Here’s a nice little documentary about the state of the Danish language…

But this video was made by Norwegians, which means it’s all complete bollocks, as the Noggies haven’t a clue about … well …anything, really (except my friend Trond, who’s now a thoroughly assimilated Canuck).

I spent a few years living near Copenhagen, and only succeeded in getting to grips with what passes for a language in those parts when I gave up trying to learn it properly. Instead, I simply came out with “meaningless gutteral sounds” that vaguely resembled those emanating from the people around me. This worked a treat; I was immediately understood by my Danish friends, and I could finally hear what they were saying to me and to each other.

Perhaps this strategy will work also with other languages. What do readers think? How would one approach French, German, Spanish,… or English?