Language Game

I'm in my fourth week of Danish.

My German is currently unrecognizable,  which is pretty sad.  I worked hard for that German vocabulary, after all.  But, this has happened to me each time I've had a "new" foreign language in my life.  My learning style is apparently a sort of linguistic "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" where one vocabulary is taken over and reformed by an invading one.   Especially true in the case of these two languages, because they share a great deal of common vocabulary:

klug = klog = smart
richtig = rigtig = right
bequem = bekvem = comfortable
hatte = havde = had
sagte = sagde = said

Things are starting to get a little blurry for me now.  In some cases, I can't remember which language....what word....?  However, the most painful divide in the linguistic road comes in P R O N U N C I A T I O N.    Oh, the Germans.  They pronounce every letter - they enunciate each sound in a blissful phonetic arrangement with stone-carved rules until the end of time.

The Danes have 1,500+ years of rotating borders across northern Europe, and all the linguistic influences that come along with that.   But, they have their very own - unique - way to pronounce the words. :-)  

Denmark -  nestled between Germany to the south and Sweden to the east

Here is a link to some dialogue in an online course which gives a pretty good example phonetically:  Dansk her og nu   {click on the small arrow next to the words "mød søren" to hear the text }

so.....how do we think "våd" is pronounced ? 

There are sounds in Danish which defy written explanation:  "d" isn't really a "d"  - it's more like a "th" and sounds like an "l" -- but, it's not an "l" so don't say "l" ....and don't say "d" either...."th" is barely acceptable, and even then it should sound more like an "l".

I've pretty much given up on *ever* saying that one correctly.....and feel the cut of linguistic defeat so common to trying another language.  I did have one phonetic success, though!  Unrelated to "d" -- but sweet all the same -- and I was pleased to have cracked the code of pronunciation:

I was practicing saying my numbers while brushing my teeth, and realized it *might* all go easier in a My-Fair-Lady-Moment of having something in my mouth while enunciating.

I'm serious .... it really worked!  

1. fill your mouth with either toothpaste or mouthwash; be sure to get a good amount in there, too.
2. now say:  "further"
3. you have just said fyrre - which means "forty" in Danish.  Easy!

:-) :-)    Another 1,499 words to go....