English is one of the most widely spoken languages in the world. Since being in Denmark and traveling around Europe I’ve started to realize how important English is. I’ve also realized that with English being your only language it is easy to get by, but it is also your ONLY language.
In Denmark the official language is Danish (obviously), but all the Danes speak English pretty perfectly. Denmark is a small country, and also the only place Danish is spoken, so if you ever want to leave Denmark you need to learn English as well. Children first start learning English at about the age of 6 or 7 in Denmark. By the time they are grown up they are speaking English very well. Although they know English they will still use their native language first. When you go into a store or restaurant they will speak to you in Danish until you start speaking or ask them to speak in English, and they are very kind about it for the most part. The only two cities I have been to in Denmark are Aarhus and Copenhagen. Copenhagen being the capital and filled with tourists every Dane there speaks English, and in some places in the city people will just assume to speak English before Danish. While Aarhus is the second biggest city, it does not get that many tourists. It is however a student town with a big international student population. Because of this all restaurants will have English menus as well as Danish menus, and everyone will speak English if you ask them to. I don’t know what other cities or towns in Denmark are like with the language, but I imagine it is pretty similar. Maybe in smaller towns or villages there are less people who know English, but with the Danish language being not so wide spread everyone essentially needs to know English.
I knew coming to Denmark that everyone would know English and I wouldn’t have to worry about language barrier. When free lessons to learn Danish were presented I thought I should try to learn at least a little something to communicate with people in their native language. It was not the best decision on my part. Danish is a really hard language to learn, or at least it is for me. When speaking Danish you use more of the back of your mouth to talk and in English we use front more. The pronunciation is also so hard, they have about 4 different sounds for the same letter, and the only way to know what sound to use is to actually know the word. I’ve been in Danish class for about a month now, and I only know how to say one word, and I can understand very little. So don’t ask me to speak Danish, because I can’t. When I told Danes that I was taking Danish lessons all of them laughed and asked why? They said I would need more than 5 years to learn Danish. I understand that now. Although Danes speak perfect English, you can easily tell when it’s a Dane who is speaking English, they have a certain way of talking that makes it noticeable, probably because they are used to talking with a different part of their mouth.
Being surrounded by international students all the time I hear many different languages every day. But everyone knows English, and at least three other languages as well. I never really thought about it but when you live in Europe there are so many languages close to you that it will only benefit you to learn a few of them. I know people who go to school in a city where they speak a different language than their first. It is only slightly embarrassing when someone asks you what languages you speak and you can only say English, and the person next to you lists off 4 languages they know fluently. It is also a requirement in most schools in Europe to learn another language, but not like the “requirement” it is in the schools in the states. In Europe they teach it so you are fluent by the time you leave, as opposed to the states where you can take 4 years of the language and still not be fluent. It’s just not necessary in the states to know another language, everyone speaks English and unless you speak it at home or have a job that requires it there is no need. I think it is amazing to know more than one language and almost wish they pushed it harder in schools.
I’ve had a lot of time to talk to and get to know people from all over Europe, and in almost every conversation we get to English words and rules. And it seems that nonnative speakers know more about English rules than I do. Because it is not their first language they remember the rules better and actually apply them, whereas for me and most English speakers we don’t think about the rules because we don’t need to all the time. It is also interesting to find out the words they don’t know. In my mind I don’t always think about the fact that not all words we know are translated or taught in another language, but being English speakers I just think they are always known. It is mainly the “slang” words and expressions or sayings that are unknown. Sarcasm does not always come across as sarcasm because they listen to everything literally, and are just trying to understand what we said.
Being around so many non native speakers has made me more aware of what I say and how I say it. Although most people I talk to have a very good understanding of English and can speak it very well. Many people came to Denmark to improve their English, so they are excited to talk to native English speakers and learn from us. In return they have been teaching me a few words or phrases from their language!
Having travels to only major cities in Europe I have not run into many problems when it comes to language. The only problem I have had is on the train, or in a small local cafe where only one person knows English. It is when you get into smaller towns in countries where you might run into language barriers and might not be able to communicate.
Update to where I am this weekend: I am in a little village in the Eastern part of Belgium. This is the German speaking part of Belgium and not many people know a lot of English. So it can be a bit of a struggle, but that’s why I have my friend to help and to translate! Very different from the cities I have been traveling to, but so nice and pretty! I went home with my friend for the weekend and it feels really nice to be in a home again, and to have home cooked meals!
Read more from Jennifer at https://jenniferbuss.wordpress.com/
To find out more about the Walton college exchange program in Aarhus, visit http://studyabroad.uark.edu/exchange/wcobaarhus/
