Cities, areas and streetnames

Rødovre & Hvidovre

Of the many many MANY difficult Danish words to pronounce that were mentioned, Rødovre get’s the first prize as being the most mentioned and Hvidovre as the runner up.
One suggested that pronouncing Rødovre as ‘Rollover’ did the trick sometimes!

Oehlenschlægersgade

This word could easily be the final word in a spelling bee competition. A piece of advice: Don’t move here, unless you have mastered the Danish language to perfection. It would be a nightmare to say this streetname to taxidrivers or when friends ask you where you live. 

Gråbrødretorv

The ‘GreyBrothersSquare’ is a great place for drinks or just to hang out in Nørrebro, but a real challenge to pronounce.

Strøget

It’s quite ironic that the most touristic shopping street in Copenhagen, which is mostly visited by foreigners has a name that no one but the Danes can pronounce. 

Amager

Amager is the island where the Copenhagen Airport is and is pronounced nothing like it’s written. Forget the ‘g’ and ‘e’, and you will get ‘Amar’, which is how it is actually pronounced.

Dragør

At the very tip of Amager (Amar) you will find a beautiful idyllic fairytale-like fishing village with a view over Sweden with the challenging name Dragør (Drau-ør).

Foods that are difficult to pronounce in Danish

Brød & Rugbrød

So simple, yet so challenging. Bread and ryebread requires a minor throat exercise to pronounce correctly.

Krydderier 

The Danish word for spices is tricky and maybe this is why we don’t really use that many spices in danish cooking. Try saying this: ‘Krydreurtedressing’ (Herb Dressing). 

Ørred 

A dish you sadly have to wave goodbye to ordering in restaurants is smoked trout, which is ‘Røget ørred’ or ‘Røgede ørreder’ (in plural) in Danish. Yeah, I needed a glass of water after saying that too.

Kødpålæg

You will see this word in most bigger supermarkets with signs for the different food categories, such as cheese, dairy and….cold cuts, which is ‘kødpålæg’.

Chokolade

At a first glance, this word doesn’t seem that bad. But let’s be honest. Nothing is easy with the Danish soft D’s. 

Eddike

The double D’s can trick you into thinking that this word, meaning ‘vinegar’, is supposed to be pronounced with a hard D, but nope. We are still dealing with a soft D here.

A list of other difficult words to pronounce

Erhverv (profession)
Udledninger (emissions)
Brødre (brothers)
Kurv (basket)
Opholdstilladelse (residence permit)
Udfordring (challenge)
Udlændinge (foreigners)
Ledelseserfaring (management/leadership experience)
Overraskelse (surprise)
Ydeevne (performance)
Nederdel (skirt)
Sugerør (straw)
Spørgsmål (question)
Bugspytkirtel (pancreas)
Selvfølgelig (of course)
Tvivl (doubt)
Yderligere (further)
Meget (very)
Imidlertid (however/in the meantime)
Ydmyghed (humility)

Did we miss any? Let us know in the comments!