Pronunciation Problems

When I was back in America, there were a few standard questions that I was asked every time I told someone that I was moving to Denmark.  One stood out as the most common question.

Is Danish a difficult language to learn?

At the time, I would laugh at what an understatement it was to call it difficult.  If you've never heard Danish spoken before, here's a sample from the original Danish version of the TV show "The Killing" (known as "Forbydelsen" in Denmark).  For comparison, the guy on the phone is speaking Swedish, while the man and woman in the field are speaking Danish:

It's definitely a difficult language.  Though, my own experience hasn't been nearly as rough as I expected it to be.  After several failed attempts when I was back in Boston, I was worried that I was going to seriously struggle.

I seem to be doing alright, though.

What I found especially interesting this week, though, was how the level of difficulty varies a lot depending on what language you were brought up speaking.

I recently wrote about how I felt that our Tuesday teacher spent too much time focusing on the minutia of pronunciation, and not the broader picture (vocabulary, grammar, etc.).  Turns out, quite a few of my classmates prefer the focus on the pronunciation details, as the pronunciation is what trips them up most.

For me, my own memory is what trips me up.  I can say the words, I just have to remember what the word is and which pronunciation is used, and then I seem to be okay.

On Tuesday this week, the teacher mentioned that she would not be teaching us on Tuesdays for the next module, as she'll be giving classes focusing only on pronunciation.  And not only that, there are different pronunciation classes for people from different countries.

It makes sense, but I'd never considered it: being brought up speaking some languages gives folks different speaking habits than others.

So, the teacher is teaching one pronunciation class for Asian students, and another for those brought up speaking Slavic languages.  The Russian girl in my class seems incredibly relieved, and said that while she knows how the words are supposed to sound in her head, she's realized that her mouth doesn't know how to make those sounds.  It's a matter of muscle memory, I think.

For me, I think I'll skip the pronunciation classes for now.  My focus is going to be on forcing myself to remember all of the words and phrases we've learned, and using the various grammar rules.

The good news is that, much like getting a song stuck in my head, I find myself getting Danish phrases stuck in my head fairly regularly.

It's either a sign that I'm learning, or a sign that I'm losing it.

Either way... Fun!