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Why learn Danish over other language? | ||
Tags: Danish | Reasons for study | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Specific Languages |  | |
| Juan M. Senior Member Colombia Joined 5891 days ago 460 posts - 597 votes  | Message 41 of 59 28 October 2009 at 4:17pm | IP Logged | |||||||||||
I don't really expect to ever visit Scandinavia (no money). What I'm interested in is its society, and learning one of its languages would be the way to get to know it, through books and movies/TV/radio. I'm intrigued by the concept of trust you mentioned earlier, by how people are willing to observe rules without being coerced, by their economic system featuring the benefits of the free marketplace coupled with effective redistribution, by consultation and consensus between management and labor, by the mitigation of wholesale greed. I'd also like to know how this idyll can generate as well such evils as sympathy and support of brutal terrorists and torturers across the ocean. From what I've seen, all these qualities are more distinctly present in Denmark than in its two Scandinavian neighbors.
I listened to a short sample, and it does seem a little soft. For some moments I even thought I was listening to Mandarin!
I'd rather learn a single one well.
That is an important point. I wonder if Sweden's cultural production reflects its demographic advantage. Edited by Juan M. on 28 October 2009 at 4:22pm 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||||||||
| Rikyu-san Diglot Senior Member Denmark Joined 5520 days ago 213 posts - 413 votes Speaks: Danish*, English Studies: German, French | Message 42 of 59 28 October 2009 at 7:34pm | IP Logged | |||||||||||
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If you want to learn Swedish, you can study FSI Swedish (for free here: www.fsi-language-courses.org).
However, if you want to know about hygge (which even in its modern form is extremely nice) than Danish and Norwegian are the languages to go for. To go beneath the surface and study ancient Danish history, you can go to www.verasir.dk and read about the migration of the aesir tribe that came to Denmark about 50 CE. In fact, if you go to the website you will see a drawing of a man in a red suit that might remind you of Santa Claus, and (at risk of being lauged at by the uninitiated), it is indeed, no, not Santa, as he does not exist, but Jólnir, the Lord of Yule/Julen that will always exist. In ancient times, Christmas (litterally: Christ's mass - they even tried to call it "Kristmesse" (Krist messe being exactly the same as Christ mass)) but luckily they didn't succeed was celebrated as a winter solstice celebration - a few days after the shortest day when the first signs of the return of the Sun was visible in the winter sky. It was, and has always been, called "Julen". So, Christmas in Denmark is still called "Juleaften" (with a soft J like y in "you") and is celebrated on the eve of December 24th ("aften" means "evening"). (We even have a "Little Juleaften" on the eve of December 23rd and we do it this way because it is a custom that dates back from a time when night preceeded day). So Christmas, of course, predates Christianity - as the festival of the Winter Solstice and the return of hope and new life and new possibilities of realization. But anyway, at this time of the year, the chieftain of the tribe, called Odin (like the god Odin) would do a ceremony in which he played the role of Jólnir, the Lord of Yule. He would don ceremonial robes in the guise of the warrior god (think of Mars) and of course those robes were - red. He would then handle out almonds and nuts to his trusted henchmen who had served him well throughout the year - these sweets were called "Júlegeuf" (juleguf in contemporary Danish) and were a token of gratitude for battles/the battle of life fought well in the year that had passed. At the same time of the year, the shaman of the tribe would build a sweat hut with a hole on top so the smoke could escape. He would then climb into the hut from above (through the hole) and go on a shamanic journey to visit our forefathers so that he could get presents of wisdom that were useful for the tribe for the coming year. Thus, after the trip he would emerge from the hole on top of the sweat hut and give the presents of wisdom to the tribesmen. This is why Santa Claus enters the house through the chimney (of all places) and leaves the same way. So Santa Claus, as we know him, is really two persons merged into one. Doesn't this just want you to learn more? :-) Edited by Rikyu-san on 28 October 2009 at 7:40pm 8 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||||||||
| Halie Diglot Groupie United States Joined 6102 days ago 80 posts - 106 votes Speaks: English*, French | Message 43 of 59 10 November 2009 at 8:23am | IP Logged | |||||||||||
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Well, my great-grandfather was Danish, and I suppose that makes me one-eighth Danish. Now, I know that doesn't sound like a lot, but I think it's amazing that my family has kept their Danish heritage alive. For example, my grandmother taught me how to make the Danish cookies and desserts that she learned how to make from her aunts and grandmother, and I grew up hearing stories about her going to visit her Danish relatives and not being able to understand a word. So, this makes me want to learn Danish, at least a little. Denmark seems like it has an interesting culture and I would like to visit someday.
So for me personally, this is why I would learn Danish over another language. Because I like the idea of learning the language of my forefathers. (The rest of them were Scottish, so I'd like to learn a little Gaelic, too. And my grandmother is Spanish, which I know a fair bit of already. But that is besides the point here.) 4 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||||||||
| Rikyu-san Diglot Senior Member Denmark Joined 5520 days ago 213 posts - 413 votes Speaks: Danish*, English Studies: German, French | Message 44 of 59 10 November 2009 at 9:46am | IP Logged | |||||||||||
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Halie, it touches me to read what you write about your ancestry.
There is a lot of value, often overlooked in our hectic modern world, in our roots. The roots of our culture, like a tree, nourish us. The roots of our Danish, Old Norse, world tree, Yggdrasil, has its roots in Heaven. To really connect with the proper spiritual mindset to our ancestry means living every day, in every breath, nurtured by this deep awareness. And as the Chinese discovered, that man is wise who understands the ways of Heaven. I am not a traditionalist but I see value in tradition. I'd rather think and act ahead, advised by the hard-won lessons of our past, and the wisdom we have acrued, and recreate, re-invente, revitalize. Here are three things to be mindful of - and ye foreigners are invited to try this on for size, it's a kind of 101 for New Danes: There are two values that are at the top of our values list - the first and most important one is to create and maintain peace, a peaceful co-existence with our fellow beings, and peace within ourselves, and the second but equally important one is truth, to seek out, explore, discuss and express the truth, in ourselves, in each other and in the world. The create and maintain peace and to seek out and express the truth. It is not truth based on dogmatic views but truth arising from an open-minded and open-ended inquiry into the nature of things and the state of affairs. And it is not a hollow peace that covers deep conflicts, it is not peace that is really hypocritical but a genuine, authentic, innermost and very real sense of peace. Imagine both of these values are enacted at the same time while we are doing some piece of work. Creating and maintaining peace means that we are going about our business, in a, well, peaceful, calm way. An inner and outer calmness arises, our innermost being is at peace with the innermost essence of the outer world. Just as the ancient Chinese desired a harmonizing of our inner and outer worlds, so did the ancient Danish culture. Imagine we have spent all our life up to this point to cultivate this. This means that, in this situation, we all experience this peaceful quality, we can recognize it in each other, and we all know what to do in order to keep maintaining it no matter what happens. When we communicate, all our words and actions is an expression of and help maintain peace, continously. When conflict arises, everyone strives to maintain peace so the only way to settle it is through peaceful collaboration and inquiry and debate. We have a word for it in Danish, "mindelighed". To do something in "mindelighed". See these two entries: http://ordnet.dk/ods/opslag?id=502710 (mindelig) Meaning: loving, friendly, innermost, [deeply inside our being], acts done without the use of force and by peaceful negotiation, peaceful, gentle, calm, within reasonable bounds. So when you do something in "mindelighed" you do it in a loving, friendly way, without the use of force, settle disputes peacefully in a calm and gentle way - with the added quality that this comes from the innermost authentic part of your being. There is a mutual recognition of these qualities - both our actions and the way we mirror each other in our being and in our experiences of each other. http://ordnet.dk/ods/opslag?id=502711 (mindelighed, the frame in which things are done). We are all familiar with situations where peace is upheld and conflicts are swept under the carpet, as we say in Danish ("fejet ind under gulvtæppet"). Everyone of us has been in such situations, everyone experiences what is going on, but no one says anything. Everybody is pretending. This is an attempt of creating and maintaining peace, but without truth. Truthfulness and the sincere effort to resolve difficulties so that peace is 100 % authentic is also required. Notice this little post in the above entry "mindelighed": "jeg vil gaae op og sige min Broder i al Mindelighed, at han er en Slyngel." This is archaic Danish today. We would currently write the sentence like this: "Jeg vil gå op og sige til min bror i mindelighed, at han er en slyngel". It means: "I will go and tell my brother, in "mindelighed", that he is a scoundrel." The only way to decode this sentence in a culturally appropriate way, the way it makes sense to a more traditionally oriented Dane, is that the values of truth and peace are present and it is assumed that the brother will understand this and accept the statement in this spirit. The brother is obliged to uphold peace and adhere to truthfulness and help create a climate where the conflict can be resolved in a peaceful way. Edited by Rikyu-san on 10 November 2009 at 12:05pm 4 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||||||||
| cordelia0507 Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5830 days ago 1473 posts - 2176 votes Speaks: Swedish* Studies: German, Russian | Message 45 of 59 10 November 2009 at 11:34am | IP Logged | |||||||||||
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I (Swedish) agree with everything that Riku-san has said.
There are some words that are different between the languages, like
(hyggligt) It's true that there are some words that are different between the languages, and some that mean something else in one of the other languages ("roligt" means "fun" in Swedish" but "boring" in Norwegian... or something like that.. ) However, these words are known to most people. I don't know quite how I learnt these things... School maybe, or travelling... But I could probably write a list of a about 20 relatively important words that are different in Danish vs Swedish... and if I was in Denmark I would use those words instead of Swedish. At work I get a fair number of emails in Danish. Occassionally there is something that is not 100% clear. But it's very easy to check online. And after I see it, I usually think "oh yes, of course it means that... " I have no problem at all with Norwegian. Occassionally with spoken Danish, some people just have a negative view of communicating with other Scandinavians and they don't bother to slow down when they speak, or to speak clearer. There are some accent differences too. In such cases were the person speaks fast in Danish, in an unfamiliar accent I miss parts what they are saying... If somebody takes an ar&(y view like that, I switch to English and then they usually take the hint. Personally I am equally happy to speak in English, but they usually aren't... Anyway, such people are rare. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||||||||
| Mooby Senior Member Scotland Joined 6097 days ago 707 posts - 1220 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Polish | Message 46 of 59 20 November 2011 at 4:35pm | IP Logged | |||||||||||
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The excellent Danish thriller 'The Killing' starring Sofie Grabol has attracted me to the
language and intrigued me about Danish culture. I'd need a few more reasons to start learning Danish, but I wouldn't dismiss it now as quickly as before. It also has a drunken slur sound that's growing on me! 2 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||||||||
| montmorency Diglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 4820 days ago 2371 posts - 3676 votes Speaks: English*, German Studies: Danish, Welsh | Message 47 of 59 01 June 2012 at 2:02am | IP Logged | |||||||||||
Bit late coming to this, but since "Forbrydelsen", we've also had "Borgen", "Those Who Kill|Den Som Dræber"(ITV3), and "The Bridge|Bron|Broen". It wasn't exactly those that got me hooked, but indirectly, I have been. Got TYS Danish, and am now looking for L-R materials. What you call the "drunken slur", I'd call an attractive lilt, and it's got me as well. :-))) 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||||||||
| Alexander86 Tetraglot Senior Member United Kingdom alanguagediary.blogs Joined 4973 days ago 224 posts - 323 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, German, Catalan Studies: Swedish | Message 48 of 59 01 June 2012 at 11:31pm | IP Logged | |||||||||||
Just like to second the above post in the TV series, which are excellent and really allow you to hear the language and appreciate its depth and beauty. They certainly got me thinking about the language and its similarities and differences with Swedish, which I am learning. 2 persons have voted this message useful |
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