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LEARNING DANISH

Five Danish words that instantly make me nervous

From e-Boks to fartkontrol, there are certain Danish words that can strike fear into your heart.

Published: 9 May 2023 16:39 CEST

Five Danish words that instantly make me nervous

The word "forbudt" means a likely brush with authority if you ignore it. Photo: Mads Claus Rasmussen/Ritzau Scanpix

The Danish language itself can be pretty scary. As many foreign residents in the country will tell you, it can be elusively difficult to learn.

Even when you have the hang of the basics, understanding different dialects, pronunciation and idioms – not to mention Danish humour – can get your nerves jangling when attempting a conversation.

That’s not exactly what this article is about, though. There are certain Danish words which, when I get a glance of them on an email notification, letter or road sign, make me immediately assume I’m going to have problems.

That’s not always the case, but the corridor of uncertainty elicited by these words never goes away.

E-boks

The name of the most popular platform for receiving secure digital mail in Denmark, e-boks (or e-Boks to give it the correct stylisation) is innocuous in itself, being a contraction of “e-mail” and “box”.

Authorities can send official messages to anyone who lives in Denmark via the e-boks, and that is why a fleeting glance of the word can get the pulse racing.

When I glance a notification on my phone that includes the words du har fået ny post (“you have a new message”) followed by e-Boks, my automatic response is to assume I haven’t paid enough tax this year, have miscalculated my student loan repayment or have otherwise sent in some kind of application or paperwork incorrectly and that I’m now going to face consequences.

Luckily, my e-boks messages most commonly have the subheading betalingsservice, meaning they are a message from my bank letting me know which monthly payments are about to be withdrawn from my account. Hardly a joyous message to receive, but at least it’s not a bolt from the blue.

On a serious note, people who apply for residence permits in Denmark often find out the decision on their cases in a message delivered via e-boks, so receiving mail on the platform can genuinely be triggering.

Inkasso

Inkasso is a word you will see at the top of a letter from a debt collection agency. You might have missed previous bills and warnings and now are being told to pay up or face the music. There will usually be an additional fee, which could be hefty, for the involvement of the inkasso company.

Similarly a rykker (reminder) – the step before the bill gets sent to an inkasso agency – is also a word that can elicit some stabs of fear, as well as an extra charge for late payment.

On the couple of occasions I’ve received such a letter, I was fortunate to be able to bring my heart rate down again by paying straight away.

Togbusser

Literally train buses, these are the replacement rail services that are used, usually on weekends, when parts of the rail network are closed for maintenance works.

When you look up your journey on the Rejseplanner app, it’s the appearance of this word that makes you think your trip from Copenhagen to Aarhus at the end of a heavy weekend is going to end up feeling interminable.

On the bright side, you might get to see a Danish rail station you’ve never been to before, when you pick up the train again to complete your journey on the section of the line that’s still open. I’m stretching a bit for a positive here.

Fartkontrol

Often cited as one of the most amusing words (in the eyes of an English speaker) in the Danish language, fartkontrol, meaning “speed checks” can actually stress me out.

This is because, like with togbusser, it is likely to signify a badly delayed journey.

While fartkontrol can mean speed checks of any kind, like vans with temporary police speed cameras, I find it to appear most often on motorways where one or more lanes have been closed for roadworks and the speed limit has therefore been reduced on the remaining lanes.

Large sections of the E20 motorway on the island of Funen – which connects the eastern and western parts of Denmark – have had ongoing works to increase to width of the motorway over the last few years, meaning reduced speed on long stretches.

Forbudt

This word comes with a large helping of authority in much the same way its German counterpart verboten and, to a less severe extent, the English translation, “forbidden”.

While “forbidden” seems to be mainly confined to fairy tales in the English language, in Denmark you’ll see forbudt more commonly.

From the same root, the word forbud meaning “ban” is also frequently used by authorities.

An example of this is the opholdsforbud or ban on ‘lingering’ that was put in place in a couple of spots in Copenhagen during the worst parts of the Covid-19 lockdowns. This meant that you couldn’t sit or stand for more than a few minutes without being in violation of the restrictions that were in place at the time.

The opposite of forbudt is påbudt meaning “compulsory” or “mandatory”. This also carries the subtext of “do it or you’re in trouble”. For example, in car parks where use of the parking timer is påbudt, you’re likely to get a parking fine if you fail to comply.

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'Make it fun': How foreigners in Denmark help their kids become bilingual

For foreign residents in Denmark with children, the matter of bilingualism can be one that requires a lot of thought.

Questions can include which languages to speak at home, how important is it to you that your children speak your mother tongue, and how to ensure they are strong at speaking the local language – in this case, Danish.

We previously spoke to an expert about the topic, whose advice included the recommendation that “parent(s) should speak in their mother tongue and stay authentic”, and also touched on school options and technical aspects of language acquisition in kids.

Below is a selection of the overwhelming number of survey responses we received from our readers. Thank you to all those who took time to get in touch.

“My only tip is to speak your own language with your children confidently and consistently whatever people around think or say,” said Radu, a Romanian who lives in Copenhagen.

Radu said he has two children, a 5-year-old who goes to an English-speaking preschool, and a 7-year-old who also went to the preschool and now attends Danish state school. The children speak Danish with their mother and Romanian with their father.

“The Danish system and society are very focused on making foreigners speak Danish, but don’t let them assimilate your children while you are trying to integrate,” Radu said.

“We want them to be multilingual,” he said of his children.

“We think that’s the most beneficial for their development and understanding of the world. We also want them to communicate naturally with both sides of their family and not end up speaking English with relatives,” he said.

Born in Denmark

Silvia, who is Italian and lives in Copenhagen, said that Italian is the only language spoken at home between her, her two children (3 and 6 years) and their father, who is also Italian. The children were born in Denmark.

The children “go to a public Danish school and there they only speak Danish”, she said.

“We want them to be fluent in both Italian and Danish, and we know that they will pick up English very easily in school. Having three languages in the pocket will already be amazing, when it comes to languages, the more the better!,” Silvia wrote.

“The only tip is keep it clear, set a language for a specific context (home/school/family etc…) and keep it, it’s easier for the brain when you can contextualise your learning experience,” she said.

Alison, a reader in Aarhus, said she speaks “90 percent” French to her little boy who was born in Denmark in 2022. His dad is Danish and he attends a local Danish daycare, she explained. The parents speak English to each other.

“We want him to be bilingual, we see it as a plus and he needs French to communicate with French family members,” she said.

“For now we just speak each our language. We make sure to have books in French, listen to songs and watch cartoons in French to make it fun,” she said.

One reader who responded to our survey described the reverse situation – speaking Danish in a home in another country.

“My partner is Danish and she moved to the UK many years ago to live with me. We have two children. We didn’t marry and my partner and two daughters are Danish nationals with Danish passports and citizenship,” said the reader, Dominic.

The family plans to move to Denmark next year and Dominic, as the only non-Danish speaker, has now begun learning Danish. Both languages are spoken at home, he said.

“Mother speaks to daughters in Danish – I speak to them in English. When we all speak it’s in English. I am learning Danish,” he said.

“We have always used two languages. It was natural to raise our daughters with two concurrent cultures because that’s what they are – a mix of both,” he said.

Kelly in Aarhus has two children born in Denmark with one British and one Danish parent.

“We run one parent, one language [also known as the OPOL method, ed.] at home. We might have liked to have sent our kids to a bilingual school but the only one (in Aarhus) just closed so our only real option is to send them to a local folkeskole [state school, ed.],” she said.

“Have two language profiles on your streaming services so they can watch cartoons in both languages,” she tipped.

“Me and my wife came from Nepal to Denmark in 2017,” began Sapan, who lives in Copenhagen’s Vestegn.

“We had our first kid in 2019 and the second one in 2022 (in Denmark),” he said.

“Me and my wife communicate most of the time at our home in our native tongue which is Nepalese. This is to ensure that the kids can understand Nepalese language as well,” he said, adding that the children now attend Danish preschool.

“We are really careful and don’t want them to struggle with their Danish language so we help them with the Danish at home as well. Both of us have been to Danish language school. We allow only books, TV programmes, etc in Danish at home. We also help them to translate both languages,” he said.

“We want them to be multilingual so that they have multiple choices for their future”, Sapan said.

Moved to Denmark

Other readers, who moved to Denmark after their children were born, described the experience of older children learning Danish.

“I have two kids (9 and 13, today). We were all born and raised in Brazil. When we moved to Denmark, two years ago, they were 7 and 11 and were fluent in Portuguese and speak a little English,” wrote Luiz, who lives in Aalborg.

The children now go to a Danish state school where they mainly speak Danish, he said.

“It is great to see how they developed both Danish and English in the last two years,” he said.

“I had an amazing experience with the folkeskole. There, both my kids had Danish classes full time during the first six months, together with other internationals. Teachers were great and, today, both of them are attending the regular classes on the second and seventh grade,” he explained.

“It helped us a lot to watch cartoons in Danish (thanks, Ramasjang!) and often visit the library and borrow some books for them to read,” Luiz said.

Another reader said that she sometimes found it difficult to always use her mother tongue in her family setting in Denmark.

More than two languages

“We are German and American and moved with our children (son, now eight and daughter, five) to Denmark two years ago. Everyone understands both languages but when we are all together we speak mostly English,” wrote Cornelia from Copenhagen.

“Mum and Dad speak English together, but when the kids are there I try to speak German. Kids might answer in all three languages but Danish is their strongest now,” she said.

“Both kids are in a Danish environment. Son has some English-speaking friends, which is so important! I am having problems to maintain the German because I am now the only one here who speaks it to the kids, outside family and friends abroad,” she explained.

“We are trying to maintain trilingualism. Every language is an enrichment and will open future possibilities. We read books and watch TV in all three languages,” she added.

The highest number of languages spoken by children among our survey responses was four: Turkish, Italian, Danish and English.

Deniz in Copenhagen said his children, age 3 and 7, were born in Denmark to Turkish and Italian parents.

“Mom speaks Turkish with the kids. Dad speaks Italian with the kids. Mom and Dad speak English and Italian to each other,” he explained.

The children attend Danish daycare and school and “speak Turkish with each other when they play together. They speak Danish, Italian, Turkish or English when other family members or friends are around them,” he said.

Deniz explained that he preferred to bring up the children in a multilingual environment “so that they feel they are rooted in Denmark but they also feel connected to Turkey and Italy and communicate with family.”

“English is also important to communicate with everyone,” he said.

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