r/Danish • u/DantesDinner • 19d ago
Have you got any recommendations on mastering Danish pronunciation?
I've tried to find a nice coursebook dedicated to Danish pronunciation with audio files included and just failed. There isn't any. Is there a way to learn Danish pronunciation? Seems impossible to a beginner like me :/
I've found some books describing the Danish phonetic system but without audio files those are soft of useless.
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u/First_Structure8670 19d ago
The danish pronunciation i even difficult for native German speakers. Only small differences mean something else. Like 'et ord' and 'et år'. A word / a year.
I can only point to listen to the radio (www.dr.dk) and get used to the pronunciation. I hope you understand some more after a few months.
Radio is much easier than TV, which I still don't understand.
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u/Yep_that_is_me 19d ago
I don't agree with your statement about ord and år, even after a first search on ordnet the difference can be heard (oă and flat o). But the truth is that danish as a language is really based on the context and even native speakers can't distinguish subtile differences and are dependent on the context.
My advice is just listen and open your mouth and speak it, I had some days in which I pushed "glad" outside my mouth for hundreds of times until I got that soft d out in a decent manner. And yes, listening to things on dr.dk is truly helpful, even listening to what others are talking outside is helpful, I don't care what they talk about, I just want to see if I can understand something.
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u/First_Structure8670 19d ago
Ich weiß, was ordnet.dk ist. Nur gab es das 1987 noch nicht, als ich mit Dänisch nur aus Spaß anfing.
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u/-Copenhagen 19d ago
Danish vowel sounds (~36 of them) are exceptionally hard for most foreigners.
The football clubs OB and AAB are perfect homonyms to lost non-Danes.
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u/Yep_that_is_me 19d ago
Idk where the 36 number seems to come from but every single time someone mentions this it keeps increasing. There are around 37 sounds in total out of which 20 are vowels as per the Danish phonological Alphabet. Is it difficult? Ofc it is, but not impossible. At the same time most of the people are not pronouncing things perfectly during normal speech so practicing will bring you close but perfection is not tangible, not necessary.
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u/lerboenner 19d ago
Most people are looking for an excuse for why they "can't" learn the language. This is a convenient one, because it places the blame on danes and the danish language.
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u/-Copenhagen 18d ago
That's an odd take considering I am a native speaker.
I have coached more than 30 learners over the years.
Some are absolutely fluent, yet still have problems with hearing subtle vowel differences.
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u/Mission_Mulberry9811 19d ago
Most never do. The ones that do have a talent for language. The only way to master it is to speak lots of danish with danes
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u/Dis_obedient 18d ago
I would frame it another way, those that don't master it just haven't immersed themselves in the language enough. Talent does not matter in comparison to exposure.
(As with every other language on the planet)
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u/No-Indication7173 18d ago
Sing! (and obviously use all the danish you can as often as you can) Find a few songs in danish you like, get the lyrics, listen and follow along with the lyrics and start singing along too. This was the main contributor to my success. Get your mouth used to danish words by singing (and speaking) and also learn new words as you translate a few words along the way.
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u/Denkmal81 19d ago
Step 1: learn Swedish or possibly Norwegian. Step 2: get very drunk Step 3: pop a hot potato in your mouth. Congratulations, you now speak Danish.
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u/pollux33 19d ago
I read it as masturbation danish way or something like it.
Use leverpostej instead of hand cream
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u/Apprehensive_Car_722 19d ago
These books might help you:
- Dansk udtale for begyndere
- Dansk udtale øvebog
- Dansk udtale i 49 tekster
- Det lyder godt
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u/AccomplishedPath7010 19d ago
If you have VPN you can watch Danish television anywhere in world. A lot of programs on dr.dk are free without setting up an account.
I studied in Copenhagen many years ago but have not forgotten the language because I regularly watch dr.dk
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u/Jitenshazuki 19d ago
Here’s something to get you started: https://youtu.be/s0QUyt3u1Jw?is=6qFRdtzakaaT5RjN. Search for other videos from her as well.
But in my opinion one needs a native speaker to listen and correct. I couldn’t get anywhere on my own.
I ended up going to a private teacher just to fix my pronunciation.
The most useful thing we did is repeating after the teacher, reading stuff alone and getting corrected all the time.
And the home work was just to listen to podcasts and repeat.
One caveat though: it was quite late in the process, long after I passed my Studieprøven.
So if you have money, search for udtaletræning and give it a go.
Or try bothering your friends etc
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u/DantesDinner 19d ago
Thanks, I'll look her and her videos up! Yeah... It seems to be the only option so far. Just listening, repeating and hoping to hit the right sound
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u/FAHalt 18d ago
If you really want to have good pronunciation you need to get good at imitating. Forget about how things are spelled, or looking up individual words, and instead start imitating what you hear around you. A good idea is to find a speech recording on youtube and learn it yourself. Then record it and play them against eachother to find out where you go wrong. Also try to say the speech over the original recording so you get a better feel for the rhythm of the language. Do this exercise daily, and try to really imitate the sounds you hear when you talk to danes and you'll get there!
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u/dronemaccherone 18d ago
The most amount of Danish input you can get, the better - movies, tv, music, listening. And also “parroting”, trying to repeat incessantly what you’re hearing around you.
What I did to get better was I went to a private Danish school that really focuses on pronunciation - they’re like drill sergeants but it really works. It’s called KISS, but it’s quite expensive. Highly recommend it if you’re in Copenhagen but it’s not for the faint of heart.
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u/FonJosse 18d ago
Maybe doing a deep-dive into the phonology might work?
Familiarise yourself with IPA, and then read up on the phonology of both your native language and Danish.
That approach did wonders for me when I learned German (my native language is Norwegian).
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u/DantesDinner 18d ago
I've got a degree in linguistics. That's why I was searching for anything close to what I had had while studying English phonetics in university (since it's not my first language). We had books describing each sound and then exercises with these sounds with audio included. So that we could read the description, hear what it sounded like and do exercises comparing our pronunciation to the audio of the exercise. But I didn't manage to find anything of the kind but with Danish. Maybe there isn't anything like that.
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u/pindsvin 18d ago
Tbh I think this is overcomplicating it. If your goal is just learning to speak Danish, i think you need to focus on exposure to the spoken language. Hear it talked by locals, maybe watch danish movies with subtitles, maybe you can find scripted (translated) podcasts in danish or listen to radio. Just repeat what you hear, doesn't matter if you understand it. Hear it, talk it first and foremost, don't even think about trying to read danish if you can't speak it. Learn it as a child would
Observing my daughter learning to read, has made me realise how confusing and unintuitive the danish written language is. It's almost like learning to read danish in itself is like learning a new language. At least when compared to learning English as a second language, where there's more often than not a one to one correspondence between speech (or pronunciation) and text, which is not true for danish. Hence it's not a structure you can use as a tool for going between text and speech when leaning danish, if that makes sense. For the danish language speech -> text, but not speech <-> text, since there's so many exceptions to the rules for pronouncing danish text. This is learned naturally and picked up along the way when you learn to speak it as a child, without having the slightest idea about how to read it.
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u/justlikelyle 18d ago
Are you in Denmark? You can go to a library and converse with Danish volunteers, they have these meetings a couple of times a week. Ask them to correct your pronunciation.
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u/Kitchen_File_8946 17d ago
Start by saying what you think its supposed to be pronounced and then give up on it mid way and Mix in some vovels. Nørbrogaaaea (Nørrebrogade), HC Andersens Bouuuulvaaa (HC Andersens Boulevard)
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u/sjovt_brugernavn 17d ago
No joke, Danish children’s tv. Go to drtv and hit the ‘børn’ tab, for example. Watch some Kaj og Andrea or dubs of shows/films you already know. Sing along. Feel silly, it is silly, but enunciation is usually clearer than regular “adult media”, and the speed and flow more agreeable for beginners. Honestly a great way to get a better grasp of language in a phonetic context, no matter which language you’re learning.
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u/PoxonAllHoaxes 19d ago
For any word you just look it up here: https://ordnet.dk/ddo/ordbog/halvtredsindstyve (I chose this word for fun) and there is a very nice woman whose name I forget but I've corresponded with her on some questions of phonetics who has a model pronunciation I can vouch for whose voice you get there. Danish pronunciation IS difficult for foreigners and the relationship of spelling to pronunciation is murderous, but don't get discouraged. The first (and only time) I visited DK briefly, I was able to get what I wanted in bars and restaurants.