Americans Saying Danish Tongue Twisters!! 

The last one should be "Kæmpe kæppe knækker næppe". Meaning "Giant sticks rarely break".

"Får", have two different meanings - 1. Får>sheep 2. Får>get or having :)

knew a preacher who believes that Danish is spoken in heaven. Because it takes an eternity to learn ... Godt gået af jer begge ;-)

In the beginning of the 19th century, Copenhagen buildt a new city hall and court house. It is still the Copenhagen courthouse, though no longer the city hall. They decided to place a statue of the city founder bishop Absalon in the front hall. To save money, they comissioned a young and promising sculptor named Bissen to make it, rather than the world famous Thorvaldsen. Bissen later went on to became very successful himself. And they chose to have it made from plaster. This caused outrage. Imagine a plaster statue at such a place! The solution was obvious. The city declared that anyone willing to pay for marble was welcome to do so. A fundraising campaign was made, and the statue was made in marble. During the debate, some people found that "Bissens gipsbisp", Bissen's plaster bishop, was a fun tongue twister. This later mutated to "Bispens gipsgebis", the bishop's plaster dentures, which is the usual form today. You have run into a version that combines the original and the later versions.

Don't worry about not understanding these. Some of them don't even make sense to Danes, because they're purely constructed to be difficult to pronounce. Like "vær hver' vejr værd", I guess it technically makes sense if you think about it hard enough, but you would never say that if you wanted to say "be prepared for any of weather"

Damn, you missed out on "Fem flade flødeboller på et fladt flødebollefad" :D

Varde is a city in Jutland... not the name of a person ❤️😉

Also - instead of saying Rød grød med fløde - try eating it this summer. It's a strawberry "porridge"-type deal, served with heavy cream. It just tastes like summer.

Let me just say you pronounce "Flæskestegssandwich" perfectly! Glad you enjoy it!

It could have been interesting if you'd gone into the fact why "får" can mean both "sheep" and "get"! It has to do with the pronounciation and a lot of words in Danish differ significantly in meaning, like "bønner/bønder" meaning "beans/peasants", "Møller/Møller" meaning the surname "Møller" and the occupation "miller" etc. etc.

Well done on the tongue twisters, a lot of Danes have difficulty with them too 😉 note: at Kbh train station, my vacationing friends love the elevator, bc it says, I fart! - they looove it! 🤣 P.s. Varde is a city in Jylland

Sounds like Joshua would enjoy a trip to Middelfart :) (its a town on Fyn in case you don't know)

This is not a tongue twister, but a teaser it is. A real sentence uttered in "jysk" dialect: "A æ u o æ ø i æ å, æ a." (I am out on the island in the river, am I)

Some of these can be difficult, even for Danes, so good on you for trying! I will just say that the words 'vær,' 'hver,' 'vejr,' and 'værd' all have different meanings, but are pronounced the same. So - Vær - means be, as in 'vær der' - 'be there' Hver - means each, as in 'hver af jer' - 'each of you' Vejr - means weather Værd - means worth, as in 'er det det værd?' - 'is it worth it?' Thanks for all the videos, it's interesting to get a new or different perspective on our lovely, little country :)

It should really be "kæmpekæppe knækker næppe", giant sticks hardly break, that is are not likely to break. The reason that it is a tongue twister to a Dane, is that if you make a mistake you may say a word that should not be used in polite company.

I can see why Fartkontrol is one of your favorite words 😂

In the "far får får får? Nej, får får ikke får får får lam" "Får" have two meanings. One is the action of getting something (verb) and the other is a sheep (noun). So translated with corelated meaning it would be something like: "dad do sheep get sheep? No sheep don't get sheep, sheeps get lambs" "far får (verb) får (noun) får (noun)? Nej får (noun) får(verb) ikke får (noun), får (noun) får (verb) lam". Hope it helps.

Får, får... etc, is the one sentense that danes do not make to make it difficult other. It is actually a grammer training sentence to illustrate when to use for and when to use får, which is basically is pronunced the same.

Just like to know have you seen The julekalender ? (A DK X-Mas show)

I’m from denmark. I Think the most known danish tounge twister is “fem flade flødeboller på et fladt flødebolle fad” And that means five flat “cream balls” (flødeboller is a dessert in denmark) on a flat “cream ball” dish. You should try it

"Røgede ørreder" (Smoked trouts) is also a super hard/impossible one to pronounce in Danish eventhough it does not have the glatter-stop sound ;)

I have a friend from Texas, who lived in Denmark for quite some time. Suddenly, he nailed all the "soft d"s and he said that once he realized you just have to pretend to be throwing up, it became much easier for him. So that's some advice ;) I can see what he means in "rødgrød med fløde" especially.

Something i like to eat and think is danish food would be " Bøf sandwich med brunsovs og bløde løg og rødbeder" Works really well with flæskesteg aswell :D

All of you are just wonderful, I'm loving it :-)

for try it on tuesday: -"flødeboller", waffer bottom with a shitload of chocolate covered cream, the best. -"koldskål" og "kammerjunker", might be a summer thing, but it's a dairy soup of sorts with small dry cookies. "Koldskål" can be bought or homemade but "kammerjunker" is usually bought. -Strawberries with cream and/or milk and sugar. also a summer thing especially because that is when the strawberries are fresh, but you take strawberries and pull off the green top and cut them in at least half, put them in a bowl add cream (and/or milk depending on how much fatty dairy you want to drink, the more cream the better, though) and sprinkle sugar over, eat them with a spoon. The strawberries are amazing as stawberries are, but when you are done with them you have this strawberry sweet cream/milk and that is just summer in a bowl.

Your daughter is doing extremely well and learning fast. Back in the 90's, I met a nurse from CO, that learned danish in 1 year. 85% perfect I would say.

You guys are "Killers" :-D ! Maya has the pronunciation right! Josh has the translation right :-) ! Maya! "Efterskole" rules" ! So glad your going back! Best year of MY life ;-) ! When your done, I hope the best for you, in what ever "Gymnasium" you choose! Your a smart kid! I'm sure any of the ones you've applied to, well be happy to accept you :-) ! Folkens! Del på jeres Facebook side, så Josh kan få en god fødselsdag i april ;-) !

Now subscribed - cheers from Amager 😊🇩🇰

Omg I love when you added the cheering effect when you had accomplished the word and all I was sat here thinking is "wtf is he trying to say?" 😅 I still have no clue even after watching the video about what you where actually saying.. I really admire the effort though but I had to mention this one as ot was a bit funny 😋👍🏻

Lool Well done! I had huge trouble speaking those words too! Have a great stay at your efterskole, so happy for you. Well done both:)

Hi. Enjoying your videos. I don't think a lot about how Danes are. I just do it. Being Danish that is. Nice to get the outside perspective on the country and the people in it. Whenever you like something, it evokes a sense of pride of my country. A few suggestions, since you say you are running out of ideas: Difference in behaviour and mentality between USA and Denmark. It could be in traffic, education, workplace, shops, public transport and so on. My favourite video so far , was about difference in tax in US and DK. Enjoy your weekend 😊👍☕🍺

Subbed. I just stumbled over your channel a few days ago, and I've really enjoyed the content I've seen so far. You seem like genuinely nice people. :)

Omg i watched 4-5 vids before this. And i just now realized you're a family. Im danish and when you said afterschool i knew😂

Thats so fun tongue twister, quiet difficult words.

Im danish and its really fun to see you try to talk danish Jeg er dansk og det er rigtig sjovt at se jer prøve at tale dansk

Your intro theme bit is of really high quality, it feels quite professional!

"Kæmpe kæppe knækker mest" would be more like "Long sticks break more often" It means, if you think you are better than others, you will proberbly be the one to lose. It's part of the "janteloven" like "højt at flyve, tungt at falde" which means "if you fly higher than others, you will fall harder to the ground" 😁

Får means both sheep singular and plural, as well as to get. And you can ask what an animal "gets", to know what the "kid" version of an animal is called. So "Får får får?" means "do sheep get sheep?", as in "do sheep give birth to sheep?"

It's so nice to see you enjoy Denmark so much, it's easy to take it for granted when you live here. I just want to say, that if you are ever planning to come and see Odense, I would love to show you around my town :)

Fartkontol isn’t cruise control, but speed traps. It is a warning on signs that the police is or might have set up speed traps. It is to encourage drivers to slow down.

An idea for your next vlog; "Piet Heins 'gruk'" Denmark has a (for Danes) famous poet, who has written a lot of small quirky poems called 'gruks'. These 'gruks' often rhyme, are funny, and thoughtful. But they can be difficult for foreigners to understand, so therefore they can also be a good help for how the Danish language can work. Examples: "Husk at elske mens du tør det, husk at leve mens du gør det." ("Remember to love while you dare, remember to live while you do.") "Den, som kun tager spøg for spøg og alvor kun alvorligt, han og hun har faktisk fattet begge dele dårligt." ("He who only takes joke for joke and seriousness only seriously, he and she have actually taken both badly.")

You had me rolling on the floor with "Far, får får får...." 🤣 Have you heard "Over å æ ø, ude i æ å" (over on the island, out in the creek) It's of 'jysk' (Jutish) origin.

Maja you are so good at Danish i am so impressed

And you guys chose to live in the city which name is the most difficult to pronounce for an American. Very brave. Lyngby ( you end up pronouncing it Lung Bu). Try “Byens lys”, (city lights).You will probably pronounce it “Buens Lus” which means “Fleas on my belly” 😀

You guys should try making "flæskesteg" yourselves! The gravy you can make with it, is amazing!!! Also it's really rally easy to do :)

I would be super hyped for a flæskestegs tour where you found the best places to get them.

Tillykke med fødselsdagen og de +10.000 subs :)

I love that the auto generated subtitles translate “Rødgård med flåde” to “Holy clothing flow” 😂

maya speaks danish. You both understand perfectly. We love that we can speak perfect english but youre learning danish

Oh, you guys live around Lyngby. So do I. You should know, the best “flæskestegssandwich” is found at Likørstræde in Lyngby. Right by Lyngby Station. You should try it sometime. But welcome to DK. I hope you’ll have a great time here.

I could be wrong but, my word Maya has grown, developed whilst ya´ll been here - grownups to though. Please stay for a long time.

fun video :D I've been curious for a while now, if its not too personal, but what are your jobs? not where you work but more like what sort of job you guys have :) feel free to ignore me if thats not something you're comfortable talking about.

Lol I’ve never thought about “fart kontrol” Sounding like “Fart control” in english 😂

For flæskestegssandwiches, I can also recommend "Den Gode Kok", next to Silvan in Valby. Excellent stuff.

We need a part 2 of this soon

Thank you for sharing, lovning you. You have to visit Frilandsmuseet or Hjerl Hede, museum where the buildings have been moved for us to experience. In the hollidays, where people are working there as in the old days. I really think you will like it.

congratulations Maya on going back to efterskole :-)

Those words was insane and created just for this purpose of the video. No danes would use these phrases in their daily life :-) BTW: Varde is the name of a small danish city.

En rar barbenet araber barber, plukker rabarber i et arabisk rabarber kvarter. Should be repeated several times. Dont worry this one is even hard for a danish person.

I believe the thing with "Rød grød med fløde", is 3 things danes do when we speak danish. 1. The gutteral R (Rolling R) which comes up in both R's of the sentence. 2. The soft D, quick trick for this one, move the tongue to the front of the mouth so it's almost sticking out). And 3. The "Ø", and I can't find a good way to explain this one in a good way, so my best advice is "Trail and error", it might make sense at some point. Like if you think this would help out with some of the danish nonsense.

At Islands Brygge between Langebro and the first side street ? Yes that is good Smørrebrødsforretning. Varde is a city in Jutland.

@Travelin' Young - I'm a bit confused about your understanding on flæskesteg? A flæskestegs sandwich only has the actual meat from the dish we consider "flæskesteg". The gravy, potatoes, both caramelized and regular boiled potatoes, the red cabbage, the peas and beans as well as the gello all belong to the dish we call flæskesteg. If you haven't tasted that yet, you really have missed out... On a side note, have you guys tried the national dish of Denmark, stegt flæsk med persillesovs?

You guys actually did really good on the *RØD GRØD MED FLØDE* that are one of the Danes love to make non Danes say 👍🏻

There is also another fun thing with words. a word means more than one thing. On the doctor's door it says "den næste dør" which is "The next door" in to the waiting room. but it can also mean "the next one is dieing" time to change doctor.

theres a song called where they sing "be happy", and they like use uhuhuhhuuuuhuuuuu be happy.... when u make the uhuhuuhuuu sound that where most sound from danish words are when speaking them, so in the front part of your mounth rather then from the back like english, so trying to use that uhuuuhuuuuu, and then saying a danish word like "ude" might help abit... hope im making sense :)

That wasn't just Flæskesteg guys that was a flæskestegs sandwich. A flæskesteg is a big piece of meat you make in the oven and in Denmark we most often serve it with Kartofler and persillesovs. I'd recommend you try the real thing at a restuarant as it is a classic danish meal.

Denmark used to be a multinational central state, it involved Baltic, German, Scandinavian languages, and just like any other European language, it has French influence, due to to the lingua franca in the pre industrial, post roman era, being spread every where due to nobility speaking French everywhere so all in all Danish involves every single vowel the human anatomy can produce, and every consonant in Europe. very hard to master, but is a great key to European languages

If you guys enjoy cinnamon buns, you should visit a danish baker on a Wednesday and ask for an Onsdagssnegl/Wednesday snail. On Wednesday's they make them extra large!

When it opens, you gotta visit Guldgrillen! Its the biggest flæskesteg sandwiches, with brun sovs over it. It's amazing :)

You should explain the danish alcohol rules, since maya can drink here in denmark, and not in the us. And next time you travel come to Aalborg, it's nice here

Bissens gipsbisp is actually a plaster bust of Archbishop Absalon made by sculpturer Vilhelm Bissen, Plaster = gips, Bishop = bisp, gebis = false teeth in this case made of plaster (gypsum mixed with water) thus Bissens gipsbisps gipsgebis. The bust is in the City Hall of Copenhagen. Btw, when I'm in USA I always try to eat catfish once or twice.

Fartkontrol! Never thought of that. Hilarious! 😂

I know that most people point out that ÆØÅ are the hardest for foreigners to pronounce, but I honestly think it's the danish R. The english R is pronounced pretty much in the middle of the mouth, often with your tongue in the roof of your mouth. The danish R is actually pronounced more in the back of the mouth/throat, with little to no tongue used for intonation. It's actually closer to clearing your throat than the english pronounciation.

for try it on thusday, try "Stegt Flæsk med persillesovs" the danish national dish, it is finger licking good!

“Rødgrød med fløde” is a classic of course, but I personally ask people to say “Røgede ørreder” (smoked trouts) instead. Way harder!

Recommendation for a late summer/fall trip: Go to Hirtshals and Hanstholm. Loong walks on the beach, looking for amber and feeling the wind in your hair Love your family

I had to pause and order a flæskestegssandwich 🤤

The reason that the sentence at 6:20 works is that the word "får" can mean two things: It can mean "get" as in "to get" and the animal "sheep". If we say that the meaning of "to get" is meaning 1, and the meaning of "sheep" is meaning 2 it becomes this: Nej, får (2) får (1) ikke får (2), får (2) får (1) lam In English: No sheep dont get sheep, sheep get lamb. (The question is essentially about if a sheep is born a sheep or a lamb)

the "Far får får får, nej får får ikke får, får får lam" is like the American "Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo", it's not hard to say, it's just fur that you can use the same word multiple times in a row and actually get a correct sentence :)

You should try saying " Vi spiser røget ørred på Rødovre Rådhus" We are eating smoked trout in Rødeovre cityhall. 😊

I saw your video with suggestions for places to travel and I just wanted to chime in. A pro-tip: If you visit Southern Jutland you should definitely cross the border and buy heavily discounted (compared to Danish prices) soda, beer, wine and candy in one of the border shop (Fleggaard, Calle, Fakta Tyskland etc.) And I know it isn't Denmark... But 5-10 km south of the border you'll find the lovely city of Flensburg. (it once was part of Denmark so maybe it counts.. :p ) It is definitely worth a visit, especially around Christmas.

I think it's kind of funny you assume "rød grød med fløde" is not common, just something foisted upon hapless foreigners as a tongue twister. We genuinely do eat it, it's a perfectly common dessert! ^_^

We demand a Brisket video!!! 😅🐕

Stegt flæsk med persillesovs, pork belly with persillesauce and potatoes. Done right it's really great. Also in Bilka and Føtex has a great delli section with warm and great cold cuts for great sandwiches.

Best "Flæskestegssandwich" i Denmark has got to be "havnens perle" in Aarhus

I love this one, though not very PC! "Da de hvide kom til de vilde, ville de vilde vide, hvad de hvide ville vide." :)

A better translation for "fartkontrol" would be "speed check" i.e. what a traffic police officer would be doing resulting in speeding fines

Apparently "Rød Grød med Fløde" is a national joke, and for me, it's not that fun, more impressive if people can say it. Note, if it feels like you are being choked when saying it, you are doing it right. A little analysis I picked up when speaking with one of my fellow students in the international class when talking about how Danish compares as a language compared to fx Norwegian ;)

As a vegetarian, flæskestegsandwhich is really the only animal food I truly miss! The best you'll get in Tivoli by the "Red Demon" roller-coaster.

Social grill in Sorgenfri! I'm working on the other side of the street :D (Sorgenfri Fisk)

So fun! i loved it! you made my friday better! :D

The twisters you found is for Danes, except for "Rød grød med fløde" that is for foreigners.

This is a sentence that one can actually use in daily speech: Der findes bredbladet vejbred og lancetbladet vejbred Most Danes struggle saying it. It means: There is broadleaf plantain and narrowleaf plantain en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plantago_major and en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plantago_lanceolata 

I will have to add to this just like all else. Varde is a city. You guys should visit it, might find it have a baker or two in it^^

Many Danish words are very literal! Flodhest/hippo means river horse! 🦛 Næsehorn/Rinho means nose horn! 🦏

vær hver' vejr værd literally means "be worthy of every weather" and all the words are more or less pronounced the same, but it's not something we say as an idiom, instead the idiom is "there's no such thing as bad weather, just bad clothing"

Jeg plukker frugt med en brugt frugtplukker

Varde is a city in Denmark😊

So down to earth and funny... I like you guys already. Had to sub ^_^

lol you are brave