Tatini
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I think that her mastery of German helped her a lot to learn Danish. For example, I don’t speak Danish but when I read the titles of Danish magazines, I can often guess the meaning of many words which are similar in German. Of course, the pronounciation is totally different, which makes learning the language a very hard and long process. Alexandra made it seem easy but for most people it isn’t. On a different note, I think that divorcing Martin was a good choice. She looks healthy, happy, and very “her”; when they were married, she looked like someone who was desperately trying to be “ different”... hip, young, and trendy, and I think that she lost herself along the way. Now she seems to be herself again, and I am glad to see that she seems to be in a good place.
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getafix
Most Exalted Member
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Bye-Bye MEDiana Who!!!!
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I think that her mastery of German helped her a lot to learn Danish. For example, I don’t speak Danish but when I read the titles of Danish magazines, I can often guess the meaning of many words which are similar in German. Of course, the pronounciation is totally different, which makes learning the language a very hard and long process. Alexandra made it seem easy but for most people it isn’t. On a different note, I think that divorcing Martin was a good choice. She looks healthy, happy, and very “her”; when they were married, she looked like someone who was desperately trying to be “ different”... hip, young, and trendy, and I think that she lost herself along the way. Now she seems to be herself again, and I am glad to see that she seems to be in a good place.
Yup. Alex looks younger than MEdiana and imagine if Alex married Floppy Frodo instead of MEdiana G
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ANDREW DENTON: Yes. What did... When you first met, what did you see in each other? CROWN PRINCE FREDERIK: What did we see in each other? We saw... Well, it's a bit hard. It's a bit blurry, in a way, because it was just after the Olympics had started and it was one of those evenings where...
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Miss Marple
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and imagine if Alex married Floppy Frodo instead of MEdiana One thing that Jokke is certainly good at is picking wives. Frodo should have consulted him. Or dragged to the Olympic games. Felipe is obviously no good friend but Jokke most likely would have said "No Frodo. Simply no"
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Missynat
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Oooh thank you for the link! I don't think I've heard her speak before... I don't actively seek out her videos.. or even if I did, maybe I saw one of her formal speeches but definitely never conversational or candid interview. To me she sounded very much like the interviewer or her son... To the Danish speakers on the board, what do you think of her Danish... either she's a good linguist or she worked her butt off... Cantonese or Mandarin is not the easiest basis to learn European languages on... even though obviously she learned English as a Hong Konger... Curious - compared to Mosh, how is Mosh Danish coming along?
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Harley
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Her Danish stagnated many years ago. She’s understandable (for the most part) but she’s by no means stellar. She makes loads of mistakes both in her grammar and her pronunciation. Alex makes no mistakes, her Danish is perfect. Marie is also very good. I can tell she’s not Danish accentwise, but she is light years ahead of Mosh and she definitely speaks Danish every day! Whereas Mosh is still an Australian living in Denmark, Marie is a former French woman who is now a Dane and you can tell on their grasps on the language. I hope that makes sense.
Mary’s accent is, at least, as pronounced as Henrik’s was but his vocabulary and understanding of the language was great.
Mary, I think, in part suffers from having been monolingual for most of her life but she mostly suffers from refusing to acknowledge that she needs to practise still. She does not sound like someone who’s lived in Denmark for so many years. But that’s probably because she doesn’t like Denmark.
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Missynat
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Her Danish stagnated many years ago. She’s understandable (for the most part) but she’s by no means stellar. She makes loads of mistakes both in her grammar and her pronunciation. Alex makes no mistakes, her Danish is perfect. Marie is also very good. I can tell she’s not Danish accentwise, but she is light years ahead of Mosh and she definitely speaks Danish every day! Whereas Mosh is still an Australian living in Denmark, Marie is a former French woman who is now a Dane and you can tell on their grasps on the language. I hope that makes sense.
Mary’s accent is, at least, as pronounced as Henrik’s was but his vocabulary and understanding of the language was great.
Mary, I think, in part suffers from having been monolingual for most of her life but she mostly suffers from refusing to acknowledge that she needs to practise still. She does not sound like someone who’s lived in Denmark for so many years. But that’s probably because she doesn’t like Denmark.
Thanks for your detailed explanation. You would think that with the Danish taxpayers being the people who fund her lifestyle she would take more interest in all things Danish.
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Jazzy
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Her Danish stagnated many years ago. She’s understandable (for the most part) but she’s by no means stellar. She makes loads of mistakes both in her grammar and her pronunciation. Alex makes no mistakes, her Danish is perfect. Marie is also very good. I can tell she’s not Danish accentwise, but she is light years ahead of Mosh and she definitely speaks Danish every day! Whereas Mosh is still an Australian living in Denmark, Marie is a former French woman who is now a Dane and you can tell on their grasps on the language. I hope that makes sense.
Mary’s accent is, at least, as pronounced as Henrik’s was but his vocabulary and understanding of the language was great.
Mary, I think, in part suffers from having been monolingual for most of her life but she mostly suffers from refusing to acknowledge that she needs to practise still. She does not sound like someone who’s lived in Denmark for so many years. But that’s probably because she doesn’t like Denmark.
ITA agree with your assessment. Another thing is that Mary is never called out for her language skills the way Henrik was. I was watching a tv show the other day and they were discussing Mette Bock's (Cultur Minister) Facebook post that Danes bullied Henrik. They discussed how he joined the RF when Denmark was not as internaional as it is today. And that the foreing wives of the two princes have had a better reception from Danes. That they have learnt the language better,then the panelist goes on to lie: with Mary she speaks almost flawless Danish. You cannot tell she's foreing I nearly chocked Really? That best describes Alexandra NOT Mary. That's why she's stuck, because she never gets honest critique.
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Maria
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^ How ironic that they in reality continue the bullying they say Henrik was exposed by saying such a thing Mary’s accent is one thing - I think it’s rather obvious she has no ear for languages and Danish is difficult to learn. But her frequent mispronunciations that actually make it hard to understand what she’s saying at times proves she’s not practicing which she should.
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Miss Marple
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^ How ironic that they in reality continue the bullying they say Henrik was exposed by saying such a thing Mary’s accent is one thing - I think it’s rather obvious she has no ear for languages and Danish is difficult to learn. But her frequent mispronunciations that actually make it hard to understand what she’s saying at times proves she’s not practicing which she should. In fairness there are different people with different kinds of abilities to learn foreign languages. Joseph Conrad got a nobel prize for things he wrote in English, but his accent in English was very heavy and he could not get rid of it. But there are things like coaching ... she has been there so long, her husband is Danish and she has so many opportunities. With Henrik - I think he saw himself still French, surely he spoke a lot of French with his children and his wife ... I think it was being a bit bold not to master it better than he did.
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Jazzy
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^ How ironic that they in reality continue the bullying they say Henrik was exposed by saying such a thing Mary’s accent is one thing - I think it’s rather obvious she has no ear for languages and Danish is difficult to learn. But her frequent mispronunciations that actually make it hard to understand what she’s saying at times proves she’s not practicing which she should. In fairness there are different people with different kinds of abilities to learn foreign languages. Joseph Conrad got a nobel prize for things he wrote in English, but his accent in English was very heavy and he could not get rid of it. But there are things like coaching ... she has been there so long, her husband is Danish and she has so many opportunities. With Henrik - I think he saw himself still French, surely he spoke a lot of French with his children and his wife ... I think it was being a bit bold not to master it better than he did. He addressed that 3 years ago in an interview and accepted the blame. Prince Henrik: Everything about me was wrong But here he also explains that in fact that Danish was not spoken to him for the first many years he stayed in Denmark.
"I did not see the danger of not speaking Danish quickly because everyone around me, to be friendly, spoke English to me," he says, adding:
"No Danes spoke Danish to me for the first two to three years, and I did not evaluate how serious it was to be fluent in Danish, and that was a big mistake and that was my fault. http://tvtid.tv2.dk/2014-...A-Alt-ved-mig-var-forkert
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Purple
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^ How ironic that they in reality continue the bullying they say Henrik was exposed by saying such a thing Mary’s accent is one thing - I think it’s rather obvious she has no ear for languages and Danish is difficult to learn. But her frequent mispronunciations that actually make it hard to understand what she’s saying at times proves she’s not practicing which she should. In fairness there are different people with different kinds of abilities to learn foreign languages. Joseph Conrad got a nobel prize for things he wrote in English, but his accent in English was very heavy and he could not get rid of it. But there are things like coaching ... she has been there so long, her husband is Danish and she has so many opportunities. With Henrik - I think he saw himself still French, surely he spoke a lot of French with his children and his wife ... I think it was being a bit bold not to master it better than he did. He addressed that 3 years ago in an interview and accepted the blame. Prince Henrik: Everything about me was wrong But here he also explains that in fact that Danish was not spoken to him for the first many years he stayed in Denmark.
"I did not see the danger of not speaking Danish quickly because everyone around me, to be friendly, spoke English to me," he says, adding:
"No Danes spoke Danish to me for the first two to three years, and I did not evaluate how serious it was to be fluent in Danish, and that was a big mistake and that was my fault. http://tvtid.tv2.dk/2014-...A-Alt-ved-mig-var-forkert And that's what makes him great. It is rare and takes courage to admit to a mistake. Well done Henrik
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Maria
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IMO that’s not something we would EVER hear Mary say. IIRC Alexandra or Marie has also said they had to insist Danish was spoken. I seriously doubt Mary would ever do such a thing.. which we can hear.
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pixiecat
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IMO that’s not something we would EVER hear Mary say. IIRC Alexandra or Marie has also said they had to insist Danish was spoken. I seriously doubt Mary would ever do such a thing.. which we can hear.
Didn't Fred once admit that they only spoke English at home?
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Jazzy
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IMO that’s not something we would EVER hear Mary say. IIRC Alexandra or Marie has also said they had to insist Danish was spoken. I seriously doubt Mary would ever do such a thing.. which we can hear.
Didn't Fred once admit that they only spoke English at home? But Mary not only speaks Danish, but also thinks and dreams in Danish
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Harley
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IMO that’s not something we would EVER hear Mary say. IIRC Alexandra or Marie has also said they had to insist Danish was spoken. I seriously doubt Mary would ever do such a thing.. which we can hear.
Didn't Fred once admit that they only spoke English at home? I’d readily believe it, if they do. If they spoke Danish, I think Mary’s Danish would be better. She might not get rid of her accent but it would probably be less pronounced and I’d imagine she’d have an easier time with the sounds that she’s still not capable of making. In any case, her vocabulary and general understanding of the language would be better. But again, to be fair, Henrik already spoke 5 languages before he learned Danish (I read that somewhere). Alexandra also spoke more languages and Marie is also quite capable in that department. Was it four languages she spoke before learning Danish? I can forgive Mary for not being as gifted as the rest of them. I’ll certainly never be great at math. I cannot, however, forgive that she doesn’t care to improve.
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