Know how to ask for directions to ‘The Little Mermaid’ statue, order a famous salmon-topped smørreÂbrød, or get tips from the locals with these super useful and basic Danish phrases.
Travellers to Denmark can easily get around without knowing a word of Danish since the Danes are rockstars in English. However, here at The Intrepid Guide, I like to encourage you to learn a few phrases and choice words in the local language. Knowing even a little bit of Danish can go a long way. Your travel experience will be all the richer as you’re greeted with an inviting smile wherever you go and you’ll be more likely to make friends. Who knows, you may even be invited in for some hygge (See #22 for definition).
To help me create this new travel phrase guides to my collection, I asked my Danish friend Becci from Becci Abroad to provide accurate Danish translations and pronunciation tips. Tak Becci!
Let’s take a closer look at the Danish language.
Table of Contents
- A brief history of Danish
- Where is Danish Spoken?
- Danish Pronunciation
- Danish Alphabet
- Basic Danish Phrases for Travellers
- Infographic
A brief history of Danish
Danish (Dansk in Danish) is a Scandinavian language and is part of the North Germanic language group which includes Norwegian, Icelandic, Swedish and Faroese. As such, the written form of Danish is very similar to all these languages.
To give you an idea, the differences between written Danish and Norwegian aren’t any bigger than the differences between British English and American English. So, if you’re familiar with any of these Scandinavian languages, you’re already halfway there!
The part that needs more attention is spoken Danish since the Danes use different sounds and pronunciation not found anywhere else.
Where is Danish spoken?
Danish is the official language of Denmark. Outside of Denmark, Danish is spoken in Canada, Germany, Greenland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, United Arab Emirates, and the USA. Danish is spoken by 5.4 million people in Denmark. According to Ethnologue, the total number of speakers of Danish worldwide is estimated at around 5.6 million. Between 15–20% of Greenland’s population speak Danish as their first language.
Danish Pronunciation
Denmark is made up of the Jutland Peninsula and numerous islands. Even though Denmark is about three times smaller than New York different dialects are spoken from island to island.
To keep things simple, the pronunciation provided in this Danish travel phrase guide uses the form of Danish called Nudansk, which literally means ‘Now Danish’. This form of Danish is spoken in Denmark’s capital, Copenhagen and is understood everywhere in Denmark.
Danish Alphabet
Below is the Danish alphabet and pronunciation.
| a (ah) | j (yee) | s (ess) |
| b (be) | k (kå) | t (te) |
| c (se) | l (el) | u (u) |
| d (de) | m (emm) | v (ve) |
| e (eh) | n (enn) | w (dobbletve) |
| f (eff) | o (o) | x (eks) |
| g (gay) | p (pe) | y (y) |
| h (hå) | q (ku) | z (sett) |
| i (ee) | r (err) | Æ (ah) Ø (uh) Å (oh) |
Want to have fun whilst learning Danish? Struggling to find decent Danish language resources? I recommend getting uTalk. Available as a desktop site and app, uTalk is awesome for learning key words and phrases in Danish, especially if you want to use it for travel purposes. It’s great for beginners getting started in a language and invaluable for intermediates looking to fill in gaps in their vocabulary and pronunciation.
What I love most about uTalk is that you can jump around their extensive library of topics and choose what you want to learn, when you want, and at your own pace. Because I believe in uTalk so much, I reached out to them and we’ve teamed up to offer you an exclusive 30% OFF reader discount across all of uTalk’s 140 languages! This offer isn’t available anywhere else! Click here to claim your exclusive 30% discount.
Basic Danish Phrases for Travellers
Want the infographic to take with you? Scroll to the bottom of the page.
I hope you enjoyed this Danish travel phrase guide as much as I enjoyed bringing it together. If you have any requests for other languages, let me know in the comments section! In the meantime, check out the rest of my collection of free travel phrase guides.
Danish Travel Guide Infographic
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Sources Lonely Planet Fast Talk Danish | Becci Abroad
Visiting Denmark?
Want to know more about learning languages? Start here!
- Top Language Learning Resources You Should Use
- 11 Life-Changing Reasons Why You Should Learn a Language
- 42 beautiful Inspirational Quotes for Language Learners
- Language learning tips: 11 Polyglots Reveal The Secrets of Their Success
- Top 10 Best Ways to Learn a Language Better and Faster
Over to you!
Which of these Danish phrases did you find the most useful? Are you planning a trip to Denmark or have you already been there? Let me know using the comments section below or join me on social media to start a conversation.
Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed this post.
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