[Other] An appetizer on the Danish language

[ElDanés]

¡Gracias, Elaina!

A note on the German: the German and Danish pronunciations are very different, so knowing the pronunciation of German won't really help you on the way towards Danish. In fact, I think a knowledge of English pronunciation will be much better.

And on de and De, read this post, which I posted earlier in this thread. There's a difference between de and De, like I explained in the post. The reason why I used three examples was to show that De could both be used as singular and plural, which I tried to show in the parentheses in the examples.

[María José]

Originally Posted by ElDanés

That's okay, I wasn't really thinking that anyone would really get started. I must admit that Danish wouldn't be on top of my list of languages to learn either, if it wasn't my native language. You can only use it in Denmark, and some small parts of Germany and Sweden, while you can use Spanish both in the Americas and Europe.

I think all languages are interesting. But being a perfectionist it's difficult for me to start something I know I cannot master.

[ElDanés]

Pronunciation
I got my MP4-player working, so I have recorded the pronouns and the verbs.

I'm sorry about the "click"-sound in the end of every sample, but it appears when I stops recording. My MP4-player is just so slow that it records the sound - and then stops recording.

Also, I wasn't able to export them as .mp3's, but only .wav's. I think you will be able to play them anyway.

Unfortunately, I can only upload five samples at the time per post, so instead of posting three posts which five samples each (I have recored 15 samples in total), I have compressed them into a .zip-file (apparently, .rar is not on the list of valid files).

• Jeg (I): jeg.wav
• Du (You, sg.): du.wav
• Han (He): han.wav
• Hun (She): hun.wav
• Den (It, c.): den.wav
• Det (It, n.): det.wav
• Vi (We): vi.wav
• I (You, pl.): I.wav
• de/De (They/Formal you, sg./pl.): deDe.wav
  • The pronunciation is the same for de and De...

• At drikke (To drink): atdrikke.wav
• At flyve (To fly): atflyve.wav
• At gå (To walk): atgaa.wav
• At holde (To hold): atholde.wav
• At sige (To say): atsige.wav
• At være (To be): atvaere.wav

[Tomisimo]

Thanks so much for the samples. That gives me a better idea of what the language sounds like. And it certainly sounds different from what I was expecting. For example jeg would be transliterated: ya-ee

[supa-coopa]

What a wonderful post! I thoroughly enjoyed it!

[ElDanés]

Thank you, I'm glad you did!

[Jessica]

wow! very interesting

[laepelba]

Wait! How come no one said anything about "Rødgrød med fløde"?? When I visited my friends in Denmark, they made me SAY "Rødgrød med fløde" before I was allowed to eat it. Then they all laughed at me. Apparently it's very difficult for English speakers to say correctly. And, thus, apparently, this thread would not be complete without it.

[Jessica]

wow that must be super hard to pronounce.

[ElDanés]

Yes, "Rødgrød med fløde" is indeed hard to pronounce for foreigners because of the soft d's, and the ø's. It means "Redporridge with cream." Actually, I have never tasted it myself, but it should be really good. The porridge only consists of water, sugar, and then lots of different berries.