Copenhagen Business School (CBS)

The language of instruction at my home university is in English. So is the language instruction at my host university. We followed a Crash Course Danish, the first week we came here so that we could get by in basic everyday situations. In writing, the Danish language is very similar to Dutch. So I did not have much difficulty reading in Danish. The pronounciation however is very different. In Denmark, most people speak basic English. So there is no real pressure to learn Danish.

I took an English course but that didn't help me much, the level was not really high (even though they called it an advanced course). I also tried to learn Danish by taking the Crash Course in the Intro week and later on a Danish Course troughout the semester. It's fun and you get to know a lot of people. And it's really nice when you can actually use Danish in everyday life (even though I didn't do that as much as I wanted to).

I haven't had any problem to communicate with danish people (as I didn't speak danish when I arrived) since they all have a very good level of english. It is very different from France, where people have a strong accent, and don't always have the basic skills. Therefore we had a very good opportunity to improve our level of english during courses, with other erasmus students (as I was our common language) and with danish people.

I study in Denmark, however I live in Sweden. Yes, I commute everyday to school through the Oresund Bridge. Although I did not have time to study Danish, I do spend time to study Swedish. The more Swedish I learn, the more I understand Danish, since they are in fact very similar, especially in writing.

My English knowledge before my semester abroad was ok. At teh university we have studied "Business English". The problem was that the classes are to big to have enough communication. That was the advantage of studying in Copenhagen. Small classes, discussion groups, and a lot of presentations.

All Danish speak English so everywhere you can ask and talk in English.It is really amazing when all people - youth and elder can speak really good English. Because of this fact you don't have to speak Danish to live in Copenhagen, but most employers require that you know Danish.