Advice for Danish

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Zarkos
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Re: Advice for Danish

Postby Zarkos » Thu Oct 13, 2016 7:21 pm

Speakeasy wrote:Please note that I have not studied Danish and that I have no intention of doing so. Nonetheless, it is possible that Zarkos will find solace in the following discussion thread:

Danish Pronunciation guide
http://forum.language-learners.org/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=1962

Thanks for this. It is interesting to read that other Danish learners struggle with the same problem. I found some of the resources very interesting.
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Zarkos
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Re: Advice for Danish

Postby Zarkos » Sat Oct 15, 2016 3:44 pm

Susanne157 wrote:Hello Zarkos,

Then a strange thing happended: In the beginning I spoke a mixture of Danish and Norwegain but it never felt right. Then, slowly, the Danish began to fade. Actually I don't know why but I can't speak it anymore. There comes only Norwegian out. But this happend almost automativally while experiencing immersion of the language.

So its probably not so much help for you but that is my experience wth learning two scandinavian languages. I remember that I listed to the radio every day. Maybe its a question of time? However both Swedish and Danish are beautiful!

Susanne


Hello Susanne,

Thank you for sharing this interesting experience with me. I would really like to keep my Swedish alive, even though my focus is at the moment on Danish. I like sound of Swedish, I enjoy listening to it and also speaking it. Danish became part of my life suddenly, and i did not like how does it sound initially. But i got used to it, and fell in love with it. It became very important for me and i will give my best to learn it very well. Will i succeed ? We will see soon :) Swedish still sounds more pleasant to me.
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Re: Advice for Danish

Postby limey75 » Thu Oct 20, 2016 2:18 pm

I used this book years ago to get a solid reading knowledge of Danish:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Danish-Element ... bredsdorff

If you're really serious think about this too:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Danish-Compreh ... sh+grammar
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Zarkos
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Re: Advice for Danish

Postby Zarkos » Thu Apr 13, 2017 5:19 pm

Hi,
It is time to revive this topic. I am now in Denmark and most likely will stay here for a long time. Moving to Denmark pushed Danish in the center of my language learning activities. Second language that i want to improve is Hungarian. During the next 100 days i will be able to use cc.500 hours for language learning. I decided to invest 330 hours in Danish and 170 hours in Hungarian. My current level of Danish is probably B1+ for reading and listening but on the contrary my active skills are very low, almost non existant. My Hungarian is a bit more balanced, for two years ago it was B1, but now it is not above A2 because I did not use it at all.
I would like to ask more experianced learners for advice in regards to strategy and metodology of learning during next 100 days. What would you do in order to get the most out of your learning?
Of course, i will keep learning both languages after 100 days , bit i estimate that i will not have more than 2.5 hours daily for learning.
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Iversen
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Re: Advice for Danish

Postby Iversen » Thu Apr 13, 2017 8:22 pm

The advice I normally give in this situation is the following: ask us Danes to speak clearly and slowly and NOT in English. Danish spoken clearly and slowly is fairly close to the written form. Danish spoken in the usual way definitely isn't - and one thing more: old films are much easier to understand that those made today.
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Zarkos
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Re: Advice for Danish

Postby Zarkos » Fri Apr 14, 2017 10:42 am

Thanks Iversen. I am more fond of books and especially audio bookes than movies but i will give them a try. Could you recommend some book that would help me to understand better Danish culture, Danish way of thinking and esence of Danish being? I can find a bunch of novels and crimies in the local store but i would like to give a try to something new. You gave me a great idea - whenever i meet a new person here my first sentance will be : '' Jeg taler ikke engelsk''.
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Re: Advice for Danish

Postby Elsa Maria » Fri Apr 14, 2017 1:40 pm

Hi. I am a native English speaker who lived in Denmark for a few years. I only moved back to the USA some months ago. I lived in Nordylland, so I am pretty sure that is the accent I speak with. Supposedly, this accent can be a bit harder to understand than "Copenhagen Danish," but I don't really know :)

The Queen also speaks very clear Danish, and you can listen to her New Year's speeches (nytårstaler) on YouTube and get the transcripts on the Kongehuset web site:
http://kongehuset.dk/monarkiet-i-danmar ... ytarstaler

She also narrated a H.C. Andersen films that is available on YouTube (Snedronningen), and it sticks closely to the written tale so it is relatively easy to follow.

ETA: Oops, I sort of accidentally skipped over the fact that you prefer books. Well, I also have a book called Gud Bevare Danmark by Kristian Jessen & Jeppe Facius with the Queen's speeches and analysis of them.
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Re: Advice for Danish

Postby Iversen » Sat Apr 15, 2017 8:49 am

A general book about Denmark ... that's not easy, or rather: it is easy, but there are just too many (and none that totally outshines any other attempt). Instead I'll refer people interested in this country to check a new series on Danish television (DR) - and you shouldn't expect the access to be open forever. Actually I don't know whether people outside Denmark can watch the programs in the DR archives, but please tell me about your experiences in that direction.

The series is called "Historien om Danmark", and it is a partly dramatized history program which so far by and large isn't too bad. I do however doubt that the resident hunter gatherers really did welcome the first salesperson from abroad who arrived with a pot full of cereals and some vague golden promises about heaven on earth, but it would also have been a political statement to tell the alternative version, namely that agricultural invaders might have established an inland colony somewhere without asking for permission, and the oyster eating køkkenmødding dwellers didn't care as long as the foreigners did it far from the nearest coast. And when they did discover the new farmer community it was too late.

The link is here.
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Re: Advice for Danish

Postby AlOlaf » Sat Apr 15, 2017 6:11 pm

For bonus exposure, you can watch the synstolkning versions of the "Historien om Danmark" episodes. In these, a woman uses the narration-less spaces to verbally describe whatever visual action's going on, so there's somebody talking Danish at all times.

Here's a link to the synstolkning version of the first episode.
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Zarkos
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Re: Advice for Danish

Postby Zarkos » Sat Apr 15, 2017 9:04 pm

Elsa Maria wrote:Hi. I am a native English speaker who lived in Denmark for a few years. I only moved back to the USA some months ago. I lived in Nordylland, so I am pretty sure that is the accent I speak with. Supposedly, this accent can be a bit harder to understand than "Copenhagen Danish," but I don't really know :)

The Queen also speaks very clear Danish, and you can listen to her New Year's speeches (nytårstaler) on YouTube and get the transcripts on the Kongehuset web site:
http://kongehuset.dk/monarkiet-i-danmar ... ytarstaler

She also narrated a H.C. Andersen films that is available on YouTube (Snedronningen), and it sticks closely to the written tale so it is relatively easy to follow.

ETA: Oops, I sort of accidentally skipped over the fact that you prefer books. Well, I also have a book called Gud Bevare Danmark by Kristian Jessen & Jeppe Facius with the Queen's speeches and analysis of them.

Thanks for recommendations. I listened to one of queen's speeches and found it interesting. I decided to listen to one of them every day. It will be interesting to see which topics changed over the time and which are repeating from time to time.
Funny thing is that I live not that far away from the place where you have been living for years. Namely , I live in Midtjylland and probably will pick up same dialect like you ☺
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