Why Danish sounds funny to Scandinavians

[@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

[@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-

[@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?

[@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.

[@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.

[@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)

[@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

[@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

[@El3ctr0Lun4]

I do wonder about something: would a Danish person be able to intentionally pronounce their consonants when talking to a Swede so that they can make themselves better understood?

[@MrFrogLicker69]

@@El3ctr0Lun4 Yes, it's done on Bornholm more often, since they are east danes, but if you really want to understand danes, go to Skåne, the part of East-Denmark that was conquered and swedified by the swedes.

[@kennethvalbjoern]

@@El3ctr0Lun4 I'm a dane, and I think so. The problem with danish is the pronounciation. "Selvfølgelig" becomes "seføli", there is a lot of that going on. When half of the letters are gone, and it is spoken fast, it becomes difficult.

[@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

[@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

[@P3arl777]

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!

[@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"?

[@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..

[@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!

[@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.

[@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

[@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

[@SinarNila]

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.

[@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

[@DomeDagenDICK]

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.

[@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.

[@elo7096]

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

[@starcolai5017]

Khaonas forhelved

[@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

[@hekipeki]

Thoose people : is that man choking?

[@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. 😊

[@jdillon8360]

Same. I lived there for a year as a teenager. I found it weird at first, but by the end of my stay I had fallen in love with it. To this day I find Swedish and Norwegian to be the weird languages, and Danish sounds normal. But I'd probably feel different if I had lived in Sweden or Norway.

[@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

[@socialghost4400]

Hvem er ellers Dansk og ser det her af en eller anden mærkelig grund? 😂😂

[@evrevr452]

Vi lærer dansk af en engelsk video... #logik

[@kanekiken_0255]

Ja sguda

[@Nular]

Jep, jeg er her

[@natasjalykkeabelkristensen7502]

Jeg er her og ser den af en eller anden mega mærkelig grund😂😂

[@stinehald110]

mig ahha

[@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!!

[@ЕкатеринаКонева-о1ц]

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

[@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*

[@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! 😂

[@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

[@FrozenViking110]

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.

[@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.

[@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

[@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

[@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.

[@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.

[@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

[@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

[@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'.

[@AtheistReligionIsCancer]

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.

[@Leanderpanther]

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

[@AtheistReligionIsCancer]

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

[@santiagobydesign]

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 💛💙❤️

[@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?

[@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.

[@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

[@tocraneandcrane]

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.

[@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!

[@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

[@AkymarsDoc]

Thank you for making a video about my crazy language I always love your stuff

[@seekerseraphimtherecluse4314]

Tomoko good taste

[@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 :)

[@Ember2539]

I wish there were more actual examples. I feel the video was well explained but still missing the sense of the sound.

[@chkjns]

Type 'learn Danish' into the search bar - lots of videos to help you!

[@rage8842]

@FruAnonym sounds like french and german had a child

[@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

[@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

[@ravnaroks6469]

I remember when I had to learn English my teacher told me I had to speak from the mouth instead of the throat and that's how you got those R's that are basically V's. And then when I had to learn to speak French, my teacher told me to speak from my nose, and I wondered how much farther up I could go to speak different languages... Would I be speaking from my hair soon? Much like taste comes from different parts of your tongue , languages come from different parts of your body!

[@timomastosalo]

They are r's in English, if you use your tongue (the lips will assist), but if only the lips are used - or overused, they turn to v/w. And I'd say the languages come from different parts of the respiration channel - not just any part of the body :)

[@AndreiBerezin]

Russian language - you basically speak with your hammer.

[@timomastosalo]

The throat r is the French r. English r is said in the same place as the trembling Scottish or Slavic r - but without trembling. You can call it lazy r. So lazy they sometimes drop it completely in UK.

[@aubreywean680]

@@timomastosalo yeah, little kids overuse their lips, and pronounce r's- w's making "fire truck" sound like "fiew twuck"

[@aubreywean680]

Pronounce your r's with your pirate... or foot

[@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

[@stinahinderson962]

Perfect timing for me as I’m a Swede who’ll start studying in Denmark. I remember when I was Copenhagen when I was younger and was having a conversation with a Danish friend (we used English to communicate). He challenged me to read a short text in Danish, as I think they pronounce it. Although I really did try my best, I can’t recall the last time I’ve seen someone look so insulted..!

[@TaxistGeviskon]

Netflix: Are you still watching? Someone's daughter: 1:30

[@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

[@FloopersteinMcGoof]

Additionally it is worth noting that, like in most languages, shortening words is commonplace in Danish, and Danes are very efficient speakers. Most typically, it occurs in words that end with an '-ə' (unstressed vowel) sound, which can be found just about everywhere in the Danish tongue. In other words, a sentence might be 12 syllables when pronounced how it *"should"* be pronounced, but if it's a Dane saying it, it might be 8 syllables instead. Here's some examples: "I would like a piece of cake" is "Jeg kunne godt tænke mig et stykke kage" when written in Danish. Spoken, it would be more akin to "Jeg ku' godt tænk' mig et styk' ka'." Note that these are both verbs and nouns getting cut. Sometimes you only cut the ending off, so that "tænke" becomes "tænk". In other cases you cut half of the word off, so that a word such as "skulle" becomes "sku'." And seeing as people are taught how you *"should"* speak Danish when they learn the language, actually speaking it to a convincing degree remains a long journey, because it's not how Danes speak with each other in reality. With the exceptions, of course, of some dialects and minority classes.

[@christinalund30]

And, it also depends, people from Jylland (as me) are the most likely to cut off letters, where as on Sjælland and Fyn people pronounce words more like they should, or am i wrong?

[@berrycarbs]

SimplyChris :3 Yes and no. You are more likely to meet people pronouncing endings of the words in the Zeeland region. But if you travel to the South- Zeeland region you will hear clipped endings. As an example where I live we say kaf’ and not kaffe (coffee) but we say te’e and not te (tea).

[@davidwilde6711]

Flooperstein McGoof I’m Danish and I never even think about this when I speak danish. Very interesting indeed

[@joalexsg9741]

One of the best descriptions of Danish pronunciation ever, summed up most efficiently and should be explained in all courses and books teaching Danish for foreign learners of the language, as one of them, I can clearly recognize everything you said in all the words I've learned in the dialogues I've studied so far in my Teach Yourself book and in sites teaching Danish basic sentences over the web.

[@Donnah1979]

Ja we ha nåj kag..

[@doso4782]

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

[@lickletee270]

DoSo chocking?

[@LiseVocalfreedom]

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

[@doso4782]

@@LiseVocalfreedom 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)

[@mattresbert]

Brilliant stuff Your narration is very poetic Very calming

[@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

[@Flegias116]

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.

[@jameshiwatari3691]

As someone living in Glasgow for 13 years, compared to the other Nordic languages, Danish sounds a lot like what Glaswegian sounds compared to other English accents. I started to understand Danish a lot easier when my brain started applying the same logic of "deciphering" it as it does to Glaswegian.

[@Sebbir]

Maybe Glasgow is secretly a part of the Kingdom of Denmark. Everyone just forgot about it

[@nocrab]

I've noticed some Irish and Scottish accents being really similar phonetically to Danish, so it's interesting to hear you say that! :D Would be fun to know if it's my imagination or if there's some research that backs this up.

[@empyrionin]

@@nocrab Maybe because Scotland and the Scots language were created as a result of the meld between vikings and anglo-saxons? As in, the invasion of Northumbria and later Danelaw?

[@nocrab]

@@empyrionin That's interesting :D Do you have any literature on that?

[@SandraDodd]

​It's not literature, it's history. :-) Just look up anything about Danish incursions and settlements in those areas.

[@zacharydavis4398]

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

[@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

[@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.

[@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.

[@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.

[@RastafarianPilgrim]

being Danish, I love the banter surrounding the Danish language. Yes we're weird, and we love it, and you love us for it!

[@orchardlea]

RastafarianPilgrim Having been to both Sweden and Denmark (and noticing the ribbing the Swedes give the Danes on their language!), I decided to learn Danish rather than Swedish because I think it sounds so much more beautiful! Much more sing-song and just all-round more interesting than Swedish. Bloody difficult to learn, but adorable 😍

[@woww8148]

RastafarianPilgrim I am from Skåne and people call us Danes

[@orchardlea]

wow w Are you from the Malmö area? Ex-Danish, so understandable teasing there!

[@niIIer1]

It is easy to understand people from Skåne for danes though.

[@woww8148]

niIIer1 sometimes people from the Stockholm area can’t even understand us and Danes understand us better

[@QuestionYourWorld]

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

[@isaacroman9242]

Lol

[@practicalpen1990]

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.

[@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.

[@sixten8407]

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

[@JeeMJay]

Wtf I'm Danish and learning Danish from an English video

[@SimoBlockx]

GMGATOR GT samme her

[@doubletrouble6480]

The irony

[@MesseyMahn]

Du er ikke alene

[@S1ms1mmm]

Hmmm jeg så den bare for at se vad andre synes om vores fantastiske sprog.

[@JeeMJay]

@@S1ms1mmm fedt

[@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?

[@amesavis]

I wish you would include more of what it actually sounds like, for example include a few poems or even a conversation. Same for your other videos. I feel like you explain the history but only tease with the tiniest amount of actual spoken Danish.

[@edram4051]

Just watch TV series The Rain.

[@jorugarushia9167]

Well, why don't you go to your library and I study the language you want. He's just giving us a taste of its history.

[@omega1231]

@Mr. Al that was so Swedish my Danish heart skipped a beat.

[@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

[@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

[@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

[@andronikibio]

The same as swedish 😅

[@souviksikdar1864]

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

[@holgerdanske2376]

As a native speaker I find this film interesting. However i dont think all the facts are correct. The soft "d" sound as in english "th" is also found in Icelandic. and English... The Vikings were there. Danish is very difficult to immitate for a non native speaker. "Rødgrød med fløde" Was used as a pasword during WW2 because it is impossible to pronounce for a German.

[@ankavoskuilen1725]

Every language has its testing sentence or word, I guess. In Dutch it is the word 'Scheveningen'. In Frisian it is: bûter, brea en griene tsiis, etc.

[@joannewakeley8026]

Also, it fails to mention how sexy it sounds to some people. So I'm told. *Whistles*

[@wenqiweiabcd]

Yes, the Proto-Germanic dental fricative live on in English and Icelandic. The "eth" letter shown in the IPA transcription isn't from that, and was the result of Danish voicing originally voiceless stop consonant. For example, here are two words with the English and Icelandic kind of "soft d" sound: English "weather" and Icelandic "veður", both from Proto-Germanic *weðra. Notice how the "soft d" is a shared retention. Here's a Danish word with the second kind of "soft d": Danish "mad", from Runic Danish (eastern Old Norse) "matR", from Proto-Germanic *matiz (English "meat"). Notice how the "soft d" comes from an original "t".

[@kwj_nekko_6320]

This 'password' thing is already recorded in the Old Testament, named "Shibboleth". Among the various Canaanite dialects only true Hebrew had the same sounds.

[@holgerdanske2376]

@@kwj_nekko_6320 Wow interesting. Where in the ols testament?

[@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.

[@heydavid17]

As a Dane, I think Swedish is the one strange sounding language. However, a Dane speaking English, is just hilarious to me! xD

[@danielholowaty2648]

Danes be like: Yæ bot I dont have an ÆÆKCCENT

[@heydavid17]

@@What_5711 Nu frister du mig til at komme med en lille forklaring. Personligt, er jeg IKKE af dansk afstamning, dog så er jeg født og opvokset i Danmark. Jeg kan ikke sige at mit flydende engelsk, på nogen måde lyder som hvordan det gør med nærmest alle danskere. Den eneste måde mine forældre kunne kommunikere med hinanden på siden jeg var lille, var på engelsk. Ingen af mine forældre kom fra et land, hvor engelsk var modersmålet, og alligevel har jeg undgået at få den der (som jeg synes) mærkværdige dansk/engelsk accent, og i stedet taler jeg engelsk med en amerikansk accent. Jeg finder det underholdende, for så snart jeg møder en med-dansker i et andet land, så kan jeg med det samme hører at de er fra Danmark. Dog for at svarer på dit spørgsmål nu, ja jeg har hørt hvordan andre unge børn fra andre lande (eller anden afstamning) taler engelsk (refererer til mig selv blandt andet), de har dog bare ikke ligeså stærk en accent, som vi i Danmark har.

[@dickidsrip5262]

@@What_5711 tror det är holland men ni och vi är kort efter.

[@moskel1677]

så skulle i høre en fra england dar prøver at snakke dansk 😂

[@Lybra338]

Agreed

[@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

[@Utgardaloki76]

I love Danish and the Danes. I once attended a course for a month and I got to share an apartment with a Danish women attending the same. I have many fond memories of the funny and interesting conversations we had over this month. As a Swede I was kind of stumped in the beginning. I felt like I was saying ‘what?’ more often than not but after a few days it started to get a lot easier to understand her. Two weeks in a Norwegian woman moved in with us and while she had no trouble understanding me from the get go, she very often bit her lips looking embarrassed when ever the Danish women was speaking. For the first few days that is. Then it got easier for her as well. When ever the Danish women called her husband how ever both me and the Norwegian woman were just sitting there staring at her the one moment and at each other the next. While talking to him she was making no attempt to speak slower or more articulated and her speech turned into a five minute long word/sound. After hanging up she turned towards us and we all started laughing. I guess our stupefied Norwegian and Swedish faces said it all. All of a sudden we had no idea what she had been saying for the past few minutes. Funny stuff

[@frederikholde7067]

As a Dane it's easy to understand most Norwegian, but not Swedish. You guys are crazy. Love your country though!

[@daniel4647]

Strangely enough, for us Norwegians it's easier to understand spoken Swedish, but it's easier to understand written Danish.

[@fex144]

+Daniel Breiland, Swedish is spoken ridiculously slow and clear, everyone can understand a half-speed language. It's why all swedish talkshows are twice as long.

[@Utgardaloki76]

Haha :) Scandinavian neighbouring gleeful superiority is some of the funniest things regarding Scandinavian sibling-/kinship in my opinion. I have an even better one. An old 80+ Swedish friend to my family told us this story. He had a Norwegian “annoying” friend that always had to tell Swedes in a mostly funny way how freaking amazing Norway is compared to Sweden. One day they were talking about a dreadful thunderstorm that hit a part of Sweden and this Norwegian friend went on a rant: “Oh yes Swedish thunderstorms are powerful but a tad weak compared to Norwegian ones. I remember one particular storm that hit Bergen many years ago. During that storm lightning struck a farm maid in one of her breasts and fried it. After that the lightning continued downwards etching a ring around her belly button where by it continued down into her panties and… amputerte to fingrer av en svensk dørselger/amputated two fingers off of a Swedish door sales man.” The Norwegian guy allegedly leaned back shaking his head while crossing his arms trying to look as serious as ever and ended the story with: “Slikt sker de’ nok bare i Norge/as far as I know that only happens in Norway”. Beat that if you can.

[@Stefus87]

Hehe, when I found out that Danish (my language) sounded like there was no breaks, I realized we had a very unique way of speaking. I used to have a Latvian girlfriend, and the way she experienced my language was eye opening. We were listening to the Disney's Adventures of the Gummi Bears theme song, and at some point she heard: "hubbahubbaubba og niderhiderdid". It was like 2 really long funny words to her. But in reality it is: "Hopper op og ned og hid og did". Naturally I could hear the "breaks" between the words, but to her it was simply a big pile of letters put together in few words.

[@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!

[@N0NFAM_0US]

i mean you are frisian so you could just say you are a frisian man btw from what i know from history danish and frisians have some historical ties and share some genetics too

[@Fabian-eg4im]

Can you make a video about basque language someday?

[@Thaadd]

Actually I find it super interesting, but thanks for trying to speak for the world.

[@EyeSeeThruYou]

I also think Basque would be an interesting subject. Please, let's have a video on that one, too! @ThePussyDiaries - jou doos.

[@ChefRafi]

Eva Ries I made a Basque video to teach the basics.

[@EyeSeeThruYou]

@@ChefRafi - post link please?

[@kyomademon453]

@demiurgo basque country had a not so long ago terrorist past as an independist move, thats what he means, no euskadi/basque person today is a terrorist by any mean theyre all nice ppl

[@Vienna3080]

Love you Danes but your language makes me wanna learn Vietnamese with Mandarin characters

[@ThePerksdeLeSarcasmeSiorai]

Learn Vietnamese with the Vietnamese alphabet because it actually records how the language sounds. Chinese characters were and are inefficient in expressing the Vietnamese language properly. They can be used to learn Chinese loan words that might be similar in Korean and Japanese language though. hvdic.thivien.net/

[@andreasvanrooijt7367]

@@ThePerksdeLeSarcasmeSiorai its a joke

[@Musa-ge4ep]

@@ThePerksdeLeSarcasmeSiorai It was sarcasm. Oh the irony.

[@andersyu4464]

r/rareinsults

[@ThePerksdeLeSarcasmeSiorai]

Y’all should understand that I know what a joke or sarcasm is. (Dry sarcasm is a part of my identity) I’m just addressing the importance of the current writing system used for the Vietnamese language and the annoying precedence that many Nôm enthusiasts (many of them are fanatical non-Vietnamese Westerners who don’t even speak a word of our language or be subjected to a education system with 10-15 subjects for a typically annual school curriculum) want all Vietnamese people, including farmers, who have no business or desire to spend approximately 10 years mastering characters that have no practical purpose and failed to spread literacy to the population mass throughout 7 centuries of its prominence, to learn and master them. Plus, Nôm characters were never considered an official place for administration nor high-class literature. And keep in mind there are Chinese nationalists out there who want Vietnamese to reuse Chinese characters so that they can easily annex and control us like how the Han imperialists imposed the Chinese characters on us for a millennium. And hence, my sense of sarcasm does not and will not supersede mulling over and speaking against this dangerous possibility.

[@Hupsibasse]

Stød in Danish is not only important to the accent, it is also a phoneme. Examples of minimal pairs with only the stød as the differing phonological element - and which may lead to hilarious confusion - include "mor / mord" (mother / murder), "hun / hund" (she / dog), "hej / haj" (hello / shark).

[@LasseJ789]

For a foreinger, the "hej / haj" (hello / shark ) must be extremely weird.

[@MarianneExJohnson]

In Dutch, the English greeting "hi" has been borrowed into the language, and is often pronounced a bit longer, ending up exactly like "haai," meaning shark. It never struck me how odd that was until I saw it spelled phonetically in a comic book.

[@llamassy]

we hungarians say hej-haj when we are drunk as hell and celebrating

[@fabiannymands3704]

In German we pronounce "hi" (hello) and "Hai" (shark) the same way (like, completely the same way, no difference) and nobody's confused. Admittedly there is a (read: one) joke about it, but other than that, nobody gives much thought to it. Perhaps because we don't talk about sharks that often or, as the meme goes, we don't greet each other...

[@celinak5062]

That looks like hell for dyslexics

[@Νάνσυ-δ1ι]

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

[@krisselissan6539]

I’m a Swiss German native speaker, and therefore I had to learn Standard (High) German in school. That [ʁ] sound was the bane of my existence, because in Swiss German we pronounce it more like a trill, but our primary school teacher insisted that we speak “correctly”

[@weissblau]

As a Bavarian (olded) German my first language was Bavarian. we even spoke Bavarian with the teachers. Various "r"s are acceptable in High German; actually, trilled r is like the Franconian r, closer to wher "high German originated. I did learn to speak High German, of course. but you can always hear my origins (same with Schwaben, Hessen, Sachsen, usw.) So ist es gut. (Meine Schweizer Freundin und ich haben viel Spass wenn wir uns in unseren jeweiligen Dialekten "unterhalten."

[@a_yan6581]

Mate you should try flipping the prononciations of French and German, because that always happens to me when my wife switches between the 2 languages then I started speaking German like the French language and I start questioning my own fluency on both languages - This post was made by a fellow Swiss 🇨🇭

[@lmatt88]

Yeah German should keep the Bavarian r

[@trisbaker363]

I'm a Scotsman living in Denmark, I speak the language, it is difficult to learn, but it's also beautiful, the dialect between regions still exists.

[@24jh42]

On a vacation to Spain in the late 1970's my father spent a night at the hotel bar with another guest. Both of them drinking excessively so the bartender kept the bar open. Next day my mother wanted to know what they talked about, but my father said he could not remember. The Spanish bartender though did remember. He said one spoke a terrible accented Scottish, the other a terrible accented Danish, but they both pretended to understand each other and kept on drinking.

[@_loss_]

I don't think Denmark has any dialect differences, but mainly accent ones.

[@blahfuckdig]

@@_loss_ yea no.. there are very distinct dialects, atleast 3 main ones and lots and lots of subordinate ones

[@b.t.6345]

@@_loss_ Denmark has no dialects. They like to think they have, but they don't. It's more like regionalisms, coupled with the fact that even the danish themselves cannot speak the language properly.

[@b.t.6345]

U wanna know what a dialect is Lars? Go to northern Italy and ask the old people to write and speak dialect and then go to southern Italy and ask the elderly to write and speak dialect. Then compare the 2. See how that goes.

[@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

[@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😂

[@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

[@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.

[@oceane7113]

Is this why the character from "How to train your dragon" is called Hiccup ? 😂

[@matheussandbakk9959]

Well no, he's called Hiccup because of how weak and pathetic he is, almost like a hiccup. Anyways HTTYD doesn't exactly have realistic vikings, they even use Scotts to voice them which in my opinion's just stupid.

[@KexyTime]

oh i wish XD

[@Alexander-yj2yb]

Océane Steffen yes 😂

[@NixLiteX]

Its named hikke xD

[@nathaliaabye4225]

Well according to Hiccup it’s because parents believe a hideous name will frighten off gnomes and trolls. Didn’t you pay attention?

[@diosha779]

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

[@timwidenstrom557]

Norska is easier for me as a Svensk, but understand most parts of Danska, and when they lower the speed and dumb it down for me i understand pretty well. Don't really understand why we always feel the need too bash on our brothers, we scandinavians share the same history, bad weather and taste for lager.

[@morriskaller3549]

Tim Widenström Bara så du vet så heter det Norwegian, Swede och Danish på engelska

[@timwidenstrom557]

@@morriskaller3549 coolt✌

[@oluff1153]

Morris Kaller just so you know, we are speaking English here. xD just kidding I speak Norwegian.

[@marialindholt7299]

Norweigian is usually pretty easy for danes, but Swedish takes more practice for us danes. If we speak slowly, it helps you, and if we think of how you would spell your words, it's easier for us. A lot of the time it boils down to the fact that we don't pronounce words phonetically at all, whereas you say your words much more true to how it's written :) But I feel the banter is mostly good fun between each other. When we're outside in the rest of the world we stand together as brethren

[@Plair0ne]

I'd say that for me as a Swede, Norwegian is easier to understand when listening to, but Danish is easier to read

[@kubortthedane9487]

Danish is the language with the most vowels with 32 the closest to that is Swedish, French and German with 17.

[@ulfdanielsen6009]

I believe it´s 39 if not 42 vowel sounds, actually....

[@sun4502]

@@ulfdanielsen6009 Are they all included in the alphabet ?

[@novvain495]

@@sun4502 The worst part is that *they are not*

[@madsobitsoe]

@@novvain495 That's the fun part. Who doesn't like a challenge?

[@fgregerfeaxcwfeffece]

17? i can come up with 10 at best for german. a e u i o ä ö ü ai ei ie But then i am already stretching like counting "ai" an "ei"as separate from i, e and a.(this intentionally implies my admission that "ie" is definetly different sound) i don't think y is even used in native german as a vowel(which would get me to 11), only for some commonly used english words.

[@peachypainkillers]

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

[@dahamvitarana]

Exactly the video I was looking for. It's so nice. The history of the danish language and where it is with relation to Swedish and Norwegian languages

[@philiphildenbrand]

When the comment section starts out with casual banter between swedes, norwegians and danish guys but ends in an all out race war

[@pingASS_]

Same race...

[@DenOndeMister]

Oh Ping, first race war huh?

[@omega1231]

More like language war

[@tuvis6896]

Instead of World War One it’ll Scandinavian War One

[@fendelphi]

Well, we have fought each other for supremacy for about 1000 years, give or take. These days, it is mostly just harmless banter.

[@Ecolopa]

The people in the Faroe Islands have their own way of speaking Danish, kinda - gøtudanskt. In gøtudanskt, the words are pronounced more like they're actually written in modern Danish, which makes it easier to understand for other Scandinavian people. If you wanna hear an example of gøtudanskt, you can listen to Týr's rendition of an old, Danish ballad, "Ramund hin Unge".

[@ulfdanielsen6009]

Kanon version i øvrigt.

[@omenoid]

One of the proudest moments in my life was when I chatted with a couple of swedish and norwegian guys (in Swedish) and asked them if they could pronounce "rødgrød med fløde". They asked if were Danish, and I said "Nej, jag är finsk..." (No, I'm Finnish) and they stared at me for a moment in unbelief. And no, I wasn't drunk.

[@RaawHax]

A Finn who isn't drunk, something is fishy here, and it's not the surströmming

[@rever4217]

wait, were they staring at you in disbelief because you're finnish and you can pronounce it or just because you could pronounce it without being danish?

[@Jmbizzle]

@@rever4217 yes

[@rever4217]

lol, an answer as clear as the danish language, thank you.

[@dapackad]

YET

[@matchaia]

I love the art style you use in your graphics