How to get started learning Danish
Check out this lesson at danishwithemi.com
Not long ago I was asked about advice on how to learn Danish. I figured that getting started or figuring out how to get started can sometimes be hard. Either there’s too many options to pick from (usually when it comes to textbooks) or there’s too little. This guide is supposed to help you figure out the best way for you to learn Danish.
1. Old School Textbook Cool
You could start out by getting a hold of a textbook. There’s a bunch on Amazon if you search “learn Danish”. Or you could read my free lessons at https://danishwithemi.tumblr.com/ or https://danishwithemi.com/. Either options are a great way to learn the grammar.
2. App: Duolingo
A lot of people love Duolingo and it has a Danish course. What’s nice about Duolingo is that it’s not too text-heavy, so it’s easy to get started and built a good habit. And it has gamification, if you enjoy that!
3. Talking about habits..
.. building a habit is key! Set yourself up to success by creating an environment where it’s easy to get started on studying like:
having a textbook/notebook out on your table or carry it around with you
have study apps on your homescreen, so you see them whenever you unlock your phone
always have a website open when on your computer so that you can easily click on the tab and start studying. Even if it’s just one word!
set a time during the day where you want to study. Mornings before school/work/university works for me
4. App: HelloTalk
The app “HelloTalk” is great for exchanging languages. When creating a profile you pick your native language and your target language (e.g. Danish). Then you get “paired” with native people of your target language who wants to learn your native language. You can also write posts with text and/or pictures that people can comments on and/or correct. It’s essentially a social media centered around language learning. This is a great way to practice the language, learn about culture and get new friends.
A similar app is “Tandem”.
5. Read a book
Pick a book you find interesting (or have read before) in Danish and read it. Go through each sentence and translate every word and every piece of grammar you don’t know. Then move on once you’ve learned that sentence. You could start with mining through a paragraph or page a day. Then, once you’ve studied that paragraph or page, you reread it. As you progress further, you should notice that you look up less words and less grammar points.
6. Sentence mining
Sentence mining is when you add a bunch of sentences to a spaced repetition system (SRS) like Anki (Anki). It’s essentially a flash card system where you can have a Danish sentence on the front and the English translation on the back. What’s genius about SRS is that after you’ve tried to memorize a flash card you determine whether it was “easy” or “hard” to memorize. Based on this feedback, Anki will then display the flash card again after x amount of time. Here’s a demo if it all sounded confusing: Anki Demo
Anki pairs well with the previous point of reading a book. You can add all of your unknown sentences to Anki and study them there.
7. Immersion
Immerse yourself in the language. Immersion is great for building a good intuition of a language. I have personally experienced learning words and phrases by only listening to my target language. Immersion is also a great way to practice your listening ability so that you can eventually pick words apart from each other. All you have to do is listen. Your brain will do the rest of the work.
To immerse you can:
change your phone/computer language to Danish
talk to Danish friends in Danish
watch Danish series and movies
watch Danish youtubers
read Danish books (tip: pick a book you’ve already read so that you know the context and story. This should give you an easier time understanding what’s going on)
listen to Danish audio books
listen to Danish podcasts
travel to Denmark
8. Live classes
Sign up for live classes! This could either be in your neighbourhood, online (e.g. italki.com) or even in Denmark.
9. Have fun
Make sure you are having fun! So pick a method that works for you. This should help you stay in the loop and keep you enganged. You like reading? Go read! You hate reading? Don’t read! Watch videos instead. Whatever floats your boat.
I hope you find something useful here! Happy studying :)
Don’t forget to follow me on Twitter where I post updates and more!
If you have any questions or feedback feel free to submit a question/feedback at danishwithemi.tumblr.com/ask and I will answer as soon as possible.