Today I held a presentation about
learning Danish outside school for a small company of expats under
the wings of UIC, University International club in Aarhus.
While preparing it, new thoughts and
things came to mind. I'll tell you about these here, while linking to
an older blog here.
My point is that a lot of
language-learning happens outside school. Learning a language
requires practice, and there are lots of opportunities for that in
your daily Danish life. Probably you have discovered most of them for
yourself, maybe you have different strategies. If so, please leave a
comment and tell me about it!
THE DANISH SURROUND SYSTEM
The trick of learning Danish outside
school is to surround yourself with Danish. You can do that in a very
simple way by turning on your radio and finding programmes on topics,
or music, you are interested in. That way, you'll be able to fill in
the gaps. Understanding a language is all about filling in the gaps,
and the less gaps, the better.
The same goes for television and
internet. Watch Danish films with subtitles (preferably Danish ones)
and watch films in other languages also with Danish subtitles. Watch
Danish news on internet, and repeat the bulletin several times. This
way, you'll catch the words you missed before, you'll hear things you
didn't concentrate on earlier.
Read Danish books, listen to Danish
audio books, and use your library subscription up to the hilt.
Everyone with a CPR number can be a member of a public library for
free. Apart from books and audio books, libraries also have e-books
on loan, and they have an online film library, too.
Engage the Danes you know in your
'surround system'. Ask them for their favorite music, book, film,
food/recipe, furniture – anything favorite. You'll make them happy
because they can share fun things with you, and you'll make yourself
happy because you have found another inroad in Danish language and
Danish culture. This way you'll be a master of conversation, because
content is the fuel of communication!
Also, connect your daily life with your
Danish surround system. Make shopping lists in Danish, do your
planning in Danish, prepare a to-do list for the plummer, the
carpenter or the car mechanic in Danish... the possibilities are
endless.
But where to find those specialist
words, you'll be asking me now. Well, get yourself an illustrated
dictionary! It contains the most crazy words you would never find in
ordinary dictionaries. Find the right picturem and more often than
not you'll find the right word, too. Google Images works, too.
ELECTRONICS ARE YOUR FRIENDS
It sounds like a frightening thing to
do, but change the operating
languages of your devices to Danish. At least your smartphone,
if you can afford one. The idea is to surround yourself with Danish,
and what works better than 'danifying' a tool that you use a lot? And
how about buying a Danish computer or keyboard, if the time is there
to buy a new one? Those pesky å's, ø's and æ's are at your
fingertips all of a sudden.
I can highly recommend the dictionary
app DDO /Det Danske Ordbog). Yes, it is in Danish, but you'll be
surprised how quickly you will understand that, too.
While you're at it: start using Danish
on social media. See your posts as little writing assignment.
Basically, posts are in everyday language, but since you are writing
instead of speaking, there is a
time lag that gives you the opportunity to use dictionaries as
much as you wish – or need. Especially in the beginning of learning
Danish, that is incredibly helpful. In real life, you hardly grab
your dictionary if you want to say something, so you would be
tongue-tied and silent in real-life company. But in the digital world
you can speak and use the dictionary as much as you want, because
there is a time lag anyway.
Also, you'll
probably get feedback in Danish
on your posts - maybe also corrections, if you've written something
wrong... but that is part of the deal. You'll learn from it. The
most important is that you have Danes to write Danish with. And that
is very motivating!
Read more about
motivation learning Danish here. And don't forget to tell me what
your Danish surround system looks like!
