Over the past couple of months, I have been listening to Danish podcasts and I really wanted to share my feedback about podcasts. I was introduced to listening to Danish podcasts during module 4.

From what I have experienced, it has proven to be a great learning tool in addition to reading, listening to Danish music and watching Danish movies. It is great for the simple fact, that you have to really focus on what is being said.
In my opinion, here are 3 topics that are really crucial to make the most of listening to Danish podcasts:

Podcast Host
I think that it is real challenge to find the right podcast, because some podcasts hosts talk way too fast, mumble a lot, or use vocabulary that is too technical for my level in Danish.

Duration
I have been able to keep full focus on podcasts that are no longer than 30min. After that time, I really start to get tired and lose track with what is being said.

Topic
This one is kind of obvious, but you want to make sure that you enjoy what you are listening too. No point to torture your ears and brain with listening to podcasts that are just not that appealing to you.

My Danish podcast selection

Because there are so many podcasts online, I thought to share some of the ones that I enjoyed listening too and that are not too hard to listen to. Make sure to follow me on @learndanishblog and/or Facebook, where I will share my new podcasts in the future.

If you know and enjoy other podcasts, please feel free to contact me. I will be very happy to share them on the blog and update this post!

Så længe det kan spises

Type: Food podcast
Duration: Episodes can last up to 30min max. Started in July 2018.
Host: Kris & Chris
Difficulty: Episodes are not so long, easy enough to keep up with.
Story: I like this podcast because they invite each other in a restaurant once a month and talk about food. Always nice to build up your food vocabulary, and can help you with an everyday conversation
Link: Here is the link if you want to listen to itMake sure to follow them on Instagram to get their latest updates: @detkanspises

All inclusive

Type: Documentary
Duration: This is a podcast series of 7 episodes, average 25 min per episode. Added in August 2017.
Host: The host is Simon Jul (Danish actor and comedian).
Difficulty: I liked this podcast because it wasn’t too difficult to understand and I could learn many new words and expressions.
Story: The story is quite fun as he goes for the first time on an All-Inclusive holiday in Crete and shares his daily feedback.
Link: Here is the link if you want to listen to it: http://www.radio24syv.dk/programmer/all-inclusive/

Ha’ Det Godt På Job

Type: Documentary
Duration: This is a podcast series including 5 episodes (average 23 min per episode). Started in March 2017.
Host: Mads Elk
Difficulty: Very clear pronunciation from Mads Elk, great to listen to. I personally really liked this podcast as it covers the workplace in Denmark with its specific vocabulary.
Story: The workplace in Denmark, managing people, competition with other countries.
Link: Here is the link if you want to listen to it: https://radioplay.dk/podcast/ha-det-godt-paa-job/

C:NTACT

Type: Documentary
Duration: Episodes can last from 5min up to 20 min. Started in April 2017.
Host: Danes telling a story about themselves. C:NTACT is an independent theatre and media organisation dedicated to social and cultural integration and education. They are based at the Edison stage in Copenhagen.
Difficulty: Can be challenging for certain episodes. I like this podcast because there are many people talking so you get to hear different pronunciations. Also, it helps you dive a bit more into Danish society.
Story: Everyday stories, some are personal, other more society oriented. They do mini series also as part of the podcast.
Link: Here is the link if you want to listen to it: http://www.radio24syv.dk/programmer/contact

Podcast resources

I encourage you to check these websites, as they have many great podcasts to choose from. These are the three that I personally use a lot. If you use other resources, please feel free to share them with me and I will add them to the blog!

DR

They have a very large choice of podcasts to choose from. A great website to check out.
You can download their app on your phone as well. Iphone or Android.Web link: http://www.dr.dk/allepodcast

Have you checked out my Summer 2018 Podcasts article?

The post Listening to Danish Podcasts to improve appeared first on Learn Danish.

Organizing yourself on a daily basis to learn Danish requires dedication, time and planning. This is essential to achieve your own goals. Improving is linked to many factors, one of them being that you have a proper routine.

Personally, I can be very good at procrastinating and always finding something else to do on my phone or computer. But that does not help me further in the process of learning Danish, this is why, every day, I stick to a specific routine. Or at least I try to!

Here is my routine to improve in Danish and stay focused. I am currently taking day classes and have a part time job on the side, which allows me to spend enough time at home to study. This routine can also be applied if you are attending evening classes, but you will (most likely) be forced to reduce the number of hours spent on each task every day.

My daily To-Do list

• Homework
• Grammar
• Vocabulary
• Reading Newspapers
• Daily news on Mobile App

Top Daily routine to learn Danish

Homework

We get homework after every class, which can easily take up to one or two hours at home, to complete. In the early modules 1 and 2, we had a limited amount of written homework. But as I progressed in the modules, I have been given a lot more essays to write on more complex topics. Homework are always the first task on my to-do list.

Grammar

Needless to say, that Danish grammar will be a challenge when you learn the language. Improving your skills require that you spend time on grammar. Take the time to analyze your written homework and see where you need to improve. Have a look here to some useful resources to improve your Danish grammar.

Vocabulary

Every day, I aim to learn new words. Those are words that I have seen during the class, read on a newspaper, a book or heard on TV or a song. Some days, I managed to learn up to 100 new words, others just 10 words.

The amount of words doesn’t matter to me, what matters is that I get to rehearse them every day until I know them by heart. Some days, I only rehearse words that I have already learnt, therefore will not focus on new words. I found out that the best method for me is to learn new vocabulary, by heart. It can be quite frustrating sometimes, but so rewarding when you hear them in a conversation and know what they mean.

Some of my fellow students use flashcards to rehearse vocabulary. I only heard positive feedback about flashcards, but never used it personally (so will not review it for now).
I actually have a basic Google Excel document, where I save all the new vocabulary I learn every day. This means I have it with me on the go and only need an internet connection to overview my Danish practice list.

Reading Newspapers

From Monday to Friday, I read BT which is a free newspaper. This adds new vocabulary to my list and keep me in the loop about Danish news.

Daily news on Mobile App

I downloaded the DR Nyheder app on my phone. I check the news in Danish at least twice a day, pick up an article that looks interesting and take the time to read it. This has really improved my reading and vocabulary over the past months.
You can download the DR app here: iOS or Android

These are the 5 to-do tasks I aim at completing every day. Thankfully, I have managed to stick to them as much as possible. I am very pleased and proud to finally see results, my Danish is improving, happy days!

Extra tasks

If you have more time on your hands, here are some extra daily tasks that you can add. I aim at doing one of them every day, on top of my 5 to-do tasks.

Read a Book

I read between one to two Danish books a week. I get one from school and one from the public library, which gives me enough material to read at home. If you find the time to read books, this will substantially improve your vocabulary and Danish level. Make sure to borrow books that you will enjoy reading.
I want my reading exercise to be a fun and an enjoyable experience, therefore I focus on selecting books that I really want to read.
Have fun and read Danish!

Song

On a weekly basis, I aim to listen, read and study one song. This is also a fun exercise and part of the learning process. Read more info about this tasks on a previous post I wrote.

Preparing your next class

I like to read the upcoming pages of my study book and already learn the vocabulary (ahead of the next class). It really helps me to have prepared it at home and already read it.
This means that when the others are reading an article for the first time, this is my second time reading it.
It becomes a repetition and helps me assimilate the content, grammar and new vocabulary faster.
By doing so, I am able to pay full attention to the class and not feeling lost, but also practice the vocabulary. I don’t do this task all the time, but I try to do it at least twice a week. This has seriously helped me to improve and stay on top.

What about you? What are your daily tasks?
How much time to you spend at home studying?
Feel free to share your thoughts and best practices on the comment section below, Facebook or @learndanishblog!

The post My Daily routine to learn and practice Danish appeared first on Learn Danish.

If you feel like taking on a personal challenge and watch a Danish series, then I got the perfect exercise for you:

Matador (DR) – Danish challenge

A bit of background about “Matador”

In June 2017, Lise Nørgaard, who is by far one of the most respected Danish journalist and writer known for her humorous portrayals of Danish cultural life, turned 100 years old!
She is also the author behind one of the most classical Danish TV series (“Matador”), that was filmed between 1978 and 1982. More about her here.
Earlier in May 2017, DR has restored some of the first episodes of Matador with the addition of subtitles. This was a 3-year project for DR and they restored and shared the entire series made of 24 episodes. This is obviously a very good news for us, students of the Danish language.

How does Matador come into learning Danish?

Matador takes place between the 1920s and 1940s, which will give you more insights about the Danish society at that time.
The actors also speak in a “clearer” Danish, a bit more articulate than the recent series. I admit that some expressions used may not be so relevant today, nonetheless, it is a great starting point to dive into Danish society.

The Matador Challenge

This was obviously not a straight up challenge as it was part of our study programme at Studieskolen. We were given weekly assignments to watch episodes and analyse them.
Our teacher advised that it was the first time for him using Matador as a learning tool, since it has just been restored and subtitled in Danish.

If you feel like challenging yourself (like we did) and improving your understanding of Danish, then I definitely invite you to follow the next steps.

Good to know:

• Understanding: It has personally been a challenge as I did not understand everything perfectly, but this is part of the learning curve.
• Getting into it: You should be accustomed to the characters after episode 2. It takes a bit of time to get into the series, but it gets addictive from episode 3.
• Subtitles: Unless your oral understanding is excellent already, you will most likely read all the subtitles. I personally read a lot more the subtitles to understand what they are saying. Either way, watching it will improve your skills.
• Translation: Expect to pause (quite) a lot, to translate words that you do not know.
• DR: If you try to watch DR from outside of Denmark, this may not work due to your IP address not being in Denmark. Try with a VPN, you should definitely be able to watch it!

Get started

Based on my personal experience, I would suggest that you try to take on the Matador Challenge with other students. This will motivate you, but you can also discuss it with them after each episode.
Alternatively, you can watch it and discuss with Danes that you may know.

Go for it:

• Watch one episode at a time
• Find 5 new words or expressions that you didn’t know and write them down
• Find 5 questions about the episode that you will ask the other students
• Explain your 5 new words/expressions in Danish to your fellow students or friends
• Ask your 5 questions and give some context for the answers
• Learn about the new words/expressions that others found
• Answer the questions from the others

#thematadorchallenge

If you take this challenge, feel free to hashtag it on social media #thematadorchallenge
Do not hesitate to share your feedback in the comments section below.

What was your favourite character?
Did you feel an improvement with understanding the series?
Did you learn anything about what the Danish society could have been like in the 1930s?
Would you recommend this series?

My feedback on this exercise

I think it was difficult at the beginning, but after the 3^rd episode, I really started to enjoy watching Matador and could understand better all the actors. This means, I had to focus a lot at the beginning (some episodes are over 55min), but it definitely got better.
Finally, I really enjoyed sharing my opinion about Matador with my fellow students.

Watching Matador online

You can watch all Matador episodes in Danish with subtitles in DR’s website.

If you want to watch the episodes in an older quality, I suggest the following website from DR “Bonanza”. You will only find the originals, meaning no subtitles: http://www.dr.dk/bonanza/serie/154/matador

You can also check out below links if you feel like reading more about Matador:
http://www.matadoronline.dk: this page which features recap of each episodes and plenty of other useful information.
https://da.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matador_(tv-serie): Wikipedia page that gives you a very good overview of Matador

Enjoy the Matador Challenge!

The post Danish TV series “Matador” appeared first on Learn Danish.