The Hidden Struggles of Learning Danish for Life in Denmark

Learning Danish to order ice cream is one thing. Learning it to build a professional and social life is another.

When you’re just trying to order ice cream, it’s easy. You learn the vocabulary, some basic grammar, practice a bit with your teacher, and then you try it out. Whether it works perfectly or not, you’ll likely get your ice cream, and life goes on.

But when you’re learning Danish to truly integrate into a new country, it’s a whole different challenge. You need to use the language to express yourself authentically, precisely, and intelligently. You might wish to be funny, but you certainly need to be sensitive and expressive. The stakes are much higher when it comes to forming genuine connections and being accepted as a person in a second language.

That is so tough. Trust me, I know. And I take it into account in my Danish lessons that my clients need to do all of that. We work on coping with difficult feelings, which is easiest when you have language strategies to manage difficult situations. Because at the end of the day, your Danish (correct past tenses and en eller et) doesn’t matter. Your communication does.

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