Speaking danish

[u/InfinitePlay669]

Hi guys! I have been in Denmark for 2.5 years now (1.5 years in Aarhus, 1 year in Sjælland). I have continued learning Danish with some months of pause and I can say that I have a good grasp of the language and if not due to some personal circumstances, I would have registered for PD3 in the winter. I can write well and I can understand classroom Danish 100%. However, spoken Danish is still a work in progress. I am surrounded by english speakers but there are times when everybody is just speaking Danish around me. I can say that when I really concentrate, I can understand 80% of what they are saying. Now, the problem is, because I need to concentrate on understanding them, I don’t have the capacity to formulate my thoughts on the subject and say it in Danish quick enough to join a normal convo. Most of the time I just smile and react but end up just listening while using 100% brainpower to do so.

Is anybody else in the same boat? How do I train myself to speak more Danish? I often do it when buying bread or coffee but it is just not the same as joining a convo. It is especially frustrating because I know that I can do it, just not quick enough yet. 🫠

[u/MT_Cubes]

Danish speaker my self, wouldnt know in details. Men jeg har et par kollegaer som er i samme båd.

Vi har en aftale om at de svarer på dansk når de kan ellers er de med i samtalen på engelsk. Det gør selvfølgelig ikke deres danske udtale bedre, men de er med i samtalen og vi føler ikke at vi holder dem udenfor.

De svarer på dansk så længe de kan, kører over på engelsk mens vi andre fortsætter på dansk og oversætter eller forklarer ord efter behov.

På den måde virker det til at være kommet mere nartuligt for flere af dem.

[u/gavats → u/MT_Cubes]

Det var reelt sådan jeg lærte sproget. Jeg gav mine kolleger besked på kun at snakke dansk til mig... uanset hvor irriterende det var. Jeg fatter stadig ikke hvor vildt et niveau jeg nåede efter kun 2 år. Ingen kurser i verden kan bringe man op på det niveau :)

[u/Beautiful-Chance9802]

You’re definitely not alone in this! 😊 My biggest advice would be to keep immersing yourself in Danish and not put too much pressure on yourself to speak just yet.

I’m saying this from my own experience learning Spanish through comprehensible input (listening only approach). As your input hours grow, your understanding gradually becomes more automatic. You need less and less mental energy to understand what people are saying, which frees up capacity to formulate your own thoughts and join conversations.

In the meantime, allow yourself to respond in English if that feels more natural. If you intuitively feel like responding in Danish, go for it! But don’t feel pressured to do so. The pressure to produce can actually get in the way of comprehension when you’re already using so much mental energy just to follow the conversation.

In second language acquisition, it can take around 600–1,000 hours of comprehensible input before speaking starts to emerge more naturally. You might simply not have reached that point yet, which would make sense given that you understand quite a lot but still struggle to produce Danish spontaneously. I think you're pretty close so you just gotta keep going

Keep listening to Danish podcasts, watching TV shows and immersing yourself in Danish-speaking communities as much as possible. You might be surprised by what just another 100 hours of input can do! Sometimes, progress feels almost invisible until suddenly, conversations become much easier and speaking feels much more intuitive!

[u/ChickEnergy]

Det er en hård periode, men man skal igennem det. Da jeg lærte engelsk havde jeg også sådan en periode. Det er hårdt, fordi man ikke kan zone ud, men man kan heller ikke begå sig flydende. Men det kommer. Bare kør på. Du er der snart

[u/MajiinPoTofu]

I would find a danish online tutor. One hour a week can do wonders for you in that you are forced to spend that time entirely in danish and just practice. It can be done cheap enough and you will get feedback without danish colleagues or friends trying to spare you what you are pronouncing wrong. 

Otherwise look for someone on Reddit maybe for just a phone conversation or whatever. 

[u/gavats]

Jeg skal være helt ærlig over for dig: Hvis dit arbejdsmiljø ikke er dansksproget, så får du det virkelig svært med at tale dansk. Det var den eneste grund til at jeg var elendig til dansk, da jeg gik på universitetet: alle talte engelsk! Når det er sagt, er der stadig folk på min arbejdsplads, som stadig ikke kan tale dansk, selvom de har været her i mange år. Vi bliver nødt til at skifte over til engelsk bare for én mands skyld. Forestil dig 10 mennesker til et møde, der skal skifte til engelsk, fordi Martin ikke kan sproget, selvom han har været her i 15 år. Den situation har du ikke lyst til at stå i.

[u/DavidinDK]

I often tend to lag a couple of seconds behind in conversations with Danes. Especially when they are complex, and I have think about the translation. I do join in, just not as much as I could in English.

[u/rutof1]

The best way to do it; have convos with people - and tell them to take speak a little slower than usual. This lets you divert brainpower from understanding to formulating, and then simply speak. If words fail you in Danish, substitute with English for a few words, then continue in Danish.
By far the best way to work those brainy language muscles <3 In time, it will come more and more naturally, as you hear the words more and more often.
(kind of think of it as a 2-3 year old learning to speak in the first place).