Thoughts 1: A note on the Danish language

One of the more famous of Mark Twain's rants was not about society, that topic he could speak so poignantly about, but about the German language. Despite German being close to English, he found it ridiculously difficult and never managed to master it. In a similar vein, that is how I feel about the Danish language. I can read it, I can write it up to a certain degree, heck, I can even speak it in a way that Danes would generally understand most words coming out of my mouth, which is not a small feat considering the language's convoluted way of pronouncing words. Where it gets hard however, is in understanding spoken Danish. Whereas in the previous three areas I have seen marked improvement over the last months, I feel stuck as it comes to listening. The general level of understanding is sometimes not much better than after my first month of learning Danish. The Danes keep telling me that one 'needs to develop an ear' for it. I am stuck wondering when that development will happen, because after practicing this understanding for the better part of a year, I feel as if it is never going to happen. Sure, slowly spoken and clearly articulated Danish is generally easy enough to understand. The problem is that nobody speaks like that. Mumbling is part of the language as much as the liaison is part of French. In certain instances, this is has become so bad that even Danes themselves cannot understand any more. An interesting example of this is Danes having requested subtitles for certain movies in which the characters are mumbling too much. Why is this happening?


My guess is that it is part of the language, or in a way, a lack thereof. The lack in this is the omission of the need to pronounce things clearly. Whereas German is spoken sharp and in front of the mouth, which produces clear sounds, and Swedish and Norwegian are spoken with a certain melody and clarity (telling this to a Dane is sacrilege though, so be careful), an inadmissible part of the language, Danish is guttural, spoken from the back of the mouth with no melody whatsoever. Include in a lot of silent letters and some supposedly different sounds that sound very much alike to an untrained ear and you have a recipe for comprehension-disaster.

But how does Danish stack up against its neighbouring tongues?

At first sight, the Danish language seems simple enough for a Dutch speaker. Given the fact that Danish is within the Northern branch of the Germanic language tree, also Germans and English speakers should have an easy time, not even mentioning Swedes or Norwegians. A familiar vocabulary and sentence construction and generally easy grammar allows for easy reading after some months of practice. It is the pronunciation however, that causes all the problems for learners. De many different vowels seem very much similar, if not the same, to a foreigner, but are quite different to a Dane. They will distinguish them from one another, and if you don't (which is tempting), you will virtually incomprehensible.

This, of course, begs the question: why won't the Danes change it? Insert some Swedish melody, some German sharpness or update the language in a way that makes sounds more distinct. Well, that would be akin to suicide for a Dane. The language and the Danish culture are intertwined. After having witnessed the Danish culture for the past ten months or so, I have noted the distinct ''laidbackness'' in Danes, which is supposedly different from the more fashionable and industrious Swedes. The easy-going lazy attitude to its language befits the Danes. Aside from that, asking a Dane to become more Swedish is simply sacrilegious, since the two countries share a centuries-old rivalry. Moving towards the other in any way is treason. Sure, I exaggerate, but there is a core of truth to it. 

Still, on a final note, I don't dislike the Danish language. The fact that one can speak without having to put in much effort, words can roll out of the mouth with relative ease. It is a 'lazy' language, which I do not mean in a negative way. Whereas some languages require continuous effort to produce the right sounds because of intonation and what not, Danish is much more laid-back, simply requiring you to flex your throat a bit (which comes quite easy to a Dutchman) and generally don't move your tongue. Combine this with the near-ubiquitous beer-drinking (Denmark's national past-time) and you have just come across the most suitable language to kick back on the sofa, pop open a Tuborg and discuss the trials and tribulations of Denmark's new government and the all the other woes in the world.