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LEARNING DANISH

Seven phrases you need for getting romantic in Danish

Valentine’s day has arrived, so here are some essential phrases to help you woo your Danish crush.

Published: 9 February 2023 17:45 CET
Updated: 14 February 2023 08:10 CET
Seven phrases you need for getting romantic in Danish
Which Danish phrases can spread the love on February 14th? File photo: Ida Guldbæk Arentsen/Ritzau Scanpix

Jeg har sommerfugle i maven

The feeling of excitement and anticipation when you set eyes on your crush is the same for Danes as it is for English-native speakers, it seems: the phrase “having butterflies in the stomach” – or sommerfugle i maven – is widely used in Denmark too. 

Jeg er vild med dig

Before you reach the being-in-love part of a relationship, you may find yourself being vild med someone.

This translates directly to “I’m crazy about you”, but it can have a somewhat softer meaning in Danish, depending on the context.

You can tell a friend jeg er lidt vild med Christian if you have a crush on Christian, but if you go over to Christian and say jeg er vild med dig, you’ll probably embarrass Christian unless you pick your moment wisely.

READ ALSO: READERS REVEAL: What are the barriers to a successful relationship with a Dane?

Jeg tænder på dig

If you want to take things up a notch from hand-holding, you might want to drop this one into conversation with your beau. 

At tænde literally means “to switch on” in Danish, but in the context of love, it means “to turn on”. 

Be warned though: if you are not charming enough, the object of your affections might find they tænder af (get turned off) by your advances.

Du har smukke øjne

A stone-cold dating classic or the cheesiest line of all time?

Saying “you have beautiful eyes” could bring a smile to your Danish sweetheart’s face. But use it appropriately: Danes do not like superficial compliments or empty statements of any kind. Flattery falls into this category.

Like most of the lines in this list, context is everything and you should only say this phrase to someone with whom you already have an established relationship.

If you do know each other well, you can replace øjne (“eyes”) with any other part that you find particularly beautiful. Ahem.

Jeg er forelsket i dig

Forelsket means “to be in love with” and is an elegant way of telling someone you’ve fallen for them, or have a crush on them.

It’s both romantic and concise – what’s not to like?

At forelske sig i is a reflexive verb meaning to fall in love with something or someone. The perfect Valentine’s vocabulary.

Vil du være min kæreste?

In the modern world it might not always be clear where you stand with your lover in terms of exclusivity. 

To clear things up and move to the next level by becoming an official girlfriend or boyfriend you can ask this question, which means “Do you want to be my boyfriend/girlfriend?”

The gender-neutral noun kæreste means both girlfriend and boyfriend, so at least you won’t have to worry about grammar when about to pop the big question.

Hopefully, they won’t say jeg leder ikke efter noget seriøst lige nu (“I’m not looking for anything serious at the moment”).

Jeg elsker dig

The most romantic line of all, “I love you” should be kept firmly in your locker if you are on a Valentine’s first date.

On the other hand, what better moment than February 14th to break out the big one and tell your kæreste that you are håbløst forelsket (hopelessly in love) with them?

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SCHOOLS

‘A superpower’: How being bilingual can help kids thrive in Danish schools

Being bilingual can help children to prosper academically when they are encouraged at school and at home, an expert told The Local.

Published: 14 June 2024 16:13 CEST
'A superpower': How being bilingual can help kids thrive in Danish schools

A recent report in Denmark linked a lack of Danish spoken at home and lower economic status with poorer performance at school, but bilingualism in isolation is an advantage under the right conditions, a specialist in the area told The Local on Friday.

Around 40 percent of school students with immigrant backgrounds were considered to be underperforming in mathematics, reading and science. That compares to 16 percent of students with non-immigrant backgrounds, according to the report “PISA Etnisk 2022”, published this week by research and analysis institute VIVE (National Research and Analysis Center for Welfare).

For all students, regardless of heritage, socioeconomic status was a factor in school performance. In other words, students from strong socioeconomic positions achieve better PISA results on average than those from weaker socioeconomic positions.

The report states that the language spoken at home may also have an effect on school results, with students who speak some Danish at home more likely to achieve better results – although this effect is reduced when socioeconomic status is taken into account.

READ ALSO: Kids who don’t speak Danish at home ‘may find school harder’

However, the report may not identify the difference individual situations can make for parents, an expert in raising bilingual children told The Local.

Bilingual kids given the right encouragement and support at home and school are in fact likely to thrive, said Elisa Sievers, a cultural consultant and founder of Happy Children Denmark. 

Sievers, who noted she had not read the VIVE report specifically, has observed bilingual schools and studied evidence on teaching multilingual children, at the Institute for Minority Education at University College South Denmark. 

Larger studies don’t always look at “the kids’ class or socioeconomics, where they actually come from, how long they’ve been in Denmark or what kind of resources the family has,” she said, adding that a number of different factors, like the languages spoken and whether the parents speak Danish, can create different circumstances contributing to results.

Being bilingual “doesn’t take the academic level of a child down, quite the opposite,” Sievers said. “It’s really about creating a space where children feel seen and feel that all parts of their identity and their language skills are embraced, then the child’s full potential can get out and they can thrive and have better academic results.”

“If a child is not thriving then they won’t perform super well academically either.”

READ ALSO:

Difficulties can arise if bilingualism is framed negatively by educators, parents or others, such as “questioning whether [the child] speaks any language perfectly,” Sievers said.

“That will affect the way the child is behaving and the way the child wants to perform and experiment with learning languages in general.”

“If there’s a positive, embracing space where the child can develop and use their language skills in a positive way”, they will be able to thrive, she said.

To create an “embracing” environment for bilingual children, Sievers advocates parents “staying authentic”, meaning each parent being consistent about speaking in their own mother tongue.

“It’s important that while the children are small and learning to speak that parents stick to that, and then they can be more loose later when the child knows the two languages,” she said.

At school, teachers can “make a point of the child having a special skill” by encouraging use of the second language.

An example of this could be asking the child to explain something about their language or background to the rest of the class.

“Seeing the language background, talk about it as something positive and something that is a superpower for the child instead of being a problem,” she said.

Elisa Sievers has a monthly newsletter, with tips for teachers and parents of bilingual and trilingual children.

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