Question:
Are you an American that has moved to Denmark? Do you like it? How was the transition?
2011-03-17 20:47:38 UTC
Thinking about moving there, but it will have to wait till I am done with college, but I would like to know why you moved? Do you like it there? The good stuff and the bad. Plus I am thinking of buying the Rosetta Stone language learning program, anybody have an opinion about it.
Six answers:
Linda T
2011-03-19 17:20:22 UTC
I moved to DK to be with my Danish husband. He had grandparents (now deceased) who were very dependent upon him for transportation, shopping, etc and I was not willing to force him to abandon them at their age.



Overall Denmark isn't a bad country. Like anywhere, there are good points and bad points.



The bad points:



The language is a pain - and while you do get free classes for it, as another poster mentioned, they're not all that helpful for folks that want to do more than be a cleaning lady or run a pizza joint. You can continue past the required proficiency in Danish (Prøve i Dansk 3) and take Studieprøven - which is the test level required to study in college in Danish in Denmark. I also had a copy of the Rosetta Stone, but in this case I didn't find it at all useful. My husband and his family are the reasons why my Danish is as good as it is.



Taxes - if you thought you were taxed in the US, boy were you wrong. But the taxes here support many programs that EVERYONE uses, not just a select few.



Immigration is awful. There's no other words to describe it. Well there are a few, but Yahoo won't let you post them here. The requirements for a permanent residency permit seem to change from month to month depending on the whim of the Ministry, and they're not well explained. I've been here for nearly 7 years now, and it's not certain whether or not I'll get my permanent permit this coming 2012, depending on what rule has changed.



Danes can often be rather 'insular' - it takes them a bit to warm up to strangers. Coming from the US, you'll probably find people in crowds to be quite rude - they bump and push getting on/off buses and trains most of the time, and will ignore you if they don't wish to share the bench with another person. They'll walk in front of you to get in a door (literally cutting you off) or cut in front of you in line. If I had to rate my complaints about Denmark, the rudeness of strangers in public places is probably number one on my list.





The good points:



If you're friends with some Danes, then you'll have fun at parties, going clubbing, to the beach and general 'hygge' - a Danish expression for kicking back/relaxing with friends and enjoying the time together. There's a definite drinking culture here in the younger Danes, and beer is actually cheaper to buy than water some places.



Public Transportation:



It's usually more or less on time and it'll get you damn near anywhere you want to go. There's always a bus stop near, or the metro/S-train. You can even take commuter trains to other cities for a reasonable price.



Less of the "Rat Race"



If your bus is late, you normally don't get chewed out by your boss. It happens, people deal with it. Weekends are spent with family - and a higher priority on family time (in my opinion) is present in Denmark than you'd find in the US. Yeah, both parents work here, kids go to daycare, but they have good afterschool programs that keep most of the kids out of trouble and give them constructive things to do.



When we had our son, my husband got leave just like I did - his job gave him 11 months of fully paid leave after the birth. You'll never see that in the US.



So all in all, it's not perfect, but it's not a bad place to live. I don't see myself spending the rest of my life in Denmark, and I'll never apply for a Danish citizenship, but I'm reasonably content living here for now.
2016-04-28 07:12:26 UTC
I moved to the US in 1994. I love it here. I'd never go back for anything besides a vacation to see my family and old friends. The UK, in my opinion, has changed a ton since I moved - lots of eastern european immigrants in the big cities, much more crime (not that the 2 are related, of course), liberal spending on stupid projects has stifled the economy and the whole place just seems rundown and stale. The house will cost a ton and probably be a shoebox compared to what you were used to in the US. My walk-in closet is bigger than some bedrooms in the UK. There is a lot of Anti-American sentiment for many reasons and I'll not stir up a hornets nest by expressing my opinions on why. Cars are smaller and so are the roads :-) Some surface streets over in the US are practically freeways compared to UK roads. Don't get me wrong, I love England. The history and architecture are awesome - the countryside is fantastic. I love the little village pubs (English beer is awesome) and being able to walk to the chippy or to the local curry house. There are things I miss, but I would much prefer to stay here in the US.
reminisence80
2011-03-18 09:26:34 UTC
Honestly it all depends on why you come here. And you should make sure your college education is even worth anything here, many expats come here only to find out their education isn't recognized. I came here to be with my danish husband more than 4yrs ago now, we have a daughter together, the danish courses the previous poster mentioned are free but not worth it, you should look into private lessons which will cost money (especially if you will want to work using your degree) and you should probably do that before you come here.



Immigration is evil to deal with, everything is at least double if not triple the cost if your an american. Most danes are pretty friendly, but I know A LOT of expats here who are absolutely miserable some of whom cannot leave denmark because of child custody issues. I have had some horrible experiences here with dDr's and hospitals but I think danes have had in some cases just as bad experiences.



My recommendation...join some expat forums, talk to people who already live here, make sure your education is seen as valid here, learn the language before you come (rosetta stone probably not the best solution but it could be a start), save a LOT of money, learn as much about the culture as possible because many things danes do will seem rude and cold when in all honesty they're just being danish.



I would also recommend ccoming here a few times for short visits before coming to live here. If yyou'dlike to chat more about it let me know :)
hello
2011-03-21 14:31:40 UTC
I am an American who has never been to Denmark but I think you should try livemocha.com before buying Rosetta Stone. It's free and it's practically the same. I don't think it will help you become completely fluent but it will help you with the basics.
Voelven
2011-03-18 03:38:45 UTC
I'm Danish, so not sure if my answer counts, but I know a few American expats here. To be honest, some hate it here, and I mean hate it. They don't like the culture, they don't like the language, a few have even given up ever speaking it, they don't like the people. The only reason they stay seems to be for the sake of their Danish husband or wife.



Others, while they still have language and culture issues, especially at the beginning, love it.



Much of how well you settle in a new country will depend on you as an individual. From what I can see, the difference between the expats that settle well here and those that don't comes partly from their attitude and partly from their culture. Aussies in general, for example, tend to settle much better than Americans.



My advice is to take a long hard look at yourself first, can you laugh at yourself when you make a mistake? Are you okay with speaking baby-language and maybe not be understood at all until you have become more fluent in Danish? Are you okay with people switching to English when they hear your Danish is not perfect? Can you deal with the stress of things not working the same way as at home? Are you outgoing and willing to take the first step in meeting new people? Are you okay with people laughing if you unintentionally say something funny? How do you feel about being sick and feeling miserable and being an ocean away from your family? These sort of things.



Also read up as much as you can about the cultural differences between the U.S. and Denmark. While most Danes speak English and we are both western countries, the cultural differences can be huge, and many of the issues I see actually stem from cultural differences where expats feel they've been treated rudely, but where what they experienced would not considered rude here, and the offender would probably have been absolutely mortified if he knew that the expat had taken offense.



I've been an expat myself, and I've often put my foot in my mouth, and on the other hand often gotten very upset with a behaviour where it was later explained to me that while it was rude, then it was not nearly as rude as I thought it was. I could have been ready for someone to be fired, whereas my local friends were all "naaah, that's normal, happens all the time. Everyone does it.". ;)



I don't have any experience with the Rosetta Stone program, but I will say that Danish is not a language you can learn without hearing it spoken by a Danish speaker and having a Danish speaker there to correct your pronounciation. While Danish grammar is pretty straight forward the pronounciation is considered one of the most difficult in the world and also words and sentences are not always pronounced as they are written.



As a U.S. citizen, you will, however, have to attend obligatory, free, Danish lessons once you've received your stay permit.



******



Rugratzzz: I think that's a very unfair statement. Yes, I am sure that there are some Danes who think Denmark is perfect, although I have never met any. And there is certainly a large group of Danes, probably even the majority, who think that while Denmark is far from perfect, then it is better than anywhere else in the world, except for maybe Norway.



But trust me, many Danes see plenty wrong about Denmark. For example, the current government and its immigration policies is a huge issue, and for me the elections this year cannot come fast enough.



Also, as mentioned, having lived abroad for many years, I can see how the Danish culture can be an issue. It even sometimes makes me cringe when I have Danish friends over when friends or family from abroad are visiting. I never noticed it before, but I certainly do now.



Unfortunately some expats discredit everything come from a Dane whether or not they agree with them, I have long stopped engaging in any kind of dialogue with this particular group (NOT saying you belong to them Rugratzzz, in fact I don't think you do), not because we did not agree on most political issues, in fact we did, but because of the verbal abuse I automatically became the target of based solely on my nationality. I could either "take it on the chin" as they so kindly suggested, and accept being called almost every name in the book, and preferably admitting to them, or I could confirm yet another stereo-type of the Danes being reserved and impossible to make friends with. I choose the latter.



Personally, I like to think of people as individuals and judge them as such, regardless of nationality.



For an expat moving to Denmark, I would obviously suggest not to solely join the "all Danes are pigs" group, nor the group wearing rose-tinted glasses, but to mainly find expats like reminisence80 who seems to have a more nuanced and realistic view of what it is like here - the good and the bad.
Rugratzzzzzzzzzzz
2011-03-19 08:19:05 UTC
There is no point in talking to Danes about Denmark, you need to talk to people who are not Danes, the simple reason "Danes" see very little wrong with the country, the main problem is getting into the system, its better for member of the EU but not much,



If you go to



http://www.cphpost.dk



its Danish news in English, and can be very good for finding aout about Denamark and the way they think.





http://www.cphpost.dk/making-the-cut/making-the-cut/200-making-the-cut/51097-worst-in-the-west-for-family-reunification.html



http://www.cphpost.dk/news/national/88-national/51188-muslims-accepted-in-copenhagen-not-in-denmark.html



read some of the blogs here



http://onlyindenmark.wordpress.com/2010/06/



then visit



http://www.foreignersindenmark.dk/forum/



talk to people who know,



Learning Danish http://www.sprogcenter-ia.dk/engelsk/index.htm



RR


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