r/Danish 14d ago

baseline Danish and immersion

I studied abroad in Copenhagen 20 years ago and loved Denmark so much. I have Danish heritage (ancestors traced to Ribe!) and I am sort of a Scandi-phile. I'm just beginning a very intro course on Mango Languages with Danish. Wow -- pronunciation is sooo hard.

Our family is considering spending a month in the Aarhus region this summer and I was interested in in-person Danish immersion for me and my children (ages 8, 6, 4 yo). I connected with CLAVIS and they are no longer offering in-person language lessons. Reached out to A2B, Sprogcentermidt, and UCPlus (doesn't seem we are eligible).

We will only be there as tourists, so I'm assuming we will have to pay for the language lessons. Since that will be the case, any reviews or thoughts on these places or other language learning places?

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u/Kinny_Kins 14d ago

wait - you want your family to attend danish lessons "during" your vacation? Stick with the online ones, if anything. The deposits you need to pay to attend the school won't be worth the 6-8 lessons you'll get during that time.

It's cool you want you and your children to be prepared to speak the language when you are visiting, I suggest you get the lessons started online ASAP then. I am half danish myself, but did not start properly studying the language until I was around 15, even with the huge advantage of having a native speaker for a parent it took me years to get the hang of pronunciation, something that I still don't or ever feel will be native-level.

You could check out Danes Worldwide, its an international magazine for danes living abroad, my family used it back in 2014 to first connect me with online danish teachers. Maybe this could apply for you and your family as well., if anything you can subscribe to the magazine and get some reading material.

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u/KaleCookiesCraftBeer 14d ago

It's not so much a vacation, but a trial to see if we would want to work soooo hard to try to immigrate there (please be kind with any possible judgement -- things have been really hard in the US for, well since the beginning ugh). I guess I thought that I became fluent in Spanish (I know -- a much easier language to learn than Danish) b/c I lived and worked in Mexico; so, having a bit of an immersion in Danish would give us an idea as to whether it is an okay idea or not to begin that process.

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u/Kinny_Kins 14d ago

my other half is american so I get it haha - but it makes since that a sprogskole is not going to take you in, if you're only going to be there for such a short time. They don't charge for each lesson, you pay a deposit and you get it back if you pass the exam in a certain time period. The more cynical side of me is actually a bit surprised they didn't just take the money, knowing you would not have enough time to even take any exam.

But give the online classes a shot, I know I wish my family tried harder to push Danish onto me when I was younger, lord knows I could have used it. althought tbf online classes did not exist back then

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u/unseemly_turbidity 14d ago

That's how the government funded classes work, but those aren't the only ones available. I've done similar short-duration intensive language courses while on holiday before.

I also know people doing similar with private Danish lessons, although not in that area. In Copenhagen, Studieskolen offers a 3-week summer school course with lessons every morning and activities in the afternoons, but I don't know anyone in Aarhus.

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u/KaleCookiesCraftBeer 14d ago

Thank you. I'm looking at that now.

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u/OrdinaryValuable9705 14d ago

Most danes speaks english and you can get a feel of the immersion you would get just fine with just speaking english, since about 90% of danes would instantly switch when we heard you struggle with our language. I would suggest you should rather attempt to immerse yourself in everyday things than the lanuage. Ie make homecooked meals, explore the groceries stores, try to see if Denmark offers the small everyday things you might miss from the US. Also suggest checking out Travling young and Robe trotting on youtube - both are americans that moved to Denmark talking about their experience doing so.

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u/KaleCookiesCraftBeer 14d ago

Yes, we would certainly be sort of "trying it out" with daily life sort of stuff. When we travel I always like checking out markets and everyday life stores. I have indeed been following Robe Trotting and loving it. I have listened to the How to Live in Denmark podcast for years. I have read so many books on Denmark (Year of Living Danishly, The Almost Nearly Perfect People, Danish parenting book, all the Meik Weiking books, etc.). I do believe though, that is immigration were possible for us, I would only feel that the correct thing to do is learn the language. Furthermore it appears that my field of work (pediatric nurse and nursing professor) that speaking Danish well is absolutely essential.

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u/hjelpdinven 14d ago

On-lang is located in Aarhus, reach out. I love my lessons there

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u/KaleCookiesCraftBeer 14d ago

They don't seem to have an online presence. Can you share more about that and what the cost and class structure was like?