Unveiling the Simplicity: How Easy is it to Learn Danish?

Danish, the language spoken by the people of Denmark, a small country north of Germany, is often perceived as a challenging language to learn. This perception can deter potential language learners. However, beneath the surface, Danish is much simpler than it appears. If you have doubts about giving Danish fluency a try, this article will put your mind at ease.

Danish in the Germanic Language Family

How close two languages are in a language family determines how easy it will be to learn. Danish is part of the Germanic language family, which includes English. This proximity results in similar sentence structures, grammar rules, and vocabulary, making it easier for English speakers to grasp.

Connection to Scandinavian Languages

For those interested in learning other Scandinavian languages, Danish is an excellent starting point. Swedish is the language closest to Danish, with both belonging to the North Germanic or Nordic language branch. Knowledge of Danish can provide a solid foundation for learning other related languages.

Cognates Between English and Danish

Cognates, words that share similar spellings, pronunciations, and meanings, play a crucial role in language acquisition. There are hundreds of cognates between English and Danish. These familiar words can significantly accelerate vocabulary building. Words like datter, hus, arm, sten (daughter, house, arm, stone) are examples of basic concepts and things, and their likeness to English shows the historical relationship between the two languages.

Time Investment for Danish Fluency

Language learners often want to know how long their journey to fluency will be. How long it takes to learn a language depends on the individual learner. The US Foreign Service Institute (FSI) ranks Danish as a Category I language, indicating it's one of the easiest for native English speakers to learn. The FSI estimates that approximately 575-600 hours or 23-24 weeks of study are needed to achieve Danish fluency. But again, this is just an estimate.

Aspects of Danish That Pose Challenges

While Danish shares similarities with English, it also presents unique challenges.

Limited Number of Speakers and Resources

With only 6 million Danish speakers worldwide, the language is not as widely spoken as others. Spoken exclusively in Denmark, it’s far from the most popular languages out there. This can limit opportunities for immersion and practice. However, resources like OptiLingo offer reliable Danish language courses, providing common and useful words and phrases to facilitate learning.

The Danish Number System

In English, we count based on tens. However, in Danish, the base of the counting system is 20. While Danish numbers are quite straightforward up to 49, at 50 the logic changes. The Danish number system can be confusing for English speakers. For example, “Halvtreds” (fifty) literally means "halfway to the third 20". 60 is “third twenty”, 70 is “halfway to the fourth twenty”, and 80 is “fourth twenty” in Danish. To master Danish numbers, it's best to learn them as individual words rather than trying to perform mathematical calculations.

Politeness and Expressing Gratitude

The Danish are very polite people. It’s natural that their language reflects this. In English, we focus on the act of saying “please” and “thank you”. There is no dedicated word for please in Danish officially. Instead, it’s a specific thanks you receive for completing a task. For example, after having a good time with friends, you’d say “Tak for i dag” (Thanks for the day). After a good meal, you’d say “Tak for mad” (Thanks for the food).

Gender

The Danish language uses two genders. However, neither of them are masculine, nor feminine. Common gender sets en (a) in front of the nouns. Common gender words are living beings. Neuter words are often words that denote physical, inanimate things, e.g.:Et hus (a house) Et brød (a bread) Et glas (a glass). Try using these guidelines:1) Common gender (en) makes up about 75% of all Danish nouns. When in doubt, choose en in front of your noun. That way you hit right 3 times out of 4. That's a pretty good statistic!2) If you like structure, learn the guidelines so that you are able to make logical choices.

Read also: The Rewards of Studying Russian

Vocabulary and Letters

Danish Vocabulary & Letters. The Danish language has an enormously exciting and wide vocabulary that can sometimes seem strange. The same words can mean completely different things in Danish and English. Danish has 3 super cool - and probably some of the most fun letters there are, namely: Æ, Ø and Å!

Word Order

If you're learning Danish, you've probably come across its unique sentence structure and word order? In Danish, the subject (e.g. a person or a thing) usually comes before the verb (i.e. the act itself). When the Danes, ask a question, they'll swap the subject and the verb. The key to mastering Danish word order is to be aware of the context.

Pronunciation

Danish pronunciation is hard. For starters, the Danish alphabet has three extra letters you'll need to learn to pronounce - Æ, Ø and Å. Another tricky letter is the Danish ‘R'. The sound of the Danish ‘R’ is softer than the rolling ‘R' in Spanish or the throaty ‘R' in French. Danish is known for its “soft” consonants. Danish features a glottal stop called stød, which is a slight constriction of the vocal cords that can change the meaning of words. Danish has many vowel sounds. And Danes don't pronounce these sounds clearly in casual conversation. So it can be hard for Danish learners and even speakers of mutually intelligible languages like Norwegian and Swedish to catch what they say.

Why Learn Danish?

Despite the challenges, learning Danish is a worthwhile endeavor.

Quality of Life in Denmark

Denmark often ranks high in quality of life. People of the country have great infrastructure, clean water, and well-funded education. Not to mention the rich history and plenty of art Denmark has to offer.

Read also: Learning the Hard Way: An Overview

Resources for Learning Danish

The truth is, learning Danish the easiest to learn with the right resources. If you’re learning with a fun and engaging method, you’ll soon see that learning Danish isn’t hard at all. OptiLingo is the ideal app to learn Danish. It’s convenient, so you can take your Danish lesson anywhere. It also has the list of the most useful and common words and phrases, so you learn exactly how the locals speak. And finally, OptiLingo makes you speak Danish. So, it builds your confidence when you speak with real Danish people.

Similarities to English

A lot of students of Danish are surprised - and probably relieved - that it has many similarities to English. Both Danish and English belong to the Germanic language family. English has much more similarity with Danish than with, for example, Chinese, Russian or Basque.

Expressing Politeness

Danes, lacking a word for 'please', express politeness with grammar - but they do like to say thank you.

Effective Learning Methods

The best way to learn Danish, in my opinion, is in a class. It can be in your own country, or in Denmark at a summer school. It’s great to be able to practise with other students of Danish in a supportive environment. You should also dedicate time to practise on your own. You will need lots of listening practice because many Danes speak fast. You can watch Danish film and TV series, listen to Danish radio, listen to Danish music (especially rap, which can give a good idea about rhythm and rhymes). You can also check Danish news for a story you are already familiar with, or search for a Danish pen pal. And of course, if you’re able, try to use a little Danish on a trip to Denmark. The Danish barista may quickly and effortlessly switch to English when they notice you’re struggling to order your kaffe (coffee), but just say jeg vil gerne tale dansk (I would like to speak Danish).

The Most Effective Language Learning System

If you’re a consistent and can-do type of person, this plan will help you to really learn Danish studying as little as 20 minutes a day. Don’t do group classes. Instead, study on your own with the following plan:(1) Grind Vocabulary. Do 20-30 mins every day of flashcards with full sentences (and ideally, images as well) focused on the ~2.000 or so most frequent words.(2) Don’t Bother with Grammar. Danish grammar is easy. You can learn it quickly as you practice with flashcards.(3) Once You’ve Vocabulary, Talk! Get one-to-one, private classes via Skype/Zoom and focus on speaking over everything else. Start with two one-hour lessons per week at least. If you can, take lessons every day.(4) More Flashcards, More Talking. Never stop making and practicing flashcards. Whenever you can talk, talk Danish - and insist to do so. Also - Don’t worry about mistakes. It’s okay to speak like a caveman, as long as people understand you. You’ll improve as you go along.Repeat consistently for ~2 years and you’re good to go ;)

Building Vocabulary

Specifically, you must focus on learning - and doing so quickly! - the most common 1.000 words. It’s said that with 1.000 words you’ll recognize at least 75% of what you read. (Even if that’s exaggerated, it will be a high percentage.)If you study/learn 15 new words every day, you’ll be done with these 1000 words in just over two months. (Drilling 15 new flashcards per day could take you 20-30 mins per day, depending on complexity.)If you step it up and learn 20 new words per day, you’ll be done in only 50 days. Word frequency lists are the “textbook” you need to use to learn effectively.

How Best to Learn Vocabulary

The best way to learn and drill vocabulary and learn those words quickly and effectively is with a spaced repetition flashcard app. Spaced repetition is a memory technique that will maximize memory retention in the most effective way by “reminding” you of concepts at spaced - but algorithmically set - intervals. I strongly suggest the open-source tool Anki. (Free for Windows, Mac and Android - one-time payment for iOS). Anki is a flashcards app where this spaced repetition technique is built-in: what you study will adjust according to what you - and you specifically - do and don’t remember. The basic idea is that Anki shows you a flashcard right around when you will be about to forget that specific word or fact. This means that (1) you don’t waste time studying things you already know and (2) you do spend time studying things you’re in danger of forgetting. If you do Anki every day - and never miss - you can memorize anything. It’s the closest thing to the Matrix scene of learning kung-fu you’ll ever come across. It really works.

How to Learn the Most Frequent Words in Anki

Anki (or an alternative) will be your tool of choice to learn those crucial 1000 to 2000 words. There are multiple styles and methods on how to go around it in practice, and the below approach is what worked for me for Danish specifically. From the get-go, learn words in context by studying full sentences instead of individual words. This will a) help you prepare for speaking (as you’ll memorize expressions, things you would like to say, etc.) and b) serve as your grammar training as well. In my case, I do sentences in English (front) and in Danish (in the back). This means I see an English sentence first and then need to translate it (in my mind) to Danish in the spot. (Never the other way around). This pushes me to THINK in Danish. It’s active studying vs. passive. It’s harder but it pays off. If I keep failing the same card over and over - meaning, I can’t memorize a word or sentence -, I add an image to the card help out. It’s very simple to copy and paste images. There’s something magical about images. It’s like a brain hack: we just remember better a picture than a word. In Forvo, you have a pronunciation dictionary: collections of audio clips (which you can download!) from native speakers pronouncing specific words or short sentences. You can find a clip for each of the most common words and also add the to your flashcards in Anki. You then need to practice and drill Anki cards every day. This is not hard. Unlike a textbook, Anki cards are something you can practice every time you’ve two minutes to spare. Especially at the beginning it’s crucial that you never miss a day of studying.

German vs. Danish

German and Danish are both Germanic languages, like English, but German is generally considered harder for native English speakers to learn. According to the Foreign Service Institute, Danish can be learned in as little as 24 weeks, while German takes 36 weeks to master. The complexities of German grammar go someway to explaining why German is a bit harder. Ultimately, which one is easier for you to learn really depends on how motivated you are to learn it. So find your why first and then start learning.

French vs. Danish

According to the Foreign Service Institute which provides language training to US government employees, Danish takes 24 weeks to learn while French takes 30 weeks. These estimates are averages for native speakers of English. ultimately, the language that's easiest for you is the one that you're most motivated to learn, no matter what official estimates say.

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