Beginning Danish

So as the half way point in our sabbatical year approaches it feels timely to address the question "why learn Danish?" Many people I have met express great surprise that I would enroll in classes. The two main reasons being firstly most Danes speak English so you can get by here without it, and secondly given that our family moved here for a fixed short contract was it worth the hard work.

Obviously it is down to personal perspective - I am not a talented linguist but I do love to communicate and after two months in Copenhagen I found that the world around me seemed very muffled. By that I mean that all the chatter and incidental conversations on the street, train, in the supermarket etc where going on, but with no knowledge of Danish you don't understand any of it and so your brain switches off. When you combine this with the visual environment and not being able to read signs, headlines, adverts you are left with the 'internal' world of your own head. Which in itself is not a bad thing, however at times when you are living in a country not just passing though as a visitor, it can seem quite isolating.

Studying Danish intensively has been a big system shock, far greater than moving across the Atlantic to a new country and culture. But it is one with very immediate rewards. If you need to practice you can head to the fruit and vegetable markets to do your shopping. Instead of using the Dankort (Danish debit card) I buy with cash so I will have to use the numbers. As I don't live with any native speakers I feel I have to find ways to practice speaking, which often means trying to use fixed phrases in interactions, our poor postal delivery worker is often the recipient!

I also feel very lucky that as a new immigrant to Denmark the state provides the funding for learning Danish. After many years of living in the USA, this feels like a luxury to be able to study something new and not be restricted due to cost.

It has reminded me of how hard our children work at school to learn new concepts, ideas and skills. As my daughter likes to remind me "Mum it's only one class"! But I am sure my fellow students would agree, it is a time consuming process attempting to learn all these new sounds made up of unfamiliar vowels. Here is the danish alphabet in poster form:
http://www.zazzle.com/danish_alphabet_post

All Danes learn English in school starting in 3rd grade and the majority of people I have encountered really do speak excellent English. Non-danish television programs are all subtitled, so Danes hear a lot of English in their everyday lives. So arriving as a foreigner to Denmark, you do not need to learn Danish. The Danes really make it easy for us, and will effortlessly switch to English. However in spite of their bilingualism I will continue with my classes, homework and all, for it is learning in a group, even in 'baby steps' that makes it fun. 

Hav en god dag