Fitting in in Denmark has been easy for me. Despite not speaking a lick of Danish--which I'm not proud of, but I didn't have enough time to do my homework--there's no significant language barrier. Signage for nearly all infrastructure is presented both in Danish and English, and in a few cases, only in English. In situations where it's Danish only, such as the supermarket, some words are close enough to English, thanks to our shared Germanic background, that I can figure it out.
And when worse comes to worst, I've yet to come across someone who doesn't speak English. Young people's fluency is impressive, but even older folks' English is more than satisfactory. I noticed a difference in Norway, though. Their English was understandable, but switching from Norwegian to English on the fly was not as seamless as it seems to be for Danes switching into English mode, based on the conversations I had.
The ease of getting by here linguistically has mirrored the ease of my overall transition to living here. Copenhagen reminds me a lot of Seattle. Of course they're two of the most culturally and politically progressive cities in the world. (I even saw Seattle City Attorney Pete Holmes in the newspaper here, in town to discuss marijuana legalization, which Denmark is considering.) Both cities have a maritime influence, a strong bike culture, much to offer foodies, several universities and a highly educated populace, and even similar weather (lots and lots of clouds). It's so similar, in fact, that this is the least "foreign"-feeling place I've ever visited, aside from Canada. It's an easy place to arrive in and hit the ground running, which I've tried to take full advantage of.
And when worse comes to worst, I've yet to come across someone who doesn't speak English. Young people's fluency is impressive, but even older folks' English is more than satisfactory. I noticed a difference in Norway, though. Their English was understandable, but switching from Norwegian to English on the fly was not as seamless as it seems to be for Danes switching into English mode, based on the conversations I had.
The ease of getting by here linguistically has mirrored the ease of my overall transition to living here. Copenhagen reminds me a lot of Seattle. Of course they're two of the most culturally and politically progressive cities in the world. (I even saw Seattle City Attorney Pete Holmes in the newspaper here, in town to discuss marijuana legalization, which Denmark is considering.) Both cities have a maritime influence, a strong bike culture, much to offer foodies, several universities and a highly educated populace, and even similar weather (lots and lots of clouds). It's so similar, in fact, that this is the least "foreign"-feeling place I've ever visited, aside from Canada. It's an easy place to arrive in and hit the ground running, which I've tried to take full advantage of.
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