Simple Danish Newsletter #22
Hi Friends,
We hope you are enjoying the summer so far ☀️ The Danish weather here in July has been a bit underwhelming, alternating between rain showers and blue sky. For this newsletter, we started writing a guide to Danish news, not really knowing how large it would turn out to be. We’ll include some of it in this newsletter, and the rest can be found on our website as a full blogpost here: Link
Reading or watching the news can be a great way to increase your immersion – but where should you start? What are even the Danes preferred news-sources and what are they each known for?
Here’s an overview of what we covered in the blogpost. In the newsletter, we have pasted only the section about Public Service Media, as that is where we recommend most beginner to intermediate learners start.
- Public Service Media
- General News
- Tabloid and Popular News
- Business and Financial News
- Niche, weekly and in-depth analysis
- Danish News in English
- Pressenævnet – The Danish Press Council
Public Service Media
Let’s start with public media in Denmark, as they are some of the most accessible, they cover the widest range, and they use the simplest language. If you are a beginner to intermediate learner, this is definitely where we would recommend that you start.
DR
DR, also known as Danmarks Radio, is not as the name suggests only radio. It is the largest and oldest electronic (so excluding print newspapers) provider of news in Denmark. DR is a so-called Public-Service broadcasting company, which means they are bound by regulations stating that their programs must be of a diverse, cultural and enlightening nature. Whether this is the case is frequently debated though.
Besides publishing articles on their website dr.dk (which can be accessed in a simple language, through dr.dk/ligetil) they publish 3 free to view (in Denmark) TV-stations: DR1 (flagship events, movies, shows, news), DR2 (In depth debates, documentaries, comedy, films) and Ramasjang (TV for children aged 3-13).
They also publish a number of radio channels that are a great way to mix in some music, while also honing your listening skills:
- DR P1: Thought provoking radio, factual programming, reports, discussion and debate.
- DR P2: Music and cultural radio
- DR P3: Hit radio, popular entertainment. Also covers major sporting events.
- DR p4: The most popular radio channel in Denmark. They cover a mix of pop music with national and local news. However, perhaps they are popular for their traffic messaging during the day.
- DR P5: Older music from the 50’s and 60’s mixed with some newer music
- DR P6 Beat: In depth focus on underground and popmusic
- DR P8 Jazz. Jazz music. (You may have noticed we skipped P7 which was last broadcast in 2020).
Unfortunately, despite being free to access, none of DR’s programs are available outside of Denmark. If you have a permanent residence in Denmark you can take your access with you on vacations by registering with your MitID on DR’s website. Other than that, there’s Very Probably No good way to listen or watch outside of Denmark (as Weird Al famously put it).
TV 2
TV-2 is also a Public-Service broadcaster in Denmark, but unlike DR that is free across all channels, you need to pay to watch programs from TV-2. Their website, TV2.dk however, still has plenty of free news you can read or short clips you can watch. TV-2 is a “regular” company (although it is state owned) with a public-service contract from the government. A bit confusing, we know. The company was originally established to compete with DR, which was mainly a wish from more conservative political parties that felt that DR was leaning to far left. TV 2 has always been partly financed by commercials, so be ready for that as well, even if you pay.
TV-2, which is also the name of their main TV-channel, has been the most watched channel in Denmark for many years. Just like their streaming service TV-2 Play is the most popular streaming service in Denmark. Yup. Even bigger than Netflix.
The service is (I think) a bit pricy, but they host a lot of Danish made productions (movies and series), a lot of Danes also upgrade their package to include sports, which is probably a big reason for their popularity.
TV2 is also a great source for local news, as they host 8 regional tv-stations:
- TV2/Bornholm: Covering Bornholm
- TV2/Kosmopol: Covering Copenhagen and the surrounding areas. It used to be called TV2/Lorry and many will still refer to it by this name.
- TV2/Øst: Covering the east and south of zealand
- TV2/Fyn: Covering Fyn
- TV Syd: Covering southern Jutland
- TV/Midt-vest: covering the middle and west of Jutland
- TV2/Østjylland: Covering the eastern part of Jutland
- TV2/Nord covering the northern part of Jutland.
You can find the full blog-post here: Ultimate Guide to Danish News for Expats
❤️ Our Favourite Things
Show we’re watching: Tour de France: Unchained Season 2
As the Tour de France is currently going on, we’re watching the 2nd season of Tour de France: Unchained on Netflix. It is not exactly Danish content, but it retells, in a very entertaining way, how Jonas Vingegaard the Danish bicyclist won the Tour de France last year. If you are into cycling, it is a great watch, and if you are not, it is a great intro to the dynamics of the sport.
Idiom of the Week: En lækker sild
Literally; a hot herring
In Danish, if your girlfriend looks really good – you can compare her to a herring as a compliment. Not just any herring, though. A hot herring. Quite weird, I know.
For Example: A) Hvad synes du om den her kjole?
B) Wow en lækker sild! Den synes jeg vi skal købe.
Word of the Week: Klaptorsk
Literally; Clap-cod
Staying on the theme of fish. If someone is a bit dull or does something stupid you can call them a “torsk” (a cod) or if they are really stupid a “klaptorsk”
For Example:
A) Kan du tjekke hvornår brødet er bagt færdigt?
B) Din klaptorsk! man skal altså tænde ovnen hvis man gerne vil bage brød.
That’s all we had for you for this week. Feel free to reply to this email with comments, suggestions or questions, as we read and reply to all emails 😊
Best regards,
Antonina & Rasmus
Denmark&Me
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