So now it's official. We live in the world's best city when it comes to quality of life :-)
Read more here.
fredag den 13. juni 2008
onsdag den 11. juni 2008
Danish Test 3
A part of moving to a new country is learning the local vernacular. You might think it's not necessary if you move between Norway and Denmark, but it's not that easy. Although there are similarities, there are differences. My Latin teacher once said that next to Turkish, Danish is the most difficult language to learn for those without any prior knowledge. Luckily that does not include Norwegians ...
The Norwegian language consists of two types of written Norwegian, they are called «nynorsk» (new-Norwegian) and «bokmål» (book-language). Nynorsk is based on the different dialects and was created in the 19 century by Ivar Aasen, a linguist. His written Norwegian was called «landsmål» (language of the land) until 1929. Bokmål was a language based on the Danish language that had dominated the bureaucracy and the Church. It was originally based on the dialect of Copenhagen and called until 1929 «riksmål» (language of the kingdom). Today around 10-15 % of the population use nynorsk, the rest use nynorsk. I have a dialect that is close to nynorsk, but I chose to write bokmål in high school/junior college.
Until 1907 the there were few differences between Danish and bokmål. In 1907 a new rule of writing increased the differences, and the subsequent reforms followed this line. Today bokmål and nynorsk is closer than ever. No wonder only 10-15 % use nynorsk today (as anything goes in bokmål today).
Although written Danish is somewhat different, the spoken Danish is even further away and is the most difficult part to learn. Therefore I signed up for an integration course in Danish called Danish Test 3. The Danish test 3 consists of six modules. Scandinavians (Norwegians, Icelanders, Swedes and Finns) can begin either in module four or five. I began in level five (as most Norwegians do). What don't you do to get a job in Denmark.
So what has been the biggest challange for me when learning to speak and write Danish? Well without question to speak it. Danish has evolved away from the other Scandinavian language. It used to be classified together with Swedish as an eastern form of Scandinavian (and Norwegian and Islandic as western form of Scandinavian). Today it is alone in the southern form of Scandinavian. Swedish and Norwegian is today much closer. The Danes have almost eradicated their dialects (which is not so bad when learning Danish). The language has many phonemes, meaning that e.g. the vocal 'a' might be pronounced in at least six different ways. Their consonants are a lot softer and to a Norwegian sounds obscure and muddled. It actually takes a lot of practise and I'll never learn it properly.
Written Danish is mostly difficult because they spell words differently, and they also spell words that are not Danish in origin the way it is spelt in the original language. So if they have incorporated a word from Swahili it is spelt like it is in Swahili, while in Norwegian it would be spelt the way it is pronounced in Norwegian.
I have completed my written Danish Test 3. I got the grad 12 (A) on that, but I still have to battle with the spoken Danish Test 3 next week. And it counts double in the final grade. So, I am worried. I'm preparing a monologue on the ethical philosophy of the Danish philosopher Knud E. Løgstrup (which is a piece of cake since I had to study him in my postgraduate degree). So if all goes well ...
The Norwegian language consists of two types of written Norwegian, they are called «nynorsk» (new-Norwegian) and «bokmål» (book-language). Nynorsk is based on the different dialects and was created in the 19 century by Ivar Aasen, a linguist. His written Norwegian was called «landsmål» (language of the land) until 1929. Bokmål was a language based on the Danish language that had dominated the bureaucracy and the Church. It was originally based on the dialect of Copenhagen and called until 1929 «riksmål» (language of the kingdom). Today around 10-15 % of the population use nynorsk, the rest use nynorsk. I have a dialect that is close to nynorsk, but I chose to write bokmål in high school/junior college.
Until 1907 the there were few differences between Danish and bokmål. In 1907 a new rule of writing increased the differences, and the subsequent reforms followed this line. Today bokmål and nynorsk is closer than ever. No wonder only 10-15 % use nynorsk today (as anything goes in bokmål today).
Although written Danish is somewhat different, the spoken Danish is even further away and is the most difficult part to learn. Therefore I signed up for an integration course in Danish called Danish Test 3. The Danish test 3 consists of six modules. Scandinavians (Norwegians, Icelanders, Swedes and Finns) can begin either in module four or five. I began in level five (as most Norwegians do). What don't you do to get a job in Denmark.
So what has been the biggest challange for me when learning to speak and write Danish? Well without question to speak it. Danish has evolved away from the other Scandinavian language. It used to be classified together with Swedish as an eastern form of Scandinavian (and Norwegian and Islandic as western form of Scandinavian). Today it is alone in the southern form of Scandinavian. Swedish and Norwegian is today much closer. The Danes have almost eradicated their dialects (which is not so bad when learning Danish). The language has many phonemes, meaning that e.g. the vocal 'a' might be pronounced in at least six different ways. Their consonants are a lot softer and to a Norwegian sounds obscure and muddled. It actually takes a lot of practise and I'll never learn it properly.
Written Danish is mostly difficult because they spell words differently, and they also spell words that are not Danish in origin the way it is spelt in the original language. So if they have incorporated a word from Swahili it is spelt like it is in Swahili, while in Norwegian it would be spelt the way it is pronounced in Norwegian.
I have completed my written Danish Test 3. I got the grad 12 (A) on that, but I still have to battle with the spoken Danish Test 3 next week. And it counts double in the final grade. So, I am worried. I'm preparing a monologue on the ethical philosophy of the Danish philosopher Knud E. Løgstrup (which is a piece of cake since I had to study him in my postgraduate degree). So if all goes well ...
søndag den 1. juni 2008
How do you choose?
After the first month of our participation in the "Project 3six5" where the idea is to upload one picture per day for an entire year, the biggest problem is probably how you chose just ONE picture. Most days we take several pictures, but only one eventually ends up on the project's flickr-page. Usually, it's not an easy decision...
This Tuesday, for instance, we were both in Oslo, Norway for work. Before heading back to Copenhagen, we spent a little time exploring the magnificent new opera where you can walk on the marble roof. We took quite a few pictures there, so here are a few that did not make it to project 3six5.
If you want to see the picture that we chose to represent that day, you can take a look at the project's flickr-page or the flickr-page where we put our pictures:
Project3six5
J&JA's Photostream
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