I will admit upfront, I'm not very good at learning new languages. I keep trying to pronounce things with a French accent and I have no idea how to pronounce half the letters in Danish. However, there are a few phrases that have been drilled into my head in the past week (I will provide pronunciation for everyone's sake).
1. UDSALG (oo-sell): Sale! This is posted on every store front, especially in January. I'm trying my hardest to resist temptation to buy things so that I can save my money to travel later in the semester.
2. Skål (skoal): This is what you say when you are toasting...I think it directly translates to "cheers!"
3. Undskyld (on-skool): I often hear this on the bus or on the streets when you bump into someone. It means "sorry" or "excuse me."
4. Tak, or Mange tak (mon-geh tok): Thanks, or many thanks. I have long mastered this one, it's one of the easiest to incorporate into daily language for me! The Danes have a lot of different versions of thank you but I haven't figured them all out yet.
5. Jeg kommer fra Amerika (Yie kuh-muh fra America): Pretty easy to figure out... I come from America!
6. Jeg forstår ikke (Yie fu-stor ik-kuh): "I can't understand." Haven't used this one yet, but I figure it'll come in handy eventually.
7. Champignon: Mushroom. Yes, finally something I can pronounce in French and everyone will understand!
Yesterday, I visited Kronborg Castle, which is where Hamlet traditionally takes place. Whenever I go to places like these, I wish I could just travel back in time for a day to see what it was really like! Of course, I'd rather not be able to smell when I go back... dealing with excrement didn't sound very sanitary.
Rachel and I at Kronborg
Good for you, Jen! I think even attempting some of the native language goes a long way in countering our image as arrogant Americans who expect everyone to speak English!
ReplyDeleteP.S. My Russian-speaking friend Sharon has commented that my Russian is often "flavored" by a german accent!