I noted below that when my Flemish-speaking mother wanted to improve her English, she worked her way through the classics of literature. Nowadays, we just slump in front of the television and watch foreign-language thrillers on BBC4. Thus I have embarked upon a crash-course in Danish by watching, somewhat belatedly, Forbrydelsen, or The Killing, the highly popular murder ‘n’ knitwear detective series. Apart from being a splendid example of Nick Cohen’s observation that ethnic minorities are never the villains in BBC cop shows, the series has done wonders for my Danish language skills. I think I could successfully apply for an IT post in Copenhagen, armed with these additions to my vocabulary:
English : computer. Danish : compuder.
English : password. Danish : password.
English : fuck-up. Danish : fuck-up.
Thanks to the wonders of Google, if you scroll down to the very bottom of my homepage and click the little blue and yellow flag, you can now read the clotted nonsense that is Gruts in Swedish.