What do you know about Denmark?

[Cyper]

Hi. ;D

I come from Denmark. I have for some time wondered what other people in other nations know and thing about Denmark.

Just post what you know about the country, and what you yhink about it, and please do tell if you have ever been to my country.

Thank you!!!!

[stinkyhippies]

Uh... sorry to say, I don't know much beyond the cliches about Denmark. Those raised in the States often encounter a lack of knowledge about our less-prominent European allies. Most here could tell you some things about England and France, Germany and Italy. Unfortunately, we couldn't tell you much about Luxumborg, Denmark, Holland, Sweden, Norway or Finland. Never mind the Balkans, the shifting maps over there confuse the HELL out of Americans.

I speak in broad strokes here, generalizing for the entire country. I know there are some urbane folks out there who may have visited a lot of Europe, been raised knowing more about thier heritage than some... but on a whole, we are a little ignorant about what happens across the Big Pond.

So... what would you like to tell US?

[Cyper]

Well...

Where to start? I know that your country consits of 52 states (including Hawaii). Your president is Goerge W. Bush (morron by my oppinion. no offence) There is about 280 - 300 mio people in the USA. You have great economic problem. (Dont know if you have solwed them) You fought a civil war in (about) 1860. You were once an English colony. Youre capitol is Washington DC. (not to be mistakenfor the state of washington) Youre lagest city is New Yourk (orig. founded by the dutch under another name)

Youre leading political parties are the democrats (Kerry) and the republicans (Bush).
You are the country in the world were most people are getting fat by the minute.

I will stop here, or I could go on all evening (its allmots 11 pm overhere.)

Sorry if I have offended you in anyway with my comments.

Tank you

[Re-Yupanqui]

No problem... most of its (sometimes sadly ) true.

What would you like to tell the less-informed of us about Denmarks basic structure? I can say for myself I'm interested.

[Down under there]

The only thing I know about Denmark is they have good chocolate and beautiful flowers (so I've heard at least, I've never been there)

Is that true? American chocolate is pretty terrible. Hershey's.

I also would like to know more...

[Cyper]

I will give a big cheese to the person, who can tell me most about Den,ark

I will start with telling you a bit of the basic structure in Denmark.
It is a monarchy (wich has no real power), but has its own palamant.
It is ruled by her majesty yhe queen, who is called Margrethe the II. (The Primeminister is called Anders Fogh Rasmussen)
IT has about 5,2 - 5,3 mio inhabitants. (Not sure about the excat figure)
We are proud of our armed forces. They have been in many major conflict (ex. Balkons, Iraq, Etiophia etc.)
We are also proud of our history. We are the eldest monarchy in Europe. (Even predates England)
Yes we have lovely chocolate (Made at the Toms, Bogø, Anthon Berg or other factories (1 point for Down under there))
Asfor the flowers. Yes we have beatiful flowers, but I believe you are making reference for Holland, which is famous for its tulips. (sorry no point there)
And as I have sometimes been asked by people from other countries around the world. SWEDEN is not the capitol of Denmark (or vice versa) The capitol of Denmark is Copenhagen (København in danish) (Swden is a country of its own, with a capitol called Stockholm)

(And down under there. If you are from Australia, I am pretty surprised that you dont know more the country. Our crown prince just married an aussie. (well actually from Hobart))

[Cyper]

Hi again. I did not hav much time this morning (it was 7.30 in Denmark last i wrote), i will add some more info.

Danish history.

Denmark is located on a very important strategic military place. We can control the entrence to the baltic sea, posed a threat to north Germany for many years (before we became freinds) and etc.

Denmark and its neighbouring country of Sweden has been at war many times uo through history. We have fought for control over the provinces called Skåne, Halland and Blekinge. Sadly enough Sweden won the last war we had before we became freinds, so they are not danish anymore, but swedish. Denmark has up through history been a country that set the known worlds agenda. In 1460 to 1492 Denmark was the ruling nation of something called the Kalmarunion, which consisted of Denmark, Norway, Sweden (Finland was then a part of Sweden) and Holstein.
Denmark controlled The virgin Islands (until they were sold to USA in 1915), Greenland (which is still a part of the danish kingdom, but has its own homerule), Iceland (was given free after ww2) it also controlled a couple of colnies in India, which was given to India.
Denmark was in 1940 invaded by Germany, which held the country in an irongrib for 5 years. Until the gave up, and went home. But the eastern point of Denmark, called Bornholm (a small islands far out in the Baltic sea) was invaded by the Soviet union in 1945. This was the start of the cold war, which we played a vital role in, for Denmark. The islands was given back to Denmark, thanks to the UN. On that island NATO put up advanced listening equipment, to listen for red subs, and warn the rest of the world, if any nuclear missiles were launched from Russia or other Soviet countries.
Denmark held its head cool, eventhough at least three nuclear missiles were ponited towards the country, and protected its sovereignty, prepared for war!!!

Thank you. (please dont mind my spelling)

[Tognatia]

Another aussie here, cant say i know alot about Denmark know the basics capital (but uve already said it so i cant score any points there).

Everytime i look at ratings for varous things ive noticed denmark (along with the other scandavians) is in the top ten . Ie health care and stuff I always seem to see dnemark very high up, as well as life expectency etc.

Got a couple of questions first one basic one whats the currency (and whats its value - against us dollar)?

second one relates to what i mentioned above, what is health care like over there, what system do you use?


finally regarding the royal marriage, didn't really pay any attention to that to me its about as interesting as the brittish royal family.

and to keep the thread moving along.... what do you know about Australia?

(note: Ill just set a few things straight now.... we DONT ride in kangaroo pouches to work, steve irwin does not represent the average australian (well maybe queensland....)

oh actually one more question, who is Denmark's traditional rival in sport and the nation you make the most fun of? we have new zealand/england.

[Cyper]

Tognatia said:

Another aussie here, cant say i know alot about Denmark know the basics capital (but uve already said it so i cant score any points there).

Everytime i look at ratings for varous things ive noticed denmark (along with the other scandavians) is in the top ten . Ie health care and stuff I always seem to see dnemark very high up, as well as life expectency etc.

Got a couple of questions first one basic one whats the currency (and whats its value - against us dollar)?

second one relates to what i mentioned above, what is health care like over there, what system do you use?


finally regarding the royal marriage, didn't really pay any attention to that to me its about as interesting as the brittish royal family.

and to keep the thread moving along.... what do you know about Australia?

(note: Ill just set a few things straight now.... we DONT ride in kangaroo pouches to work, steve irwin does not represent the average australian (well maybe queensland....)

oh actually one more question, who is Denmark's traditional rival in sport and the nation you make the most fun of? we have new zealand/england.

Very good questions indeed.

1. The currency is Kroner (translated to english= Crowns) 1 USD = 6,1782 Kroner
2. We pay high taxes. With these taxes we fund hospitals, schools, etc. Health care is free. Education is free (even for exchange students) There is a high life expectency... thats true.

I know that our crown princess (Mary (former Donaldson) Now she has about ten names because she married into royalty))
Its the only country in the world which occupies nearly an entire continent.
I dont know much about their politics sad to say.
The capitol is Canberra (Not Sydney)
It is located on the south part of the globe.
Theres a rock called Ayers rock (or something líke that) by Alice Springs in the heart of Australia.
The largest cities are: Sydney, Melbourne (were they drive F1, one of my passions), Brisbane, Canberra etc.
I knnow you have a lot of sheep.

Cant come up with anymore at this point

[Cyper]

Just adding to my last reply.

We make a lot of fun of The drunk swedes (they allways take the boat to Denmark, and buys a lot og boose in the duty free.)
The Germans. We love to make fun of the Germans.
And the Americans. A bit of the French

But mostly the first 3 countries

[Tognatia]

Red said:

Just adding to my last reply.

We make a lot of fun of The drunk swedes (they allways take the boat to Denmark, and buys a lot og boose in the duty free.)

make fun... that should be applauded

[Cyper]

You are right...

The only problem is that they allways come back for more. It is the same with all the Germans. Every summer they invade us, with beach chairs and large Mercedes Benz´s.

Tell me about Australia. With is the basics of the country, government and people.

[Tognatia]

Red said:

I know that our crown princess (Mary (former Donaldson) Now she has about ten names because she married into royalty))
Its the only country in the world which occupies nearly an entire continent.
I dont know much about their politics sad to say.
The capitol is Canberra (Not Sydney)
It is located on the south part of the globe.
Theres a rock called Ayers rock (or something líke that) by Alice Springs in the heart of Australia.
The largest cities are: Sydney, Melbourne (were they drive F1, one of my passions), Brisbane, Canberra etc.
I knnow you have a lot of sheep.

Cant come up with anymore at this point

nice effort, most people get the canberra one wrong...and yes we have alot of sheep.

Regarding the health care: Reason why i was asking is ours is at a kind of crossroads at the moment. We have fairly high taxes as well, although most things arn't free rather the government pays the vast majority of it (but will pay for education if the family cannot afford it.) health care we have a subsidy system called medicare where medical matters are heavily paid for the the gov, with the governemnt paying for all but a small proportion of the fee (i think we pay 15% or something).

Reason i asked is cos the conservatives (in power atm) basically want to get rid of this system, and from what i have seen in other countries ie the US, healthcare really should be a basic right.

got one more question: Danish is the offical language (it is called that isn't it...) but what proportion/percent speak english?

[Cyper]

Tognatia said:

got one more question: Danish is the offical language (it is called that isn't it...) but what proportion/percent speak english?

Yes Danish is the official language. The vast majority of people in Denmark speak english (not all are superb, but they manage) My grandparents dont speak english. But everybody under the age of 50 has recieved english education in school. Also many people speak German, which is the third language the danes are taught in school. (Danish, English, German) When you get on in your education you have the option to study French, Italian, Spanish, Portugees, Greek or other languages. (Nearly all of the schools in the country is run by the Government, the county or kommunen (a sub-category of county. Kind of like a municipality)

If I had to set a percent on how many speak english it would be 70 - 75%
German= 55%

[Tognatia]

lol were both asking question at the same time... you would of thought we would be able to syncronise on a message board...

anyway..

yeah we have the same problem with the Kiwi's (new zealanders) except its even worse, they can stay here permantly, ofcourse we could go stay there... but they do strange things to sheep.. (we have a very open border arangement.)

regarding the government: (note im a member of the labor (left) party so i cant say ill be impartial and unbiased... but ill try)

It is a Constitutional monarchy, a referendum for a republic was turned down recently (however it was more the type of the republic - parlimentarians elected the president not the people)

We have a political system dominated by two parties Labor (left) and Liberal (right - still dont know how a party called liberals can be conservative... but anyway). Leader/primeminister of the liberals is John Howard, leader of labor/leader of the opposition is Mark Latham (vote 1)

Then there are three minor parties the Nationals (who are in a coalition with the Liberals, who are in power), there are the democrats who often hold the balance of power in the senate - although they are a shamble at the moment infighting, members getting drunk and abusive at functions . I think they will lose most of the seats they have in the coming election (next few months).

The Greens are the last major party who will prolly get a reasonable showing for a minor party these elections (picking up lost democrat votes - and neihter major party has heavily focused on the enviroment.

Ok to the System of Government:

It is a Bi-cameral (two houses) the lower house is elected by location, each seat has roughly the same amount of people in it, ie there are more seats in the sydney area than the outback. The Upper house / senate is elected by state/terratory, each state has 12 senators, each terratoy has 2. (this was decided so the smaller states would have a equal influence in one house, as the larger states could easily dominate proceedings in the lower house (higher pop = more seats), however now all voting is along party lines so it is becoming redundant, although it does allow minor parties to gain seats.

Note: there are 6 states, South Australia (where i live), western australia, tasmania, victoria, new south wales, queensland. Two terratories are the northern Terratory and the Australian capital terratory, ie canberra.

phew... hope i didn't go on to much but that prolly answered your question.

[Tognatia]

ok seeing all question seemed to be answered and im bored ill ask some more

what is the climate like on Denmark? also what tempratures do you get to in summer, winter?

[Henneth annun]

What style of government does denmark have?

[Cyper]

First question.

Climate= It is a temporated climat (England, Sweden Germany) We have pine trees, but also wine stocks

Temp in summer= It has been a particuler wet summer this year (so far). But normally it ranges from 20 to 30 degrees (celsius)
Winter= It can range from -15 to +10

Denmark is a parlamentarian monarchy. Ei we have a monarchy, but also a parlament called (folketinget means in english the peoples parlament)
We used to have an upper and lower house to. But this was combined a 150 years ago when the fundemental law of Denmark was written (up until the the king had all power)
Today the monarchy must aprove of the government (in real life they cannot say dismiss a government because it is elected by the people.)
There are many paries in the in Denmark. Venstre (the danish liberal party, which has formes the current government), the social democrates. These two are the biggest. There 10 parties overall or something like that.

[Cyper]

Urgent Message (This is a REAL LIFE event):

I just heard on the news, that an American exchange student was stabed to death in my capitol today.

I am very embarrassed on behalf of my country, and would like to appologize to everybody. This is indeed a sad day, for the poor student, and for the danish reputation.

May thoughts and deepest sympathy go to the family of the unfortunate one. I ensure you the people who did this, shall pay!!!

[Re-Yupanqui]

Thank you for your condolences, it grieves me to hear that and to realize that I don't know how many European students could be killed here. Bringing this up, what are the gun laws in Denmark? Or criminal laws?

[Cyper]

You are allowed to have a rifle for hunting. I am not 100% certain on if you are allowed to have a pistol or some small gun.

The criminal laws are pathetic. The longest punishesment you can get is 13-20 years in prison for killing someone. This is very much debatet in Denmark.

Many years ago there was an Italian student who was killed. It brought shame upon the entire nation. Every dane grieved thata a young man had been killed. Many many people came to the italian embassey and lay flowers, they also lay flowers on the scene of the crime.

[Serconea]

Isn't the Danish PM's number publicly available? At least that's what I read in the Guiness Book of Records.

Hasn't Queen Margethe II been on the throne for 32 years?

[Cyper]

Serconea said:

Isn't the Danish PM's number publicly available? At least that's what I read in the Guiness Book of Records.

Hasn't Queen Margethe II been on the throne for 32 years?

The Danish PM. If you mean Prime minister. Well then it probably is... But he has the option to get a secret number. (as do all danes)

Yes her majesty Margrethe II has been on the throne since 1972. She inheritet the throne from her father King Christian the 9. It was not allowed to have a queen, only a king, in Denmark until 1953, when the constitution was altered, so that the only child of Christian the 9. (her majesty) could inherit the throne. If this change wasn´t made, we would have been ruled by some count who lives in Launborg in Germany. He was the closets there were to a crownprince at the time. (BTW. Her majestys husband Henrik de Laborde de Montpezat (a french count) is not king, but only prince of Denmark, since he was not of royal birth. Also BTW. Everyone in the kingdom makes fun of him, because he has lived here since 1967, but hasn´t mastered danish yet)

Now that I have started talking about the danish language I might as well finish it. Danish is one of the hardest languages in the world to master. (I believe danish is the 5 or 6 hardest language in the world) This is because danish has many silent letters, diffrent forms of the same word etc. Fx. You (when you address a person in englids) has (translated to danish) to different words. Du and De, which both means you. Du - is very informal (fx a talk between to freinds) De - Is very formal (when you address the royal family you use this form.)
It is hard to master

Another thing, and this is to Tognatia. You know... It is actually a danish designer called Jørn Utzon.
Denmark is famous for its design. Arne Jacobsen, Poul Henningsen, and Bang and Oulofsen (also called B&O, Beocom) B&O is a very exspensive brand, which is actually used in many hollywood movis. A normal telephone from B&O could with ease cost 5000 danish kr. (800 USD)

Also to Tognatia. You aked me the other day about the danish school system. I will just give a short introduction to have it is built. (Ei. All education in Denmark is free.)

First you start in Kindergarten class (after the actual kindergarten) at age 6.
Then every year you advance one class, starting with 1s grade after kindergarten class), until you get to the 9. grade, where you can deciede if you want to take 10. grade or go (as I am about to do after the summerholiday) to more advanced studies in gymnasiet (for people who are 16 years of age. This takes five years. There are many different kinds of advanced studies, this was but an example) Then you have the choice if you would like to go to the university, and study some more.

[Tognatia]

re education:

interesting, ours is very similer to yours up untill year 9, (except we start one year earlier). However most people stay on high school till they get to year 12 (although alot drop out during it) (you can drop out earlier but it will prolly result in "do u want fries with that" for the rest of your life.... then u have the option of going on to university for 3-4 years, or doing an apprentership in a trade.

I didn't know your sentancing was so light, I would say Australia is more towards the middle in sentancing (although we have had some big ones recently - after all where i live (south australia) is one of those places with the weird murders, im sure some people here would of seen the bodies in the barrels case.

anyway (excuse my ramblings) i would say a lenient system is far better than a overly to severe one.

anyway heres a question for all;

whats the most weird murder/crime thats happened in ur country? (can u beat "a dingo ate my baby...")

[Cyper]

Tognatia said:

anyway heres a question for all;

whats the most weird murder/crime thats happened in ur country? (can u beat "a dingo ate my baby...")

I am not sure. Let me see. Not that many major crimes happen in Denmark. Oh.. Yeah here is one for you. A couple of guys got into the parlament building (called Christiansborg. I have now idea hvow they did it) and then poured red paint on to our prime minister and the minister of foreign affairs. They got a couple of days in prison and a huge cleaning bill for the carpets.

To the "a dingo ate my baby". I remember that crime. The mother was innocent right. The baby was found in a couple of hunters backyard. They had shoot the dingo, found out it had a baby in its mouth, and realising it was a crime to shoot a dingo, buried the baby in their backyard. Isn´t that right?

[Tognatia]

something along those lines, was a fair while ago, but i think there has always been an element of suspican that the mother wasn't entirely innocent, but then again conspiracy theorists tend to say alot of things.

regarding the red paint: what were they protesting about?

we had a guy try something similer recently, except he tried to jump onto a member of parliament from one of the balconies.....cept he didn't get much distance and just hit the ground...

Our worst murder has prolly been the body in the barrels killings as i mentioned before, where basically these two or three guys killed i think 12 people, butchered them up a little, put the bodies in acid drums, and hid them in a old bank vault in a country town. Nice guys...

[Cyper]

Oh... Yes ment to write about that. They were protesting against the Iraqi war. They said it was the blood of babies being killed in Iraq.

Our worst murder in recent times was a murder called the Peter Lundin case. This guy, Peter Lundin, killed an entire family, his wife and two small boys, and cut them to peices. I cant remember what he did with them afterwards. He managed to escape to the USA. He he killed his mother, who was living in the US and is today imprisoned in the USA. He is a complete physco. He painted is face white and black an tried to justify his actions on national tv.

[RichfieldMN]

Hi,

I am a Brit living in MN and have been to Denmark once. We visited, Frederica, Odense, Cophenagen and Helsingor.

We saw where Hans Christian Anderson was born, and the castle where Hamlet was based on. We also saw the Tivoli Gardens, Royal Palace, Resistance Museum and Little Mermaid.

We loved Denmark the people were friendly and spoke fantastic English. The prices though were expensive.

We also crossed from Helsingor to Helsingborg and had a nice day in Sweden.

RichfieldMN

[Cyper]

richfieldMN said:

Hi,
The prices though were expensive.
RichfieldMN

Yes it is very expensive in Denmark. Copenhagen was named the most expensive city in the world after Tokyo of course. Been to England myself. Was in London for 1½ week. It was great. Every one is fantastic in London. We took this taxi ride around London, and the taxi driver gave us the most funney tour of a city I have ever had. (And I have been in quite a few number of cities. Ive been to Paris, Rome, Vienna, Londonetc.)

[RichfieldMN]

I remember in Copenhagen we went into a bar and had a sandwich and it cost us GBP4 each and that was in 1989. London too though is expensive, I think the 2nd most in the world.

I was from Stoke on Trent, which is one of the friendliest cities in the UK and now live in Minneapolis which is a beautiful city too.

The little Mermaid was a lot smaller than we expected too but it was a must see.