Marie's Danish Lessons

[Al_bina]

Reost#29

Ms. Cavallier has got a very peculiar attitude toward the language she has to speak during official engagements and other engagements she may undertakes with alone or with Prince Joachim. I hope that she will master Danish much faster living in Denmark full time.

 

[Jo of Palatine]

Ms. Cavallier has got a very peculiar attitude toward the language she has to speak during official engagements and other engagements she may undertakes with alone or with Prince Joachim. I hope that she will master Danish much faster living in Denmark full time.

I wonder if you ever heard French people trying to speak German? It sounds definately peculiar because there is such a huge difference between the way sounds are formed in German and in French plus the melody of the language is so different. I've heard Danish is even more difficult to pronounce than German, so I doubt she will succeed in tuning into her new language.

 

[Al_bina]

I have never heard French people speaking German, but I have seen my cousin mastering Swedish. In addition to the above, my cousin and me have learnt the English language, which is totally different from the Russian one. We did go through endless tedium to acquire some coveted knowledge as well as our parents paid for private tutors. So I do know how challenging it can be to learn a foreign language from my personal experience.
I believe that it takes determination to succeed in attaining goals and objectives set. Thus, Prince Joachim's support and Ms.Cavalleir's determination may help her with learning Danish.

 

[BurberryBrit]

I think clever Marie is playing a very smart game...I think she is being coy and downplaying how much work she has actually done in learning Danish, so when we finally hear her give her first speech in Danish listening with our low expectation ears...we are going to fall of our chairs at just how brilliant she actually is...

I doubt it.

 

[Martha]

She has a difficult task, because to learn Danish is not easy.I think so.

 

[lyndaW]

I would guess French is spoken with Joachim,the Queen,Prince Henrik & Frederick with Marie.
After the wedding I would hope that Joachim & other family members, friends and servants go out of their way to speak Danish to Marie and in that way she will learn so much faster (if she wants to know what is going on). If everyone continues to speak French to her they will hinder her ability to learn Danish.

 

[missjane]

Aw, how lovely. Good for you, Marie.

You are a funny one.

I would guess French is spoken with Joachim,the Queen,Prince Henrik & Frederick with Marie.
After the wedding I would hope that Joachim & other family members, friends and servants go out of their way to speak Danish to Marie and in that way she will learn so much faster (if she wants to know what is going on). If everyone continues to speak French to her they will hinder her ability to learn Danish.

I agree with you, in the pre wedding documentary, she dosen't appear to even attempt to speak danish that much. But maybe the pressure for her to learn the language is not as intense as it was for Mary, what with her being the future Crown Princess.

 

[MargreteI]

I have never heard French people speaking German, but I have seen my cousin mastering Swedish. In addition to the above, my cousin and me have learnt the English language, which is totally different from the Russian one. We did go through endless tedium to acquire some coveted knowledge as well as our parents paid for private tutors. So I do know how challenging it can be to learn a foreign language from my personal experience.
I believe that it takes determination to succeed in attaining goals and objectives set. Thus, Prince Joachim's support and Ms.Cavalleir's determination may help her with learning Danish.

Swedish is quite different from danish in terms of pronounciation and it is the pronounciation that cause problems for many foreigners. Not the grammer. Pronounciation is even more difficult for a french. As is french for a dane.

Another issue is the distance between spoken danish and written danish. How it is written is not what you will be hearing. Endings are being swallowed or altered, letters are ignored or pronauciated like another letter then it actually is. Words written differently are spoken as were they the same and words written the same are pronounced differently and so the list goes on.

Add to that the multible meanings af the same word. We are very economic with words, which create interesting pittfalls for foreigners.

It is not impossible, but it takes more time then other languages require.
.

 

[Al_bina]

It has been most kind of you to inform me of specifics of the Danish language. A host of reasons prompts to people to learn various foreign languages. People master the Chinese language, which is one of the most difficult in the world. I am sure foreigners living in Denmark master the language and acquire acceptable pronunciation without complaining about difficulties. The bottom line is that it takes determination to succeed in polishing pronunciation.

 

[pamk]

It may be a good thing that Joachim and Marie will be living far away from Copenhagen - the temptations of the city might hinder Marie's learning of Danish.
Couldn't she have purchased a Berlitz Danis language program - used tapes or CDs?
Pop those into a tape or CD player and listen to them night and day - that would help!

 

[Jo of Palatine]

It may be a good thing that Joachim and Marie will be living far away from Copenhagen - the temptations of the city might hinder Marie's learning of Danish.
Couldn't she have purchased a Berlitz Danis language program - used tapes or CDs?
Pop those into a tape or CD player and listen to them night and day - that would help!

You cans ee in the Tv documentary that she has in addition to her language lessons a learning program on her laptop with an accompanying book.

 

[randomlyKeira]

I was wondering, in "Danish Lessons" wouldn't she be learning a bit more than just the language? Shouldn't she be learning history, culture, etc?

I only ask because I know that from country to country curriculum changes, so even though she was educated in international schools, shouldn't she know a bit about the country? I woudln't want her coming into my school and speaking in my classes becasue I would be thinking that this woman knew absolutely nothing about our lessons (as I said: history, culture, etc.)... Maybe I'm a bit more obsessive about it though...

 

[Amelia]

If you watch the documentary about Marie you can see her learning, and talking, about the history of Denmark, the Royal Family etc.

> dr.dk tv - Det vil jeg se!

 

[Jo of Palatine]

I was wondering, in "Danish Lessons" wouldn't she be learning a bit more than just the language? Shouldn't she be learning history, culture, etc?

I only ask because I know that from country to country curriculum changes, so even though she was educated in international schools, shouldn't she know a bit about the country? I woudln't want her coming into my school and speaking in my classes becasue I would be thinking that this woman knew absolutely nothing about our lessons (as I said: history, culture, etc.)... Maybe I'm a bit more obsessive about it though...

No, she thinks so as well, you could see in the documentary. She told the interviewer that she thinks it is really important to learn about the Danish culture and history, mostly from books, but Joachim took her to a lot of historical buildings where she had a guided tour. You could see on more than one occasion that she had previous knowledge learned from books because when the guide started explaining a detail, she provided additional and correct information of her own, so she had read about the place before actually visiting it. She really was happy when she was presented with a DVD eg of the Danish main cathedral and found that the explanation was both in Danish and French. She said she wanted to listen to the text in both languages in order to practise her Danish. It really sounded genuine.

Plus you could see from the questions she asked that she is genuinely trying to learn about Denmark - she explained that she really wants to become a part of the Royal family and thus a part of Denmark, so she has to learn as much as she can. As she said, she is going to become a Danish citizen and as thus she must have the knowledge of a Danish citizen.

While I think it is sad that Nikolai and Felix don't yet speak a bit of French, as their father is half-french. Marie has to speak in English with the boys, so I guess they don't understand French. But her English is really good, like many French living in Switzerland she speaks a bit slowly but very correct English.

 

[Jo of Palatine]

Obviously Marie already speaks Danish im public:

Marie talte dansk

 

[randomlyKeira]

Thank you! I haven't seen the documentary yet, but I'll definitely watch it...

I'm glad that she seems genuine about learning the language and the culture. I think that just that will prove her a good princess, if she is genuinely in love with the country...

 

[Angeline]

I think she has plenty of time to learn the language and the culture and I hope she enjoys the journey with her new husband and family. She obviously has had so much to do and maybe language is not so easy for her? Daily use will be great!

 

[Emeralds and Opals]

http://www.cphpost.dk/culture/culture/44971-princess-speaks-the-lingo.html

 

[rylt11]

Marie is beginning to pick up patronages, and, as she does, she will have more opportunity to speak and expand her Danish. The literature awards were announced today, and, though involving French, will be another opportunity to launch her into some Danish with the public. All good. Slowly, slowly.

 

[Sereta]

I'm sure Marie will learn the language in time. It's not easy learning a foreign language but hopefully she will work hard and stick with it and will get it eventually. Afterall Mary was able to master it, so Marie will to.

 

[rylt11]

Yes, slowly but surely. She'll understand more than actually speak at first, but the whole thing will come together. Mary is so much in the public that she had little choice in the matter. With Marie, it may be a little different.

 

[CyrilVladisla]

Who were Marie's Danish language teachers?
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[Muhler]

Who were Marie's Danish language teachers?
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IIRC (and I probably don't) our Marie had the same two teachers as Mary, but not for so long.

 

[Claudette]

Interesting comments from the above. I agree that learning the language as quickly as possible not only shows respect for her adopted country and its people but would also endear her to them. As an aside, can someone tell me how tall Marie is. Thanks