If you can hear it, you can also speak it.

A very large part of what makes up a conversation involves being able to listen. To listen to what people are actually saying to you. If you don´t listen, you can´t answer, you can´t respond. The art of listening is an integral part of all communication.

It’s not, however, only in the normal kind of two-way communication that one needs to be a good listener. Being able to listen is also an important element in learning to speak a language.

This is especially so for the Danish language, since what characterises Danish is the difference between its written and spoken form. Danes write differently compared to how they speak and the language is full of vocal nuances. The way to learn the language involves communication and listening.

If you’re struggling with the language, and no doubt also in its pronunciation, then you are making things difficult for yourself by:

1. Believing that you are the problem. That it is you that needs to be better at learning Danish.

2. Believing that the word itself is the problem. That it simply needs to get its act together, that word.

3. Believing that the tongue is the issue. That it needs to be able to master all sort of possible formations. Continue reading “If you can hear it, you can also speak it.” →

Listen to the melody

A lot of people pass the language test 1, 2 and 3 – and still do not speak the Danish language. They would like to take part in everyday conversations. To understand the Danes and to express themselves without any problems. But it doesn’t work. How can it be?

Often the reason is a lack of understanding for what is actually means to learn to speak Danish.

When we become adults we forget what learning a language is about. We want it to be about words in a book that we should be able to say. And we read and read and read, and try and try and try. But it does not work.

This seems to be quite relevant for the Danish language. Danish is characterized by a big difference in spoken and written form. The Danes simply say something else than they write.

How do we do it then? How do we learn to speak Danish?

Let´s take your mother tongue as an example. How did you learn to speak that one? Was it by sitting and reading a book?

You started learning to master your mother tongue already when you were in your mom´s stomach. You listened to what was going on outside, and when you came out you continued to listen and you interacted with your surroundings.

Then one important day arrived. The day you started in school. Now you were going to learn something new; to read and to write.

You have to look at learning Danish the same way. You have to divide the language into two elements; the written form and the spoken form.

And what is the spoken form about? It is about dialogue and it is about sound. It is concretely about the melody of speech, which you have to start to listen to.

Sentences

Haven´t we all tried learning about word order and scratched our heads wondering; “Why on Earth is this useful to learn?” ?

The reason why you receive instruction in word order is that it teaches you how to put together sentences. And sentences are necessary for us to communicate with each other.

It is through sentences that we make contact and interact with people. And it is through sentences that we say things to other people that they are able to understand.

What characterises a sentence is that it starts with a subject, followed by a verb.

We don’t just say:

“Solen” = The Sun
(S)

But we say:

“Solen skinner” = The Sun is shining
(S)——(V)

We don’t just say:

“Det” = It
(S)

But we say:

“Det regner” = It is raining
(S)—(V)

The good thing about constructing sentences in Danish is that all you need to do is to start off with a subject, then add a verb, and the rest of the words will find their natural place.

“Solen skinner måske.” = The Sun is maybe shining.

“Solen skinner altid.” = The Sun is always shining.

“Solen skinner hver eneste dag.” = The Sun is shining every single day.

Even better it is that nearly all present tense verbs end with +er, regardless of who or what is performing the action.

You should give it a try. Get a verblist and start to write some sentences.