Do you need to learn Danish to live in Denmark?
Do you need to learn Danish to live in Denmark? No. However you should learn Danish, and here is why.
You can work, live and study in Denmark without learning Danish. I know a number of British, American and French people that have lived here years without learning the language. There are companies who use English as their first language, and a few who will allow you to work in a Danish speaking office without Danish. Also particularly in IT departments for medium to large companies, more and more English is the main language. However since I moved to Denmark in 1996, my advice would be learn it, and learn it as quickly as possible. No matter how difficult, annoying or time consuming it feels, and stick with it until you are fluent.
The Danes are speaking the English very good
Pretty much everyone in Denmark, old and young speak and or understand English. But as polite and helpful as Danes generally are in speaking English, it can be wearing for them. And you are in their country.
Do you want to sit at a meeting or meal with five Danes, and everyone speaks English because of you? Do you want to be doing that five or ten years after you have lived in Copenhagen? No you don’t, so learn their language.
Festen – You don’t want to be this guy.
It’s a long hard struggle to learn Danish
It is difficult learning Danish. As you start taking tentative steps to speak Danish you meet the frustration of speaking Danish only to be answered in English, by someone with a smug grin on their face, who appears to be rubbing your nose in it. They are in fact just trying to be helpful. That one happens a lot at the beginning, but it eases off as you improve.
There is also a language reflex in certain situations. Cafe staff in central locations are switching between Danish and English a lot. For example the word ‘americano’ is pronounced differently in Danish than to English, an English pronunciation of that word might be all it takes for their language reflex switch to jump to English. It’s not personal, it’s not a slight on your language skills, but it can affect confidence, very important in language learning.
Is it a waste of time learning Danish?
One of the arguments for not learning Danish I heard a few times in my early years in Denmark from highly educated non Danes, is ‘what’s the point, only 5 and a half million people speak the language’. Well unless you generally talk with a couple of million people per year, I really don’t think that argument is anything other than an excuse for laziness.
There is a magnificent milestone in your Danish journey. One day, in a conversation with a new Danish person in your life, you will be asked by a person with a tilted head, and a face like sour milk, “er du norsk, eller hvad!?” Roughly, are you Norwegian, can be Swedish!? And you can rejoice, at being misrecognized as a nearly Scandinavian. Carefully ignoring the possibility the person you are talking to might be an idiot….
Some people have a natural ear for language, and a have a memory that suits language learning. For others like me, it’s just hard painful work. It took me five months on a part time course to get enough Danish to blag my way through a job interview in Danish. This involved quite a bit of nodding along, and occasionally repeating the last word they said in a vague attempt to look like I understood what they were talking about.
You’ll be amazed what you can get away with by maintaining eye contact, and appearing fascinated by everything someone says. Until you’re asked a question.
It takes a little time to build up the fluency, but you will only pick it up after first doing a course. The idea that you will pick up Danish through osmosis, isn’t going to happen, just as, ‘I will learn Danish later’ isn’t going to happen. Do it now.
Danish language schools
Some of the Danish language schools
www.kbh-sprogcenter.dk Copenhagen Language Center
Speak – School of DanishTeaching Danish at Frederiksberg, Hellerup and Lyngby.
www.iasprog.dk/en/
www.kiss.dk KISS – Københavns Intensive Sprogskole – Copenhagen’s Intensive language school. (Always wondered if Gene Simmons teaches there. In full make-up)
Studieskolen review
I haven’t been to any of the above schools but I have been to Studieskolen, returning for a pre citizen test refresh in 2024, so here’s my review… avoid like the plague!
Maybe I got ‘the one bad apple’, but I wouldn’t want you to get a cartoon evil experience from a toxic narcissist with an Olympic level micro aggression game, clearly bored with teaching Danish, pumping out a one dimensional political philosophy to a rapidly decreasing class that signed up and paid for, a course in conversational Danish.
A school is only as good as their worst teacher, so Studieskolen is very very bad. Avoid at all costs.
If you do a bit of research you find a number of complaints online, but also others saying you ‘just have to change teacher’ as if them not having a level of basic consistency isn’t the minimum requirement of what is a very large, very bureaucratic organisation.
If you think I’m being ‘a bit mean’, I’m really not, I’m still shocked at what I experienced.
Copenhagen by design is Copenhagen based freelance graphic designer, web designer, illustrator and motion designer Iain Cameron’s design business. Here is the About page, and the portfolio page.
