British English will get you in trouble, in some instances, in the US. One example is “rubber.” In the US, a rubber is a condom. The word you want is eraser.
We learned British English when I was in school but you were allowed to use American English. As long as you were consistent when the language you used it was fine. This is 30+ yrs ago. I used to speak and write 100 % American English. The past 5 years I've changed to write in British English and my accent is kinda in between
Born and raised in Southern Sweden (the part closest to Denmark, Skåne). It's a bit easier for us to understand Danish, than it is for the rest of the country. But we've only been Swedes for about 350 years.. before that, this area were Danish territory. The rest of Sweden (especially Stockholm) are actually mocking us for our accent. I call it old, Danish defiance... 😁 (They couldn't break our ancestors and force them to learn swedish perfectly... ) Btw, Copenhagen is still our closest capital city.. 😉
As a Dane it do surprise me that Skånsk has such a thick accent as it does. Normally I dont have issues understaning swedish but Skånsk is really special😊😉
In Copenhagen we love our brothers and sisters in Skåne, and because of what “Lion from the north” mentions, about Copenhagen being their closest Capital, we often have Swedish colleagues at our workplaces in Copenhagen, they only live around 14 min. away with train, thanks to the bridge. I do not agree with what you said about Stockholm being the more put together Capital though, I found it cold and in between beautiful buildings you would find huge industrial buildings, accept in the old town, that is absolutely beautiful tough, and that part far exceeds many places in Copenhagen, but as a whole, I do not agree. I might be a little biased though, I grew up in Copenhagen, I have lived in Stockholm and at this moment in time I reside in Trondheim Norway, so I do have some experience from the places in mention. Many Danes envy the traditional aspects of Swedish and Norwegian culture, the pride and honor of our ancestors trough songs, national dresses, food and traditions. This traditional aspect has in many ways disappeared in Denmark, and because we have been invading, colonizing and in many ways been a dominating country in our past, we tend not celebrate our nationality with as much pride as the Swedes and Norwegians do. Somewhere along the road, Danes became more neutral, and this might be what you guys see as more “international”. I am half Danish and half Japanese, and in many sociological aspects the Swedes and the Norwegian remind me more of the Japanese peoples mindset than what the Danes do. Danes tend to have an analytic thinking style, a type of thinking in which people focus on the properties of objects without considering their surrounding context. (Individualistic or independent) where as most Asians in general and in my opinion also Swedes and Norwegians tend to think with a holistic thinking style, a type of thinking in which people focus on the overall context, particularly the ways in which objects relate to each other (Codependent or collectivistic). And this might be the reason for the difference in atmosphere and attitude in Copenhagen and Stockholm. Danes are Scandinavians at heart, but we also have a wonderful neighbor to the south, our big brother, Germany. And our language, traditions, food culture, and maybe also our mentality has been effected by this beautiful relationship.
I actually have an easier time understanding the scanian dialect and I guess it is by most linguists considered an East Danish dialect, albite one heavily influenced by Swedish.
@@BigAndTall666 I think that has been an obsolete mindset since the 18th century. Now we are both part of the same union and we will undoubtedly continue to become closer intertwined to the point that I think regions will be more of a division than borders.
We were at war with Denmark 20 times around 200 years ago. Luckily we found a way to love eachother. In sports, especially soccer there is a love and hate situation. But I'm so happy that I'm born in the best part of the world, thoug it's not perfect. 🇧🇻🇫🇮🇸🇪🇩🇰.
well al of Skane and a portion of the west coast were parts Denmark for centuries ( thus explaining why BOrnholm is stilll Danish, tho way the hell out there). Denmark wasnt so tiny back in the day.
@@sebastian1286 There is a group of people here in Sweden that meets every year at the border to Skåne and each of them brings a shovel. Symbolically they dig a small hole in hope that Skåne will "float back" to Denmark. Afterwards they have a couple of beers and laugh together. Sounds fun. 😂
Hygge is about creating an atmosphere around you, which is calm, happy and positive - yes, you can do it with hot tea by the fireplace, but it can be anywhere ... Maybe you are with a lot of noisy people, but you and someone else, makes an invisible bubble around the two of you, and have a really hyggelig chat. When you are having a fika with someone, I think you do the same ... you are taking a break, create a nice atmosphere, relaxe, loading batteries ... Happy easter 🐣🐥🐤
@@franklipp6860 Sweden now has Skåne, Halland and Bohuslän, so Sweden won in the end. Norway was Danish till the early 1800s as well and they have Greenland still in some ways. But it doesn't matter now. We're friends.
Yes, I think you’re right, fika and hygge is almost the same. Fika is more about the brake from what you’re doing than what you’re drinking or eating. You’re creating a bubble away from the hustle and bustle in the world - as your hygge. 🙂
But be awear in mind that the main componant is our security - we live a life in security - - health free - vacations free - educations free -long vacations - amot We pay everything over our taxes - and in Denmark we share the pride of sharing this way - more than 70 pct of Danes aprove our systen - as do I :-) No bill for education, cancer operation nor education. In fact above all you are paid to GO TO education - abt 930 USD per month :-)
As a Swede I can totally relate to the part about being able to read danish. I can usually figure out what it says but if I hear someone speaking danish it just ends up sounding like jibberish to me😂😂
@@berrycarbs that assumes the people are actually opening their mouths.. I spent 2 weeks there in summer 2011 and damn if I could make anything out.. My American freinds working there on a visa was formally studying it in classes, and said it was the hardest thing he;d ever tackled, and he learned Mandarin while in Beijing for 3 years >.
@@ZakhadWOW Danish pronunciation is notoriously difficult. We often pronounce words differently than we spell them. We omit parts of many words both in the middle and (particularly) in the end. We have quite a few words that are spelled differently but are pronounced similarly having very different meanings. We also have some words that are spelled exactly the same, pronounced ever so slightly differently having very different meanings... So Danish is hard to learn and understand.
If you are still interested in trying what "Hygge" is like there are several ways to do it, but try this. If you live in a place that is cold in the autumn or winter, then once it gets dark, turn off the lights, then light some candles of the coffee table to create a dimly-lit atomsphere, then bundle up on the couch with a blanket with someone, wife/girlfriend, friends or someone else, and have something warm to drink and a few snacks while watching some TV, athough the TV isn't nessecary. The feeling you get from this is what Hygge is about.
In Copenhagen we love our brothers and sisters in Skåne, and because of what “Lion from the north” mentions, about Copenhagen being their closest Capital, we often have Swedish colleagues at our workplaces in Copenhagen, they only live around 14 min. away with train, thanks to the bridge. I do not agree with what you said about Stockholm being the more put together Capital though, I found it cold and in between beautiful buildings you would find huge industrial buildings, accept in the old town, that is absolutely beautiful tough, and that part far exceeds many places in Copenhagen, but as a whole, I do not agree. I might be a little biased though, I grew up in Copenhagen, I have lived in Stockholm and at this moment in time I reside in Trondheim Norway, so I do have some experience from the places in mention. Many Danes envy the traditional aspects of Swedish and Norwegian culture, the pride and honor of our ancestors trough songs, national dresses, food and traditions. This traditional aspect has in many ways disappeared in Denmark, and because we have been invading, colonizing and in many ways been a dominating country in our past, we tend not celebrate our nationality with as much pride as the Swedes and Norwegians do. Somewhere along the road, Danes became more neutral, and this might be what you guys see as more “international”. I am half Danish and half Japanese, and in many sociological aspects the Swedes and the Norwegian remind me more of the Japanese peoples mindset than what the Danes do. Danes tend to have an analytic thinking style, a type of thinking in which people focus on the properties of objects without considering their surrounding context. (Individualistic or independent) where as most Asians in general and in my opinion also Swedes and Norwegians tend to think with a holistic thinking style, a type of thinking in which people focus on the overall context, particularly the ways in which objects relate to each other (Codependent or collectivistic). And this might be the reason for the difference in atmosphere and attitude in Copenhagen and Stockholm. Danes are Scandinavians at heart, but we also have a wonderful neighbor to the south, our big brother, Germany. And our language, traditions, food culture, and maybe also our mentality has been effected by this beautiful relationship.
I had a Swedish girlfriend from Malmø a couple of years ago. We went for a walk and sat on a bench in a park in Malmø when an elderly woman came walking with her dog. We said hello to her and the dog meanwhile my girlfirend and the woman had a conversation. When the woman went on I wished her a nice day in Danish (Du må have en dejlig dag) in which she replied in clear cut Danish (Mange tak og i lige måde). I was really surpriced because I tried to put her off with my Danish :-D I love Sweden and my family on both sides of my grand parents origin from Sweden :-)
- Denmark is maybe a little more expensive than Sweden. But you fell in the tourist trap. Everything is literally 16 times more expensive in Nyhavn and Copenhagen is a very expensive city compared to the rest of Denmark. - Will nailed the d sound :P - I don't think danes are more outgoing. I think they are in Copenhagen, but I live in Jutland and do everything I can to not meet my neighbour, because danes don't know how to smalltalk :P If a stranger talks to me I will tell it to my family and they will be surprised and ask what happened.
@@anonymo2192 So true, but we are still very friendly and helpful. We are also a friend for life if you manage to pierce that inicial antisocial bubble we have.
@@anonymo2192 Haha yeah :D It actually polite to let people be in public, because then they can relax. It's really nice when someone asks for direction, because we feel like we helped, but when a stranger talks like we are friends, it's super weird if we are not drunk :P
The only obvious different between Sweden and Denmark is the Danish people are more sociable especially in Copenhagen city center. But Swedish people are also becoming more sociable than for example 20-30 years ago. Things are changing alot, Swedes travels a lot, socializing with different type of people from various nations, the society is becoming more multicultural with its pros vs cons.
I think Danish people have slightly better English accent. Because they have a stronger necessity to develop an English accent compared to Swedes. I think this also applies to Dutch people. In others words speaking English with a Danish accent is rougher, and they have a harder time being understood if they don't practice proper pronunciation. So a lot of Swedes don't actively develop an accent and we end up with mix of American, British and Swedish accent when speaking English. Of course there's are a lot of danish, dutch and swedish people who have a strong accent of their native language when speaking English. But if you listen to the ones who try to minimize their native accent, Dutch and Danes generally fare better off compared to Swedes. Of course I don't know this for certain, this is pure conjecture.
These kind of videos highlight the importance of travel and exploring new cultures. It's so important to branch out from what you find familiar and challenge your beliefs. If more Americans prioristed international travel it would greatly help the future direction of the country
I'm a dane and I just wanna say "I'm sorry" 😂 Also, when I was 16 I went to Ohio as a foreign exchange student, and many of the americans I came into contact with would think I'd just moved from a different part of the US. A few of my teachers admittet that they thought I was a transfer student from one of the other high schools in the area. I actually mad it difficult for me, because I didn't always act as a transfer student - (of course!) The exchangees with a heavy accent were given a lot more room for cultural mistakes. I was just labeled "wierd" because I didn't behave american (again - of course I didn't, because I wasn't)
It's funny how white people in the US don't even realize now that white people originated from Europe and that they could be from anywhere, not just the US.
Lived 37 years in denmark. 2 years in germany. 2 years in spain. 6 years in Philippines. In my childhood i was atleast 10 times a year in sweden. In wexjö. Uppsala. Jönköping. Stockholm. Gävla and skærgården. And skiing in dalarna. Visiting lisberg in göteborg etc. I used to work in bakken and tivoli as a chef.. english and danish is much more alike than swedish and english. The saxons. The normans and the danish vikings where infact all danish. So the english language is mainly build up on germanic and danish language. Many words are still used in the english language.. swedish people tend for the most part having a harder time than the danish speaking english. The scandinavian people are all brothers but no brother is alike.. there is sibling rivalry esp when it comes to sports. We love to "hate" eachother in a good way. Making fun and teasing eachother. But is an outsider bothers 1 all will come.. you don't mess with our family.. its kinda wierd.. about the swedes being more detached actually starts way back in the viking age. Northern sweden didn't really go viking at all. They where much more spiritual. They where the last to give up the norse mythology and most knowledge we have today about the religion is from northern sweden or islandic sagas. The danes have always been more open of the scandinavian countries. In the viking age south norway where danish and same with skåne. The Norwegian danes mainly settled the islands around scotland and ireland. The swedish danes mainly did viking and trade in the east. Russia all the way diwn to Turkey. The danes are the ones to settle poland. Germany. England. Normandy etc. This of course over centuries have had an impact on the danish language that the rest of scandinavia did not have. Finland with language is the odd duck here. Linguistics show its 1 of the 2 oldest languages in the world.. danish language and culture have developed more due to the trade and the settlements in other countries than our brothers. Where norway and sweden has been more solitary. This do reflect in how we treat other people. Its always hard becoming a friend to any of the scandinavian people. Danes slightly more easy. But once you are a friend its usually for life.. scandinavians dont really do the casual friendships i have seen around the world.. either you are a friend or nothing more than an acquaintance. Wich often seem to suprise people.. about hygge its can be anywhere with anyone. Its a relaxing. Comforting atmosphere where you can talk about anything without being judged. At home a cafe. Concerts.. yes even there. If u go to roskilde festival(worked there 10 years) up front you have the party people then look at the tribunes behind. People sitting enjoying a beer. Enjoying the weather. Listing to the music and talking.. hygge always involves talking. Its about being comfortable with those you are with at that particular moment. Copenhagen is stress in denmark. Not relaxed at all. Any other city even just 10km outside tempo drops dramatically the futher away from Copenhagen the nicer it actually becomes. Young people tend to seek copenhagen. But once you have kids a job etc you start moving out. Its the party place of denmark.. århus is soo different. Yes lots going on friday and saturday night. But else its comfy. Relaxed. Much like jönköping in sweden compared to Stockholm.
@@StefanThyron I wonder what is the conceptional difference between the Danish Hygge and the German Gemütlichkeit. I guess both are more than coziness - and more than nice pillows and candles. At least the German term has a social component to it like sitting together with family and friends in a relaxed atmosphere.
I guess Denmark is the one that's generally a bit more chaotic 😆 more haphazard and the least formal - kinda friendly but blunt! Happy Easter and loads of love from Denmark ❤️🤗
Perfect pronunciation of Århus Will. Perfect. This is so funny to watch as a Dane. Sometimes I'm nodding along and going... yeah, yep that's so us. It's hard to explain the difference between Danes and Swedish people but you can just feel that the difference is there.
I've lived and worked in Denmark for a while (being from northern Sweden), and even got my Danish language B2 certificate, and this is just spot on about all the differences I've experienced myself - only that when I lived there the DKK was about 50% more than the SEK. Still got my Danish driving license though.
A gazillion similarities and few dissimilarities in between the Nordic countries. After spending half my life abroad all over the planet I have to say,, I Luuuuve this corner of the world. Cheers,, 🍻😎👍!!!
I actually believe some point in Northern Skåne there's a sort of split between continental Europe and the "real northern Europe," and not in Copenhagen. Some time ago there was a series called "Svenska Dialektmysterier" where the host of the show during the Skåne episode tried to find the border for what's "continental Europe." Not sure where that could be found these days, but it was very interesting. There they determined that Örkelljunga was some sort of border for continental Europe and traditional Sweden (most notably by finding where the traditional Swedish röda stugor start to pop up).
Yes, but that could be more of a "historically significant" split than an actually current cultural split applied in the 2020, which I defintely think Will is right about.
Brittish English is the English taught in schools in Sweden at least. I remember that we would have these British cassette tapes in class that we would practice pronunciation with (regular public school, not international or anything). So those that get good at English via school speak in a British dialect, and this is most pronounced in maybe those older than 30. But most people these days pick up an American accent from all the movies and series.
There is so many vlogs about differencies between Denmark and Sweden. I hope one day I will see one about the things we have in common, those things making us feel the same united people.
Yeah, you and a lot of other Swedes. When I was young (many years ago) there was this joke that went something like "Keep Denmark clean, help a Swede get on the ferry" (obviously before there was a bridge) since Swedish people used to go to Denmark and drink themselves into a stupor.
About Denmark being the (or one of the) happiest countries in the world: Mary Shelley's (the author of Frankenstein) mother was Mary Wollstonecraft. She lived from 1759 to 1797. In 1796 she was in Scandinavia, and she wrote 25 letters from her stay in Sweden, Norway and Denmark. About Denmark a.o.t. she wrote: "The men of business are domestic tyrants, coldly immersed in their own affairs, and so ignorant of the state of other countries, that they dogmatically assert that Denmark is the happiest country ind the world...." Not very flattering, but interesting as this was written in 1796, remember!!
You cant use something thats written 200 years ago back then you could find people everywere who wasent happy around the World, slaves in the US is one example
I’m studying Norwegian. I would never have guessed “hygge” was pronounced that differently in Danish. It sounds like Danish is to Norsk or Svensk like Switzer Deutsch is to German.
From a Swedes perspective: English - I understand, Swedish - Jag förstår, Norwegian - Jeg fatter, Danish - Huggle Duggle... (PS. this is a joke, not to offend any lovely Danes)
I get all the calls from Danish customers at work, I'm the only one that understands what they saying. I think the rest are mostly scared they won't understand, and leave it to me. My wife seems to think I know French as well, so when in Paris I have to do the talking. I don't speak French! I just smile and talk away. It works :-)
In Scandinavia the Danes are know for being business minded. That requires Danes to learn the languages. And you often in conversation between the Danes, Swedish and Norwegians find that Danes use words and pronounces words in the other two languages in order to help the conversation. Where as the two others normally just talk there own languages...
Yeah I went to Helsinki and the girl working in a restaurant spoke perfect English with a British accent. I asked her about it and she said she just learned English in school in Finland
Also, I have lived in Australia now for 21 years and some people still don't understand me. The Swedish chef syndrome, I will never lose my accent. Hoolibooli...
I like you guys, good balance, nice, sweet and friendly vibe, You both come across as genuine, as real people, and very intelligent points of view from both of you. Impressive pronounciation of danish, Will! You all but nailed it, and very few people do that anywhere near as good! Are you by any chance a musician? Being one myself, I find that language and music have similar learning processes.. All the best from here in Copenhagen!
When I was a kid Scandinavians mostly sounded like their own language when they spoke English, Danes were as good grammatically as Swedes, but it was often hard to understand because it sounded like Danish. Now it's very good across Scandinavia.
Never figured out the Danish spoken language ever ... now I learned that letter d is the guttural sound! Makes sense now ... watching Danish movies wo subs will be my next challenge 🤣 Happy Easter 🐣🐰 You guys are a great team ...
I’m really sorry, but d is actually not guttural in Danish, it’s way more complicated than that😅 D is pronounced closely to how th is pronounced in “that”... But only if it’s in the end of a syllable. Danish softens and sometimes even drop consonants in the end of syllables much the same way as you might know it from American English so t sounds like d, and k sounds like g etc. We even soften the already soft consonant, and the soft version of d is then th or something like that. This may also explain why Danish English accents often sound more American than Swedish accents I think. The guttural parts are not spelt out, but all vowels exist in a “guttural” version and an “open” version depending on the word and even context. Not all dialects have this feature though. Some use intonation (“singing”) instead, like Swedish and Norwegian.
The main difference is that Danes are slightly drunk all the time and Swedes are mostly sober, but get absolutely pissed once in a while. That's basically it really..
Unless when swedes go to Denmark, then they are massively more drunk than Danes. The only ones more drunk in Denmark than swedes, is young american exchange students and norwegians
I'm an Aussie who lives in Luleå in Northern Sweden. When I compare Stockholm and Copenhagen, I would rank Stockholm above Copenhagen. I might sound biased. However, this is based on my visits to Copenhagen in 2015 and 2016. I don't know what have changed in Copenhagen since then, but at that time I found the city as filthier than Stockholm. For example, the central station was long overdue for renovation. It was really old and filthy, and I saw many passengers (mostly backpackers) slept on the station's floor, which was (and still is) not the case with Stockholm Centralstation. The old buildings were not as well maintained as the ones in Stockholm. So based on the cleanliness alone, I rank Stockholm above Copenhagen.
i'm Danish and yes our vowels and those soft D are difficult even for Danish kids. I understand Swedish and Norwegian but there are dialects that i think are hard. Like Skånsk i really struggle with Skånsk. Will actually sounded great.
You guys are doing an amazing job with this video 😃 And your pronunciations are bang on 😊 One thing about Swedes and their English skills though. They sound great to begin with, but ask them to say “Chips”, and you will get “Ships”. So strange! 😄
I just came across your channel, this is the first of your videos I'm watching, and at first, I was actually a bit baffled that the title said "americanS", 'cus your way of speaking english, particularly the first minutes, sounds more like spoken with a slight scandinavian/northern european accent, than actually american. So I didn't think you were actually american yourself. I guess you adapted very well, in your years living here 😁
My English tends to be towards the more British sound and I also spell it like that . I've lived in the UK for 2 years and I love watching English shows like Blackadder.
I speak danglish I sometimes speak with a British accent and other times in an American accent, however most times danglish where the words are just lost for me and I mix English and danish. 😃
I think in Sthlm, at least most of us when we're in our "hood" we'll go out in our sweatpants and be super relaxed, but as soon as we're "going into town" we feel like we have to dress up a bit. Funny tho when I used to live in the city center, the city center was my hood so I wore sweatpants every now and then there too ;)
Scandinavian Istanbul. What a great metaphor Will. Edit: Danish is the language with the most vowel sounds in the world. Not surprising it takes a babbu more time to comprehend all the different phonemes.
In regards to your thoughts about danes choosing to speak english, even though the american accent is more prominent on various platforms, danes are taught english in school, and not "american". It is rather strictly enforced by teachers and your grades on the final exam will definitely be impacted by your ability to speak with a fluent english accent.
I think it depends on where you live. I graduated from a relatively small school in Sønderjylland and I both wrote and spoke with an American accent, and I got 12 (A) in both exams
Swedish accent tend to come through more tbh. But wether its danish-english, swedish-english or norwegian-english, when u hear the accent, you are not in doubt where they are from hahahahahaha :P even Finnish-english to an extent. :p
But be honest, the common danish english accent is utterly horrible.... We might master the sentence structure and the vocabulary - but 90% of danes really butcher and bastardices the pronounciation
@@EmilReiko i didn't hear any accent at all, I think swedes are way worse with the accent, maby i just met really well spoken danes, but I was really impressed
In Denmark we have hygge in Sweden what comes close is "Lagom" be. in balance its perfect so a kind of a feeling of feeling well so is hygge. In Norway they have "kose" at kose sig To feel well together or by your selve. Danish hygge and Norwegian kose are very similar.
Because English is our second language, it is affected by what we hear. So if we're exposed to an American accent, we pick up on it. If we go to Australia, then we end up with an Australian accent. Also, I am fluent in English, but I have to slow down when speaking it, because if I try speaking English in my usual Danish tempo, I trip over the words.
I'm surprised that he said the hard part was the "d" sounds at the end of words. But those are essentially "th" in English. For example "with" vs "med". In older English and Danish, this sound was written as a rounded d (like partial derivative sign, if you know math). But English eventually changed it to th and Danish to a normal d symbol. The letter still exists in the Icelandic alphabet. When I hear non-Danes speak Danish, the thing they seem to have hardest with are the vowels. Danish has a lot of different vowels (also multiple pronunciations per symbol), and many of them sound extremely similar to outsiders. It's very often I hear Americans that lived in Denmark for years, say a Danish word and the vowels are not even close. But otherwise, the rest is fine.
Weirdly, I've always felt like in some ways, Sweden is more aligned with the Anglo world, at least when it comes to politics, culture, sense of humor, etc., whereas Denmark, in spite of geography, is still closer to Norway and Iceland, if only because of the idea that equality means everyone should be able to laugh at each other equally.
I am old so this might be outdated but back in the 1980 I was in charge of exchangestudents at Chalmers University. They, mostly the Americans, questioned us on why Swedes dressed up in our spare time while we dressed "down" for work while they were used to the opposite. I later come to work for a German company in Sweden and experienced just that at company seminars. Swedes dressed up to party after work while the Germans did the opposite. What is your thoughts on that?
We have a nice word for when unplanned hygge or something close to hygge happens. Hyggeligt. Basically translating to hygge-like. "Det var hyggeligt"."It was hygge-like".
Hey! 😀 Nice to hear you guys talking about Denmark and your thoughts about Denmark and Sweden. It’s so funny and interesting to hear specially for an Dane 😂😂 I actually live in Randers 🙈
Swedish are so hard to understand for me as a dane. Every time i get a swedish customer I ask them to speak english. So much easier. And swedish people are easy to spot when they speak english - they have a very heavy swedish accent, just like danes have a very heavy, but very different accent :)
Im danish, i find swedish easily to understand and i insist on speaking danish to swedish ppl, even if they attempt to retreat into english. However to my danish ears, swedish sound somewhere between very funny and very cute. I never got how they can take their own swear words serious, while sounding like that.
I heard that Danes are more better with their feelings than we Swedes and it is not so strange in that case. We Swedes are so bad with our feelings. As a Swede, I am so tired of it. We Swedes are a little more wimpish than Norway and Denmark.
I'm Danish..live in the U.S and have several swedish friends here... It's actually been very interesting because there are marked differences between them and me of course it's a generalization but I can definitely say that if I compare myself and my Danish friends to my swedish friends over here we Danes are more laid back, more open to discuss feelings or anything with strangers... We even dress more casually and I think have a more relaxed attitude towards life in general... Compared to my swedish friends and this is something we've all discussed between us they are more formal keep their feelings more to themselves they dress more formal also and they tend to like to be in control of any given situation... I have found these similarities between literally every single one of my swedish friends over here and so I do wonder if this is a typical swedish trait... I've also noticed they don't like to appear silly... Like have others laugh at them if they say or do something silly, compared to us Danes we will do silly stuff on purpose in order to make other people laugh and it's funny... So those are my generalizations LOL I don't know if they are true in general but that's my experience so far.... None is better or worse than the other I just feel like it's different
@@rescue4paws643 I agree with that. not all but many of us Swedes :) But I am one of those who can dare to be a little funny and give people a laugh. Have taught me if you happen to say something wrong or something funny, then you have to invite people to a laugh.
I'd say a big difference between the two cities is that Copenhagen has the Christiania neighborhood. There is no such area in Stockholm, as far as I know. Correct me if I am wrong...
The impeccable dressing maybe a new trend in men. Maybe in the last 10 years or so. I see this trend in Germany as well. I remember it was more relaxed back in the 1980s - 2000s English as a Second Language. If you believe that you have what it takes to speak like the Queen ( not Harry !) , or a British Lord, then go for it. Oxford English pronunciation is very precise and delicate. Foreigners have a hard time reaching native level of perfection. Similar to the Danish example given here. American/Canadian English is more relaxed and allows for a wider margin of deviations, imho. And it is my personal observation that, Swedes who speak the continental version, show an amazing ability to sound natural. Having said that, there is no British English or Australian English or....etc. There is a definite way to pronounce the language in different regions of the world, plus a set of local words and slangs. English, however, is English whether you are in Ontario, New Zealand or Glasgow.
11:50 We here in Denmark are happy because of the amount of trush we have in our fellow human beings and our goverment, even our tax system is based on trust. Another thing is high degre of meaning in our work life and the work life balance... Remember we have 5 weeks of vacation and the parents have 52 weeks of maternity leave, which can be divided between the two parents, according to some special rules.
Randers. I wonder if Will John had any relation to Randers FC? (They've just had an excellent season). In Denmark we do like to perceive ourselves as the Italians of Scandinavia (or Brazilians when it comes to soccer 😁) - having a more relaxed and outgoing culture. Though perceptions don't always match reality. As for capitals there's really no doubt that Stockholm is more beautiful than Copenhagen, It is simple one of the prettiest cities in the world.
I think Swedes dress nice in most parts, but i cant say 'every'. If Swedes dont think a certain län dresses as nice as they do, then at least in my opinion as an american i think the whole country dresses nicer than us 😂 I took a look at my wardrobe for a trip to sweden in September and i was like nope...... I cant wear these. I bought some nicer shirts to wear hahahaha I spent 3 weeks in Stockholm and came back and remembered (a bit shocked at the same time) how much more 'relaxed' americans dress, if u want to call it that. I visited again in December (Gothenburg) a year later and ppl still dressed nice during the winter. It doesnt get that cold where i live so all i'll see in the winter is a sweatshirt. No scarf, gloves, or (warm) boots
In most of Europe, British English is taught at school. And most native teachers are British. American content is prevalent, though, and in those countries where programmes are not dubbed people are bound to be influenced by American pronunciation.
My personal exp: Stockholm is a bit mineral and people are shy, dating someone is tricky. Copenhagen, the total opposite, people are more openminded, outgoing and dating is so easy! Just go for a drink and people come to you, blend together.
You actually learn british english in school, like british spelling. But later most develop american accents.
British English will get you in trouble, in some instances, in the US. One example is “rubber.” In the US, a rubber is a condom. The word you want is eraser.
I newer did! But will be taken for a English man. on manny ocasions, some bad some god.
@@schoolingdiana9086 American English can also get you into trouble, I always have to laugh when you say fanny pack.
We learned British English when I was in school but you were allowed to use American English. As long as you were consistent when the language you used it was fine. This is 30+ yrs ago. I used to speak and write 100 % American English. The past 5 years I've changed to write in British English and my accent is kinda in between
I prefer English (the original) to American english.
Born and raised in Southern Sweden (the part closest to Denmark, Skåne). It's a bit easier for us to understand Danish, than it is for the rest of the country. But we've only been Swedes for about 350 years.. before that, this area were Danish territory. The rest of Sweden (especially Stockholm) are actually mocking us for our accent. I call it old, Danish defiance... 😁 (They couldn't break our ancestors and force them to learn swedish perfectly... ) Btw, Copenhagen is still our closest capital city.. 😉
As a Dane it do surprise me that Skånsk has such a thick accent as it does. Normally I dont have issues understaning swedish but Skånsk is really special😊😉
In Copenhagen we love our brothers and sisters in Skåne, and because of what “Lion from the north” mentions, about Copenhagen being their closest Capital, we often have Swedish colleagues at our workplaces in Copenhagen, they only live around 14 min. away with train, thanks to the bridge. I do not agree with what you said about Stockholm being the more put together Capital though, I found it cold and in between beautiful buildings you would find huge industrial buildings, accept in the old town, that is absolutely beautiful tough, and that part far exceeds many places in Copenhagen, but as a whole, I do not agree. I might be a little biased though, I grew up in Copenhagen, I have lived in Stockholm and at this moment in time I reside in Trondheim Norway, so I do have some experience from the places in mention.
Many Danes envy the traditional aspects of Swedish and Norwegian culture, the pride and honor of our ancestors trough songs, national dresses, food and traditions. This traditional aspect has in many ways disappeared in Denmark, and because we have been invading, colonizing and in many ways been a dominating country in our past, we tend not celebrate our nationality with as much pride as the Swedes and Norwegians do. Somewhere along the road, Danes became more neutral, and this might be what you guys see as more “international”.
I am half Danish and half Japanese, and in many sociological aspects the Swedes and the Norwegian remind me more of the Japanese peoples mindset than what the Danes do. Danes tend to have an analytic thinking style, a type of thinking in which people focus on the properties of objects without considering their surrounding context. (Individualistic or independent) where as most Asians in general and in my opinion also Swedes and Norwegians tend to think with a holistic thinking style, a type of thinking in which people focus on the overall context, particularly the ways in which objects relate to each other (Codependent or collectivistic). And this might be the reason for the difference in atmosphere and attitude in Copenhagen and Stockholm. Danes are Scandinavians at heart, but we also have a wonderful neighbor to the south, our big brother, Germany. And our language, traditions, food culture, and maybe also our mentality has been effected by this beautiful relationship.
Skåne, Halland och Blekkinge skal leveras tillbåke, snabt!
I actually have an easier time understanding the scanian dialect and I guess it is by most linguists considered an East Danish dialect, albite one heavily influenced by Swedish.
@@BigAndTall666 I think that has been an obsolete mindset since the 18th century. Now we are both part of the same union and we will undoubtedly continue to become closer intertwined to the point that I think regions will be more of a division than borders.
I love the vibe Will always bring! Calmness and intelligence!
And an excellent Danish pronunciation!
We were at war with Denmark 20 times around 200 years ago. Luckily we found a way to love eachother. In sports, especially soccer there is a love and hate situation.
But I'm so happy that I'm born in the best part of the world, thoug it's not perfect.
🇧🇻🇫🇮🇸🇪🇩🇰.
well al of Skane and a portion of the west coast were parts Denmark for centuries ( thus explaining why BOrnholm is stilll Danish, tho way the hell out there). Denmark wasnt so tiny back in the day.
You still owe us Skåne, Halland and Blekinge
@@sebastian1286 There is a group of people here in Sweden that meets every year at the border to Skåne and each of them brings a shovel. Symbolically they dig a small hole in hope that Skåne will "float back" to Denmark. Afterwards they have a couple of beers and laugh together. Sounds fun. 😂
@@michaellust Hahahahahahahaha åhhhhh thats funny, and totally Scandinavian 😂
@@michaellust The last time Sweden was in war was 212 years ago and it was with Russia not Denmark. This is when Sweden lost Finland to Russia :(
I am a huge fan of your channel and you always find interesting "guests" but I must say that Will really brings something special whenever he appears.
You might develop a little crush perhaps?
@@ZenseZone I don't think so.
@@StaffanSwede No shame in having a little crush!
Hygge is about creating an atmosphere around you, which is calm, happy and positive - yes, you can do it with hot tea by the fireplace, but it can be anywhere ... Maybe you are with a lot of noisy people, but you and someone else, makes an invisible bubble around the two of you, and have a really hyggelig chat.
When you are having a fika with someone, I think you do the same ... you are taking a break, create a nice atmosphere, relaxe, loading batteries ...
Happy easter 🐣🐥🐤
Did Danes or Swedeswin the most wars?
@@franklipp6860 Sweden now has Skåne, Halland and Bohuslän, so Sweden won in the end. Norway was Danish till the early 1800s as well and they have Greenland still in some ways.
But it doesn't matter now. We're friends.
Yes, I think you’re right, fika and hygge is almost the same. Fika is more about the brake from what you’re doing than what you’re drinking or eating. You’re creating a bubble away from the hustle and bustle in the world - as your hygge. 🙂
Hygge means limited forest stand in Swedish
But be awear in mind that the main componant is our security - we live a life in security - - health free - vacations free - educations free -long vacations - amot
We pay everything over our taxes - and in Denmark we share the pride of sharing this way - more than 70 pct of Danes aprove our systen - as do I :-) No bill for education, cancer operation nor education. In fact above all you are paid to GO TO education - abt 930 USD per month :-)
You two have great chemistry.
As a Swede I can totally relate to the part about being able to read danish. I can usually figure out what it says but if I hear someone speaking danish it just ends up sounding like jibberish to me😂😂
That's kinda funny swedish is easy to read but hearing danish sounds like dhdmshdkdnbdhdk
insert old joke about speaking with a hot potato in mouth, and Kobenhavner Danish is THE WORST.
@@ZakhadWOW The Danish spoken in Copenhagen is actually the easiest to understand since it's closest to rigsdansk or High Danish.
@@berrycarbs that assumes the people are actually opening their mouths.. I spent 2 weeks there in summer 2011 and damn if I could make anything out.. My American freinds working there on a visa was formally studying it in classes, and said it was the hardest thing he;d ever tackled, and he learned Mandarin while in Beijing for 3 years >.
@@ZakhadWOW Danish pronunciation is notoriously difficult. We often pronounce words differently than we spell them. We omit parts of many words both in the middle and (particularly) in the end. We have quite a few words that are spelled differently but are pronounced similarly having very different meanings. We also have some words that are spelled exactly the same, pronounced ever so slightly differently having very different meanings...
So Danish is hard to learn and understand.
If you are still interested in trying what "Hygge" is like there are several ways to do it, but try this.
If you live in a place that is cold in the autumn or winter, then once it gets dark, turn off the lights, then light some candles of the coffee table to create a dimly-lit atomsphere, then bundle up on the couch with a blanket with someone, wife/girlfriend, friends or someone else, and have something warm to drink and a few snacks while watching some TV, athough the TV isn't nessecary.
The feeling you get from this is what Hygge is about.
In Copenhagen we love our brothers and sisters in Skåne, and because of what “Lion from the north” mentions, about Copenhagen being their closest Capital, we often have Swedish colleagues at our workplaces in Copenhagen, they only live around 14 min. away with train, thanks to the bridge. I do not agree with what you said about Stockholm being the more put together Capital though, I found it cold and in between beautiful buildings you would find huge industrial buildings, accept in the old town, that is absolutely beautiful tough, and that part far exceeds many places in Copenhagen, but as a whole, I do not agree. I might be a little biased though, I grew up in Copenhagen, I have lived in Stockholm and at this moment in time I reside in Trondheim Norway, so I do have some experience from the places in mention.
Many Danes envy the traditional aspects of Swedish and Norwegian culture, the pride and honor of our ancestors trough songs, national dresses, food and traditions. This traditional aspect has in many ways disappeared in Denmark, and because we have been invading, colonizing and in many ways been a dominating country in our past, we tend not celebrate our nationality with as much pride as the Swedes and Norwegians do. Somewhere along the road, Danes became more neutral, and this might be what you guys see as more “international”.
I am half Danish and half Japanese, and in many sociological aspects the Swedes and the Norwegian remind me more of the Japanese peoples mindset than what the Danes do. Danes tend to have an analytic thinking style, a type of thinking in which people focus on the properties of objects without considering their surrounding context. (Individualistic or independent) where as most Asians in general and in my opinion also Swedes and Norwegians tend to think with a holistic thinking style, a type of thinking in which people focus on the overall context, particularly the ways in which objects relate to each other (Codependent or collectivistic). And this might be the reason for the difference in atmosphere and attitude in Copenhagen and Stockholm. Danes are Scandinavians at heart, but we also have a wonderful neighbor to the south, our big brother, Germany. And our language, traditions, food culture, and maybe also our mentality has been effected by this beautiful relationship.
I really enjoy listening to Wills observations. He seems intelligent!
I had a Swedish girlfriend from Malmø a couple of years ago. We went for a walk and sat on a bench in a park in Malmø when an elderly woman came walking with her dog. We said hello to her and the dog meanwhile my girlfirend and the woman had a conversation. When the woman went on I wished her a nice day in Danish (Du må have en dejlig dag) in which she replied in clear cut Danish (Mange tak og i lige måde). I was really surpriced because I tried to put her off with my Danish :-D
I love Sweden and my family on both sides of my grand parents origin from Sweden :-)
- Denmark is maybe a little more expensive than Sweden. But you fell in the tourist trap. Everything is literally 16 times more expensive in Nyhavn and Copenhagen is a very expensive city compared to the rest of Denmark.
- Will nailed the d sound :P
- I don't think danes are more outgoing. I think they are in Copenhagen, but I live in Jutland and do everything I can to not meet my neighbour, because danes don't know how to smalltalk :P If a stranger talks to me I will tell it to my family and they will be surprised and ask what happened.
Wtf ahaha Scandinavia countries are so antisocial
@@anonymo2192 So true, but we are still very friendly and helpful. We are also a friend for life if you manage to pierce that inicial antisocial bubble we have.
@@anonymo2192 Haha yeah :D It actually polite to let people be in public, because then they can relax.
It's really nice when someone asks for direction, because we feel like we helped, but when a stranger talks like we are friends, it's super weird if we are not drunk :P
@@ZenseZone Agree!
@@thiia94denmark yeah Scandinavian people looks very helpful and humble but more than street directions won’t talk with strangers hahaha weird
The only obvious different between Sweden and Denmark is the Danish people are more sociable especially in Copenhagen city center. But Swedish people are also becoming more sociable than for example 20-30 years ago. Things are changing alot, Swedes travels a lot, socializing with different type of people from various nations, the society is becoming more multicultural with its pros vs cons.
I think Danish people have slightly better English accent. Because they have a stronger necessity to develop an English accent compared to Swedes. I think this also applies to Dutch people. In others words speaking English with a Danish accent is rougher, and they have a harder time being understood if they don't practice proper pronunciation. So a lot of Swedes don't actively develop an accent and we end up with mix of American, British and Swedish accent when speaking English. Of course there's are a lot of danish, dutch and swedish people who have a strong accent of their native language when speaking English. But if you listen to the ones who try to minimize their native accent, Dutch and Danes generally fare better off compared to Swedes.
Of course I don't know this for certain, this is pure conjecture.
These kind of videos highlight the importance of travel and exploring new cultures. It's so important to branch out from what you find familiar and challenge your beliefs. If more Americans prioristed international travel it would greatly help the future direction of the country
some of them should also "prioristed" their spelling, that would also help the future of the country 🤣
I'm a dane and I just wanna say "I'm sorry" 😂 Also, when I was 16 I went to Ohio as a foreign exchange student, and many of the americans I came into contact with would think I'd just moved from a different part of the US. A few of my teachers admittet that they thought I was a transfer student from one of the other high schools in the area. I actually mad it difficult for me, because I didn't always act as a transfer student - (of course!) The exchangees with a heavy accent were given a lot more room for cultural mistakes. I was just labeled "wierd" because I didn't behave american (again - of course I didn't, because I wasn't)
I don't think native American is the right term here... 🙂
@@davidpax I think you are right. I didn't realize that when I was typing my response to the video. 🤣But of course you are right.
It's funny how white people in the US don't even realize now that white people originated from Europe and that they could be from anywhere, not just the US.
Lived 37 years in denmark. 2 years in germany. 2 years in spain. 6 years in Philippines. In my childhood i was atleast 10 times a year in sweden. In wexjö. Uppsala. Jönköping. Stockholm. Gävla and skærgården. And skiing in dalarna. Visiting lisberg in göteborg etc. I used to work in bakken and tivoli as a chef.. english and danish is much more alike than swedish and english. The saxons. The normans and the danish vikings where infact all danish. So the english language is mainly build up on germanic and danish language. Many words are still used in the english language.. swedish people tend for the most part having a harder time than the danish speaking english. The scandinavian people are all brothers but no brother is alike.. there is sibling rivalry esp when it comes to sports. We love to "hate" eachother in a good way. Making fun and teasing eachother. But is an outsider bothers 1 all will come.. you don't mess with our family.. its kinda wierd.. about the swedes being more detached actually starts way back in the viking age. Northern sweden didn't really go viking at all. They where much more spiritual. They where the last to give up the norse mythology and most knowledge we have today about the religion is from northern sweden or islandic sagas. The danes have always been more open of the scandinavian countries. In the viking age south norway where danish and same with skåne. The Norwegian danes mainly settled the islands around scotland and ireland. The swedish danes mainly did viking and trade in the east. Russia all the way diwn to Turkey. The danes are the ones to settle poland. Germany. England. Normandy etc. This of course over centuries have had an impact on the danish language that the rest of scandinavia did not have. Finland with language is the odd duck here. Linguistics show its 1 of the 2 oldest languages in the world.. danish language and culture have developed more due to the trade and the settlements in other countries than our brothers. Where norway and sweden has been more solitary. This do reflect in how we treat other people. Its always hard becoming a friend to any of the scandinavian people. Danes slightly more easy. But once you are a friend its usually for life.. scandinavians dont really do the casual friendships i have seen around the world.. either you are a friend or nothing more than an acquaintance. Wich often seem to suprise people.. about hygge its can be anywhere with anyone. Its a relaxing. Comforting atmosphere where you can talk about anything without being judged. At home a cafe. Concerts.. yes even there. If u go to roskilde festival(worked there 10 years) up front you have the party people then look at the tribunes behind. People sitting enjoying a beer. Enjoying the weather. Listing to the music and talking.. hygge always involves talking. Its about being comfortable with those you are with at that particular moment. Copenhagen is stress in denmark. Not relaxed at all. Any other city even just 10km outside tempo drops dramatically the futher away from Copenhagen the nicer it actually becomes. Young people tend to seek copenhagen. But once you have kids a job etc you start moving out. Its the party place of denmark.. århus is soo different. Yes lots going on friday and saturday night. But else its comfy. Relaxed. Much like jönköping in sweden compared to Stockholm.
"So I was in Randers."
Every Aarhus person going: Oh. OOOOOH. You've seen shit, man ...
haha i’m here because i’m in your fathers german class😂 he’s talking about you right now
Hahaha great to hear my dad is talking about my channel! I took that same German class about 10 years ago
@@StefanThyron I wonder what is the conceptional difference between the Danish Hygge and the German Gemütlichkeit. I guess both are more than coziness - and more than nice pillows and candles. At least the German term has a social component to it like sitting together with family and friends in a relaxed atmosphere.
I'm danish, but swedish is my favorite language to listen too, think it's just beautiful..
I guess Denmark is the one that's generally a bit more chaotic 😆 more haphazard and the least formal - kinda friendly but blunt! Happy Easter and loads of love from Denmark ❤️🤗
They have to much beer
Perfect pronunciation of Århus Will. Perfect. This is so funny to watch as a Dane. Sometimes I'm nodding along and going... yeah, yep that's so us. It's hard to explain the difference between Danes and Swedish people but you can just feel that the difference is there.
I've lived and worked in Denmark for a while (being from northern Sweden), and even got my Danish language B2 certificate, and this is just spot on about all the differences I've experienced myself - only that when I lived there the DKK was about 50% more than the SEK. Still got my Danish driving license though.
More of this! Your discussion videos are amazing and Will is your best guest! Love it
A gazillion similarities and few dissimilarities in between the Nordic countries.
After spending half my life abroad all over the planet I have to say,, I Luuuuve this corner of the world.
Cheers,, 🍻😎👍!!!
I actually believe some point in Northern Skåne there's a sort of split between continental Europe and the "real northern Europe," and not in Copenhagen.
Some time ago there was a series called "Svenska Dialektmysterier" where the host of the show during the Skåne episode tried to find the border for what's "continental Europe." Not sure where that could be found these days, but it was very interesting. There they determined that Örkelljunga was some sort of border for continental Europe and traditional Sweden (most notably by finding where the traditional Swedish röda stugor start to pop up).
Yes, but that could be more of a "historically significant" split than an actually current cultural split applied in the 2020, which I defintely think Will is right about.
Brittish English is the English taught in schools in Sweden at least. I remember that we would have these British cassette tapes in class that we would practice pronunciation with (regular public school, not international or anything).
So those that get good at English via school speak in a British dialect, and this is most pronounced in maybe those older than 30.
But most people these days pick up an American accent from all the movies and series.
I agree with all the points you made!
There is so many vlogs about differencies between Denmark and Sweden. I hope one day I will see one about the things we have in common, those things making us feel the same united people.
Meat and beer is cheaper in Denmark. I use to catch the ferry from Helsingborg to Helsingør to stock up on these foods.
Yeah, you and a lot of other Swedes. When I was young (many years ago) there was this joke that went something like "Keep Denmark clean, help a Swede get on the ferry" (obviously before there was a bridge) since Swedish people used to go to Denmark and drink themselves into a stupor.
About Denmark being the (or one of the) happiest countries in the world:
Mary Shelley's (the author of Frankenstein) mother was Mary Wollstonecraft. She lived from 1759 to 1797. In 1796 she was in Scandinavia, and she wrote 25 letters from her stay in Sweden, Norway and Denmark.
About Denmark a.o.t. she wrote:
"The men of business are domestic tyrants, coldly immersed in their own affairs, and so ignorant of the state of other countries, that they dogmatically assert that Denmark is the happiest country ind the world...."
Not very flattering, but interesting as this was written in 1796, remember!!
You cant use something thats written 200 years ago back then you could find people everywere who wasent happy around the World, slaves in the US is one example
I’m studying Norwegian. I would never have guessed “hygge” was pronounced that differently in Danish. It sounds like Danish is to Norsk or Svensk like Switzer Deutsch is to German.
From a Swedes perspective: English - I understand, Swedish - Jag förstår, Norwegian - Jeg fatter, Danish - Huggle Duggle... (PS. this is a joke, not to offend any lovely Danes)
@@ZenseZone and - minä ymmärrän
Norsk (bokmål) is in essence Danish with a twist since Norway was under Danish rule back in the olden days.
I get all the calls from Danish customers at work, I'm the only one that understands what they saying. I think the rest are mostly scared they won't understand, and leave it to me.
My wife seems to think I know French as well, so when in Paris I have to do the talking. I don't speak French! I just smile and talk away. It works :-)
I'm half-swede half-dane. You guys really hit the nail on this one ;)
Really enjoyed this conversation between the two of you. Thanks for sharing.
In Scandinavia the Danes are know for being business minded. That requires Danes to learn the languages. And you often in conversation between the Danes, Swedish and Norwegians find that Danes use words and pronounces words in the other two languages in order to help the conversation. Where as the two others normally just talk there own languages...
Yeah I went to Helsinki and the girl working in a restaurant spoke perfect English with a British accent. I asked her about it and she said she just learned English in school in Finland
Gör ett avsnitt om Norge & Sverige..! :)
Also, I have lived in Australia now for 21 years and some people still don't understand me. The Swedish chef syndrome, I will never lose my accent. Hoolibooli...
You literally made me laugh out loud, my neighbors probably think I'm crazy rn xD
Thanks, great video and good insights
I like you guys, good balance, nice, sweet and friendly vibe, You both come across as genuine, as real people, and very intelligent points of view from both of you. Impressive pronounciation of danish, Will! You all but nailed it, and very few people do that anywhere near as good! Are you by any chance a musician? Being one myself, I find that language and music have similar learning processes..
All the best from here in Copenhagen!
When I was a kid Scandinavians mostly sounded like their own language when they spoke English, Danes were as good grammatically as Swedes, but it was often hard to understand because it sounded like Danish. Now it's very good across Scandinavia.
Never figured out the Danish spoken language ever ... now I learned that letter d is the guttural sound! Makes sense now ... watching Danish movies wo subs will be my next challenge 🤣 Happy Easter 🐣🐰 You guys are a great team ...
I’m really sorry, but d is actually not guttural in Danish, it’s way more complicated than that😅
D is pronounced closely to how th is pronounced in “that”... But only if it’s in the end of a syllable. Danish softens and sometimes even drop consonants in the end of syllables much the same way as you might know it from American English so t sounds like d, and k sounds like g etc. We even soften the already soft consonant, and the soft version of d is then th or something like that.
This may also explain why Danish English accents often sound more American than Swedish accents I think.
The guttural parts are not spelt out, but all vowels exist in a “guttural” version and an “open” version depending on the word and even context. Not all dialects have this feature though. Some use intonation (“singing”) instead, like Swedish and Norwegian.
@@kristianemilpaludan1653 interesting ... love the different gymnastics in the melody of different languages ... thanx 😉😁
The main difference is that Danes are slightly drunk all the time and Swedes are mostly sober, but get absolutely pissed once in a while. That's basically it really..
Unless when swedes go to Denmark, then they are massively more drunk than Danes. The only ones more drunk in Denmark than swedes, is young american exchange students and norwegians
Was expecting a April fools joke, something along the lines of that Denmark sucks lol
Hahah damn nope that woulda been funny though
@@StefanThyron Hello Stefan super
He's right, Denmark is more continental than Norway or Sweden.
Very interesting video! Thank you guys for share!
I am norwegian and when we learn english in school we learn to speak Oxford english and thats the same pronunciation as they use in England
Not anymore, especially not in London or at the BBC. It's more cockey-influenced (and ugly imho).
Will is great! Cheers
Hygge means limited forest stand in Swedish
Great info about Sweden and Denmark indeed!
Does will has Instagram too?
Great to hear your perspectives and experience.
In Germany I met many folks who basically couldn't speak English outside of major cities especially but, that's very rare in Denmark.
Copenhagen is the Istanbul of the nordic countries..I like that term..
I'm an Aussie who lives in Luleå in Northern Sweden. When I compare Stockholm and Copenhagen, I would rank Stockholm above Copenhagen. I might sound biased. However, this is based on my visits to Copenhagen in 2015 and 2016. I don't know what have changed in Copenhagen since then, but at that time I found the city as filthier than Stockholm. For example, the central station was long overdue for renovation. It was really old and filthy, and I saw many passengers (mostly backpackers) slept on the station's floor, which was (and still is) not the case with Stockholm Centralstation. The old buildings were not as well maintained as the ones in Stockholm. So based on the cleanliness alone, I rank Stockholm above Copenhagen.
i'm Danish and yes our vowels and those soft D are difficult even for Danish kids. I understand Swedish and Norwegian but there are dialects that i think are hard. Like Skånsk i really struggle with Skånsk. Will actually sounded great.
I hope you can ask someone a foreigner living from Norway and Finland too! Better yet Iceland!
Would like to see an Icelandic native on the podcast, I like their language a lot from its historical perspective.
Will, your Danish pronounciation is excellent! ❤
You guys are doing an amazing job with this video 😃
And your pronunciations are bang on 😊
One thing about Swedes and their English skills though. They sound great to begin with, but ask them to say “Chips”, and you will get “Ships”. So strange! 😄
Ha! True, but: Have you ever asked a Kiwi to say bed or pen? 🥴
@@kenster8270
Hehe, I’d imagine it goes something like “pin” and “bid”, right? 😄
I just came across your channel, this is the first of your videos I'm watching, and at first, I was actually a bit baffled that the title said "americanS", 'cus your way of speaking english, particularly the first minutes, sounds more like spoken with a slight scandinavian/northern european accent, than actually american.
So I didn't think you were actually american yourself.
I guess you adapted very well, in your years living here 😁
Denmark is called “The little Italy of the North” 😊 It is true, we are the brige between The European continent and The Nortern contries.
Lol, it does not snow through out summer in Rovaniemi 🤣
6:55 That is very accurate, IMO. Hygge requires prep, even if only mental, and a sort of common agreement that what we’re doing is “hyggeligt”...
My English tends to be towards the more British sound and I also spell it like that . I've lived in the UK for 2 years and I love watching English shows like Blackadder.
Great video....both of you guys on this one!
I mean fika in Denmark is just called Kaffe, ie. Coffee. As in a mid afternoon time for cake and coffee.
Being a swede, I think that the comparison of Istanbul and Copenhagen was very exact.
Very interesting idea.
I speak danglish I sometimes speak with a British accent and other times in an American accent, however most times danglish where the words are just lost for me and I mix English and danish. 😃
I think in Sthlm, at least most of us when we're in our "hood" we'll go out in our sweatpants and be super relaxed, but as soon as we're "going into town" we feel like we have to dress up a bit. Funny tho when I used to live in the city center, the city center was my hood so I wore sweatpants every now and then there too ;)
The area is Nyhavn and The big Street in Köpenhamn is Ströget.😊
Scandinavian Istanbul. What a great metaphor Will.
Edit: Danish is the language with the most vowel sounds in the world. Not surprising it takes a babbu more time to comprehend all the different phonemes.
In regards to your thoughts about danes choosing to speak english, even though the american accent is more prominent on various platforms, danes are taught english in school, and not "american". It is rather strictly enforced by teachers and your grades on the final exam will definitely be impacted by your ability to speak with a fluent english accent.
I think it depends on where you live. I graduated from a relatively small school in Sønderjylland and I both wrote and spoke with an American accent, and I got 12 (A) in both exams
Swedish accent tend to come through more tbh. But wether its danish-english, swedish-english or norwegian-english, when u hear the accent, you are not in doubt where they are from hahahahahaha :P even Finnish-english to an extent. :p
I am from sweden and I was surpeised how well they spoke english in denmark when I lived there
But be honest, the common danish english accent is utterly horrible.... We might master the sentence structure and the vocabulary - but 90% of danes really butcher and bastardices the pronounciation
@@EmilReiko i didn't hear any accent at all, I think swedes are way worse with the accent, maby i just met really well spoken danes, but I was really impressed
@@EmilReiko Have you been to UK? A place like Liverpool has much worse dialecs.
In Denmark we have hygge in Sweden what comes close is "Lagom" be. in balance its perfect so a kind of a feeling of feeling well so is hygge. In Norway they have "kose" at kose sig To feel well together or by your selve. Danish hygge and Norwegian kose are very similar.
Because English is our second language, it is affected by what we hear. So if we're exposed to an American accent, we pick up on it. If we go to Australia, then we end up with an Australian accent.
Also, I am fluent in English, but I have to slow down when speaking it, because if I try speaking English in my usual Danish tempo, I trip over the words.
I'm surprised that he said the hard part was the "d" sounds at the end of words. But those are essentially "th" in English. For example "with" vs "med". In older English and Danish, this sound was written as a rounded d (like partial derivative sign, if you know math). But English eventually changed it to th and Danish to a normal d symbol. The letter still exists in the Icelandic alphabet.
When I hear non-Danes speak Danish, the thing they seem to have hardest with are the vowels. Danish has a lot of different vowels (also multiple pronunciations per symbol), and many of them sound extremely similar to outsiders. It's very often I hear Americans that lived in Denmark for years, say a Danish word and the vowels are not even close. But otherwise, the rest is fine.
l live in the countryside, one hour from copenhagen- and everything is so mouth more expensive in copenhagen!
I olso work in Göteborg Sweden😁
Weirdly, I've always felt like in some ways, Sweden is more aligned with the Anglo world, at least when it comes to politics, culture, sense of humor, etc., whereas Denmark, in spite of geography, is still closer to Norway and Iceland, if only because of the idea that equality means everyone should be able to laugh at each other equally.
I am old so this might be outdated but back in the 1980 I was in charge of exchangestudents at Chalmers University. They, mostly the Americans, questioned us on why Swedes dressed up in our spare time while we dressed "down" for work while they were used to the opposite.
I later come to work for a German company in Sweden and experienced just that at company seminars. Swedes dressed up to party after work while the Germans did the opposite.
What is your thoughts on that?
We have a nice word for when unplanned hygge or something close to hygge happens. Hyggeligt. Basically translating to hygge-like. "Det var hyggeligt"."It was hygge-like".
Hey! 😀
Nice to hear you guys talking about Denmark and your thoughts about Denmark and Sweden. It’s so funny and interesting to hear specially for an Dane 😂😂
I actually live in Randers 🙈
Swedish are so hard to understand for me as a dane. Every time i get a swedish customer I ask them to speak english. So much easier. And swedish people are easy to spot when they speak english - they have a very heavy swedish accent, just like danes have a very heavy, but very different accent :)
Honestly i would choose english instead of trying to understand a Dane. Norwegian maybe but no way im able to understand Danish
Im danish, i find swedish easily to understand and i insist on speaking danish to swedish ppl, even if they attempt to retreat into english. However to my danish ears, swedish sound somewhere between very funny and very cute. I never got how they can take their own swear words serious, while sounding like that.
Stefan,
"fika" is the time you contemplate and relax with your buddies! :)
excellent video!
I heard that Danes are more better with their feelings than we Swedes and it is not so strange in that case. We Swedes are so bad with our feelings. As a Swede, I am so tired of it. We Swedes are a little more wimpish than Norway and Denmark.
Wat?, i guarantee you - we are not better with our feelings, dealing with it through binge drinking is just more socially acceptable.
I'm Danish..live in the U.S and have several swedish friends here... It's actually been very interesting because there are marked differences between them and me of course it's a generalization but I can definitely say that if I compare myself and my Danish friends to my swedish friends over here we Danes are more laid back, more open to discuss feelings or anything with strangers... We even dress more casually and I think have a more relaxed attitude towards life in general... Compared to my swedish friends and this is something we've all discussed between us they are more formal keep their feelings more to themselves they dress more formal also and they tend to like to be in control of any given situation... I have found these similarities between literally every single one of my swedish friends over here and so I do wonder if this is a typical swedish trait... I've also noticed they don't like to appear silly... Like have others laugh at them if they say or do something silly, compared to us Danes we will do silly stuff on purpose in order to make other people laugh and it's funny... So those are my generalizations LOL I don't know if they are true in general but that's my experience so far.... None is better or worse than the other I just feel like it's different
@@rescue4paws643 I agree with that. not all but many of us Swedes :) But I am one of those who can dare to be a little funny and give people a laugh. Have taught me if you happen to say something wrong or something funny, then you have to invite people to a laugh.
I'd say a big difference between the two cities is that Copenhagen has the Christiania neighborhood. There is no such area in Stockholm, as far as I know. Correct me if I am wrong...
Hygge is not complicated, you can hygge alone or with family and friends, relaxing in good company.
Sweden vs Finland next please 🙏🏼
The impeccable dressing maybe a new trend in men.
Maybe in the last 10 years or so. I see this trend in Germany as well.
I remember it was more relaxed back in the 1980s - 2000s
English as a Second Language.
If you believe that you have what it takes to speak like the Queen ( not Harry !) , or a British Lord, then go for it.
Oxford English pronunciation is very precise and delicate. Foreigners have a hard time reaching native level of perfection.
Similar to the Danish example given here.
American/Canadian English is more relaxed and allows for a wider margin of deviations, imho.
And it is my personal observation that, Swedes who speak the continental version, show an amazing ability to sound natural.
Having said that, there is no British English or Australian English or....etc.
There is a definite way to pronounce the language in different regions of the world, plus a set of local words and slangs.
English, however, is English whether you are in Ontario, New Zealand or Glasgow.
Swedes like Danes with sugar on top. But really it's just that Swedes never do much confrontation perhaps?
The difference between Sweden and Denmark is that one is better. And i think we all know which one.
Haha pros and cons ;)
Denmark is so cool, that we don't have to tell others how cool we are :P
Bernie Sanders does it for us.
11:50 We here in Denmark are happy because of the amount of trush we have in our fellow human beings and our goverment, even our tax system is based on trust. Another thing is high degre of meaning in our work life and the work life balance... Remember we have 5 weeks of vacation and the parents have 52 weeks of maternity leave, which can be divided between the two parents, according to some special rules.
Randers. I wonder if Will John had any relation to Randers FC? (They've just had an excellent season).
In Denmark we do like to perceive ourselves as the Italians of Scandinavia (or Brazilians when it comes to soccer 😁) - having a more relaxed and outgoing culture. Though perceptions don't always match reality.
As for capitals there's really no doubt that Stockholm is more beautiful than Copenhagen, It is simple one of the prettiest cities in the world.
I think Swedes dress nice in most parts, but i cant say 'every'. If Swedes dont think a certain län dresses as nice as they do, then at least in my opinion as an american i think the whole country dresses nicer than us 😂 I took a look at my wardrobe for a trip to sweden in September and i was like nope...... I cant wear these. I bought some nicer shirts to wear hahahaha I spent 3 weeks in Stockholm and came back and remembered (a bit shocked at the same time) how much more 'relaxed' americans dress, if u want to call it that. I visited again in December (Gothenburg) a year later and ppl still dressed nice during the winter. It doesnt get that cold where i live so all i'll see in the winter is a sweatshirt. No scarf, gloves, or (warm) boots
In most of Europe, British English is taught at school. And most native teachers are British.
American content is prevalent, though, and in those countries where programmes are not dubbed people are bound to be influenced by American pronunciation.
In Sweden we learn both American and British english
My personal exp: Stockholm is a bit mineral and people are shy, dating someone is tricky. Copenhagen, the total opposite, people are more openminded, outgoing and dating is so easy! Just go for a drink and people come to you, blend together.
Ich wusste nicht dass du deutsch kannst. Danke für das Video!
Aber ich wusste nicht dass du unsere sprache können?
(Just det, jag kan inte tyska, trots mitt "nick", bara prövar lite.)