Things are never quite as scary when you’ve got friends. But what happens if you leave them all behind? Uproot your entire life and move to a new country? To Denmark of all places! Where people are notoriously reserved and will do almost anything to avoid making eye contact with strangers... How on earth is anyone expected to make friends here?
Newcomers to Denmark find it challenging to make Danish friends. But why is that? Are there cultural differences we should be more aware of? What can newcomers do to form these valuable Danish friendships they need to truly feel at home? And what can Danes do? Why aren't Danes more open to people that cross our path, like, say, the English or Americans, and more ready for a spontaneous drink after work?
That is what we set out to explore in this miniseries, by talking to both Danes and foreigners and looking into some research on the topic.
Welcome to “The Swap Language Culture Guide to Denmark” and our brand-new three-part miniseries on Friendships.
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A big thanks to everybody who contributed to the making of this episode: Gintare, Valerija, Krisia, Madhu, and, of course, all the people who were kind enough to share their thoughts as we chased them down with our mic on the streets.
If you would like to learn more on the topic, check out these sources that were a great inspiration for us as we researched and wrote the episode:
https://www.zetland.dk/historie/seQAkgbW-a8dGXQ45-bbb6f
https://udforsksindet.dk/3-former-for-venskab-ifoelge-aristoteles/
https://videnskab.dk/teknologi/forskere-saetter-venskaber-paa-matematisk-formel/
https://www.sst.dk/-/media/Udgivelser/2022/Sundhedsprofil/Sundhedsprofilen.ashx
https://www.alt.dk/artikler/tilflyttere-i-danmark-om-venner/1537440
https://videnskab.dk/kultur-samfund/vi-kan-kun-have-150-venner-ogsaa-paa-facebook/
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