Danish language

So, I need to learn Danish. As far as I know the grammar is fairly similar to English and not too dificult is it? But the hardest part is the pronouncing, holy lol this language is ridiculous. But anyway... Does anyone know any tips, dvds, videos, books, sites, anything to learn it. I couldn't find anything that could teach me to at least know the basics. Any tips in general about language learning? I've learned English mostly from video games and reading WATMM. But I need to learn Danish in only few months, what should I do? Halp!

From what I've heard danish should be one of the most difficult languages to learn. I'm not sure if it's true.. I wouldn't know because it's my native language of course. But it's probably not going to be easy.

Spoken danish is quite different from the way it is writen. If I where you I would search for some podcasts or audiobooks (I don't really know any to be honest). You need to get familiar with the letters: Æ,Ø,Å. Maybe practice pronouncing them (via help from audiobooks or something similar). They can be quite hard to say for people that's never used them before.

Why do you need to learn it?

I used to know a bit because of family, not sure I can remember any though.

Read books and talk to people.

Danish sounds like you are talking with a hot potato in your mouth. Better to learn Swedish and you'll be able to be understood better in Norway and Denmark and have a much easier job to pick up these languages.

  On 3/27/2012 at 9:08 PM, Npoess said:

From what I've heard danish should be one of the most difficult languages to learn. I'm not sure if it's true.. I wouldn't know because it's my native language of course. But it's probably not going to be easy.

 

Spoken danish is quite different from the way it is writen. If I where you I would search for some podcasts or audiobooks (I don't really know any to be honest). You need to get familiar with the letters: Æ,Ø,Å. Maybe practice pronouncing them (via help from audiobooks or something similar). They can be quite hard to say for people that's never used them before.

 

Why do you need to learn it?

I'm going to study in Denmark and I'll have to pass "Studieprøven i dansk" at grade 4 to get there. Do you know what that is? It should be just really basic things as far as I understand.

I already know those 3 letters, what is unimaginable for me is how they skip words and letters and instead of a 6 letter word just say something between "a" "o" and "q",

  On 3/27/2012 at 9:25 PM, azatoth said:

Danish sounds like you are talking with a hot potato in your mouth.

Haha, exacly my impression.

as good a time as any to post this again

My mother is danish so i know it pretty well, just send me a PM if you need any help ! :)

Even though Norwegian and Danish have 80% of the same words, I really have big problems understanding the spoken language. Good luck!

norwegian is way way easier to understand for me as a swede than danish, you could just as well be speaking icelandic. i'll be able to pick out a word here and there, but overall it's just noise.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m5_mlbT6SYg

danish it a bit IDM

Finnish is braindance then :)

  On 3/27/2012 at 9:56 PM, data said:

as good a time as any to post this again

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8_iixmqSBQw

I can't even understand what they say in english except the fat dude, but it's ridiculous anyway.

  On 3/27/2012 at 9:01 PM, Adam Beker said:

(...) But I need to learn Danish in only few months, what should I do? Halp!

As Dropp/Nopesssseses said, it's likely to be one of the languages with the steepest learning curve. I seriously doubt that you'll be able to actually speak and even communicate on a basic level with only a few months practice and without a Dane present to guide you through. I'm not saying that it's impossible, some people have a knack for learning languages really fast, but the pronunciation is without a doubt the biggest bitch about learning the language.

And I honestly am unsure what "grade 4" is referring to. It could be the 4th grade in Folkeskole (Public school), which, for a person with zero knowledge of Danish or any other Scandinavian language, is quite difficult.

I am willing to help if possible.

What will you be studying then?

Are you sure it's that hard? I mean, I've been learning it for about a week and gramatically it seems very similar to English. This helps a lot. The pronunciation is the bitch though, yea.

I'll be studying sound design, hopefully. What is fun here that I'm not sure if I'll be accepted, but if I want to study I need to learn Danish but if I won't be accepted I'm going to waste a lot of time.... I'm willing to risk though.

Danish is my favourite of the scandinavian languages, they have a lot of word-play and strange expressions/sayings that I adore. It makes me laugh. yeh.

Obligatory

You should just learn Old Norse and extrapolate from there, projecting a thousand years of linguistic drift to arrive at correct Danish phonemes.

hey Baker, that's kewl, how are you learning at the moment? what's yr method?

computer is crucial (so IDM..) because dictionary/translator/PDFs/films

i'm learning a language too at the moment (in a short timespan). immersion yo.

lol baph. i did some norwegian back when i decided to go to grad school in Tromso (didn't happen)

also, what level are you aiming for? B2, C1?

  On 3/28/2012 at 6:55 AM, Adam Beker said:

Are you sure it's that hard? I mean, I've been learning it for about a week and gramatically it seems very similar to English. This helps a lot. The pronunciation is the bitch though, yea.

 

I'll be studying sound design, hopefully. What is fun here that I'm not sure if I'll be accepted, but if I want to study I need to learn Danish but if I won't be accepted I'm going to waste a lot of time.... I'm willing to risk though.

Sound design as the audio design thing in Aarhus? Or are you going to copenhagen?

  On 3/28/2012 at 6:55 AM, Adam Beker said:

Are you sure it's that hard? I mean, I've been learning it for about a week and gramatically it seems very similar to English. This helps a lot. The pronunciation is the bitch though, yea.

 

I'll be studying sound design, hopefully. What is fun here that I'm not sure if I'll be accepted, but if I want to study I need to learn Danish but if I won't be accepted I'm going to waste a lot of time.... I'm willing to risk though.

I'd say it's quite hard, but definitely not impossible.

Sound design, very nice.

  On 3/28/2012 at 8:43 AM, Gocab said:

Danish is my favourite of the scandinavian languages, they have a lot of word-play and strange expressions/sayings that I adore. It makes me laugh. yeh.

Like "Der er kommunister i lysthuset" = "There are communists in the funhouse". Slang for period.

  On 3/28/2012 at 12:31 PM, isakk said:

  On 3/28/2012 at 6:55 AM, Adam Beker said:

Are you sure it's that hard? I mean, I've been learning it for about a week and gramatically it seems very similar to English. This helps a lot. The pronunciation is the bitch though, yea.

 

I'll be studying sound design, hopefully. What is fun here that I'm not sure if I'll be accepted, but if I want to study I need to learn Danish but if I won't be accepted I'm going to waste a lot of time.... I'm willing to risk though.

 

Sound design as the audio design thing in Aarhus? Or are you going to copenhagen?

None of these, Haderslev. Hopefully. I really hope I'll make it.

  On 3/28/2012 at 11:50 AM, iep said:

hey Baker, that's kewl, how are you learning at the moment? what's yr method?

 

 

 

computer is crucial (so IDM..) because dictionary/translator/PDFs/films

 

i'm learning a language too at the moment (in a short timespan). immersion yo.

 

lol baph. i did some norwegian back when i decided to go to grad school in Tromso (didn't happen)

I'm just reading various sites and reading random things. It doesn't seem too hard, I'm thinking about getting some movies with Danish subtitles, that helped me a lot with English.

  On 3/28/2012 at 12:27 PM, iep said:

also, what level are you aiming for? B2, C1?

I dunno, I guess the lowest one. Hope so at least.

You should watch terkel i knibe with english subtitles. it teaches you a lot of useable stuff.

  On 3/27/2012 at 9:35 PM, Adam Beker said:

I'm going to study in Denmark and I'll have to pass "Studieprøven i dansk" at grade 4 to get there. Do you know what that is? It should be just really basic things as far as I understand.

 

I already know those 3 letters, what is unimaginable for me is how they skip words and letters and instead of a 6 letter word just say something between "a" "o" and "q",

  On 3/27/2012 at 9:25 PM, azatoth said:

Danish sounds like you are talking with a hot potato in your mouth.

 

Haha, exacly my impression.

It's a exam foreigners have to take to get into the danish education system I guess, not sure. And if it's 4th grade it should be pretty basic. But you probably know more about it than me.

I'm not sure I understand what you mean. The danish language has a lot of "invisible" letters in words. Letters that are inside the word, but you don't say them. That can probably be bit confusing for beginners. But don't worry, you will get used to it. I

I'm probably not the world's best teacher, and I don't know how you're supposed to learn it. But I will happily help you if you should find it necessary, just pm me then.

Also... Yeah... Put a huge potato in your mouth, you will learn it a lot quicker that way

  On 3/28/2012 at 4:14 PM, kaen said:

the danish one looks like squee