girl while i was there and i could never even pronounce her name properly, it was spelt Bridget but involved a strangled gargle somewhere in the middle when saying it, i just called her love.

I also lived and worked in Denmark (Viborg) for 2.5 years and had a Danish girlfriend.  My problem was that because the Danes speak such good English, I never needed to master the language...... other than the odd 'tak for det' (thanks for that) or 'selk tak' (you're welcome)..... or the ever useful 'Jeg taler ikke dansk' (I don't speak Danish)..... 

I got by without issues though - thanks in the main to the lovely people of Denmark, who were ever so patient and helpful.

Thanks MM that's a useful start .