One of the hurdles of language learning is fitting it into your day. Sure, you might find time for lessons early on, but sometimes life gets in the way. You might start having “skip days” when you don’t have time to study. If you don’t tackle the root issue, though, that skip day might become a skip week or a skip year. One of the ways to avoid this problem is finding many ways to engage with the language, and Danish podcasts can be a great resource to have at your disposal.
We won’t go too far into the benefits of learning with Danish podcasts (we’ve done that before), but you should know that they’re a great tool for improving your listening skills. Plus, you can listen whenever is most convenient for you. You might be wondering, “How do I find Danish podcasts that meet my abilities?” Well, we’ve compiled six excellent shows that work for beginner, intermediate and advanced learners. There’s bound to be something on this list that works for you.
Beginner Danish Podcasts
How To Live In Denmark
How to Live in Denmark won’t teach you the Danish language, but it will teach you the Danish way of life. And if you plan to take your Danish skills to Denmark, this will be just as important for you to know. In each brief episode (less than 10 minutes), host Kay Xander Mellish dives into a different topic about life in Denmark. There are the very useful episodes, like how to get a job in Denmark, and the less useful but certainly entertaining ones, like how accepted nudity is in the country (more than in the United States, apparently).
One Minute Danish
When you first start listening to a language, it’s easy to get overwhelmed. With reading you can easily slow down or speed up, but listening isn’t so easy (though with the pause button, you can at least start and stop). One way to start off easy is by tackling One Minute Danish, which is part of the Coffee Break Languages network. There are only 10 free episodes available to you, making it easy to blow through them all in one go, but starting small is a good way to avoid becoming discouraged.
Intermediate Danish Podcasts
DanishClass101.com
DanishClass101.com, which is indeed the name of the podcast, is part of a larger learning system. If you go to their website, you can subscribe and get access to PDFs, videos and a whole range of other content. But if you just want to dip your toe in the water, they have plenty of free content as well. This podcast updates very regularly and there’s plenty of basic content, from the absolute basics to more complex grammatical topics.
Radio Jazz København
Radio Jazz København (or as you might know it, Copenhagen) is a long-running show that spotlights jazz musicians. You might not automatically associate Denmark with jazz, but the country has a century-old relationship with this musical genre. Much of the show is music, which is why we’re putting this in the “intermediate” category, but there’s plenty of Danish to listen to between songs. We think it’s a fun podcast even if you can’t understand the words at all.
Advanced Danish Podcasts
Third Ear
Third Ear has been running since 2009 and is one of the most popular podcasts in Denmark. It’s a highly produced and sound-designed show that tells stories that, as creators Tim Hinman and Krister Moltzer are quick to point out, are weird. Fans of true crime podcasts will feel right at home, though. One of their most recent story arcs, Ingenmandsland (“No Man’s Land”), is about a mass murderer in London who is finally found out. If crime isn’t your forte, however, there are also interesting series about doppelgangers, traveling to Mars and more. The most recent series, starting with the link above, is about important musical moments, and is created in partnership with the Copenhagen Philharmonic.
Genstart
Once you get to an advanced level, you can pretty much listen to any Danish podcast that you want. The DR — the Danish Broadcasting Corporation — has many podcasts that you can check out. With a little digging, you’re sure to discover something that aligns with your interests. As just one example, there’s Genstart (“Restart”), a major news podcast that publishes multiple times a week. With this podcast, you can get the Danish take on some of the biggest news events going on around the world.