Apparently...Speaking Danish Is More Difficult Than Making It

 A few weeks ago, while shopping with my wife, I came across a box of Junket Danish Dessert. It caught my eye immediately. Anything "Danish" does, except when danish is spelled with a lower case "d," which only describes food. I picked up the box and read the hook that would made an average consumer want to buy it.

I think it's the first time I ever read the word "Rødgrød" on an American product.

That word, rødgrød, well...it can conjure nightmares.

Nightmares may be a little strong. Maybe emotional scarring would is more apt.

As a teenager learning to speak Danish, saying the Danish word for red porridge correctly is like a rite of passage, a test to see if you can contort your mouth and tongue and produce sounds that a Dane might recognize. Since this is a blog--a visual method of communication--and not a recording--an audio method of communication, you won't hear the word being pronounced here. Let's just say, the sound of rødgrød being spoken sounds like the speaker is literally swallowing the words.

It sounds that way because that's where the sounds come from, deep deep in the throat. 

My Danish (when at its best...) was okay. I didn't "wow" anyone. The Danes love when people put in the effort to learn their language and they are quite forgiving. I know this because they put up with a bunch of young Americans spouting Danish words with an American accent. The Danes have a little test for those trying to learn the language. They say, "How do you say, 'rødgrød med fløde på?'" (red porridge with cream on top...).

And how those words exit your mouth is a barometer of how good you speak Danish.

I practiced saying those words over and over. I think I got pretty good. I think I'm still pretty good even thirty-plus years later.

The rest of the words...that's a different story.

I loved seeing "rødgrød" on that little box. The instructions gave me the impression that making rødgrød is much easier than actually saying the word.

Because you can make food without saying a word...

It doesn't work the other way around.