Anne and Steffan's dialects are a joke in the big city: 'It's never nice to feel like you don't fit in'
Anne and Steffan's dialects are a joke in the big city: 'It's never nice to feel like you don't fit in'
Our dialect can be of great importance when we uproot our roots and move to a new place.
Anne Patrzalek and Steffan Frederiksen have both moved away from where they grew up - this has meant that they are now more self-aware of their dialects. (Photo: © / Graphics: Oliver Seppo, DR)
No, dialects are so charming!".
I have heard that many times in the city.
But no one ever says my dialect is charming.
I am from Frederikshavn (pronounced Fres'hawn) and I moved to Copenhagen four years ago to study.
I have not once in those four years met a person who did not comment on my dialect as something of the first.
It was really only when I moved away from my hometown that I became aware that others do not talk like me - and that there is perhaps a little more distance between us people here in beautiful Denmark than we think.
When, four years after I moved, I still get comments in my dialect, I start to think if I should try to put it down a bit.
Because it can sometimes take up a lot, and it is especially in situations where I am openly being made fun of. For example, a guy in the city said: "Wow, you don't talk normally yet" when he heard that I had lived in Copenhagen for a few years.
And I am far from alone in these kinds of experiences.
- It's a fairly widespread feeling, that of feeling linguistically wrong in Denmark if you don't speak Danish, says Malene Monka.
She researches languages at the Department of Nordic Studies and Linguistics at the University of Copenhagen and sees a tendency for people who speak a dialect other than Copenhagen to feel that they are speaking in a "wrong" way.
- The most unfortunate thing is that people get a feeling of inferiority. It's never nice to feel like you don't fit in, she says.
Stands out from the crowd
Anne Patrzalek from Give in Central Jutland and Steffan Frederiksen from Bolderslev in Southern Jutland have both moved to Copenhagen in 2023, and their dialects have started to fill in more – both consciously and unconsciously.
Anne Patrzalek has experienced that words or phrases she says are repeated because people think it sounds funny.
- It's not always great, because people make fun of them without them being aware that it's embarrassing for me, she says.
And one of the first things Anne Patrzalek is told when she meets new people is: "I can hear that you are from Jutland!".
- It also depends on what you think about your dialect and how you feel - whether it's a positive or negative thing. I'm just usually like, "Yeah, I can't hide that," she says.