Started: 1997
Ah Danish! My heart always leaps a little when I think of Denmark. In 1997 I decided I wanted to live and work abroad. I had just graduated as an interpreter and much to my regret I had never studied abroad with Erasmus. So this was my opportunity. Now or never. I didn’t have a job yet, no (serious) boyfriend, nothing really that would stop me from going!
One day I saw an add for a room in a kollegium in Lyngby, north of Copenhagen. A kollegium is a sort of a dorm, where students live indepentenly (it is always on the premises of a school but any student can rent a room there). Without giving it much thought, I wrote them and said I wanted the room. And I got it!
Denmark of all places, I never ever thought I would go there. But I was very excited. Through a cousin I met a Danish girl who studied in my hometown Gent and she taught me a few words. And then off I went. Adventure calling!
Within 2 weeks I found a job in Taastrup, south of Copenhagen, for which I did not have to speak Danish. I would end up working there the entire time I stayed in Denmark (almost a year). I saw a lot of the country, made friends for life and most importantly, learned the language.
My method was very easy: I asked all the students in the dorm and everyone at work to only speak Danish to me, that would be the quickest way to master the language. And it was! I spoke the language fluently, be it with a bit of an accent (Danish has some tricky sounds).
After almost a year I went back home, found a job, got married, had children and never spoke a word of Danish again. Until one day in 2015, I looked into an evening course of Spanish and saw that the school also offered Danish. I enrolled, did 2 years and then stopped.
I now take italki conversation classes once a month and I also offer translations from Danish to Dutch.
Dansk er desværre ikke et nemt sprog, især udtalen kan være en rigtig udfordring. Jeg er sikker på at jeg skriver fejl, ogsa her på min website, men ved du hvad? Det er helt okay, det er sådan man lærer et sprog!
