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I get a lot of mail at the How To Live in Denmark podcast, and some of it is from people who want to move to Denmark, but they\u2019re not sure what to do to make money once they get here.\xa0 But, I do speak English, they say.\xa0 Can I make money in Denmark just off of just speaking English?

Generally, no.\xa0 No you can\u2019t.\xa0 I mean, I do, but I was an experienced journalist before I got here. But English is not a rare commodity in Denmark.\xa0

Danish children start learning English when they\u2019re six years old.\xa0 And because British and American TV shows and movies and are not dubbed, children are constantly hearing English even earlier. \xa0Danish adults often read novels in English, and by the time you get to university, pretty much all the high-level textbooks are in English.\xa0 There\u2019s just no economic case for translating textbooks into a language that only 5.6 million people speak.

So, English is everywhere in Denmark.\xa0 And Danes love English.\xa0 When you come to Denmark, you\u2019ll find that shops and youth programs and rock bands have English names because the Danes think it sounds cool.\xa0 Danes also like to tuck bits of English into their Danish speech, like \u2018Du fik et nyt job!\xa0 Nice\u201d or \u2018Er det her den billigste togbillet til Roskilde? \xa0I don\u2019t know.\u201d

For some Danes, particularly younger Danes, the Danish language is seen as provincial, old-fashioned, kind of like those dusty little porcelain knick-knacks your grandparents keep around the house.\xa0

So another question I get a lot is, if you already speak English, is it worth learning Danish at all? Yes, it is. Parties are more fun if you can speak Danish. There's nothing worse than everyone laughing uproariously at some very funny joke, and you having to wait there like a piece of furniture until someone takes the time to explain it to you.