About this course
This course is an integrated language and culture course with a major focus on making sense of your study abroad experience in Denmark through the method of personal storytelling. Studying abroad is a unique opportunity to undergo processes of inner transformation. Co-creating a supportive learning community based on mutual trust, this course will offer space for contemplation and deep reflection as we explore your new location abroad and the stories and values that have shaped our ways of life.
We will draw upon writings by some of the finest Danish storytellers and engage in conversations with Danes during school visits, communal dinners, and city walks to gain a more nuanced understanding of the stories and values that underpin everyday life in Denmark. Emphasizing spoken, everyday Danish, reading comprehension, and simple grammar, the language learning takes a functional approach allowing you to interact in basic ways with your local surroundings while abroad.
Syllabus
Spring 2026
Go to syllabusThis is a draft syllabus. The final syllabus will be available here a few days prior to the new course’s first start date.
Course note
As an alternative to this specialized section of Danish Language and Culture, DIS also offers a general Danish Language & Culture Level I course. The general course provides multiple perspectives on Danish society, history, and culture. Topics range from the Viking Age to the recent New Nordic Wave, Denmark under German occupation during World War II, Greenland and Denmark’s colonial past, the modern Danish welfare state, and concepts such as hygge, happiness, equality, and trust. Read more about Danish Language & Culture Level I course here.
Faculty
Ditte Marie Egebjerg-Rantzau
FacultyCand. mag. in Nordic Literature and French, University of Copenhagen. BA studies in French Literature, Paul Valéry University, Montpellier, France. Vice Consul at the Royal Danish Consulate of Ethiopia (2000). Educator at Novo Nordisk and Mærsk (>2006). Areas of specialization: Memory studies, postcolonial studies and civic education. With DIS since 2006.