But they don’t really have the experience of studying it, so how would they know? They also seem to have incredible difficulties in picking up what someone is trying to say who has an accent. For those of you who are not in Denmark there are many online Danish language courses available, as well as audio language courses. Start by learning a few phrases and getting to grips with the key aspects of pronunciation. Learn Danish twice as fast with your FREE gifts of the month including PDF lessons, vocabulary lists and much more! There are a lot of cognates between Danish and English. Compared to other Scandinavian languages, like Norwegian and Swedish, Danish is a tricky language to learn. These can be a great way to get yourself started in learning Danish. The Danish language is not considered to be overly hard to learn compared with other languages. © 2008-2020 Danishnet.com. You are not likely to think of the language as smooth, romantic, or elegant. The difficulty lies in that numbers above 20 are reversed when spoken. But a video might make it a little clearer. Introduction to Danish Pronunciation You might have been told that Danish is hard to learn, but when people say this, what they are really referring to is the pronunciation. No you don’t, so learn their language. In fact, Norwegian and Swedish took the top two spots. .danish-rwd-top { display:inline-block; width: 25px; height: 25px; } Watch something Danish. It is also important to know that the Danish alphabet has 3 extra letters at the end of their alphabet compared with the the Engish alphabet. They’ll tell you about the Queen’s husband, a Frenchman who’s not mastered the Danish tongue even though he’s been in the country for over 50 years. (Read my advice for self–studying Danish). eval(ez_write_tag([[300,250],'autolingual_com-large-mobile-banner-2','ezslot_8',118,'0','0'])); Danish is not difficult at all, so don’t be scared by the stories the Danish people like to tell you! Then there’s German, which takes 25% longer than Danish to learn, Hindi and Russian take something like twice as long to learn and languages like Arabic or Chinese take a whooping 4 times longer than Danish. 10. They of course can be excused for this. So go for it! Listen to … See how we do it. They simply haven't had the experience of hearing many different people from around the world attempt to speak their language. Well – you need to take the number “600 hours” with a grain of salt. Learning Danish – Is learning Danish difficult? Danish is also flatter and more monotonous than English. However, speaking … Danish is no exception, and it might actually be one of the easier ones to learn. Newcomers to Denmark might recognise the warning often … It can be a little distracting, but with some practice you will get used to it. This of course can be very frustrating for anyone who is trying to learn Danish, but it can be very comforting to anyone who simply wants to have a conversation without the misunderstandings. In fact immigrants to Denmark are required to go to one of these courses (this does not apply to work permit carriers, student visa carriers, nor EU passport carriers). But, this doesn’t make the overall language learning experience hard. However, after the number 20 the numbering system does become  difficult for someone who does not have experience with such a numbering system. For example: I am 'thirty eight' years old ends up being directly translated as: I am 'eight and thirty' years old. Reaching for an English-sounding word when speaking Danish can be tempting, but you have to be completely sure that the meaning is the same in Danish, or you might end up offering people poison rather than presents. @media (min-width:825px) { .danish-rwd-top { width: 728px; height: 90px; } } They are known for dividing the languages that they teach into categories of the time needed to learn the language. Pronunciation. Bite-sized Danish … According to The Foreign Service Institute, the Danish language is a “category 1” in terms of the amount of time needed to learn it. Danish, Swedish, and Norwegian are all very beautiful, but choosing which … Why this should be the case escapes me, but the people who think so speak of unnamed scientific research and second-hand anecdotes. It’s really just a kind of vanity. I was told right at the beginning that the only way to learn … @media (max-width: 400px) { .danish-rwd-top { display: none; } } (The Norwegians and Swedes like to tease the Danish by saying that they speak with a hot potato in their mouths). They put Danish in the lowest category. If you know English, you will notice many cognates right at the start, and it is relatively easy to learn … Making a decision and getting your feet wet will be the start of an exiting journey. But the 600 hours estimate allows us to compare Danish with other languages. Or they’ll mention their foreign neighbor or evoke how … 14.08.2020 There are many reasons why you might wish to learn Danish – whether it's because you are planning a holiday in Denmark, for love, for professional … Miscellaneous Pronunciation Issues. Whether you are trying to learn the whole language or you would just like to learn a couple useful words and phrases your efforts will be appreciated. Several years ago I left Denmark to go to Berlin to learn and study german. In other words, difficult to get your tongue around. That number is based on intensive classroom learning, while following FSI’s program to the letter. If you started last year, you could have been fluent today! Learn Danish with DanishClass101.com 220,093 views Yes, we have crowned Danish as the least hard of the hardest languages. Although not technically "language", be forewarned that the Danish numbering system can be difficult to master. I was once told that the only way to truly learn a new language is the pillow way. One 'hundred and sixty four' would be 'one hundred, four and sixty'. If you ask the Danes, however, you’ll get another answer! As you start taking tentative steps to speak Danish you meet the frustration of speaking Danish … However, speaking Danish is a different story. Learning Danish will probably always be an ongoing process,” says Norkka. You also get BONUS Audio Lessons here at DanishClass101. eval(ez_write_tag([[336,280],'autolingual_com-box-3','ezslot_9',151,'0','0']));So you want to learn Danish and be able to speak with the Danes in their native, strange language. One thing is that Danish adds a few extra letters to the Latin alphabet, like Æ, Ø and Å, and pronounces the “r” a little like a weak form of the French R. eval(ez_write_tag([[250,250],'autolingual_com-medrectangle-4','ezslot_4',113,'0','0'])); There’s also the glottal stop, called “stød” in Danish which is a way of pronouncing certain words. By using this website, you acknowledge that you have read and agreed to all the terms of our privacy policy and legal disclaimer. It’s a long hard struggle to learn Danish. Learn Danish in just 5 minutes a day with our game-like lessons. There is certainly nothing wrong with this system. Learn Danish in 30 Minutes - ALL the Basics You Need - Duration: 22:16. If you ask the native speaker of almost any language, they’ll tell you why their language is hard. Danish is a hard language to learn, but with some practice and enthusiasm you can do it. The best way to learn Danish, in my opinion, is in a class. “The course was intense, there was a lot to take in” says Miriam, an American student majoring in Danish and Film, before adding that it was a great way to meet new people. Hard to pronounce. I personally believe that you can learn Danish faster by yourself than by taking an intensive course. Assuming that one’s language is the world’s hardest is extremely common. Not very difficult for English speaker. Danes do not have this ability. In fact, Norwegian, Danish and … If you want to spice up your Danish learning game, you should start watching Danish series. I hope that this little article has cleared some things up for you. In addition, if you have a smart phone or tablet you can use Google Translate as needed. And like those languages, Danish has relatively simple grammar concepts and shares plenty of cognates with English. 2. Words sound … It is not generally harder than languages like German, French … In my opinion, you can learn any language easily if only you put in the time. The Danes. When you’re learning Danish, you get used to these new ideas and … The Danes consider their language very hard! Not only do they tend to be able to speak English, but they're also very willing to use it. A great part of the grammar is related and much of the vocabulary will look like English.eval(ez_write_tag([[580,400],'autolingual_com-medrectangle-3','ezslot_3',112,'0','0'])); The two languages do, in fact, share a great deal of history, which explains many of these similarities. The Danish language is certainly not one of the prettiest sounding languages in the world. A pocket Danish-English dictionary is a very useful tool. I’ve written a separate article about the time it takes to learn Danish that you might be interested in reading.eval(ez_write_tag([[300,250],'autolingual_com-large-mobile-banner-1','ezslot_7',117,'0','0'])); If you ask the Danes, however, you’ll get another answer! Almost all of them live in Denmark and good part of them speak pretty good English. Danish has only nine verb forms, including the passiv… Generally Danes are very good at speaking English. Always Updated. “There are many mute syllables in Danish. As native Danish speakers we kinda like to let all the sounds "merge" together, as much as possible, into a short smoothed out sentence. I’ve often heard Danish people speak of their own language as one of the hardest languages to learn in the world! The prince (who has now passed) could maybe have benefited from a stronger focus on pronunciation and grammar. Learn Danish vocabulary, phrases and words FAST with TONS of FREE lessons! There are a few aspects of Danish that are hard to learn. Each number has it's own individual name. It should also be mentioned that Danes also have difficulties in understanding each other. It is difficult learning Danish. So why is Danish on this list of hardest languages? There is obviously a reason for it. Danish is said to be the hardest Scandinavian language to learn because of its speaking patterns. Norwegian, Swedish, and Danish are the three most natural languages for English speakers to pick up. Don’t put off learning Danish. “Danish has an extremely high number of vowels – an analysis has shown that it has four times as many vowel sounds as Italian, for example – so many people will find it difficult to learn the difference between Danish … Start learning Danish today! It is generally spoken more quickly and more softly than other Scandinavian languages. In this post, we break down some factors that make Spanish difficult—and some that make it super easy—to learn. For the Dane, this is an opportunity to improve their English. It's a "meat and potatoes" language. If you are attempting to speak Danish with a Dane and there is even the slightest stall or hesitation in your conversation and they know that you can speak English they will switch to English. You can also learn more about the Danish Alphabet. All of these things are mostly just words. This sounds like quite the challenge, but you’ve actually faced the problem before: If you want to check out what Danish sounds like, try listening to these short dialogues I recorded. You can decide for yourself how difficult learning … Add to that the fact that most words are only pronounced in half, leaving out many of the letters that make them up.eval(ez_write_tag([[250,250],'autolingual_com-box-4','ezslot_5',114,'0','0'])); There’s a huge difference between how Danish is written and how it’s actually pronounced, and there’s not a lot of rules to help you figure it out. 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