DK for Danmark

I've been waiting to write my first blog post until I actually got to Copenhagen, and here I am. I've been in the city for three days, and I already feel like I'm getting to know a good deal of the city center and how to pronounce SOME Danish names. It is still tricky, however, to say my own bus stop: Bispebjerg. Bee-spuh-byerg. I always try to insert extra syllables somewhere, but I couldn't tell you which ones cause it's different each time I try to say it. Needless to say, it was difficult trying to ask my bus driver, who wasn't super fluent in English, how I might backtrack 7 stops to my stop yesterday.

At any rate, I'm fairly well acquainted with my surroundings thanks to my program, DIS (Danish Institute for Study Abroad), which provided for its students a rather rigorous orientation program Monday through Wednesday. It included a scavenger hunt, a Living and Traveling in Europe seminar, and two Survival Danish classes.

During our Scavenger Hunt, my friend Kellye and I pose by the royal guards at Amalienborg Palace, home of current monarch, Margrethe II.



I learned most of the cultural stuff in the Danish class, actually. My teacher, Suzanne, is a native speaker (I also have her for my actual Danish & Language class this semester). She's very friendly, fed us treats both classes, and gives great tips on how culture is influenced by language (and vice versa). Suzanne taught our class that there's no real word/phrase for "excuse me" in Danish, so generally on the bus/metro you'll see people jostling their bags, clearing their throats, or shuffling their feet to get you to move. This, she said, might be why the Danes are sometimes (unfairly) viewed as rude by the international community. There is a word for sorry, undskyld, but the Danes only use this word AFTER making a mistake (such as stepping on your feet), never before. So when I was shopping in the Netto grocery store, I couldn't stop whipping my head around when I heard a noise behind me, just in case I was in some Dane's way. Also, when I approach people for directions, I literally can't say anything but "excuse me" in english, thus I give myself away right off the bat.

Yesterday, in my second Survival Danish class, Susanne gave us Danish pastries. Of course, just Americans call them Danish pastires/Danishes. Since obviously there are too many things in Denmark that are in fact Danish, the Danes say "weinerbrød." When she was teaching us this word, Suzanne first reminded us that brød is bread. Then, she asked what we thought the beginning of the word might be. We all stared at "weiner" for a while, (pronounced "vine-er"). Then, I said loudly with 95% confidence: "HOT...DOG... ROLL." Laugher all around. The answer was sweet pastry. I don't know how I could think something so stupid, since I knew we were getting a treat, and hot dog rolls are certainly not treats. Oops.

(Susanne giving out weinerbrød)

Later I'll post more about the city itself, but I thought some culture and language was sufficient for this entry. Until the next entry, hej hej!


word and pronunciation of the day:
København, or Merchant's Harbor, is how the Danes say Copenhagen. I should say, Copenhagen is how anglophones say København.
Pronounced "koo-pen-HOWN" [pronunciations are not based on actual phonetics, rather whatever I make up]

A reflection on that--if havn in Danish is harbor, which has kind of morphed into "Haven" in English, (New Haven being an example), I wonder why we don't call it Copenhaven. Strange.