Customer Reviews

Danish: A Complete Course for Beginners (Teach Yourself)

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

For an absolute beginner, this is one of the better books on offer. It explains things clearly, and from the ground up.

That said, the cassettes - absolutely necessary, since Danish pronunciation is a bear - are maddening. They start with a stretch of English-language chatter about how wonderful the course is, a speech which becomes even more annoying with repeated listenings. After that, they just race through a series of barely differentiated diologues.

I would have found it more helpful to have learned how to pronounce some of the colloquial expressions the written chapters present.

That said, the written chapters are well-organized, build on each other, and are easy to follow. In a perfect world, the vocabulary would be better organized - we'd learn the verbs for sit, stand, and lie all at once, for example, instead of in three separate chapters - but I haven't found any other Danish text that does that, so perhaps there's some kind of royal edict against it.

Note to Americans: this book is VERY Brit-centric. Everyone in the diologues seems to be flying in from London and drinking tea.

To begin speaking Danish immediately, the Pimsleur course is best. But you will end up with a few stock phrases and a very limited vocabulary. So after you finish Pimsleur, start to use Teach Yourself Danish (TYD). You'll be surprised at how much appreciation of grammar the Pimsleur course gives you without you having to concentrate on it. TYD provides a lot more vocabulary and examples, explains enough of the grammar to know how the language works, and should be used along side other books or tapes.

But the cassettes ought to provide MUCH MORE listening practice, and as little English chatter as possible. This is where TYD, Colloquial Danish, and Danish in 3 months all fall short: too much English on the tapes.

Note: TYD is unashamedly British-centric. It makes a good change from the usual USA-centricity of other courses (such as Pimsleur and Berlitz) and from the at-times incomprehensible American acccents on the Danish Vocabulearn tapes.

There are not that many books out there for learning Danish (believe me I've looked), and this book is a real gem. Not only is it well thought out and chock full of good material, but it is interesting as well. I can only hope that Elsworth decides to do an Advanced Danish edition, because this book is perfect for those wishing to live in Denmark!

Could someone tell me if there is a difference between this course and the audio cassette edition. Of course one comes with cassettes, but is the paperback edition more comprehensive than the "Basic Danish" course. If so, why don't they make an advanced course with audio cassettes?

"One coffee and a Danish to go!" No, not that kind of Danish! I'm talking about Bente Elsworth's study course for learning Danish. It's a complete course for those who are interested in learning the Danish language. It is a very fun and interesting book. You'll be speaking and understanding Danish in no time with Elsworth's excellent book. Tapes for the course are available, as well. Don't limit yourself to ordering a Danish in Danish - get the course that will have you on the road to fluency. Check out Bente Elsworth's "Danish: A Complete Course For Beginners", and you'll be glad you did.

I could not learn to speak any danish from this book.
Buy Pimsleur's and Berlitz's instead!