1. ‘Trying’ everything
Danes often use the word prøve for something that really doesn’t require any effort. ‘Prøv og hør her’, they might say when they want you to listen up. But in English, to paraphrase that great master of the English language, Yoda, you either hear or hear not. There is no try. Likewise, ‘try’ doesn’t express empathy in the way many Danes think it does. If you tell your Danish friend that your dog just died, they might respond: “Oh, I’ve also tried that,” leaving you wondering what exactly they did to their dog.
2. Seeing forward to things The Local has a wonderfully enthusiastic Danish friend who is always “seeing forward” to our next rendezvous. We’re excited too, but we’re “looking forward” to it.
3. Thinking ‘fun’ and ‘funny’ are the same thing In Danish, sjov can mean either fun or funny, leading to some rather, well, funny exchanges. “I had a very funny time tonight,” a Dane might tell you. “Tivoli has the most wonderfully funny rollercoaster,” a friendly Dane might tell a tourist. With Danes being so darn good at English, sometimes it is fun to point out their funny flaws.
4. They really struggle with W“What a vonderful evening and fantastic vine. I had a real funny time.” Many Danes struggle with pronouncing W, but that’s understandable given it hardly features in their language. If you flip through a Danish-English dictionary, you’ll find that the ‘W’ entries can fit on one page and a lot of those are words that have been lifted from English. W was actually considered a variation of V not that many years ago. You might also get confused if a Dane asks for the ‘vee-cee’. Insider tip: They mean a WC, or water closet.
5. Saying learn when they mean teach“I can learn you to speak Danish,” your friend might offer. Proper response: “Cool, but only if I can teach you to speak English in return.” This one is quite understandable given that the Danish verb lære can go both ways
6. Putting commas, where they don't belongGrammar rules in English and Danish aren’t all that different but they do vary when it comes to the use of commas. Here’s a random example found online: "Mine kollegaer har svært ved at forstå, hvad det er jeg siger, selv om jeg virkelig prøver på at tale klart og tydeligt.” Danes logically think the same rules apply in English and would write: “My colleague has a hard time understanding, what I say, even though I really try to speak clearly.” You don’t say? Maybe it’s all those unnecessary pauses.
7. Thinking ‘fuck’ is completely appropriate Danes love to use English words, but the frequency of one borrowed word can leave an English-speaker living in Denmark a tad offended. Danes of all ages throw the word ‘fuck’ around left and right. And when a six-year-old says fuck, don’t expect them to receive a reprimand. Danes just aren’t offended by it. You’ll see ‘fuck’ in newspaper headlines and even in the title of TV programmes aimed at kids.
8. Subject-verb agreement Even the best non-native English speakers in the world can struggle with basic subject-verb agreement. “There’s a party in Copenhagen tonight and everyone are invited!” “What a shame other countries doesn’t have a welfare system like ours!”
9. Plural nouns Another common mistake among non-native English speakers is our tricky approach to some plural nouns. “I saw some sheeps on the side of the road, and I thought to myself, ‘Their wool would make good covers for my furnitures.” Danes also tend to pluralize money: "He asked if he could borrow 20 kroner, but I didn't have them."
10. Their pronunciation and accent can be hilarious
Pity poor Villy Søvndal. Denmark’s former foreign minister has been so mercilessly hounded for his English skills that Google automatically suggests both ‘English’ and ‘engelsk’ when you search his name. His speech at the COP15 conference in 2009 was especially mocked, with scores of video ‘tributes’ to his performance like the one above. But as much as we hate to be the ones to say it, Søvndal doesn’t sound all that different from many of his fellow Danes.
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