Next week I have a new Danish exam, meaning that the closer I get to it, the more I think about it and the more I get nervous. So you will hear about this again, probably after I get the results when either I will brag about my brilliance or I will admit, in shame, that my Danish is not as good as it should have been by now.
Like for the first two exams I had, I read three books which I might have to talk about during the oral examination. The books I read before were very weird and, to be honest, quite annoying. You might remember me complaining about them and the topics they’re on. And if you don’t, no worries, I will refresh your memory:
Danes hate foreigners, if you need a new kidney you have to go to Pakistan and buy one and… if you think that your husband has an affair, the perfect moment to discuss with him about it is when you wake him up after a drinking night. Oh, and because he still wants to sleep when you violently shake him, you pour a bucket full of cold water on top of his head.
But now… everything is changed! I am officially capable of reading interesting books in Danish. Or at least… figure out the main point if not understand all the details. The first book I started with is an old time classic: The Little Mermaid. For those of you who don’t know, the original story after which Disney made the animation movie with Ariel, was written by H.C. Andersen, a Danish writer. I then carried on with another old Danish novel, entitled Hosekræmmeren. Since both books have been originally written in old Danish, I am quite certain that the versions I got my hands on have been rewritten using modern language. It might also be that they changed them even more, to make the books more accessible to us, the students. Anyway, this second book was about life at the end of 19th century and how the parents’ desire to marry their daughters with a rich man can ruin lives. It was an interesting one.
The last book was a bit different and I think that it is not a proper Danish book – but one specially written for this course. It was in the shape of letters and it gradually told the story of a murder. Compared to The Little Mermaid and Hosekræmmeren, this one could easily be improved to become a better story. But even so, it was far more captivating than whatever I had to struggle through before.
The Little Mermaid (in Copenhagen) and myself in 2009
from the attic 