Rafcdk at 2024-03-26 01:37:48+00:00 ID: kwkwjgb

So fuck people that try to integrate? I got my citizenship 13 years ago, the Danish exam wasn't hard at all, and I always put the effort to learn the language. But people with this mindset make sure to make us feel terrible about ourselves for trying.

BobsLakehouse at 2024-03-26 05:19:43+00:00 ID: kwlpc0j

Not always. It is also just a rude attittude

OppositeFlow546 at 2024-03-26 07:00:54+00:00 ID: kwly0pa

I lived for a while in a Easter European country, where even attempting to speak their language made people excited that you are interested in their culture, and they helped you improve it. They never switched to English if you spoke their language, even if they spoke English themselves. 

I had babushkas stop and have a conversation with me in my barely comprehensive spoken language, and the fact that they were joyful and patient (you could see it in their eyes) encouraged me to speak more often, therefore learning faster. 

So, I managed to learn that language faster in a few months of living there, while it took me years to reach the same level with Danish. And eastern European language are a million times harder grammatically and phonetically. 

Integration takes two, and Danes hate to even think about it: it takes an immigrant willing to kntegrate and put in considerable amount of effort, naturally. 

But it  also take a patient local population that is willing to integrate the newcomers, and that understands that it is naturally going to be a bit awkward at first. Eventually, the effort will benefit the entire society. 

The way humans learn is by making mistakes. Switching to English when a foreigner tries to speak Danish actively hurts integration, because they never get the chance to make these mistakes to begin with. 

BobsLakehouse at 2024-03-26 05:21:02+00:00 ID: kwlpgg4

Good idea!

Poet_Silly at 2024-03-26 10:56:48+00:00 ID: kwmh662

I had a Japanese exchange student living with us at age 16. In one year he was speaking Danish like close to perfect. But he also learned skiing just from reading about it so...

Koichi, you made me put visiting Japan on my bucket list.

P.S.: He also aced in math. (13 on the old scale). Back in Tokyo he just barely passed the year he returned. Hope to meet you again one day, Koichi!

Slimmund at 2024-03-26 07:40:46+00:00 ID: kwm13fk

I have never encountered what I would describe as “nonsense niche historical questions” on that test. We can debate the quality of the Danish school system but I’m just making a normative statement that it shouldn’t be hard for Danes to pass the test given the questions.

Slimmund at 2024-03-26 07:35:15+00:00 ID: kwm0ocg

If Jørn Utzon is the name of that architect then it’s very relevant for Danish society :) In the same same way that Thorvaldsen isn’t just some sculptor and H.C. Andersen isn’t just some writer without relevance to Denmark.