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LEARNING DANISH

Readers reveal: The songs that will help get you to Danish fluency fast

What Danish music has inspired you to learn the language? From obscure track to pop classic, here are your suggestions.

Readers reveal: The songs that will help get you to Danish fluency fast
Are The Minds of 99 a great resource for learning Danish? Photo: Helle Arensbak/Ritzau Scanpix

If you want to pick out a particular band to help you learn Danish, “almost anything by Shu-bi-dua will do,” said Peter, a reader who lived in Denmark from 1976-81, years which coincide with the group’s most successful period.

There’s more than just nostalgia to account for the choice, though. “Their songs teach not only a broad vocabulary, but give an insight into the Danes’ love of ordleg”, or wordplay, Peter explained.

Another Danish band with a lot of miles on the clock is The Minds of 99, a regular on festival lineups over the last decade.

The Minds of 99 song Under Din Sne “is awesome, it was on radio all the time when I was commuting to work. He sings slowly and I could pick up and remember most of the lyrics,” said Amine, a reader from Morocco.

Simona from Italy recommends the Rasmus Seebach hit Så længe vi danser, for its “easy lyrics and clear pronunciation”.

Our readers on social media also had plenty of suggestions when we asked for great songs for learning Danish.

“Our teacher at Danish language school gives us a new Danish song almost every week, printed (on) paper, highlighted (with) all new words/phrases. We sing the song while it is played on YouTube. Then we sing/recite it again without the music, with our teacher. This helps us in listening, reading and speaking,” one wrote.

Recommendations included Nephew’s Igen & igen &, which in translation is called “Again & Again &” — not a bad mantra for learning a language, and it’s undeniably a catchy tune.

Another posited three options: Kalder mig hjem by Burhan G, Om igen by Karl William and my own personal favourite, Ray Dee Oh’s Jeg vil la’lyset brænde.

Several readers also suggested listening to children’s songs and nursery rhymes as a great musical introduction to the language. That sounds like sensible advice, and there are plenty of fun songs to choose from — some of which might be recognisable from their English counterparts.

READ ALSO: Five Danish children’s songs international parents will inevitably have to learn

Perhaps the most left-field recommendation was a song by an artist called Emil Kruse on Spotify.

The name of the tune, Søger Lejlighed, translates to “looking for an apartment” and could therefore be a subtle joke about Copenhagen’s rental market as well as a way of picking up Danish vocab.

Do you have more/better suggestions than the above? Let us know.

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LEARNING DANISH

The essential vocabulary for talking about the weather with Danes

Denmark’s climate can give you a taste of all four seasons in the space of an afternoon, so it’s worth knowing the vocabulary you need to describe it.

The essential vocabulary for talking about the weather with Danes

Denmark-based readers have probably heard the saying der finds ikke dårligt vejr, kun dårlig påkældning(there’s no bad weather, only bad clothes) more times than they’ve receive a bicycle-related soaking.

But there are plenty of other weather phrases in the Danish language that describe all situations from strandvejr (beach weather) to ruskregn (cold rain with wind).

Let’s start with the four seasons (årstider): forår (spring), sommer (summer), efterår (autumn) and vinter (winter).

In summer, you’re probably hoping for lækkert vejr (beautiful weather), with solskin (sunshine) and grillvejr (barbecue weather) on those lune (balmy) evenings. Gennemsnitstemperaturen (the average daily temperature) will rise thanks to the højtryk (high pressure), causing you to feel a bit svedig (sweaty), and the country will experience lyse nætter (“light nights”, when the sun sets late dusk sometimes doesn’t fall until 11pm).

You might go through a varmebølge or hedebølge – both essentially meaning a heatwave but with a subtle yet important difference.

In sensommeren (late summer), there may be some torden (thunder) and lyn (lightning), but if you are lucky you might see a regnbue (rainbow).

READ ALSO: Five Danish phrases you only hear in summer

Come autumn the weather will turn grå og trist (grey and dull), overskyet (overcast) with skydækning (cloud cover), and blæsende (windy). It’s time to get your paraply (umbrella) out, and maybe even your regnjakke (rain coat) and gummistøvler (wellies).

Low-lying tåge or dise (fog or mist) over fields can elicit warnings about visibility for early-morning drivers and cyclists.

There are several words for nedbør (precipitation), including støvregn (drizzle, literally “dust rain”), byge (shower), styrtregn (downpour) or skybrud (heavy rain or cloudburst).

If it’s raining cats and dogs you say det regner skomagerdrenge (literally, “it’s raining shoemaker boys”).

November will be here sooner than you think, and it might prompt you to exclaim Sikke et vejr (“What miserable weather!”) or even Sikke noget skodvejr! (literally “what cigarette-butt weather!”).

If mange agern spar en hård vinter, this means that if many acorns fall from the trees, a cold winter awaits.

Finally, it’s winter and snefnug (snowflakes) will start to fall.

There are a number of similar-sounding but distinct words about snow (sne): snefog, snedynge and snedrive (all snow drift) and snefri, which can mean “free of snow”, but also when kids are given the day off school due to the snow.

The most unique is possibly the noun snefygning, when the wind kicks up and fresh snow is blown into the air, dancing momentarily in the winter cold before falling back to the ground.

Tøsne (thawing snow) could be a sign that temperatures are starting to become mild as the end of winter nears.

When it’s finally forår again, you might hear people talking up the welcome return of tocifrede grader (temperatures in double digits) and finally being able to remove their vintertøj (winter clothing).

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