Mere Dansk!

  Finally, this morning, after days of thinking about it and saying it over in my head, I told Lotte, 

"Jeg tror vi skal tale mere på dansk nu, så jeg kan lære mere. " 

Whats the mean?! What's that mean?!

No, I didn't tell her I was done scrubbing floors, or I wouldn't clean the bathroom three times in two days, or wash the attic floor... 

Nothing so dramatic... I'm not ready to leave Denmark yet.

No, instead, this was me finally getting the nerve, motivation, and initiate to say,

"I think we should talk more in Danish now so I can learn more."

    I'd realized I wished we'd been talking more in Danish this whole time a couple weeks ago, but was even too nervous to say something like that phrase to start the motion. I think speaking in another language, Danish in particular, can be so nerve racking. You, of course, want to use the write grammar, the write words, and also pronounce it in a way where they don't instantly know you're foreign. Or even worse... American! Luckily, though, I've usually been mistaken as a different nationality... And have learned it might be better to leave it at that sometimes... But that's another story. Or blog post. Nah, probably not blog worthy. 

    I think the latter of those worries is the biggest with Danish because, as most people would agree, Danes can be quite picky with their pronunciation. (What the reasons for this might be will not be discussed here). But that, paired with a very hard language to pronounce, can be an unfortunate combination. So for the most part, even after 7 months here, there are still times when I chicken out of simply asking for a cup of coffee in Danish. 

    The fact that most Danish people are (still so surprisingly) fluent in English makes it so much more convenient to just speak English; For one thing, even if I ask something in Danish, if they sense I speak English, they'll just switch to English. So it's usually easier to just start with that...  And two, since I might be able to ask the initial questions or conversation but may not be able to go too far, or understand their fast paced, no-consonant-pronuncing language, it's always just easier to start with English. 

But... it's time.

Time to forget the easy way, switch people back to speaking Danish with me, and speak more with my family and friends. 

I definitely regret not doing this sooner. Speaking with a Danish family on a daily basis could've made this process so much faster and better.

So Danish it is, doggone it! 

Don't think the Danes would say that. 

What a dramatic, drawn out ramble just to say...

Mere Dansk!

(More Danish!)

To all readers making it all the way to here... Congrats and thank you for caring so much to make it through this. (And maybe an apology for any anticlimaxes you kept waiting for.) 

Og slut. 

(And done.)

Wouldn't call you such a thing after just congratulating, thanking, and apologizing to you.

(Source)

Svinekød? Pork... 

But thought the picture worked for this new layout. 

Sidenote: Danes do love their pork.