Customer Reviews

Danish: A Comprehensive Grammar (Comprehensive Grammars) (English and Danish Edition)

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

If you want to understand the language of Danish -- and Danes are sticklers for grammar, both Danish and English -- then you must have this book or a Danish nun as a teacher. The cross-cultural equivalent of Warriner's English; everything but sentence diagramming. Not quite Strunk & White's Elements of Style, but I need its 600-plus pages. The terminology is "rather" British (see "copulative conjunctions"), yet it even instructs how to properly form colloquial sentences -- "so" colloquial that a Danish friend to whom I had written thought I must have made a mistake because the sentence structure I had used, as a beginner, seemed to arcanely correct. In short, this book is outwardly dull but extremely useful.

This is an excellent (and probably only) English-language guide to thorough Danish grammar. Very refined grammatical points are exemplified and explained in terms that even a non-linguist can understand. This thick book is neatly organized, the material is logically presented, and is hip with contemporary language and usage.

It would be difficult to imagine a more complete work on descriptive, Danish grammar, or any grammar, for that matter. You name it, it's covered here: orthography, sentence structure, verbs, adjectives, the list is very long(in fact, the very well organized index is 23 pages). Some readers have expressed the opinion that this book is very "British" but it is not. It is just very precise. For example, the terms copulatives(copulative conjuntions) and disjunctives(disjunctive conjunctions) are terms expressing the types of conjunctions used to join items and those used to separate them(as in the English "and" and "or"). Many readers might not be accustomed to such terminology, but the book actually does not assume that the reader is. It explains these terms and often makes comparisons to English. This is not a book that a beginner should use to learn Danish all by itself. There are no reading lessons , for example, nor is it organized for tutorial presentation. It is a reference, but one that is very usable by students and speakers of all levels. There is also a similar volume in this series on Swedish grammar. The binding is also quite nice. It is sewn in signature.

I moved to DK several years ago. I had a few months of formal instruction, but still find it difficult to get answers to the "why" questions surrounding Danish grammar. Most Danes I have met cannot explain their own language's grammar rules, and also admit to not knowing or using proper grammar as well as they should. This book has definitely aided my language skills and provdes a handy reference as well, especially with professional correspondence. Highly recommended as a supplement to Danish instruction.

This is the most comprehensive book of Danish grammar I have ever read! Even my Danish friends wanted this book so they could understand their own grammar. Its perfect for beginners and a great reference book for more advanced speakers of this often times difficult language. The only problem with this book (and the reason why I gave it 4 stars) is that it is written in very high formal British English, which is different from formal American English. This can often times confuse the reader, but not to a large extent. All in all, this is an excellent book and well worth the price. I plan on using this book the rest of my life (and the rest of my exchange year here in Denmark).

I must preface this review by saying that I am learning the language, and am in no way qualified to judge the contents. I do speak other languages, and am bi-lingual in English and Italian. Self-taught in Italian, and lived there for 14 years. My opinion, so far is that this is the kind of tool that will make that process easier. I have been studying on my own for six months and this book has already helped me decipher the meaning out of a number of otherwise impossible grammatical binds. This is especially true for written texts. I read DR.dk news texts and listen to streaming news almost daily. It is helping me make sense out of what I read and hear.

Excellent comprehensive book , all you want and need to knwo about the language.

Cavet: I am not reviewing the content of this book.

I just received this book. The print quality is really quite bad. Printed letters in bold type often touch one another and there is a diffusion between print and surrounding white space. I would get a headache if I had to read this for any extended period of time. Also, the paper is cheap quality more porous than better quality paper.

I'm returning this book immediately. Can anyone vouch for print quality of used copies published earlier?