En Film på Dansk

Strange as it feels to say, this is already the last week of module 4.1, and I'll be heading to module 4.2 next week.

Not only that, but it seems like we're changing horses midstream.

Instead of continuing on with our nice-but-frustrating Monday/Wednesday teacher, Studieskolen has altered the class a bit and we will have a brand new teacher next week.  We'll still have our other teacher one day a week, but our less experienced teacher is being replaced by someone who has, apparently, been working at the school for many years.

I, for one, am relieved.

So, today was our last class with the aforementioned inexperienced teacher.  We spent the first hour of class going over our homework, and took the following two hours to watch a Danish movie.

He asked the class if we would prefer English or Danish subtitles, and I think I was the only one to meekly squeak "...English...!"  That's was my insecurity speaking.  Everyone else enthusiastically voted for Danish.

So, Danish it was.

We watched a film called "Adams Æbler," (which, as you might have guessed, translates to "Adams Apples).  This is a film from 2005 starring famous Danish actor Mads Mikkelsen.  You might know him from the current American TV serious "Hannibal."

I went into it fully expecting to be completely lost, but I surprised myself.  I actually understood most of what was said.  To be fair, I would never have been able to figure it out without the subtitles.  But with the subtitles, I found that I could follow fairly well.

This gives me hope.  And maybe even a tiny bit more confidence.

By the way, speaking of subtitles... It's now a word that I often have difficulty remembering in English. I find myself always wanting to use the danish word (which is "undertekster").

I'm not sure I have room in my brain for both languages, and may eventually forget English completely.

Studieskolen - Module 3.1, Words, Words, Words

I'm a little over two weeks into module 3 now.

So far, so... okay.

I'm still following along well enough, but I still have a tough time deciphering our younger teacher's accent.

The good news is, from what I can tell, we've basically learned all of the major grammatical rules.  It seems that module 3 focuses more on expanding our vocabulary and solidifying the grammar rules that we've learned.  And the latter is certainly working for me.  Rules that I'd learned in module 2 but had always had a tough time remembering seem to be making more sense to me now.  And I'm glad to be finally learning more words.

Danish is a much more compact language than English.  While some sources claim that English has over 1 million words, Danish has 150,000 at the most.  I think one major difference is that English has a lot more words that are obsolete, while Danish uses a far higher percentage of its words on a regular basis.

Pronunciation is still a bit of an issue for all of us in the class.  We can all understand each other fairly well, but Danes (our younger teacher specifically) seems to have a tough time understanding us some of the time.  Danish is not a language spoken by foreigners very often, so Danes often have a hard time understanding the language when it's spoken with any kind of accent, no matter how subtle.

There are some words in Danish, though, that make a lot of sense and should be considered for stealing by the English language.  For example, the Danish word for "mother" is "mor" and the word for "father" is "far."  Simple enough.  And then they take it a step further with grandparents.  Your mother's mother? "Mormor."  Mother's father? "Morfar."  And of course, "farfar" and "farmor."  It makes so much sense, and saves time from having to clarify if you're talking about your "maternal grandmother" or "paternal grandmother."

On an unrelated note, this is the Facebook page for the Copenhagen Rugby League Football Club.  "Like" it!

The Sad Horns of Confidence

Recently, I went to lunch with some of my classmates.

At first, the waitress was speaking to us entirely in Danish, so I thought to myself, "Self, you should order in Danish."

Glancing over the menu, I realized that I actually knew how to order in Danish.  Simple stuff.  No problem.  All I had to say was "Jeg vil gerne have en burrito med kylling.  Tak skal du have!"

No problem.

And yet, when came to take our orders, what did I say?

"I'll have the burrito with chicken, please.  Thanks..."

*cue Price is Right sad horns*

It's an issue of confidence at this point.  I worry that I'm not pronouncing things quite right, and that whoever I'm speaking to won't understand.  So I stick to English, even when I know the Danish.

Not to mention the fact that I worry that, if my Danish is decent enough that they don't switch to English right away, they'll then ask me a question in Danish that I don't understand or can't answer in Danish.

Hopefully, I'll look back at this post in a few months and think, "Remember when I was too scared to speak Danish to the Danes?  That was silly."