Denmark x things I hate about you

Well,  it sounds like you can't even laugh about it.  Once a person's sense of humor goes it is time to look for an exit.

Well, I've been here in DK now for approx 2 months (not v long I know) but have to say....

It's taken the last few months to get registered with the Municiapality and not yet got access to the free Danish lessons (really needed).

It is v tricky to meet Danes and know if they will willingly speak English to me.

It is sooo cold.

The cost of living is higher than I thought, and it's impossible to find a job atm.

However, I do think I still prefer it over here in comparison to the UK....

I am eager to meet other English speaking people here and have been waiting to start the Danish lessons for this reason too. 

If anyone feels like hanging out with a Brit, who can sometimes feel v lonely atm, then give me a shout

I still prefer UK , been there working in Bridlington for months ,

much much better than DK , at least it full with pepole , friendly , football , cheap beer  LOL

here everything so expensive , nothing free or cheap here

anyway , waiting for airport to be open again , i'm leaving on 24 , heheh to sun and beaches ,3 month wo

Ibrah,

I'm sorry that Denmark really sucks for you, but looking at your list it is clear to me that it sucks because you don't know how Denmark works.

So let's take your list one by one:

*Prices very expensive*
True, but this is relative to the very high wages and taxes here in DK. The minimum wage is about twice what it is in Germany, for example. Also, the VAT in DK is 25%. But people pay it knowing that there is an extensive social safety net here, so that no one feels poor, even when one loses a job. And because of the general feeling of well-being here, there is virtually no corruption in areas like police and government, because it's more trouble than it's worth.

*Bad weather*
It's not that it's "bad", but that it changes very quickly. It's typical Northern European weather. But people up here do like the very long days in the summer. And this past winter's snow was very very unusual.

*No friends , and hard to get know people*
This would be more or less true in any new place, but the Danes in particular are generally a "lonely" people; however, a typical way people develop networks here is through a sports club. Sports and other leisure activities are overly organized here, so go join a club!

*Langauge very difficult*
This is purely relative to the person. I myself arrived in January 2010, and can now write short simple essays, read more simply written newspapers, understand about half of the TV news, and function in public at a little more than survival level, all in Danish. And I expect to pass the Prøve i Dansk 2 exam when I take it later this month.

*Queue jumping in bus stops*
I don't take the bus often, so I can't say, but I've never been on a line so long that cutting it would be a problem.

*Arrogance*
I've never experienced that personally, but people can be arrogant anywhere. However, I find that Danish people are much more insecure about their own culture (or lack thereof) than they need to be.

*Disregard for health and safety in some areas that filled  with immigration*
This is indeed a problem, especially in the refugee centers.

*Laziness , No sport activities*
Quite the contrary. See my answer above. In my experience Danes are always out and about doing something. I once met a DSB train conductor who goes out almost every weekend looking for snakes as a hobby. And I have a friend who plays golf every chance he gets...

I hope this adds a little perspective on life here in DK...

Hmmm  this doesn't bode well..I'm Irish and moving to denmark to work for six months from August. I was looking forward to it but everyone seems a bit down about the whole thing!?? Should I be expecting a lonely expensive six months!?

DANISH FOOTBALL FANS NEEDED!!

Hello,

I am part of a team from the Inst. of Work Psychology at the University of Sheffield, UK, working on a study into cheating at this summer's football World Cup. At the moment we are looking for fans from all 32 nations competing to complete our short survey (linked to below) on cheating and gamesmanship; however we are still struggling for fans from Denmark.

I found your email on the University website and hope that you're someone with these links! Hence, I was wondering whether you would be interested and willing to complete it (it only takes 3 minutes!), and hoping you could pass the link on to any other people you know with even a minor interest in football/the World Cup? Also, if you have contacts from other World Cup countries that you could pass the link on to as well, that would also be hugely appreciated.

The survey is found here
worldcupcheating.com

Thanks for your time,

Steve

World Cup 2010 nations:
Algeria    Argentina    Australia    Brazil    Cameroon    Chile Denmark
England    France    Germany    Ghana    Greece    Honduras   Italy
Ivory Coast    Japan    Mexico    Netherlands    New Zealand Nigeria
North Korea    Paraguay    Portugal    Serbia    Slovakia Slovenia
South Africa    South Korea    Spain    Switzerland Uruguay    USA

I dislike a lot of things here, but also love a lot of things, so it evens out. One thing I really dislike, is the presumption by most Danes that because I am American I have a lot of money, or came from a very priviledged life before arriving here. They hear my accent and they think they already know me. In reality, I think most Danes lead extremely privileged lives...I was an undereducated (my family could not afford higher education in the US), single mother of two children working 50 to 60 hours a week just to make ends meet. I was constantly having to choose between food for myself or medicine for my kids, or food for my kids or medicine for me, so I went without a lot of necessities. Here that is not such a big worry as medicine is the one thing that is VERY affordable comparatively. Most Danes think that all Americans have a house, 3 cars and can do whatever they want, lol! I guess the only Americans they meet are the ones that can afford to travel, so I feel like I am constantly having to explain that I am not the person they THINK they know, I am the ambassador for the real average American that the rest of the world does not see.

I agree with you so much - and i'm danish for God's sake!
Danish people sucks, prices and what so ever! It's so freaking boring - take me away.

Well, i lived and studied in Denmark for six month, and i believe that there are quite something rotten in Denmark, quote William Shakespeare "Something is rotten in the state of Denmark"

First of all, people here in Denmark are very lonely, isolated, and depressed, mainly because of the bad weather, the cold, the darkness, but also because the danish society are indeed problematic, the danish youth starts out drinking in a too young age ( around 10 years old ), since denmark does not follow the same rules as the rest of the world, where drinking is illegal until you turn 18. Here in Denmark you can buy alcohol and cigerattes when you turn 15. Denmark also have the highest amount of cocain abuse in Europe, see;

dr.dk/Nyheder/Andre_sprog/English/2010/06/28/110022.htm

This is especially the danish youth, as most of them drops out of school, starts drinking, doing drugs, etc. Most of these danish kids behaves this way, because the parents in Denmark are generally careless.

The young generation of danes are generally not smart enough, and most of them drops out of school. In Finland, the elementary school teachers are educated through university, in Denmark all it takes is college and your ready to teach students. A lot of the danish college students celebrates while being extremely drunk, and the next day they are ready to educate students. A very concerning way that the danish society works.

Also, we havent talked about Danish Mentality. Basically, it is all about denying your own problems, while blaming everyone else. Preferably in groups of more against one person; a very nasty way of thinking developed by the danes themself.

You can see more about it here.

youtube.com/watch?v=tinUj61k-Vk

I do not recommend studying in Denmark. I spend 7 years here, and people on the street are generally cold, careless and quite arrogant. There were several homeless people laying around on the streets of copenhagen, and no one helped them out. The food in Denmark are horrible as well, there is not much to choose from in Copenhagen, apart from mcdonalds,burgerking,jensens bofhus,thai food and pizza grills.

I recommend Sweden,Norway,Finland & Germany.

yes , you welcome LOL
snow came so early heheheh x things again

milleacs wrote:

I agree with you so much - and i'm danish for God's sake!
Danish people sucks, prices and what so ever! It's so freaking boring - take me away.

@kingofhappiness

I went in to this forum because I wanted to see what other nationalities thought of ones own country - many things above are very entertaining to read and also, it's nice to get a new perspective on things when you sometimes "can not see the forrest for the trees". If you know what I mean :-)?
But a lot of what you "kingofhappiness" have written is just not true, I'm afraid.
I am from Denmark and have lived there most of my life. I am not nationalistic in any way, but I really felt insulted and troubled by your post.

- First of all, you are aware that you are generalizing an entire country with the sentence:

people here in Denmark are very lonely, isolated, and depressed

I don't believe you know even 0.1% of the population in question.
- Second of all your facts are wrong. Nobody, maybe a question of a few cases (which scenario is without doubt also to find in any other country), starts drinking at the age of 10. I'm sorry, but that's a tad ridiculous. I am very aware that youngsters in Denmark start drinking at a younger age than other countries, but the age is more around 14.
- Another wrong: The legal age for buying alcohol in stores/kiosks/supermarkets etc. is 16 years and you have to be 18 to purchase cigarettes. However, in public places with an alcohol serving permit such as pubs, bars and restaurants you cannot be served alcohol or cigarettes before the age of 18.
- I don't find Danes depressed at all. This year Oprah and many other medias announced Danes as the happiest people in the world. -which is in my opinion a bit over the top, but I really do believe that many Danes are content and not depressed and because of our high taxes and VAT we have a society we can rely and depend on to help us out when in a tight spot. That's just my point of view of course.
- You mention homeless people on the street.... excuse me, but you can't be serious? It is a horrible fate for a person to experience, and it absolutely shouldn't be happening - anywhere! But have you ever been walking the streets of another metropolis? London? Paris? Were people standing in line to assist everyone who was begging or sleeping on the street? Did you, yourself, assist?
- I agree that traditional Danish food sucks. But come on you are only mentioning foreign restaurant-chains. And by the way, a Copenhagen restaurant has won the title of the best in the world. Its called Noma

I am aware that I grew up in this country and that I can speak Danish which makes things a lot easier for me, but I do honestly think that Denmark and particularly Copenhagen has so(!) much to offer. Art, design, a great underground scene, music, movie-festivals, international friendly non-dubbed television, most of the population under 65 speaks English fluently, Copenhagen has many times been honored as the most bicycle-friendly city in the world!

Come on, I think you should let go of your prejudice and anger - it sounds like you're just out to get Copenhagen/Denmark. Maybe a Danish girl dumped you. . .

Hi Lisa,

Based on your limited knowledge i sense that you are probably very young and naive, so i am going to be very gentle with you.

lisadunbar wrote:

I went in to this forum because I wanted to see what other nationalities thought of ones own country - many things above are very entertaining to read and also, it's nice to get a new perspective on things when you sometimes "can not see the forrest for the trees". If you know what I mean :-)?
But a lot of what you "kingofhappiness" have written is just not true, I'm afraid.

This is very typical danish behaviour. It is highly known by people from the rest of the world. Of course you will, deny the reality instead of looking at facts. This behaviour is common in Denmark. Your "deny reality and cover it up with a lie" behaviour is very known to be performed by people in Denmark. Therefore, the danish people were nominated as the most shameless people on earth.

http://www.berlingske.dk/danmark/danske … -skamloese

lisadunbar wrote:

Nobody, maybe a question of a few cases (which scenario is without doubt also to find in any other country), starts drinking at the age of 10. I'm sorry, but that's a tad ridiculous. I am very aware that youngsters in Denmark start drinking at a younger age than other countries, but the age is more around 14.

There are cases with youngsters in Denmark who starts to drink around the age of 13 and below. This has been discussed in the danish medias several times. Here is an article that may help you realize the situation of Denmark.

http://politiken.dk/indland/ECE168126/d … populaere/

Taken directly from the article and translated into English.

Danish Newspaper wrote:

The amount of alcohol abuse from the youth in Denmark is one of the highest in Europe and their starting age is one of the lowest.

lisadunbar wrote:

I don't find Danes depressed at all. This year Oprah and many other medias announced Danes as the happiest people in the world.

Yes, i have watched the videos on YouTube. Basically, it is a short segment where the Danes are spreading propaganda lies about their "happiness". There were never any arguments or evidence for such a bold claim. Personally, i find the Danes to be quite cold,closed and a bit racist. Which a lot of people around the world agrees with. Regarding your depression in Denmark, i can inform you that 44% of the population right now is grumpy,unhappy and negatively thinking.

http://fpn.dk/liv/krop_valvare/article1511215.ece

Danish Newspaper wrote:

Nearly every other Dane - exactly 44 per cent. - will be adversely affected by the winter darkness and becomes more dreary, negatively thinking, grumpy and energy left. It shows a measurement, YouGov conducted for Metro.

lisadunbar wrote:

I am aware that I grew up in this country and that I can speak Danish which makes things a lot easier for me, but I do honestly think that Denmark and particularly Copenhagen has so(!) much to offer. Art, design, a great underground scene, music, movie-festivals, international friendly non-dubbed television, most of the population under 65 speaks English fluently, Copenhagen has many times been honored as the most bicycle-friendly city in the world!

I don't know why you are telling me this, are you trying to commercial for Denmark? A little advice for you: if your best selling point for tourists to come visit Denmark is that copenhagen is the most bicycle-friendly place in the world, then honestly no wonder why no one ever visits Copenhagen.

lisadunbar wrote:

most of the population under 65 speaks English fluently

That's a blatant lie.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Programme_ … Assessment

Scroll down to the 2009 statistics. You can clearly see that the population in Denmark is struggling to learn how to read and spell, not only their own native language ( danish ) but english as well. Denmark is ranked 24/30, located at the bottom of the scale. 

lisadunbar wrote:

Come on, I think you should let go of your prejudice and anger - it sounds like you're just out to get Copenhagen/Denmark. Maybe a Danish girl dumped you. . .

I don't have any prejudices or any anger, i am merely keeping to the facts while sharing my own personal experience. I don't see what my relationship to danish girls has to do with anything, it sounds to me like you are getting desperate over having lost the conversation. Attempting personal attacks won't help you getting anywhere in your life, neither will your danish arrogance.

Lisa,

Kingsofhappiness is scoring the website for bad comments made by those who have an opinion no matter what you say to he will come back with another bad reasearched remark with no relevance such as the ones already quoted.

The only thing that is Shameless about Danish in that article/link is their humour not the Danes themselves so also.. irelevant as the article speaks only of the Danish humour being percieved as insensitive/shameless. Notice that two of the people in the picture are Danish Comedians.

That link on with Danish people speaking bad english was a test done on 15 year old students every three years since 2000 which can't be used as an evidential fact on the Dane's ability as a whole to speaking English.. again irelevant.

The depression is based on a outdated report (2008) on Winter times which is a bit obvious to say the least so during the Winter 44% of Danes get depressed .. obvious everyone in cold countries during the winter months get a bit depressed not 44% of all Danes 11 months of the year are depressed.

Now this one is a cracker from his own posted link on underage drinking "Researchers interviewed 117 boys and girls in the 16-year-old and their parents. And the results show that young people on average start drinking as a 14-year-olds. (2006)" Yeah because that generalises the Danish population of teenagers, you also failed to mention that by law it is legal for 14 year old Danes to drink alcohol whilst under the supervision of their parents.

You will also note that he quotes you saying that he was dumped by a Danish gf and continues with "Attempting personal attacks won't help you getting anywhere in your life, neither will your danish arrogance." When he starts the conversation with "Hi Lisa,
Based on your limited knowledge i sense that you are probably very young and naive, so i am going to be very gentle with you." This is what we call in Scotland the pot calling the kettle black.

Now for an evidential... relevant links that might make you smile:

http://www.forbes.com/2010/07/14/world- … table.html
(Forbes known for providing factual lists regarding various topics such as the wealthiest people in the world so -everyone- can't be arogant, depressed etc like everywhere in the world only "a few" are)

http://www.theworlds50best.com/awards/1-50-winners
(Made only from Scandinavian produce and only making Scandinavian dishes so food can't be -That- bad in Denmark!

http://www.news-world.us/pics/2010/08/2 … the-world/ (Denmark not shown.. guess it can't be THAT awful with horrible medical care and nasty people horrible teens to merit a spot in the world's worst countries.)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copenhagen
(Last but not least 1st paragraph 4th line down "In 2008, Copenhagen was the most visited city of the Nordic countries with 1.3 million international tourists" Now i know 2008 but can't be sure maybe 2010.. 1 million or so since the economy crisis.. but yeah nobody visits Copenhagen these days)


Think this is what you call owned Kingofhappiness anyone who reads this post will now know that anything you write in the future with your so called facts are untrue and rubbish guess you have nothing more of relevance about Denmark to troll about.. Glædelig Jul!

I suspect ScottishGems and Lisa is the same person, they both claim to be from Scotland. She can't stand that people hates Denmark, so now she is talking to herself to let off some of the steam.  most disturbed danish woman!

ScottishGems wrote:

Kingsofhappiness is scoring the website for bad comments made by those who have an opinion no matter what you say to he will come back with another bad reasearched remark with no relevance such as the ones already quoted.

Bad attempt to make yourself sound relevant.

ScottishGems wrote:

The only thing that is Shameless about Danish in that article/link is their humour not the Danes themselves so also.. irelevant as the article speaks only of the Danish humour being percieved as insensitive/shameless. Notice that two of the people in the picture are Danish Comedians.

Wrong. The article claims that the danish peoples shameless behaviour is perceived as rude by people from the rest of the world. It was published in 23 newspapers in total.

http://www.google.dk/search?sourceid=ch … ml%C3%B8se

ScottishGems wrote:

That link on with Danish people speaking bad english was a test done on 15 year old students every three years since 2000 which can't be used as an evidential fact on the Dane's ability as a whole to speaking English.. again irelevant.

Wrong again. The test was done on all the students of Denmark. Denmark ranked extremely low, and as you can clearly see, Denmark is outside top 10. in fact, denmark is outside top 15. A majority of the youngsters in Denmark are having a hard time speaking both the danish and the english language. Therefore, your pathetic claim on your other account "lisadunbar" was wrong. Most people under 65 in denmark are having a hard time with the english language, or language in general.

ScottishGems wrote:

The depression is based on a outdated report (2008) on Winter times which is a bit obvious to say the least so during the Winter 44% of Danes get depressed .. obvious everyone in cold countries during the winter months get a bit depressed not 44% of all Danes 11 months of the year are depressed.

2008 makes it outdated? We are in 2010, where are you in, Lisa? The problems with depressed people in Denmark is still a major concern, if you believe that the weather changes in 2 years then you are definitely delusional.

ScottishGems wrote:

Now this one is a cracker from his own posted link on underage drinking "Researchers interviewed 117 boys and girls in the 16-year-old and their parents. And the results show that young people on average start drinking as a 14-year-olds. (2006)" Yeah because that generalises the Danish population of teenagers, you also failed to mention that by law it is legal for 14 year old Danes to drink alcohol whilst under the supervision of their parents.

The problem with youngsters in Denmark drinking more than other countries is increasing. A large amount of youngsters drops out of school, quits their studying while starting to drink instead. This problem has been discussed in the danish media several times.

http://politiken.dk/indland/ECE168126/d … populaere/

This article even shows that the youngsters in denmark drinks merely to get popular amongst other youngsters. This is terrible, Lisa.

ScottishGems wrote:

Think this is what you call owned Kingofhappiness anyone who reads this post will now know that anything you write in the future with your so called facts are untrue and rubbish guess you have nothing more of relevance about Denmark to troll about..

Well, I'm a grown up man, so i dont use childish phrases such as "owned". Hey, the PISA results showing that Denmark falls behind in reading was already published around the world, people takes the research serious, regardless of your own personal opinion.

King im not even going to bother to argue with you, your are wrong and i am right as i have proven that many times to you, you quoting bad newspapers on what you think is Denmark makes you even more moronic than i first percieved you have been given factual evidence so don't come back to me with your silly theories on what you think Denmark is read the proper links. You don't like the truth then tough if you are a grown man then i'd be ashamed to be you.

What the hell are you going on about i am Lisa..? what are you then every member of this blog who hates Denmark stop being a troll and move on you sound like one of those depression suffering Danes you rave about. It's funny you try to justify your bad links with no evidence try to read what you post in those links and stop your bullshit utter and irelevant bullshit i'm starting to think you have made a bunch of profiles and roam this website posting bad comments about different countries.

Grown man my arse i don't feed trolls you can speak to yourself all you want might want to check into one of those nasty hospitals you love and as for the other readers i hope you enjoy the facts on your country and have a little laugh like i do when you come across idiots like King who make it way too easy

Are we having a bad day, Lisa?

Well, you lost the debate, and i won. I can withdraw as the winner, the rest of the world can see that the original poster was right when she claimed several things that made people hate Denmark.

ScottishGems wrote:

you quoting bad newspapers on what you think is Denmark

PISA is not a newspaper, Lisa.

You done making a moron of yourself or do i need to post the links again?

ah what the hell... one for the road eh

" Wrong. The article claims that the danish peoples shameless behaviour is perceived as rude by people from the rest of the world. It was published in 23 newspapers in total.

http://www.google.dk/search?sourceid=ch … ml%C3%B8se "

heh but your right im not talking about newspapers at all but not sure where you got that from