Why Danish sounds funny to Scandinavians

The history behind why Danish sounds like a "throat condition". I'm told Danes speak like they have a cough, hiccups, or a potato in their throat. I did some linguistic excavating find out why.
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~ Issues ~
Danish fans & commenters took issue with the way I talked about Danish dialects at the end. I appreciate you sharing more! For my original source vs the opposing dialects-alive-and-well perspective, see the end of my "sources" section in my sources doc linked below.
~ Briefly ~
Danish sounds funny to other Scandinavians. And just about everyone else, too.
When I recently explored the asymmetric intelligibility between Scandinavian countries, I noticed that everyone seemed ready to point the finger at Danish. It sounds weird, funny, throaty, and unlike the familiar Swedish accent or the many Norwegian dialects.
Journey back 1300 years ago to Old Norse, then learn how change after change shifted Denmark towards its current standout pronunciation. Along the way, we'll meet:
- the splitting of East Norse and West Norse
- the vowel reduction of the early Middle Ages
- the lenition of the later Middle Ages
- the ever-proliferating vowel qualities that give Danish its high vowel count
- the extremely unique and notable stød
- the "guttural R", a late but fashionable borrowing
One final change will solidify Danish's phonological rift with its neighbors. Unlike Sweden and Norway, Denmark's dialects largely fade in the face of the speech of Copenhagen. This history leaves us with a quirky modern Danish, a unique language indeed.
~ Credits ~
Art, animation, narration and a bit of the music by Josh from NativLang
Sources for claims made, along with credits for images, fonts, sfx and the rest of the music:
docs.google.com/document/d/1e...

[@m.b.82]

Dane: *actually choking on actual potato* Other person: *nods politely and agrees*

[@toastboii]

xD

[@alex6351]

Been there, done that

[@andersnielsen2554]

yes we can go uout for dinner, when? "Chokes"

[@toastboii]

@@leoncade9802 shush >:(

[@sand_eater101]

I am a Dane and I feel seriously offended- Jkjk, I speak English a bit better than Danish-

[@tobbe1224]

As a dane, never have I been so offended by something I 100% agree with

[@maidsua4208]

No, Danish is a beautiful language :)

[@ericboom1712]

@@maidsua4208 just have a question... Are you danish?

[@maidsua4208]

@@ericboom1712 No, I'm not.

[@Whatevermakesyouhapp]

Same

[@ijustwept]

Her er jeg...jeg er enig

[@omma911]

As a German, Danish sounds incredibly friendly to me. I like the overall melody of the language and the gutteral sounds remind me more of a purring cat.

[@es350]

That actually made me really happy:) we are always told that our language is ugly, so I get kind of ashamed when I speak with my mom in public in other countries.

[@ElectroIsMyReligion]

As a Dane have German always reminded me the of orcish language from Lord of The Rings - A bit harsh sounding, but beautiful and surprisingly charming in its own weird, unique way.

[@andreashv4570]

@@es350 Dude yes man! But it's worth it when you see the looks on their faces, when they hear a sweet inocent little girl presumably summon a giant slime deamon at the groceries store, when she says "Mor må jeg ikke nok få en lakridspipe!".

[@LHC-mx6ru]

Swedish is more melodic. They sing, Danish is flatter

[@danimarkus8626]

@@es350 Don't be ashamed! I love hearing Danish. It totally made my day when I heard a Danish family talk during breakfast at a hotel a while ago.

[@intellectualfreedom8790]

This is how it is for me as a Swede: a Norwegian approaches and we’ll enjoy talking to each other and understanding one another but we both talk our respective language. Which is kind of cool. When a dane starts talking danish to you, there is usually a confused pause of silence… and then the Swede switches to English hoping the Dane won’t get offended. While ignoring the ancestral cry of shame in the background reminding you that understanding each other is a good Scandinavian sense of mutual bond. And the feeling of “I should be able to understand, but maybe I’m just stupid.”

[@MvsicAdd7ct]

But how will you understand a Dane anyway😭 I was learning norsk for a few months and now I started dansk and I started crying 😭

[@ararune3734]

It was 2014 and I started using Duolingo, I thought one of the Scandinavian languages would be interesting. I tried a few lessons in Danish and thought this is disgusting, I'll never be able to pronounce any of this. Then I picked Swedish and stuck with it, which is beautifully melodic. I used to work at a hotel reception, we had so many Scandinavian guests, the Swedes would be impressed that I could speak some Swedish, I would be able to talk to Norwegians, and then I would try to talk to a Dane and just stare at him wondering if I'm stupid or what's going on, because they seem to understand me and I have no idea what they're saying, not even a guess. I don't know where the word started or ended, it's like one big sausage without rhyme or reason

[@SluggoCreations]

The Swede: *throws up* The Dane: What did you say about my mother!?

[@Slayer-33]

HOH

[@theislr9444]

I’m a dane. I found this funny

[@neptune.2566]

@@makura5376 oh wow amazing comeback dude

[@imgonewiththewindfab]

@@makura5376 eww pale dick boring

[@hmholm8430]

+Sluggo its funny that its you who says that considering you are swedish :D I am from denmark and im not angry, i can take a joke :D can you?

[@JoseKilen]

As a Dane it has always bothered me when English people use the Danish vowel 'ø' as an 'o'. Twenty øne piløts looks ridicules if you know how the 'ø' is actually pronunced.

[@musicaltheatergeek79]

Twenty One Pilots are American.

[@JoseKilen]

@@musicaltheatergeek79 What I meant was English speaking people :)

[@OleTange]

Twenty øne piløts could have been said in 'Allo 'Allo

[@strawberrired]

I can't read Motörhead correctly for the same reason. Please stop using our letters in English words if you don't know what you're doing lol.

[@freddiehansen7324]

so true.

[@maximusate8951]

My parents studied in Sweden in the 80’s. One day, the neighbours came over and their little girl overheard them talking in Chinese to each other. She then asked her parents if they were speaking Danish!

[@thatpandaz6094]

What's the difference?

[@danielfetz589]

Norsk

[@elieweiss1049]

When

[@Nwk843]

I Guess It was a joke😅

[@intellectualfreedom8790]

I am a Swede that can speak chinese and have been studying it for about 10 years. I can say that the danish “melody” is very similar to the Chinese tones and pronunciation. I would say it’s not so far fetched to assume danish being chinese or vice versa. It actually sounds very much alike and I am being honest when I say that hearing chinese or danish - it sometimes takes me a few seconds before I can distinguish it. It’s so interesting that I also have heard from other Scandinavian mandarin nerds that they’ve been confused by the same phenomenon. Here you’ve been immersed in this language which is so different from your own; and the realization that another language so close to home sounds like it.

[@Barbarra63297]

Something I noticed very early on after I moved to Danmark, when a Dane is on a roll, speeding talking, they have the ability to say a word while they inhale so they don't have to interrupt their sentence. :)

[@emmakristineandersen4720]

isn't that normal when speaking a language?:)) I'm confused

[@Barbarra63297]

@@emmakristineandersen4720 I can only speak for the English language and it's not common. :)

[@Mifiboi]

Scandinavian thing.

[@k.umquat8604]

@@emmakristineandersen4720 I do that pretty often and people criticise my speech patterns because of this. I live in Turkey.

[@wezzuh2482]

Scandinavian languages have that feature in common. In Sweden the word for yes - "ja" can often be realized only as an inhale.

[@The-Stitch]

One fun fact, danes even makes fun of each others accents

[@annemariepedersen9220]

I can confirm that. I was bullied by my family when I came home from efterskolen (a sort of boarding school) after I'd adopted a mix my roomies Funen accent and various Jutland accents. To anyone who's lived in Denmark, it goes without saying that my new weird ass hybrid accent clashed with our usual Copenhagen accent.

[@The-Stitch]

@@annemariepedersen9220 ja, og os jyllændere laver rigtig meget sjov med fynboer og sjællændernes accenter

[@baqikenny]

@@annemariepedersen9220 haha although i know nothing of danish, but i can confirm to u it is everywhere in every culture probably. In mandarin speaking china and Taiwan, we are generally the weird sounding ones in eastern asian region, we and taiwan make fun of each other, Northern and southern provinces throw accent jokes at each other, daily

[@hjfgh9605]

@@The-Stitch din jyde

[@xanderadamsen1878]

Der er sku ikke noget så godt som noget godt sønderjysk😂 bor selv i Grenå, og der har man ikke rigtigt accent

[@mylesreed3956]

Norwegian: *Clears throat* Dane: You want to do *what* to my dog?

[@frimse_123]

Not funny at all

[@mylesreed3956]

Thank you, Majse

[@frimse_123]

Myles Reed no problemo

[@alexanderthim7485]

Screw off

[@alexanderthim7485]

I found this offensive

[@myrtotompans9996]

im greek and as a teenager i used to randomly watch this one danish show and i thought their language sounded so cool especially the "potato in throat" sounds i really liked the sound of it and wanted to learn danish.i understand why it sounds funny too ppl but it makes me kind of upset that ppl think it sounds ugly i unironically think it sounds very nice

[@PikaLink91]

I'm glad you say that, because as a Dane I am sad to hear that my own neighbours find my language ugly. I think Norwegian and Swedish sound "funny" too, but I also think their languages are beautiful, like they are singing the words.

[@ThomasEdits]

@@PikaLink91 kamelåså

[@oodora]

Thank you for saying that, I am a Dane and I often are embarrassed to speak danish if there are Swedish or Norwegian people listening and sometimes even English, cause they say the potato thing 😞

[@PikaLink91]

@@oodora Det er ikke særlig pænt af dem nej, folk burde bare respektere hinandens sprog og lære at se det smukke i dem.

[@Pewling]

@@oodora Never be embarrassed! Establish dominance early! De skide svenskere..

[@ev.c6]

As a foreigner living in Denmark for almost 10 years - and almost becoming a Dane -, I have to admit Danish is a beautiful language. It’s so exotic and harsh. I really like the different sounds it has and the challenge to master it. It’s a gorgeous language in its own way. 😊

[@Hirundo-demersalis]

Probably the best thing about Danish; ‘fart’ means ‘speed’ in Danish, so you’ll see speed limit signs that say ‘fartkontrol’ literally everywhere in Denmark. Oh, and there’s a city called Middelfart.

[@mc230mc]

and the best sign in denmark is the exit sign from the highway that points to both middelfart and strib

[@oink9492]

In Sweden too

[@Kabul75]

But every swedish bus stops at slutstation

[@j.s.t.6515]

@@Kabul75 perfect!

[@erikjarandson5458]

Hah! I see your Danish Middelfart, and raise you the Norwegian village of Hell!

[@definitelyanapple1633]

I love how he didn't even try to pronounce "rød grød med fløde"

[@faramund9865]

As a Dutch person from a South Hollandish city, I can get pretty close by just bending my jaw into my throat. We also have a gutteral R, but not NEARLY as throaty as Danish.

[@carstenlarsen8144]

should have tryed this one røged ørred på rugbrød smoked salmon on ryebread hihi-almost hard for us danish

[@annemariepedersen9220]

@@carstenlarsen8144 I thought you were about to give the extreme version, "døde røde rødøjede rådne røgede ørreder" I only know one person who can say that. (I'm also Danish)

[@KoteDarasuum]

@@carstenlarsen8144 As a Finn me trying to pronounce that sounds more like Swedish than Danish, i just cant get my words sounding like danish without putting hot potato to my mouth.

[@Jacob-du7xy]

“Rød grød med fløde” is “Red porridge with cream”😂😂😂also im from Denmark(also i understand ø,æ and å is hard(or NOT)to understand)

[@daviddanielsson3643]

Having grown up in Gothenburg my family would often take the ferry to Fredrikshavn in Denmark. The thing that I noticed as a kid/teenager was that a lot of danes seemed to speak to me expecting me to understand what they were saying. And I would just nod my head and say "Ja..." (Yes) and hope that I chose the correct answer.

[@FrederikFalk21]

I’m from Frederikshavn, my family runs a hotel there, I hope it was a good place for you to visit

[@c0der1020]

I mean, you did answer them in the language they were speaking to you, which is the languiage of the country you were in. So it's not that surprising that they thought you understood the language.

[@valberm]

Normal person in a café: "cough, cough"; A Dane sitting in a table nearby (in Danish): "that was uncalled for!"

[@stephenrobinson8075]

Danish person speaks: Swedish people: I like your funny words magic man

[@steckhahn2057]

As soon as a dane speaks english, a swedish guy always has to kick in and say “You got a potato stuck in your throat”

[@maltesko-nw4nf]

Swedish person speaks: Danish people: I like your funny words magic man

[@dennisk3192]

The King we from småland rather say that the Danes forgot to swallow the oatmeal/porridge.

[@hedgehog3180]

@@maltesko-nw4nf This is accurate because as a Dane to me Swedish has always sounded like the person speaking it is singing or is drunk and constantly talking in a sing song voice.

[@CliffCardi]

Once, a Spaniard ordered ‘tres’ (three) beers in a Danish restaurant. He ended up getting 60.

[@leemleen2008]

:-0

[@fam.saugmann4236]

Lol that was good

[@emilthgersen4943]

As a Spanish speaking Dane. That was the funniest thing Ive read all week😂😂

[@jakobfruergaard-roed4532]

Thats what it means

[@petereriksson7166]

It goes back to the time when skandinavian people bought food on the market . Outside during the day no electricity and you wanted eggs. So you would say 1 tjog wisch is 20 eggs. So if you wanted 60 eggs you would say 3 tjog or when everybody was used to tjog they just said it short . 3 or in danish tres. When I grow up tjog was still a concept in sweden but I haven´t heard it being used for many years now. If it is still used it would be on a outside market on the country side or if a farm have the right to sell food directly to customers.

[@WhyamIhere319]

My native language is Swedish, but I really love Danish. I've always thought it sounds very charming and friendly :) It does sound funny, but in the best possible way.

[@Rasmhck]

The comments makes me proud to be a Dane. Our language does take a lot of beating, and it doesn’t sound flattering, when people say it sounds like we are choking on a hot potato. So thank you to the people who endorse different languages ❤️

[@landsgevaer]

Embrace it! Personally, I understand the potato comparison, and I do not disagree. Even some Swedish seem to have that tendency. But I don't see it as derogatory, just pointing out the uniqueness of the language, or at worst the difficulty of learning it. (But I'm dutch and we get slack for our rough scraping G, which is mostly spoken in a different part of the country anyway. But hey, everything is better than being utterly bland and boring.)

[@treefrog1018]

I have been learning Danish for about a year and I don't think of it as a potato lodged in your throat. The speed though. Damn. Danes sound like a hamster on a wheel. I have been told my Danish is good but I speak so slowly. 😂

[@reddcat17]

@@landsgevaer if something bothers someone it’s inappropriate to tell them to just “embrace it.” How about stop making the disparaging comment, then they won’t have to worry about “embracing” it. But I forgot, empathy is dead.

[@landsgevaer]

@@reddcat17 Oh boy, you are a drama queen. I need to be empathetic towards you because some people think your language sound a bit weird? You are not being discriminated against, or anything like that. If it is their honest opinion that is not merely meant to insult, then they should always be free to express it. Just like I value that you express your view; I just totally do not agree with that victimlike attitude: if you make your happiness dependent on others like that, you won't ever be happy. I find it immature, to be frank. I reserve my empathy for beings who actually need it.

[@ararune3734]

Danish is the only thing that makes our Slavic languages sound acceptable, so thanks. We have words with 4 consonant clusters, but that's still easier to say than any Danish words

[@hermanessences]

For us Norwegians, it's like this: It's really easy to understand oral Swedish and written Danish, but not written Swedish and oral Danish.

[@albinandersson1371]

I remember when we (I'm from northern Sweden) were learning about the Skandinavian languages, and the teacher described Norwegian as easy to understand, but harder to read, and Danish as kinda difficult to read and impossible to understand, so I think you're correct in this.

[@jazzy6689]

@@albinandersson1371 Danish is super easy I think, from a swede - just read this ''Maria er 20 år og bor i København. Maria har en hund. Hunden hedder Siko. Maria går tur med Siko, hver morgen. De går en halv time i en park, og et kvarter ved en havn. Efter deres tur, køber Maria en kop kaffe og nyder solen på hendes altan. Siko sover efter turen, fordi han er gammel.'', easy right? In my opinion, it is easier to read danish than norweigan. So, from a swede, I think its super easy talking to a norweigan, I understand probably 80-90%, but a bit difficult to understand text, super easy to read danish, and very difficult to understand when conversing. By the way, just read this norweigan text, you will see what I mean; ''Emma har lyst, langt hår og blå øyne. Hun er litt høyere enn meg. Hun er utrolig snill og vi krangler nesten aldri. Vi finner på mye rart sammen. Vi kan leke, bade eller bare prate sammen. Vi ler alltid mye og hun får meg alltid glad.''

[@RAEVLOS]

Exactly

[@alexanderfelix83]

As a swede from the south I understand Danes pretty well but they don't understand my Scanian dialect..

[@paulvillarreal1588]

Ha! That’s hilarious!

[@williamspendrup4820]

As a dane, I partly understand, but is Also slightly offended😂

[@josefinekarmisholt9080]

William Spendrup same🤣

[@kookieslili64]

Same😂

[@VENAZ]

@@kookieslili64 bare rolig drenge

[@majakolpe4680]

Også mig😂

[@sjikaka9415]

jeg har det på samme måde lol

[@bigplantpapi]

This is such an incredible video, your storytelling is so detailed and shown in such a beautiful way!! Yes, now I understand a lot about the language and its sounds haha Cheers from Colombia 💛💙❤️

[@bsadistik4421]

I speak Swedish as a third language. The most strange experience I've had was speaking to a dane, him in Danish and I in Swedish. I couldn't understand a single word, but I understood what he meant. haha

[@lisebrinck8848]

I feel this odd sense of pride because my language is so weird. If you don't have 39 distinct vowels, what are you even doing with your life?

[@Ramk0core]

And here I am, with my native language having only 5 distinct vowels (that the speakers can distinguish anyway), Spanish, with ancestors whose language had only 3, Quechua. I can distinguish a whole lot more nowadays of course, having studied other languages...which have lots of distinct vowels but who doesn't make it any easy to tell them apart by spelling (curse your spelling systems, English and French!)

[@isnissen]

Det er det der holder mig vågen om natten

[@mikeminden1090]

Danish could team up with Tlingit's forty consonants to be unstoppable. Or unpronounceable.

[@uyenvu4507]

How about learning all the Kanji... That's also something to do with one's life.

[@mathiass1999]

Danish sure is a majestic language

[@vinny9868]

Me: *Clears throat* Danish person: *Starts talking to me*

[@sylvesterbastianmeiner]

Undskyld mig, hvad snakker du om?

[@leilanicatrose3576]

Sea Shell omg😂😂😂😂😂☠️

[@lahusa_]

RareSuperSylle 😂😂 perfekt

[@tommasschwensen817]

Can you please stop? Im Danish and, that is just rude. Danish: Kan du være sød at stoppe? Jeg er Dansk og, det er bare ondt.

[@neptune.2566]

Savage

[@Gary_Seanfield]

Father is Norwegian, mother is danish so I'm fluent in both, which puts in me a uniquely qualified position to comment on the anomalies of danish in the linguistic context of Scandinavia. I've always said that Norwegian is the bridge between swedes and Danes, many of whom since the proliferation of English in our cultures, will often result to English when trying to communicate, since swedish and danish differ more than swedish/Norwegian and Norwegian/danish, mostly because of vocabulary and sounds of the vowels as well as phonetics and intonation. I think this is mostly due to bokmål Norwegian (written Norwegian), which was heavily influenced by Norwegians coming to Denmark to study higher education, bringing their vernacular and ways of writing Norwegians back again with them upon returning to Norway. Knowing Norwegian has definitely helped me with discerning swedish, which would have been much more difficult for me if i only knew danish, i suspect.

[@zacharydavis4398]

Thanks for spending the time to create and share this content 🤙🏾

[@elo7096]

It’s nice to be a Dane, because we can curse at so many people without them understanding.

[@starcolai5017]

Khaonas forhelved

[@gth77s]

also hungarian

[@notkanti]

Khaonas De sutter pik de lorte hoveder! Fanden i helvede da

[@katnerd6712]

@@gth77s Everybody assumes Hungarians are cursing at them, so you don't get away with nothin' :P

[@kerveenvergara9449]

Like every country ever

[@barry1902]

As an Englishman in Denmark I can vouch for this. It's widely considered almost impossible to speak Danish like a Dane. Even if you can master their soft D's, you'll have an accent. My teacher told me I'd never learn Danish 100% fluently because 'It's not possible'. Another teacher who has lived and spoken Danish for over 20 years told me she still gets corrected by her Danish husband. It's been a tough time for me 😂

[@heinrich.hitzinger]

The more vowels a language has, the harder to master is its phonology...

[@apotato6278]

Move north to premium Denmark

[@lu.dynasty1436]

Well for US "danes" you guys Sound like you Got A potato in your throath becos we get to learn Danish so for US you guy Sound weird i kan ikke forstå det her så Hej idioter

[@AianaRaven]

My mentor is from England and have been living in Denmark for 25 years and he also still has a English accent.

[@evilseedsgrownaturally1588]

@@lu.dynasty1436 You don't think that most people would understand "idioter"?

[@mattresbert]

Brilliant stuff Your narration is very poetic Very calming

[@user-km5qj9my9m]

Goodness! Adore the Danish language! Love Danish pop music! Have started to learn it because found a good friend in Esbjerg! 😊

[@TheInstinctWithinV2]

Being Norwegian, the weirdest thing is that it's actually pretty easy to understand Danish if you ask them to speak slowly. I think it's partially that the words ARE there and they're pretty clear, just not when Danes are too excited to say them. Ya'll motherflippers speak on a whole different vibration frequency or somethin' Edit: that said I don't understand them at all when they say numbers, because those are different words

[@abcde_ghijklmnopqrstuvwyxz2188]

even as a dane myself, i know the struggle. danish is just a super sloppy language lol

[@aalb1970]

True Bokmål is basically the same as Danish. But the pronunciation is different.

[@dumvivimus]

As a native English speaker I feel this way too. It’s similar to an American talking too quickly-it becomes a blur. I can almost understand Norwegian better than Danish.

[@rosstapson]

There are English dialects in England that are all but unintelligible to those of us accustomed to Received Pronunciation, or, y'know, news anchor speak.

[@jordinagel1184]

Given that “seventy” in Danish basically means “three and a half times twenty,” I think we can award Danish the prize for most stupidly convoluted number names, just beating out the French

[@pualamnusantara7903]

Norwegian and Swedish : *Figuring out how to understand Danish* The Finns : "Ah, good luck my Germanic brothers. I have my own thing, Perkele."

[@theredbluegamers9106]

Pualam Nusantara it’s funny tho because norwegian and dansih is very similar to me im a dame but swedish is just stupid to listen to

[@IQzminus2]

TheRedBlue Gamers That is probably because written Danish was the official writing language in Norway up until the 1800s They have two different official verations of Norwegian for a reason, and Danish is it. If you compare some of the dialects in western Norway that have maintained more old Norwegian to the parts more affected by danish it’s a staggering difference. So the reason Swedish might seem more different to you, is because no one in relatively recent history tried to make it more danish. As a Swede I generally find nynorsk easier to read and west Norwegian dialects easier to understand than bokmål/riksmål, the way sentences are structured and quite a few words is often more similar to me. (Though all Norwegian is pretty easy to understand, a exception for me is the dialect from Bergen, it’s a little challenging at times. But not close to being as hard as Danish) Though Norwegians seem to think that eastern dialects that generally are closer to bokmål sounds more Swedish to them.

[@squirlmy]

@@kongvinter33 for a while, all commerce there was directly handled by the Hanseatic League. At least, that's what I was told as a tourist. ;)

[@EkonIc]

Its really unfair how us danes can kind of understand the Swedish and Norwegian people BUT THEY CANT UNDERSTAND US

[@dmmayfield6726]

Bravo!!

[@paulvillarreal1588]

Wow! Awesome video! I love this kind of stuff. Very informative and fun…and the comments are great! Lol Subscribed!

[@lmmadsen2073]

I have never heard this before. My Danish mother in law spoke her dialect and Danish with a sing song accent, and I could understand her. I learned quite a few Danish words from her, a lot of them food related.

[@afinoxi]

How to speak Danish : >Pronounce a Swedish word's beginning >Give up on the rest

[@pocketlanguages]

plus some random ø and some glottal stop

[@deangoldenstar7997]

Hva faen praller du om?

[@alexursu4403]

Get punched by an Insulted Danish and you're speaking Danish .

[@Cruxador]

How to speak Swedish: >Sing a word (poorly) >Continue singing indefinitely

[@nu1s]

@@deangoldenstar7997 Han sade ett skämt, calm your tits broder :)

[@Hannah-be7eu]

As a simple Dane: When you see something with Denmark in it you click on it

[@frimse_123]

Yep thats just how i am😂

[@sam2803]

Well yes that's true

[@jamiecairns1085]

true haha

[@oversecus833]

Ja selvfølgelig

[@Dark_Zacian]

Yep. Sådan er det

[@MrSleepkill]

Except in south Denmark we speak a mix of Frisian/Danish & German (spread via the Hanse I suppose). Fun fact first time I went to countries like Nederland, Luxemburg and Switzerland I understood the local language with accent. Even the Swiss thought my local Danish accent was not that "far off", to to understand, and sounded as if they too could understand me talking to my college in south Danish Sønderjysk (means South Jutland's language). I am 100% fluid in German, so this helps. Sønderjysk will not die for now, and I feel it is gaining popularity (as I see it). Swedish to me, uses like a lot of German words but pronounced a bit whirred (no offence to Swedes I like them!)

[@clausvoltelen184]

The german Is mostly the northgerman, ( Plattdeutsch, Platt, på dansk plattysk) I think.

[@nottoday9437]

Very Informative, interesting and nice. Brilliant video

[@getbonked1917]

I can read Danish almost perfectaly, but I can't understand a word they're saying.

[@arthurhebertthomsen2796]

Kan du? Sejt nok, men hvor er du fra?

[@j.t1984]

Hvis du er nordmann er det pinligt.

[@j.t1984]

@@nerd_in_norway Er rogalendning, og med litt større språklig fleksjonsgrad i dialekten min sammenlignet med de som bestemmer rundt Oslo er det lett å bli revet med. Poenget er likevel det samme; nordmenn som ikke forstår dansk ER faktisk pinlig. Det er ikke dermed sagt at alt skal gå smertefritt, men å ikke være i stand til å ''understand a word they're saying'' for å sitere TS er etter min oppfatning en flau egeninnstilling å innta.

[@thomasboewertsen4297]

gjolb nej Danmark er bedre end Norge

[@getbonked1917]

Bara så ni vet så är jag från nordöstra Sverige i Umeå och det är nog bara skåningarna som förstår danska i Sverige

[@doso4782]

I tried giving a chocking man the Heimlich maneuver, turned out he wasn’t chocking… He was Danish.

[@lickletee270]

DoSo chocking?

[@liseotoadese9834]

i come from Denmark and i also speak danish so thats kinda hurtful

[@doso4782]

@@liseotoadese9834 sorry. Ive been to Denmark tho and it's very nice. Love the wienerbröd.

[@hellohowareyou7]

Danish is like norwegian. And people only Think it sounds ugly because everyone Thinks the only danish Word is rødgrød.

[@betinaharritz5303]

hihihi... funny.. ;o)

[@powderedground78]

I'm irish and have been learning Danish since 2017. To read and write, I'm there. To pronounce, no chance. I'm so envious because it's a fascinating language and you can see how it influenced English, as it is now

[@IQzminus2]

I’m a Swede But have you tried Norwegian? The reading and writing in Norwegian (Norsk Bokmål) is 99.9% the same as Danish. (It historically was the same until very very recently. Norwegian was written in Danish) (the ingredients list of the back of products, tend to have Danish and Norwegian share the same one. Because it’s all the same with even the same spelling for almost everything, Swedish however almost always get its own. Because it’s written so differently) The pronunciation with spoken Norwegian should however be way easier to learn for people new to Nordic languages, then Danish. Way easier to learn to listen and understand when spoken And then you can sort of just take the Norwegian words and add a Danish flare to it, and 95% of the time you get the Danish pronunciation right.

[@worthlesscoala]

Tack för denna fina video!

[@danishdude6750]

Danish is a code language. We don't want the Swedes to understand us :-D. It is working

[@ulriktnnesen5987]

Come in commander! Rødgrød med fløde, I repeat, rødgrød med fløde, signing out! :P

[@eetuthereindeer6671]

You sound like your head is in a bucket full of water and you try to drink and breathe at the same time

[@danishdude6750]

@@eetuthereindeer6671 That's part of the code language; to make more difficult

[@eetuthereindeer6671]

@@danishdude6750 haha ok 👍

[@Rosencrona]

Nobody understands you and your potato-speak.

[@wheelman1324]

Me: Trying to speak Danish. Dane: It’s okay. Just talk to me in English.

[@flyvemyren]

That being said, we actually love when foreigners try to pronounce danish words, because most of us know how hard they are :D

[@meadish]

@@flyvemyren I tried to ask for directions to an address on Enghavevej once. I thought 'how hard can it be, first I will try to pronounce it like I think a Dane would say it, then I will try to pronounce it in a more svorsk (Snorwegian) way, surely she will understand either of those'. But I failed. I had to write the word down on a piece of paper to get her to understand. In hindsight, I think the problem is I had not realized how extremely different the Danish word 'have' is pronounced from what a Swede or Norwegian would assume. To a Swede the Danish pronunciation seems like it should be spelt something like 'hää-oåö', not 'have'.

[@muslimsrememberapostacyday556]

I know some danes do that, but it is very rude, and danes also do know it is rude. Don't let that keep you from learning the language. There are many other danes who understand why it is important to help foreigners learning danish, and who are not rude like that.

[@BadlyDK]

haha, this is more true when Swedes and Norwegians try to speak Danish to us. Danglish is just a blast. xD

[@muslimsrememberapostacyday556]

@@BadlyDK Man snakker bare ikke engelsk med sit broderfolk og sådan er det.

[@bentstavanger]

Great video! One mistake, though: It is true, that some of the dialects with few speakers have disappeared (e.g. 'Grønnegade-dansk', which my mother remembers hearing in her childhood, she is now in her eighties). But there are still many living dialects of Danish, and some of them are NOT mutually intelligible. I myself master 3 dialects and a smattering of another 4 or 5. My second dialect is "Copenhagenish" (is that a word?), which is as you describe in the video. My native dialect is the closely related Gentofte dialect, which is spoken almost without opening the mouth or moving the lips (it sounds and looks absolutely hilarious). I also speak the dialect of Funen fairly well, which has no 'stød' and no soft d's, as well as a slightly different syntax, a quite different stress pattern and a lot of indigenous words and expressions. An example of a dialect that is quite far from "standard Danish" (which is an abstraction that no one actually speaks, not even the royal family), would be that of Southern Jutland, close to the border with Germany. I regard it as neither Danish, nor German, nor a mixture of the two, but a separate language. It has its own grammar, vocabulary and pronunciation, all of Germanic origin, naturally. I can understand some of it, because I have friends from that region who have been teaching it to me on occasion.

[@Hoshi-Hana]

Great video! I always love hearing the history behind a language and you're spot on. (I'm Dane too) Though I will say that Copenhagenian Danish is what we call Rigsdansk (Kingdom's Danish) - our grammar is still based on this but it's rarely spoken anymore (Listen to Margrethe the 2nd's speeches. She still speaks it.) as it has been influenced by dialects scattered throughout the country. Like every region etc. got their own. It's very easy to determine where a person is coming from. Like South Jutland Danish is in general very difficult to comprehend and is almost a language of its own😂The same goes for North Jutland whom can more or less speak with Scotsmen each in their own language and still understand each other in broad terms due to a dialect which resemble Scottish English. People on Fyn "sings" more on their pronunciation etc. I understand written and spoken Southern Swedish close to Denmark and Norwegian (not new Norwegian). Back when I went to elementary school, we read several Swedish texts and such in Danish classes. Dunno if it's the case any more. Oh! One thing is pronunciation another is the structural part. I fully understand the confusion from newcomers that we for instance can play and combine words as we pleases. One of our grammar rules are that we can take any 2 different nouns, combine them into one and Voilá! You got yourself a completely new legit word, which isn't part of any known dictionary but usable in the daily Life. That's truly tricky😂

[@thewonderdoc2999]

Guide to Danish by my friends from up there: Pronounce words like you think you should and then give up halfway through the word.

[@victor1945]

Pretty accurate. Also, many consonants are optional or silent so you get far by just making a mess of vowels

[@ceselb]

Step two. Now instead of giving up midway, pretend you're choking on a potato. Perfect Dansih diction. Hvergang.

[@shaide5483]

@@ceselb English speakers: Fully pronounce all vowels & consonants that native speakers don’t pronounce mainly

[@kathyh.1720]

@@victor1945 When my Danish relatives say "Pedersen", it sounds like "Pillersen" to me.

[@saraperlstein]

That's what I always tell my friends when they want to learn how to pronounce Danish: don't enunciate! 😂

[@blacklight310]

That letter from a Swede describing Danish in 1526 had me dying 🤣

[@majabus3254]

N damn denmark got roasted

[@jesperholdtnielsen1752]

To be fair, I would rather speak with a potato in my throat or a constant cough, than meatball (what Swedish sounds like to Danes) any day of the week😂

[@christinalund30]

I'd rather sound like im always sick, than sound like im singing at all time 😂

[@idratherbewithmycatrightnow]

@@christinalund30 it's ok to be jealous. Not everyone can live their best life inside a musical.

[@velenteriushendeneros3251]

@@jesperholdtnielsen1752 svenskene synger. Men dere dansker, hoster. Vi nordmenn... er fantastiske

[@matchaia]

I love the art style you use in your graphics

[@CBlargh]

That stød is still not as pronounced in Jylland. Thanks for explaining it. I always knew it was there, but never knew what it was called. It's _incredibly_ hard to do.

[@ivetter.2443]

English: Island Spanish: Isla Italian: Isola Dutch: Eiland Danish: “Ø 😵😵😵” 🤣

[@WillDaSilvaRetro]

Ivette R. Omg I’m dying 😂😂

[@katarinawikholm5873]

Swedish: Ö

[@livalikeonthisvideo9760]

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPKRSTUVWXYZ? Nah ah You forgot Æ Ø and Å😏😅

[@krista6479]

Finnish: Saari 🤷

[@14rs]

And Lake is sø. Jeg er dansk

[@MyScorpion42]

Okay but why did you have to make the queen's neck so T H I C C

[@timomastosalo]

It's his own avatar, just with a wig. Notice him speaking in the end?

[@wowwowm8394]

Thanks to the potato

[@Winddancer110]

So she can better make those throaty gutteral sounds! Duh

[@pauloamw]

With all that throat exercise from speaking what else did you expect?

[@shyasaturtle]

She's an F1 driver.

[@_Evan_Demon_]

As a danish person that can speak english fluently (I grew up having a british accent btw) One of the funnist thing about being danish is that i can just which to danish in the middle of a conversation with someone who speaks english that they wont understand a thing of what im saying

[@user-ff7jv7th7v]

What a wonderful video...it touched me towards denise language with humor and love.

[@emilbruhn5150]

*in a restaurant* Waiter: are you finish? Dane: no I’m Danish

[@bnz2222]

Ahhhh the classic

[@petrastiglicova7216]

@@bnz2222 it stops getting funny when you're an english speaking waitress and all danes think they're funny telling me this joke like i haven't heard it 3 times already that night "just smile and wave guys just smile and wave" is my only motto 😂😂😂

[@bnz2222]

@@petrastiglicova7216 lol

[@emilbruhn5150]

Petra Štiglicová haha

[@astridthomsen2559]

@@petrastiglicova7216 i feel so bad for you

[@natasja54]

Me from Denmark while scrolling through the comments: 👁👄👁

[@ino144]

Same xD

[@eredain9915]

Også mig

[@laurapankratz1027]

OMG I did the exact same thing!!!

[@Dark_Zacian]

Ja, samme her.

[@goggydoggy8416]

Også mig

[@bobdydd]

In Cockney English its called a glottal Stop and replaces the letter "T" or "TT" when I was in school the teacher made us say a ditty to get us out of the habit. Betty bought a bit of butter, but the butter Betty bought was bitter, so Betty bought a bit of better butter to make the bitter butter better.

[@sixten8407]

Hey NativLang im from Denmark and this was a very Fun to watch as a dane

[@doctorrandomiise2532]

Don't think you've got away with it just yet, Finland. Your linguistic crimes will soon be known to the world.

[@IHDN]

Without googling, I do think maybe the Fins get away with that pretty easy. I do believe they, as the laps, are decendants of the Huns. This also explains why they tend to have narrower aisian-like eyes.

[@squigglycircle]

-Kokoo torille kokko. -Koko kokkoko? -Koko kokko.

[@jimnielsen6667]

Finnish sounds awesome. Badguys in all movies should always speak Finnish. Finnish-Swedish or what it's called, also sounds awesome - and I actually understand it, since I'm Danish. It's funny how Finnish-Swedish is probably the easiest for Danes to understand. Probably because you Finns have a "choppy" machine gun-like pronunciation - which is a bit similar to the glottal stops we Danes use. Norwegian - and Swedish in particular - sound very soft and all the words get drowned in their "weeeoeeeewewwweeeo" sounds, like when they for instance say: "Jaaaeg äealaskaear Svaeariegeaa", or "Euuureeeeuoa" (uro = unrest). In Danish, it's just pronounced:"Jah elskah Danmak" and "Uro". We don't use the "eoewoeoweoweoee" singing. Danes speak up to 50% faster than Norwegians and Swedes. Think about that.. That's why they don't understand us, but we understand them. Danish is a short cut language, if you will. Fast pronunciations and more "choppy". Many words in Danish blend together in a way that makes them impossible to separate for foreigners.. For instance "Hvad snakker du om" (what are you talking about).. It's pronounced "Vasnakkaduom", almost like it's one word.

[@shooterrick1]

IHDN Finland has been populated long before the huns. We are a melting pot of people migrating from several different directions. Some of us have narrower eyes, but not everyone.

[@IHDN]

I would imagine it was something like that. Thank you for clearing up.

[@1DaTJo]

Dane: What is your name? Other person: Bless you!

[@Nick-rs5if]

@hsyegwi riiehejee Vad heter du?

[@Nick-rs5if]

@hsyegwi riiehejee Jag heter Nick ^^

[@Nick-rs5if]

@hsyegwi riiehejee Jag är 25 år gammal. Är allt bra med dig?

[@majapiltoft7141]

Okay Thats mean

[@listenboi]

@@majapiltoft7141 It's a joke. As a dane I can confirm that this is completely okay and it definitely made me chuckle.

[@thissunchild]

Never really ever thought about the Danish language like that. As a brit, Danish is my first foreign language, so that fact that it was so damned throaty didn't really have any impact on me as I had nothing to compare it to. I thought all foreign languages would tear up my throat in just the same way😅

[@IQzminus2]

English is also a relatively throaty / guttural language, though still not near Danish levels. I would suggest looking up Norwegian. If you already know Danish, you know Norwegian. It should to you just sound like Danish spoken with a very different accent. The words are the same, the spelling is the same. The pronunciation, eh very different. And Norwegian is like the polar opposite, it’s basically not guttural at all, instead quite nasal. And more hard consonant sounds compared to Danish. Maybe sounding a bit like if someone articulated their Danish words, very very clearly. Danish is often spoken pretty monotone just like English, while Norwegian uses loads and loads of melody while speaking (hence why both Norwegian and Swedish is often described as sounding like people are singing). Something that as a English speaker should be pretty new, with just that much melody. And also how much the Norwegians use the melody of how they speak a sentence to convey intent and meaning

[@thissunchild]

@@IQzminus2 I know all about it. I speak fluent Danish and can understand both Norweigen and (written) Swedish. English is not a 'throaty' language. However, as a Londoner, we have a lot of glottal stops when we drop our 't's in the middle and end of words like 'water', 'what', 'bottle'...

[@clarsach29]

i used to work in sweden and once asked my colleagues which language they used if they were meeting some danes. without hesitation they replied “English”. it seems that swedes from far south of sweden can mostly understand danes and vice versa but in general swedes don’t find it easy to understand danes (although i think danes can understand fairly well both swedes and norwegians)

[@ole7146]

Speaking as a Dane, I've meet many Swedes abroad over the years where I just spoke Danish and they spoke Swedish, overall it worked without any major issues. In particular Scandinavian youngsters, Danes, Sweds, Norwegians, do tend to speak English to eachother right away, which is somehow a bit sad as it don't take that much effort to listen carefully to what the other part says. Having said that, I do understand Norwegian better unless it's a very tonal/pitchy dialect.

[@omnomnom1]

especially the younger generations from around the Copenhagen area can easily understand the Norwegians and Swedes because we're more exposed to them. I remember freaking people out because I was able to follow along with a full convo in Swedish, and they would have to switch to English often - or specifically make ME switch to English lol

[@majabus3254]

Yeah I feel bad for Denmark. In Sweden, or at least where I’m from, when we burp we always say ”excuse my bad danish” lmao

[@Berg8643]

As a Dane i find this extremely funny. I had no idea

[@mikavikesland9611]

Haha when the person im talking to mutters, I always end up saying ''Sorry, I don't speak danish''

[@0118uhauha]

jävla roligt , skitstövel. På dansk skulle vi kalde dig en Bonderøv.

[@AdamAdam-wb4mo]

As somebody once said when someone asks me are you finish? I say no I'm Danish.

[@madsskyum2179]

LOL im a Dane

[@QuestionYourWorld]

Lmao I literally just tried to pronounce one of those throaty danish sounds, my wife rushed over thinking I was choking.

[@isaacroman9242]

Lol

[@zmnicvander]

This happens when you're a Linguistics student. You just gotta let everyone know beforehand you'll be practicing for Phonology class.

[@brosef5033]

Suuuure she did

[@CaliforniaFarmGirl]

I hope this is true

[@QuestionYourWorld]

@@CaliforniaFarmGirl We had fun that day. Happened while I still had my air pods in.Spent the rest of the meal preparation listening to more language based videos together.

[@Sydebern]

As a Dutchman and more specific: Frisian, i like Danish and i learned it just because i like learning Scandinavian languages. Danish might not be as elegant as Swedish but i kind of like it just as it is. It also helps that Denmark produces great cinema. That's how i got introduced to the language. In particular through the films of Anders Thomas Jensen (De Grønne Slagtere, Adams Æbler, Retfærdighedens Ryttere, etc.) Jeg er ligeglad hvad nogle folk siger, Dansk er et fint sprog!

[@victorrock1997]

When I was in Denmark, I felt that the language was so close, yet so far from Norwegian. In written format, it is almost identical (even I, as a non-native speaker, can easily discern this), but while spoken, it is quite misleading to a Norwegian speaker, especially in terms of the numeric system. The Danish numeric system is very similar in its structure to the German one whereas Norwegian is closer to English. Not to mention some words which are identical in both Danish and Norwegian have a different contextual meaning... which makes differences even more subtle and numerous, come to really think of it. But when it is sung, Danish is very beautiful as well. Happy New Year and all the best! P.S.: There are also quite a number of words in Danish which look and are pronounced very similar to their counterparts in English and German. In fact, these cognates are so similar, it's so easy to spell them when you speak even if you don't have a solid knowledge of English.

[@Joshayne]

Nobody: The Danes: Now you just ordered a thousand liters of milks

[@mathiasjensen6314]

Mælk er da godt! 🥛 😛 Milk is good

[@nerd_in_norway]

Kamelåså!

[@jezzhjn]

So I just handed him some tape rests.

[@junsuryo8859]

@@mathiasjensen6314 Milch ist gut

[@thomaskristiansen2195]

@@nerd_in_norway kamelåså?

[@TheKinglax94]

I'm a simple man. I watch nativlang, I sign up for a linguistics and applied foreign language masters program in France. Thank you for reminding me of my passion for languages

[@TheKinglax94]

I switched my bachelors to french with a minor in japanese when I found your videos a few years ago. I love this kind of stuff. You and xidnaf are some of my favorite channels. I also did prelaw as a fallback but I am moving to paris next year to study at la sorbonne. I am so happy, and really a lot of it is thanks to you

[@NativLang]

Wow, I'm honored to have been such a part of your linguistic journey! I know it takes so much of your own work, but reading this really made those late nights researching and animating feel that much more worthwhile.

[@Maaaarz]

If only 5 years ago there were Nativlang, Name Explain and Xidnaf to guide me in the right diretion :(

[@jeremieherard2166]

Bienvenue :)

[@alyanahzoe]

​@@NativLang 1:29 *music playing*

[@evildead9708]

I just found out recently that my great grandmother on my mums side was from flensburg, which was once part of denmark. Ill be going next year and I cant wait!!

[@Rimrock300]

Cool. That northern state of Germany used to be Danish for a long period of time. Quite some similar culture and old building style around to see even today

[@jernfuglen]

You can have a lot of fun with the subtle differences in danish. I once turned the religious song "Gud, jeg vil skjule mig i dig" (God, I want to hide myself in you) into "Gud jeg vil skjule Maj i dej" ( God, I want to hide Maj in dough) For the untrained ear it's very hard to hear the difference, but for a dane it's not a problem.

[@joannavandenbring1725]

What's the difference linguistically?

[@jernfuglen]

The pronounciation is only slightly different on the words, but it makes a big difference.

[@joannavandenbring1725]

@@jernfuglen thanks. It's actually the same in Scanian (skånska) but I can't explain myself why the maj/mig and deg/dig sound different, just a length of vowels perhaps...but obviously part of our Danish heritage!

[@signekroner4588]

@@joannavandenbring1725 well the difference is exactly the "stød" that he talks about in the video. Dig (you) without it and dej (dough) with it. Mig (me) without it and Maj (May) with it.

[@joannavandenbring1725]

​@signekroner4588 well, we don't have stød but there's a slight difference between the two in Scanian too. We pronounce both 'daj' but the dough one is longer. Maybe a parallel development to stød.

[@jesperholdtnielsen1752]

Then try to tell a Danish person that we all speak the same language here and you will see the banter between the different dialetcs and regions reach an entire new level. Trust me, the entirety of Jylland will lose their shit if you tell any of them that they have the same dialect as the people in Copenhagen, and with good reason, because we do not have the same dialect (even different languages some might say) 😂

[@sandraskjrbk5072]

So true

[@thatonebitchtotheleft83]

I just went to a Efterskole in Jylland and everyone there was either from Jylland or Copenhagen and I swear everyday someone was talking about ascents, it was nuts. Just don’t get Bornholm involved in your discussions about accents we have our own language and we would like too keep it that way😂✌️

[@sandraskjrbk5072]

Tyrone69 der er ikke et engelsk ord for efterskole, da boarding school ikke er det samme som en efterskole

[@sandraskjrbk5072]

Tyrone69 hvad skulle hun så have skrevet? Synes det er mærkeligt at du skal rette på noget så ligegyldigt

[@sandraskjrbk5072]

Tyrone69 hvorfor blive nedladende? Siger bare at der ikke er et engelsk ord for efterskole det vel fint nok at hun brugte det, så hvorfor rette på noget som ikke er forkert?

[@michelleandersen4710]

my grandparents speak fluent danish and they literally sound like they’re whispering half words to each other

[@NoctLightCloud]

It's a bit sad that they never taught you ;/

[@BertGrink]

@Michelle Andersen They probably ARE speaking half words; after having lived together for many years I'm sure they can read each other's mood just by looking at each other. ;) Greetings fra Sydfyn.

[@m00shmallow81]

@Predator , slap af :)

[@jacobdahlin8348]

Tf

[@michelleandersen4710]

NoctLightCloud they only taught me how to say “i love you” and “thank you for the food” hahaha

[@frederikbruun7859]

A a dane, i do not understand how you manage to "insult" us in such a truthful way. Its is true that we are a very weird sounding people, but you make it fun to learn about my own language without ever ridiculing us. Thank you. For explaining our "throat condition" ;-)

[@Cherabreena]

As a Dane, I've always been curious how Danish sounds to someone who doesn't know the language. I also agree that it's relatively easy to read Norwegian as a Dane. In my line of education we had to read a lot of Norwegian papers and articles. Written Swedish is harder for me. Audibly, I understand both when spoken slowly. Heck, I understand those languages better than certain Danish dialects, haha!

[@fiehoeeg6370]

American: *choking on a potato* Danes: how dare you insult my mother like this

[@iconsay4598]

@fleetlordavtar just learn swedish lmao, its easier than danish

[@glenbe4026]

@@iconsay4598 I would have thought Swedes sound weird to other Scandinavians as they seem to all speak American. Norwegians, Danes and even Icelanders don't sound as American as Swedes do.

[@iconsay4598]

@@glenbe4026 Swedish and English has a lot in common when it comes to pronunciation, even more so than Danish or Norwegian

[@glenbe4026]

@@iconsay4598 lol. Swedes speak American. Just because someone speaks English does NOT mean they sound American. Millions of people speak English around the world, and most do not sound American. Swedes speak American. They are odd in that way. Norwegians and Danes do not sound American in the way Swedes do.

[@iconsay4598]

@@glenbe4026 I don't know which swedes you've met but here in Uppsala we don't sound American

[@the_j4cker945]

Me: I want to learn danish to study in Denmark Me after this video: I think I'll stay at home

[@user-sr5iv9pp6p]

No worries, we all speak english, even hobos on the street.

[@petretepner8027]

@M That's why we don't get the opportunity to learn Danish! When I worked in the English translation department of the Council of the European Union, we communicated with all other departments in French, EXCEPT the Danes, whom we wrote and spoke to in English, out of courtesy to *them* , not to us.

[@poisonbomb1]

​@@petretepner8027 Well the french are the ones refusing to learn english, the rest of the EU shouldn't have to tippy-tap just for their sake. Either they learn or they miss out, simple :P

[@petretepner8027]

@@poisonbomb1 The French have nothing to do with it. French was (and still is, despite the fantasies of the Flamingants) the principal language of Brussels, where our offices were situated.

[@arethagrassi6420]

It's not that hard, trust me. It took me 1 year to learn.

[@AxLPeazy]

this video is really really good

[@liliana7642]

Hi NativLang, I hope you some day might make a video over het Nederlands, misschien? Het zou fijn zijn!

[@JoshuaHillerup]

As a child of a Danish immigrant who had a lot of trouble in Saturday Danish classes, thank you for this.

[@NPC-vv1hf]

644 likes no comments

[@King.Leonidas]

@crazyhorse, OK ill add one. To Josha hillerup if your not of european decent Go Home

[@Tr4sh_can34]

Hvor er fra

[@emilsand-jensen7947]

its not that hard to speak danish

[@King.Leonidas]

@Emil Sand-jensen Indeed just do random gutteral sounds

[@elviralindberg9557]

Yup that’s me, just another Dane with a potato stuck in their throat. I feel bullied

[@youraverageimperialguard7932]

Champagne problems...

[@elviralindberg9557]

No, beer problems my dear friend😂

[@christofornothing866]

Same

[@Chihiro33333]

Don’t! We love you guys! 😃 Greetings from Sweden!

[@squirlmy]

This video seemed to gloss over the period where Denmark rules all of Scandinavia. I think there's residual resentment. The teasing is good-natured, but still there.

[@diosha779]

Of ALL the languages I could dedicate myself to learning, I chose Danish 🇩🇰Thank you, Mads Mikkelsen

[@pianolove2012]

After viewing this video, I can finally accept and possibly even start to enjoy Danish 😄 And people say Swedish is hard to pronounce

[@greenefieldmann3014]

"In Norway, there's still no single spoken Norwegian." So... we've arrived in the present day?

[@tomorbataar5922]

Hæ? Jeg forstår deg, men kan du snakke litt saktere :)

[@petretepner8027]

@Greene Fielmann Spare a thought for my friend who tried to learn Finnish, but could barely find a Finn who spoke at all.

[@theresevontodderud3901]

@Vebjørn Sandnes Hæ? Din dåsemikkel, du glemte "je". Ypper du??? ;P Nå kjem je og tar deg.

[@axivalidator7885]

Virkelig?? Men jeg ønsker lære norsk og bor i Norge QAQ

[@leifbirgerolsen9167]

Æ skjønner ikke

[@michael.a.covington]

When in grad school, visiting Copenhagen, I sent a postcard to my fellow linguistics students, "Greetings from Denmark, home of world-famous glottalized vowels..."

[@michael.a.covington]

I also came away convinced that the correct way to pronounce Danish is Norwegian. :)

[@SIC647]

@@michael.a.covington We Danes tend to joke to foreigners that if they want to learn Danish, they should learn Norweigian first, and then do a sloppy pronounciation = Danish.

[@johndododoe1411]

@@SIC647 I once came across a guidebook that had a Danish pronunciation guide in the back. It was all wrong and apparently based on some sloppy Copenhagen dialect akin to American mumble rap.

[@IQzminus2]

@@SIC647 that actually isn’t a half bad idea. As a swede written Danish and Norwegian look 99% the same to me. But the articulation is so much clearer and easier to hear what sounds they are making in Norwegian. As a new person learning the language, you basically always can more or less sound a word out letter by letter and get there. Danish have so many dropped sounds and eh other unique features As a swede my approach to try and speak Danish, is to take Swedish and slur my words, basically pronounce next to no consonant sounds, only do very very guttural vowel sound at the very furthers back of my throat. And do some common vocal sound shifts like, Swedish ‘jag’ -> ‘Jeg’ in Danish And like 80% of the time you get the word and pronunciation right. By taking Swedish and making it feel Danish Starting from Norwegian instead of Swedish, you probably easily could get that to 95% or something, just from like a first guess of how a Norwegian word should sound in Danish.

[@bipboob3424]

​@@johndododoe1411 it properly made by someone from Amager

[@BaronVonQuiply]

01:30 I've heard it described as talking into a vacuum cleaner, and I guess this clip fits, but in trying to replicate it I find myself engaging the same muscles to do the "muted trumpet" sound of any adult in a a Peanuts cartoon (Charlie Brown's Parents, which is also a Dishwalla song). A touch of C'thulhu probably as well, I've never heard it speak, but it has a certain swishing sound in there.

[@johannalehto9154]

I'm from Finland but currently living in southern Sweden. Even though Swedish is my first languge I still can't at times grasp the accent here because it sounds so much like Danish xD My boyfriend's grandpa is from Denmark and he always have so much fun trying to make me pronunce Danish words. My Swedish-Speaking-Finn accent is so strong because of the heavy Finnish influence. So, I have extremly hard time saying many words hahaha xD Reading though isn't too hard xD

[@KattReen]

Skåne?

[@johannalehto9154]

@@KattReen Yup

[@litfurher4206]

Next up: Why finnish sounds funny to literally everyone.

[@VulpesVulpes42]

Finnish sounds *pure*. Gotta love that orthographic consistency!

[@icreatedasadcowboyemojil-l577]

Finnish is a whole rollercoaster.. Swede:Hej, Dane: Hej, Norwegian: Hei, ..and then finns: Moi! Swede: Vad heter du? Dane: Hvad hedder du? Norwegian: Hva heter du? Finn: mikä on nimesi?

[@dumbsquaredgirl5709]

It’s sound cool when translated in the motomoto video.

[@KungKras]

Finnish doesn't sound funny, it sounds epic.

[@dirtyyy7668]

@@icreatedasadcowboyemojil-l577 Well unlike other Scandinavian languages, Finnish isn't even an Indo-European one, so nothing surpring here.

[@Lemonz1989]

The Danish noun “gift” means poison, while the adjective “gift” means married. 🤷‍♂️

[@rikkebay8548]

Hint hint 😏

[@puyol8700]

We have a saying, "gift er noget man tager for ikke at blive det," which roughly translates into "(gift) is something you take in order not to become so".

[@LinniC93]

Same in Norwegian

[@biogirl2273]

The same as swedish 😅

[@souviksikdar1864]

No no please stop with the jokes , it's tickling me hard🤪🥴🥴

[@yorkiegrit]

As a student of Danish based in Yorkshire, I find it easier to pronounce Danish if I try it with what to me, is a Newcastle accent 😀. I love the language

[@sebastiangade]

6:24 Speaking of right sounds, the English pronunciation of Copenhagen is [Copen-hay-gen], as Kopenhagen is its German name

[@ep-us3cn]

Thank you!

[@MicroBlogganism]

And that's only half the story. Danish also has a habit of turning into mumbling. It all just becomes a mess of vowel sounds. I'm frankly surprised we understand eachother. Also, the Danish number system is unnecessary complicated

[@Rakadis]

Yeah. Tell me about Halv firs. This is the worst one. The rest are half logical and the reason I just pay by credit card in Denmark and never talk about the Danish Krone to any other currency...

[@MicroBlogganism]

@@Rakadis I'm not sure which number you are referring to, since halv firs isn't one. Do you perhaps mean halvfems or halvfjerds?

[@Rakadis]

MicroBlogganism The technical term would be " 70: halvfjerdsindstyve (halvfjerds) = 3½ x 20 (eldre: halvfjerde sinde tyve) "

[@MicroBlogganism]

@@Rakadis Ahh, yes, that would be halvfjerds, not halv firs :) And yea, the logic behind that name is just ridiculous :P

[@MicroBlogganism]

@Bez29 I'm from those parts, and I would still have trouble understanding my own grandmother sometimes :P

[@StratovariusFTW]

Swede: *coughs* Dane: Now you just ordered 1000 liters milk

[@jontraz5993]

KAMELÅSÅ

[@danielsogge136]

KAMELÅSÅ?

[@jontraz5993]

@@danielsogge136 kammmmmelåså.

[@jontraz5993]

@@danielsogge136 kammmmmelåså.

[@dinojuricic7159]

@@danielsogge136 kzbin.info/www/bejne/qV7QgKxui7p4eM0

[@Paul-eb4jp]

Tak for mad gets me every time, it's definitely an L and not a D, I always say tak for mal and that's accepted but if I said for mad (how it's written) I'd be corrected, there's a place near Copenhagen called Hvidovre which is pronounce Vilower and another called Rodovre which is something like Rolower, having said all that I love the sound of it, it's definitely not ugly.

[@EdMcF1]

As an Englishman who knows a bit of Swedish, I have decided to speak Swedish in a cockney accent when I go to Copenhagen.

[@edgarscirulis1129]

Well if you say “Er hunden død?” It sounds flat and energetic in Danish. In Swedish it sounds like a BIG surpise. In Norwegian it sounds like a child would like to have some candies..

[@eriktorp-olsen1706]

ha-ha,-bloody right.

[@alastor1052]

I'm Dutch and I read it like a kid asking for candy...what does this mean? :p

[@edgarscirulis1129]

Alastor “Is the dog dead?”

[@Shabbymannen]

Spot on!

[@Carewolf]

If somebody curses at you in Danish, it sound like he is going to bite your head off, if they do in Norwegian it sounds like a castrated muppet throwing a tantrum.

[@willempotgieter6045]

I'm from South Africa and speak Afrikaans, which is about 85% Dutch thrown in with a few loan words from African languages. When I was working in the US a few years ago some of my colleagues told me Afrikaans sounds like a fight between Daffy Duck and Ragnar Lodbrok😂😂.

[@goodputin4324]

Nein

[@bengibson9396]

That is a typical American "accent". (I'm a Canadian).

[@omnomnom1]

having a few SA friends who speak Afrikaans, you can DEFINITELY hear the Dutch influence lol even when you switch over to English, the accent with a weird Dutch addition to it, it comes through :p But Dutch isn't the same as Danish though - although for me personally, I've found out I can understand some of it!

[@TigerPrawn_]

Just to point out, this is quite a recent map of Scandinavia in the video and until the 17th(?) century, a lot of what is now southern Sweden was part of Denmark. And they also have the gutteral r rather than trilled.

[@Laname-Destupid]

Very interesting and funny. Now please tell us about the Dutch language. To most of us Danes, Dutch is complete Gibberish. But if you take your time, it's actually possible to understand a lot of it. To me it's like a mixture of German, Swedish, English and Latin, only the pronunciation is very different.