For the Expat Feedback of the month, I am glad to feature Ben, who is originally from England. He completed Prøve i Dansk 3 exam with Lærdansk Århus, last year in June 2018.

Ben shares in this interview many insights about his personal experience of learning Danish in Denmark, but also the school process and some useful links to check out.

I sincerely hope that you will enjoy reading it!

Thank you Ben !

About you

Danish classes

Which school(s) did you attend?
I’ve followed lessons at Lærdansk in Århus.

How did you find the registering process at the school when you enrolled?
Once I had all the necessary paperwork it was very straightforward and the staff were helpful.

Did you take breaks?
No.

Day classes vs evening classes?
Always evening classes as I was working in the day. Sometimes it was hard to motivate myself to cycle up to the classes in the evening – but it was worth it in the long run. (people in Århus who cycled up Paludan-Müllers Vej will know what I mean!)

How did you find the various modules at school?
I started in module 4 so don’t have any experience with the others. I think the teacher you have makes a huge difference to your overall learning. I was lucky to have some great teachers for my module 4 and 5 exams, who supported us and made sure we were prepared for the exams.

Prøve i Dansk 3 Exam
How was the Prøve i Dansk 3 examination?
It was nothing to worry about. I always get nervous before any exam but this was fine once you get started. Like any exam just make sure you read the question thoroughly first!

Any suggestions in terms of the preparation to PD3?
Do all the homework, contribute to discussions in class and practice the previous PD3 exams.

Any comments, recommendations you would like to share with others
Danish news, radio, audiobooks – anything you can listen/read every single day that is going to make it a regular part of your life.

Did you think the exam was difficult?
It was challenging at times but not too difficult. If you are fully prepared there shouldn’t be anything too hard which you haven’t seen before.

Any comments regarding written exam and oral exam?
It was challenging at times but not too difficult. If you are fully prepared there shouldn’t be anything too hard which you haven’t seen before. If I were to go back and give myself any advice, I would tell myself to relax! All the subjects in the written are ones you will know from class and in the oral exam they are not trying to catch you out – it was more like an informal chat than an exam.

Which study books have you used at school for the various modules?
Module 4: At Skrive, Pæredansk, Parat Start 1-2-3 and Grammatikken.
Module 5: Danske Stemmer, At Skrive, Grammatikken

What do you think about the books? Would you recommend them?
I thought the books were good. It’s hard for textbooks to engage students while explaining (sometimes dull!) grammar rules etc, but I think they did a good job.

Danish Practice
Do you think it is easy to apply your Danish (that you learned at school) in the everyday life?
I think it depends on your job and lifestyle. Luckily my job sometimes involves translation to and from Danish so those grammar rules come in useful!

What do you do outside of school to practice your Danish?
My girlfriend is Danish so I talk with her and her family, as well as our friends here in Århus. I also read Danish books and listen to podcasts/radio to keep up the practice.

Have you read Danish books that you think are worth reading for other students?
When I started at Lærdansk I read some of the Harry Potter books as I knew the storyline already – so it didn’t matter if I didn’t understand all the Danish words! Since then I’ve tried to explore the works of Danish authors like Blixen, Adler-Olsen, Ejersbo and Turèll.

Have you watched Danish tv/movies that you think are worth seeing for other students?
It’s probably been recommended loads before but shows like Broen, Borgen, 1864 and Forbrydelsen were all ones I enjoyed. I’m also a fan of a show on DR called Nak & Æd!

Have you listened to Danish podcasts that you think are worth listening to for other students?
As a history nerd I really enjoyed listening to the podcast ‘Kongerækken’ and their subsequent series ‘Kongerækken og Politiken’. They started off with an episode on each of the Danish royal family from Gorm the Old to Margrethe II. Since then they’ve done mini-series on The Reformation, Important Women through history and Roman emperors.

Do you have any tips about how to improve your Danish while studying and being in Denmark?
My advice would be to make speaking, listening and reading Danish a regular thing so it becomes a habit you are used to. Once it becomes a daily occurrence you will notice fast improvements.

My other advice would be to keep persevering even if it seems you aren’t making progress. Everyone feels like that sometimes when learning a new language.

The post Expat feedback – Ben from England appeared first on Learn Danish.

In this month’s feedback, I am very happy to feature Dan, who is originally from England. He completed Prøve i Dansk 3 exam in June 2018 in Århus, with Lærdansk.

Dan shares in this interview many insights about his personal experience of learning Danish in Denmark.

I sincerely hope that you will enjoy reading it!

Thank you Dan

About you

Danish classes

Which school(s) did you attend?

I attended classes at Lærdansk in Aarhus.

How did you find the registering process at the school when you enrolled?
Once I had my CPR number, I found it is was straightforward.

Did you take breaks?
No.

Day classes vs evening classes?
I started with classes in the evenings but moved to afternoon classes, as I found they suited my schedule better and I could go three times a week, instead of only twice.

How did you find the various modules at school?
I felt like modules 1-3 went by very quickly and I got a lot of enjoyment out of going to the classes, as I could see a lot of progress. Modules 4 and 5 were more of a struggle, but no less rewarding. As you get to the higher modules, progress is more about using the correct tense for verbs and structuring sentences, rather than learning lots of new words.

Prøve i Dansk 3 Exam

How was the Prøve i Dansk 3 examination?
Nothing to fear. Nobody likes sitting doing exams for hours, unless they are weird. However, the PD3 exam is straightforward and classes will prepare you for all the questions that can come up.

Any suggestions in terms of the preparation to PD3?
Do as much homework and other things outside of classes as you can. Practice with exams from previous years. I found it very helpful to time myself with previous exams, so you know how much time you will have on the day.

Would you recommend any resources to help others?
Watching the news and reading articles really helped me. You may not understand everything that is going on, but over time you will pick up keywords and get used to words and phrases that are used when it comes to topics like immigration or the environment.

Did you think the exam was difficult?
Not really. Practicing previous exams helps to accustom yourself with working out how the questions are phrased and how to answer them.

Any comments regarding written exam and oral exam?
Written: Read the question and then read it again before starting to answer.

Oral: The examiners are not out to trick you. Focus on all the words and phrases that you know and use them when you can and when it is appropriate.

Any comments, recommendations you would like to share with others
Stressing on the day will not help. Take it easy and use what you have been learning for the past couple of years. Don’t focus on the things you don’t know. It seems like obvious advice but amazing how many people focus on that.

Books at school
Books provided by the school:

Module 1-3: Puls1, Puls2 and Puls3.

Module 4: At Skrive, Pæredansk, Parat Start 1-2-3 and Grammatikken.

© Dan Woolbarn

Module 5: Danske Stemmer, At Skrive, Grammatikken and 3.5’eren.

Additions I bought:
Danish: An Essential Grammar by Tom Lundskær-Nielsen and Philip Holmes

© Dan Woolbarn

Den Lille by Mika Sun Black

Danish Practice

Do you think it is easy to apply your Danish (that you learned at school) in the everyday life?
I think that a mixture of pushing yourself in the classes and getting out into the world speaking to real Danes is the best way to apply what you learn in class. I found that in the classes we would learn The Queen’s Danish. However, that’s not how most Danes will speak, as they will use slang or phrase their sentences slightly different.

What do you do outside of school to practice your Danish?
Anything that involves reading, listening, writing or speaking Danish. You need to be smart about what you spent your time doing and be interested in the subject matter and not just be reading / watching something because it is in Danish. There is no point in reading everything there is to know about Jørgen Gammelgaard, if you really don’t care about Danish furniture designs.

Have you read Danish books that you think are worth reading for other students?
Books are a hard thing to recommend when they are in the language that you are trying to learn. I started by reading children’s books and built up my reading level from there. Children’s books are generally light-hearted, funny and deal with a massive range of stories, where you will pick up new words that you wouldn’t from newspapers

© Dan Woolbarn

Have you watched Danish movies / TV series that you think are worth seeing for other students?
I really liked ‘Borgen’ and ‘Broen’. Both are very well-known shows and it is highly likely that you have already watched them. If not, there you go. I have just started watching ‘The Rain’ on Netflix, so we shall see how that goes.

Have you listened to Danish music that you think is worth listening to for other students?
In no particular order or genre:
Nordpå, Benal, Per Vers, Den Fjerde Væg, Blak, Ulige Numre, Tårn, Panamah, Wafande and of course Kim Larsen!

Do you have any tips about how to improve your Danish while studying and being in Denmark?
Try to do a little bit of something Danish every day. Whether it is watching a TV show, reading a bit, playing a board game in Danish, complete a few lessons on Duolingo or just going to the shop and speaking in Danish. Just that little bit every day will help your progress and the confidence that you have in your ability.

© Dan Woolbarn

Set yourself a big long term goal but also small ones along the way, like you are climbing up a language ladder. For me, when I started learning the language, I set myself the goal that I would one day read Kierkegaard’s Either/Or (Enten/Eller) in Danish.

© Dan Woolbarn

This is the goal when I eventually reach the top, but starting with children’s books to young adult books and on to novels are all rungs on the ladder.

Follow Dan and share some love!

You can follow Dan and on Instagram: @Danwoolbarn

The post Expat feedback – Dan from England appeared first on Learn Danish.

This week, I am featuring Walai who is from Thailand. She completed her Prøve i Dansk 3 exam in June 2018 in Århus, with Lærdansk.

Walai is also a very talented freelance graphic designer, make sure to check out her work on walaito.wordpress.com! If you know anyone in your network that needs her skills, make sure to contact her.

I sincerely hope that you will enjoy reading this post, where she shares her personal experience and tips.

Thank you Walai

About you

Danish classes

I went to Lærdansk Aarhus. After I got my CPR I contacted Job Center to send my document to the school, and a week later I started the school. I attended morning class from 8.30-11.15.

© Photo by Michael Svenningsen

Each modules are just like I am walking up the stairs, at the beginning it would be fun and fine, in the middle of the way it would be tiring and hard, but when I almost saw the end I just wanted to put all of my effort to finish it.

Prøve i Dansk 3 Exam

Prøve i Dansk 3 was not easy to me so I tried attending the class as much as I could, because the teachers helped students a lot to the preparation to PD3. They gave us very useful materials and guided us with what we should further prepare, besides what we learned in the class. For example watching Danish programs from DR or reading articles/news in Danish.

I would recommend to read something about “Danske Samfund”, e.g. Sundhed og livsstil, ligestilling i Danmark. Regarding both written exam and oral exam which tend to be about what happened in Danish society and culture.

Books at school

I used Puls1 in module 1, Puls2 in module 2, and Puls3 in module 3.

In modules 4, there were Det Rykker, At Skrive, Parat Start 1-2-3 and Pæredansk.

In module 5 I used At Skrive, Danske Stemmer, Grammatikken and 3.5’eren Opgaver til Prøve i Dansk 3. I would say that there are some chapters in some books are a bit old fashion, but that does not mean they are not good, they could give an idea and lead us to find something more interesting at the present.

© Photo by Walai

Personally I like Parat Start 1-2-3 because it is very useful to practice my grammar. However there are many online resources and materials, you can start from the school’s website, I believe there are many good stuff on it.

Tips & Practice

As I am married to a Dane, I have a better chance to use my Danish to speak with my husband or my family in law, but some of my classmates do not. So it is not easy for them to apply their Danish in everyday life. In the class we have also talked about getting a chance to speak Danish outside the class. For example, starting from ordering food at the restaurant, talking to a shop assistant when we go shopping or at the school’s library (multi center) with the volunteers who are there to help students with conversations. All we need to do is to be brave.

There are many ways to improve Danish, one of those that I like is watching programs from DR. Some of them have subtitles in Danish even though they speaks Danish so I can hear the pronunciation and the way Danes use the expression.

I also bought a Danish book called “Den lille bog om Hygge” by Meik Wiking. It is a lovely book with pictures and it is not too difficult to read, moreover it helps me with learning and understanding more about Danish Culture.

© Photo by Walai

I hope this would be helpful to everyone who learning Danish and going to take PD3. Pøj Pøj!

Follow Walai and share some love

Follow her blog walaito.wordpress.com and on Instagram: @cartoon_etc

The post Expat feedback – Walai from Thailand appeared first on Learn Danish.

Welcome to the first expat feedback of 2018! If you are new to this blog, make sure to check out the Expat Feedback interviews from last year!

This week, I am very happy to feature a feedback from Ioana who studied Danish in Århus with LærDansk and completed her PD3 in 2016. Make sure to follow her on Instagram (@basedindk) to follow her latest news

I sincerely hope that you will enjoy reading this post, where he shares her personal experience.

Thank you Ioana!

About you
My name is Ioana. I am from Romania and have been here for 3,5 years. My first 2 years here I spent on taking my Master’s degree at Aarhus BSS in Corporate Communication, and for the past 1,5 years I’ve been working for BESTSELLER, which is a Danish fashion company. I live in Aarhus, and I have pretty common hobbies, such as spending time with my friends, my boyfriend, going to the gym and eating tons of good food. I am a huge foodie and a party girl at heart. Three exciting things going on in my life right now: I will start going to CrossFit from February, next Wednesday I start taking Danish classes again (this time at FOF Aarhus) and I am now trying to be a pro at InDesign.

Danish classes
As for my Danish learning background, I’ve been pretty dedicated to learning the language from the start, and I still am. I am quite committed to living in Denmark and I my goal is to get a job where I can fully work in Danish in the next 3-4 years. Coming here as a student, you get all the support you need to sign up for Danish classes. I took my Danish classes at Lærdansk in Aarhus, and from what I remember it was just a matter of getting a paper from the job center in order to sign up for the classes.

Day classes vs evening classes?
Because I had university courses during the day, and later on became employed, I took classes in the evening twice a week. I must admit it’s pretty tough to go to class in the evening when you’ve already had a long day, but it helps if you have a cool teacher, some coffee and some snacks. And of course, if you are motivated to stick with it. But if you have a choice and can go in the morning or during the day, I’d really recommend you do so. I also had a 5 months period where I only attended one of the classes as I was going to university full time, had an internship and worked a part time job on the side.
I really appreciated that I had the flexibility in that sense and that I could be able to at least go once a week and be on track with my study. I think a learning from me here and maybe an advice to others is – don’t make excuses for yourself of why you can’t go, but suck it up, find a middle ground solution and keep going. I’ve seen so many who decided to pause their education because they had so many other things to do and never came back. Or came back too late and regretted missing valuable time. The faster you learn Danish, the easier it is to live in Denmark.

How did you find the various modules at school?
I think the modules themselves and what they entail are totally fine. What really makes or breaks a class (at least personally) is the teacher’s way of holding the class and the colleagues in the class – how dedicated they are and how much better or worse they are compared to you. I guess what I am trying to say is that if it really feels wrong, in the sense that the class is way too advanced or on the contrary, try and see if you can change. I’ve also had teachers I could really not connect with and teachers that were so into it, so funny, so energetic, that going to class was instantly a good experience. The good thing about the classes is that if you’re stuck with a teacher you can’t relate to, most likely you’ll get another one for your next module.

How was the Prøve i Dansk 3 examination?
I went to class for 2,5 years and “graduated” from PD3 a year ago, so some of my memories faded away. What I remember clearly is that the talks pre-exam made it sound like such a huge thing, such an important exam. And I’m not saying it’s not, more like take it easy – it’s more difficult than all the other tests you’ve had so far, but you are supposedly better prepared as well. My exam was held in this big hall with tens of tables and people. For those who don’t do good with tests it can be pretty intimidating. You leave your phone in a box at the entrance, you’re given a number – very much like any other official exam. My advice here is: up to the exam try and go to all classes and make an effort to do your homework – because most of the time the homework in the module before the exam is made out of assignments similar to the ones at PD3.

Any comments regarding the exam?
The first part of the exam (the written one if you wish) has a listening, reading and writing part. For the writing part you are allowed to bring a dictionary and if I remember right, a list with verbs. That helps a lot. Also, don’t try to write better than you normally do. Stick with expressions and phrases you know. Don’t try any sophisticated language. It won’t work if you haven’t used it before. For the listening part, if you can’t hear one thing, don’t get stuck, don’t panic, just let it be and focus on the next thing coming. Same for the reading. If you can’t find one answer, move to the next question. Try and get as many answers as possible, and when you’re done, go back and try and figure out what you skipped. The worst mistake you can do is block at one question you can’t answer.

The second part (the oral exam) is held another day. I can’t remember the exercises precisely, but I remember before the exam we had a chance to prepare for all the topics that we could get. Do that, prepare a little speech for all topics beforehand and try and memorize key words and phrases related to each topic. Don’t learn by heart the whole speech though. Again, what worked for me was sticking to the way I expressed in my regular conversations in Danish. In the end, the feedback from my examiner was that my grammar is not 100% perfect but that my natural way of speaking will make it easy for me to figure it out in the world. Which is basically why I took that education so yay me.

Study Books
I studied from Puls and then we always got extra material in class from the teachers for grammar exercises. I really don’t think there’s an issue with the material. I always had some and more to learn from.

Danish practice
Do you think it is easy to apply your Danish (that you learned at school) in the everyday life?
As for applying my Danish in everyday life, I use it from time to time but for sure not every day. At work I have a colleague who knows I understand and speak Danish so she writes and talks to me in Danish most of the time. I also sometime attend meetings in Danish and in general listen to a lot of Danish at work. The most I’ve used Danish is with my boyfriend’s family, and then I also speak Danish when I shop, when I go partying downtown, and when I write emails to authorities, the caretaker, the gym and so on. On top of that, I do listen to music and news in Danish every morning on my way to work, and have Danish subtitles to all movies and series I watch.

Movies, series and Books suggestions
Movies to watch: Underverden – by far the best Danish movie I saw, and it’s from this year. More here.

Series to watch: Forbrydelsen – has 4 seasons but the 1st is by far the best and you can watch it for free on dr.dk here & Broen – I am now watching season 4, also running on dr.dk for free.

Books to read: I barely get myself to read something in English, let alone in Danish, but this Christmas I read a Christmas calendar and I really recommend you start doing that next Christmas. It takes 15 minutes a day and it keeps you motivated to finish it by Christmas. I read Nissebanded i Grønland.

You can read another article on my relationship with Danish here. I wrote it almost 2 years ago and maybe things have changed a bit but I still think it’s relevant.

What do you do outside of school to practice your Danish?
When I was going to Lærdansk, as a student I got a Danish online language partner through one of the school’s programs called Taldansk. We talked once a week through Skype, as she lived in Copenhagen and I lived in Aarhus. That was by far the most helpful thing I did to have the courage to talk Danish with Danes. I strongly recommend it.

I also volunteered at the school and was an advocate for the program, seeing how much it brought me. Lærdansk also has a language cafe down in the basement of the school, if you want face to face conversation, and they always have volunteers happy to talk to you. More about Lærdansk opportunities here.

While I was studying for PD3, to stay motivated with doing my homework in the weekends, I formed a group called Danish and Fun. The International Community in Aarhus jumped in and helped us get a room at Dokk1 in Aarhus to hold our weekly meetings, and soon after when I couldn’t be responsible for the group anymore due to work, they took over and made it part of their programme. If anyone is from Aarhus, do go over. It’s every Sunday from 13:30 to 15:30, there’s language games, Danish volunteers, and internationals to socialize with.

You can find out more info about it here.

One cool thing I did at Lærdansk was being part of a promotional campaign for the school. Here is the picture of me appearing in an ad at a bus stop!

I also took part in a video with Lærdansk, which was after my first year learning Danish

Follow Ioana on Instagram @basedindk

The post Expat feedback – Ioana from Romania appeared first on Learn Danish.

This week I am featuring Cătălina, who is studying Danish in Århus!

This is the first interview from an expat studying in Jylland , which is a great addition to the “Expat Feedback” series.
I sincerely hope that you will enjoy reading this post, where she shares her personal experience of learning Danish.

Thank you Catalina and best of luck with the module 4 test, which is coming soon!

About you

My name is Cătălina, I am Romanian and I have been living in Denmark for 3 years. I have a Master’s Degree in Cognitive Semiotics and I am currently getting familiar with the Danish labour market.

Your school

I am attending classes at Lærdansk Aarhus, three times per week, 2 hours and 45 minutes every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, from 12 until 14.45.
I took a break this year, from April until August, because I had to write my thesis.

Your experience about the modules

I am now in the Module 4 and expect to have the test to go to Module 5 soon. I believe each module is harder than the previous. The module 4 is very difficult, the demand is very high and there are so many new words. I do like the fact that even if each module is harder, as it is supposed to be, in each module we repeat what we have learned in the previous one. This way, the knowledge we gain actually stays.

Your experience and feedback on the modules

Overall, my experience learning Danish is a good one, mostly because I have very nice teachers and nice colleagues. The language itself is very difficult, mostly for a person who speaks a Latin language. However I think that if you dedicate a big part of your time to learning it, in the end you will be successful.
I must admit that I haven’t put that much effort into learning the language, because I was very busy with the university classes, but since August, I have been focusing a lot more on Danish classes. Right now, I believe that I am good at reading and writing, I do also understand Danish when spoken, but I am not so comfortable at repeating the words. I have a hard time when I am speaking with Danes, because it is very difficult for me to follow them, mostly because of the accent.

Tips/Suggestions
Do you have any tips on how to improve your Danish while studying and being in Denmark?

I would say that a very good way to learn Danish is by reading books and watching cartoons.

In my school there is a café which is called “Tal Dansk Café“, where you can go and practice your Danish with native Danish speakers which are volunteering there while having a coffee. This initiative is for free! I believe this is the best way to actually learn the language, by speaking it, no matter how many mistakes you make while trying.

I try to speak Danish all the time, when I am going to the supermarket or to different shops or restaurants, but unfortunately when I don’t understand anymore, I am switching to English.

Connect on Instagram with Cătălina and also with Tal Dansk Café

The post Expat feedback – Cătălina from Romania appeared first on Learn Danish.