Danish television has been very good for our Danish reading vocabulary because English language programs are subtitled in Danish which helps us pick up new words. More difficult is spoken Danish - sometimes we can watch Danish television shows and actually follow the program. Usually, game shows are easiest to understand. Our favorites are "Danmarks Klogeste Barn" (Denmark's Smartest Child), a quiz show featuring very cute, very smart Danish kids, and "Grib Mikrofonen" (Grab the Microphone), a karaoke competition in which people on the street sing the first few lines of a song - without accompanying music and the contestants have to buzz in and sing the song if they can figure out what it is from the clue. Kevin says it is like "Name That Tune" with karaoke. "Hit Med Sangen" (Hit With the Song), another karaoke game show, requires contestants to come up with songs which have lyrics which include key words. The singers are provided with talented piano accompanists who also sing along. These shows are fun to watch even if we don't understand every word. Kevin has also learned all the Danish he needs to follow motorcycle racing and American football, and of course, the recent winter olympics. He found curling fascinating though the Danes did not win a medal this time around.
More difficult than game shows and sports is to understand Danish commercials - no subtitles and little English. However, here is one that is almost self-explanatory, uses no Danish, and if you understand why the man is so happy his suit has been ruined for a free hot cup of coffee - you get the gist of the commercial. (You can see what I am talking about by going to the Gevalia web site and clicking on the little film of the commercial called "Parken"). In the great tradition of coffee commercials a hot cup of coffee leads to romance.
