Learn Danish with TV-commercials
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Introduction
In this task we shall work with a few tv-commercials that
were running in Denmark in the early 1980s. Commercials
such as these are interesting to work with because they
offer a lot of images and sounds as hints toward what the
spoken and written language might mean. Apart from
offering a fun way of learning some new Danish words, the
commercials also offer windows into the dreams and
"Bounty-Land"
desires of Danes in the 1980s. For this exercise students
should have headphones, a microphone and a software for
digital recording installed on their computers such as
Audacity. First, students will be asked to identify
commercials from an entire block, and later on, students will work with individual commercials.
Objectives
The immediate objectives in this exercise are to get a sense of the sounds of the Danish language
and to assist students, by the aid of images and music, in aquiring some new Danish words. There
will be an emphasis on pronounciation and the recognition of spoken Danish. Students will also
begin building a vocabulary and learn a few things about how to form nouns and adjectives.
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Learn Danish with TV-commercials
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Activity 1: Danish commercials - identify the products
You are going to watch a block of commercials that was shown in Danish cinemas in the early
1980s. This was a time before commercial television in Denmark, so Danes would only see
these in the cinemas. The limited market for commercials might also account for the poor
quality and slow pace of the individual ads compared to today's advertisments.
Instruction
Click on the play button on the YouTube video below, and see the entire block of
commercials. In the following activity, you are going to identify the Danish names for
the products they are trying to sell, and to identify some of the slogans.
Identify the products advertised in the commercials. Tick the correct boxes in the list of
products below. You should tick the boxes in the left column only for the products that are
actually advertised.
Telefon
knallert
Tobak
Chocolade
Ski
Sodavand
Timex ur
Whisky
Computer
Cola
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Learn Danish with TV-commercials
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Activity 2: Identify the slogans
Right, now we are going to make it a little more challenging. As you know, advertisements
such as these always have fairly short and catchy slogans. The slogans in these ads are
sometimes written on the screen at the end. In some of them, the speaker reads them out
aloud with or without the written text shown. In the following activity, you are asked to
match some of the products with their slogans.
Instruction
Listen to and watch the commercials again from the YouTube video above. Remember,
you can use the sliding bar beneath the video to go back and forth in the block of
commercials. Below you will find some of the slogans, choose from the drop-down lists
the matching products.
"... fører an" (... leads the way)
S HO W F E E D B AC K
"Sig ... til din ..."
S HO W F E E D B AC K
Drik ... kun tre kalorier"
S HO W F E E D B AC K
"... Gør Din Drøm til Virkelighed."
S HO W F E E D B AC K
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Learn Danish with TV-commercials
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Activity 3: Ballantine's Commercial
In this activity you are going to work with a commercial selling Ballantine's Whisky. Before we
begin with the activity, take a moment to consider what you might expect to see and hear in
a TV-commercial selling this product.
Instruction
Watch the first part of the YouTube movie below that features the Ballantine's
commercial with the sound turned off. Notice the images shown and consider what the
commercial tells you about the product.
What do you think the commercial wants to say about the people who drink Ballantine's? And
how do the images fit in? Write a short text below with your immediate impressions.
S HO W F E E D B AC K
Have another look at the ad, now with the sound turned on. You can go back and listen to the
speak a few times until you are able to recognize the individual words.
Below you find a list of Danish words that might or might not appear in the commercial. By
checking the green "tick" column, you agree to have heard that word in the commercial.
Remember that Danish words are not written exactly as they are pronounced, so this is a
challenging task.
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Learn Danish with TV-commercials
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Activity 4: Ballantine's Speaker Wanted!
In this activity you are going to try out doing the speak yourself. This is quite challenging
since you might not know the meaning of all the words and the speaker talks quite fast, but
the exercise is designed to give you a better sense of how Danish sounds. So, get ready for
some tung-twisting exercises and for a possible career in advertisement!
Instruction
Below you find the speak written out - with spaces and puntuation marks this time.
Listen to the commercial again while you read along with the speaker - try to get as
close as you can to the rhythm and emphasis of the words.
When you feel you have the flow of the speak, notice where the speak begins in the
video, and do your own speak with the sound turned down.
Now, it is time to record your speak using your microphone and the audacity software
or any other sound recording device you may have. Play back your recording and judge
how close you came to make a good sell!
"Folk, der kan li' at se sig om i verden, kender som regel noget til whisky; og jo mere man
kender til whisky, jo gladere bliver man for Ballantine's."
How close do you think you got to the original speak? Select the most fitting statement from
the drop down list below.
S HO W F E E D B AC K
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Learn Danish with TV-commercials
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Activity 5: Bounty Commercial
You are going to watch the Bounty commercial, which is the third commercial in the block.
Before you see the commercial, take a minute to consider the adjectives you would imagine
such a commercial to use in describing this exotic piece of chocolate. You can have a look at
the image on top of this page for inspiration.
Instruction
Watch the Bounty commercial, the third in this block of commercials. You find it in the
YouTube video by scrolling the time-bar to begin at 0:56. The ad will end at 1:17. You can
also just move the bar until you see some palm-trees!
Listen to the speak a few times. When you have a good idea about the sound of the
individual words, then follow the text underneath. There is however some problems with
the text that it takes a Danish student to correct - I don't know what happened, maybe
the writer had a few too many shots of Ballantine's!
"Bounty Land. Paradiset hvor kokospalmernes sure, saftige frugter bliver til dejlig Bounty. Smag
frisk og hård kokos dækket af tynd flødechocolade. Frisk, hård kokos i tynd flødechocolade.
Det' Bounty."
The phrases with the wrong words are highlighted in the text above. Can you hear what the
speaker really says? In the two columns below, tick the left column for the correct substitutions
and the right for the wrong.
sure, saftige frugter -> søde, saftige frugter
sure, saftige frugter -> salte, saftige frugter
frisk og hård kokos -> frisk og god kokos
å
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Learn Danish with TV-commercials
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Would you like to review the main points?
S HO W RE V I E W
© Jakob Stougaard-Nielsen / University College London / Department of Scandinavian Studies / 2009
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