Hi all!
We’re very excited to move to Denmark soon as lifelong Americans. I have a good job lined up, and we’re set on a place to live for a while.
Any advice from people who have done it, looked it up, had friends who have done it, etc? Just in general :)
- Language is by far the most important door opener, so put in one hour of learning every day for at least a year.
- Mingle to get out of your comfort zone: Go to after-work parties and flea markets, take public transit. Use hobbyist/ meet-up apps. Read/ watch the local news.
- Don’t expect to be invited, especially not to people’s homes. People might also be uncomfortable being invited to your home. Meeting in a public place is almost always the better option, unless you’ve gotten to know someone really well.
- Irony/ sarcasm don’t translate very well between cultures.
- Europe has some lousy weather, so get watertight coats and waterproof your shoes and backpacks.
- Take it slow.
- Also: Enjoy it! Europe is a fantastic little place at the crossroads between Asia and Africa and I would never want to leave.
All of this sounds so exciting. Thanks for the reply.
UK inhabitant here. Is being invited to someone’s house a casual thing in the US? I don’t think I’ve ever been invited by someone who isn’t a close friend.
I lived in Italy and Germany and it does happen here. Mostly with friends you already know reasonably well though.
Greece here, we invite people to our homes all the time, even if we don’t know them very well.
Plus one for taking language lessons. Even if you don’t plan on getting fluent, it will help you settle in a lot more
Plus one for taking language lessons. Even if you don’t plan on getting fluent, it will help you settle in a lot more
In my own experience learning Dutch when living in The Netherlands (were, like in Denmark, almost everybody speaks good English) you learn very little and very slow with formal lessons and a lot very fast in situations were you have to manage with the local language (basically sink or swim).
I spent years living there with only basic Dutch and then ended up in a small company were I was the only non-Dutch person and the meetings were conducted in Dutch and within 1 to 2 months my Dutch language skills had taken a massive leap forward.
I also get similar effects with other languages I speak when I go visit those countries: persist in talking to the locals in the local language and that will push your language knowledge up.
That said, at the very beginning language lessons will give you the basic structure for the language, but for going beyond the basics I find that just being forced to use it yields the fastest improvements.
(Might wanna try to start watching local TV at some point too)
By the way, if the Danish are anything like the Dutch, they’ll pick up from the accent that a person is American and switch to English. Do not follow them! Keep talking in Danish even if it feels like it’s pretty bad and hard to use. When I lived in The Netherlands most of my British acquaintances had really poor dutch speaking skills even after over a decade there because of this effect of people picking up their accent and switching to English.
It’ll be tempting, but don’t try to drive there.
The danish people will maybe say a lot of things about us swedes, but don’t believe the lies.
Do not believe this liar. Danes speak the truth.
Too bad nobody can understand what they are saying
Could a Dane confirm any of this or review it?
Am Danish. This is fairly accurate, a solid 60% of Danish is just random guttural sounds. This documentary however misses that the remainder is 30% raw deadpan sarcasm, and 10% English words pronounced in an awful accent.
To contrast and compare, this is an average modern Swedish television quiz show: https://youtu.be/lzv6ljgwgzs
Frederick,
Thank you very much for this quality review, comment, and link. I’ll have a look this evening.
Euro-fight!
Scandi-fight is even better. All the Danes, Swedes and Norwegians secretly love each other (basically the same people and the same societies) but they’ve made an international sport of dissing each other. It’s like three brothers come home for Christmas.
“Finnish him!”
Denmark isn’t real, it’s a fabrication of big pork to keep us in line. Don’t believe their lies.
You could finally visit the only real Legoland in Billund of course!
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Wait, stores display prices in the US without the tax? Wth? That can’t be!
It’s definitely a thing.
Which tax? Federal? State? County? City/Municipality? What if some of those are zero?
This is why no one does it. I think smart labels may change that some day, but I wouldn’t hold my breath.
Edit: ah, to be clear, those tax types can all vary. I used to shop at a place where the same store on the opposite side of the street was cheaper because the tax rate was less.
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The reason usually mentioned is that the labels are produced centrally or some such. Though "They know the price to charge at the till’ might be slightly off when the tax is calculated on the transaction as a whole rather than on a per-item basis (i.e. rounding shenanigans). That seems like a totally solvable problem to me, though.
I took my wife to meet my parents and had to remind her when we went shopping that we had to add tax to everything (and tip in bars/restaurants/etc.) Some things looked cheaper than in Japan until tax (especially at that time when the exchange rate was awful).
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When I was last in the US, most of the supermarkets and such had the eink displays, but most other places didn’t yet.
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If you work for an American company you may end up with an American style corporate hierarchy, but Danish companies are a lot more egalitarian on average. Not just office wise, but also “only addressing the boss by their first name” wise.
That’s been a thing in the USA for decades.
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expats
The word is “immigrants” but Brits and Yanks are scared to call themselves that lol
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Yeah, this is all great advice. I work for a very European style company in the US and will work for a Danish company in Denmark. So I’m not expecting total culture shock (like our CEO currently wears a T-shirt and sneakers, you can have a beer with him) like going to Japan would be, but also looking forward to less work focus.
Yeah, the mental math of money, units, will all be a lot. But we’ll get used to it!
I’m stoked for the smaller, car-free, perhaps simpler life.
Jumping on this to evangelise about some car ownership alternatives, as it can even be quite the cultural leap even for some Europeans to not own a car.
Firstly Denmark has some brilliant cycling infrastructure I would highly recommend sourcing a bike with a pannier rack to make small trips to the shops easier. If you enjoy it you can always go all in later with a cargo bike and there are many - even from local brands - to choose from (although I have an urban arrow I can also recommend a Bullitt (DK))!
For when you do need a car aside from all the big brands rentals there are also peer-2-peer rentals, eg in Finland I will use go more which is great here and while it looks like they also exist in Denmark your mileage may vary, but I have friends in Sweden who have used this there too.
Do everything you can to learn the language quickly. Take any language class offer you get. It will make life much easier in a new country, especially if you’re looking to make friends. Immerse yourself in the culture immediately.
Remember that Europeans, especially Scandinavians, are not as openly friendly as Americans. They can seem cold and distant at first. It’s not because they are not friendly, it’s just a cultural feature. Once you get to know them, most open up and they are awesome.
On financials, keep all your bank accounts and credit cards open in the US and use a US address for them (and get a credit card with no foreign transaction fees). Don’t advertise to the US banks that you moved overseas. Just use a family member’s or friend’s address. Also note that European banks don’t have rewards credit cards, so I only use US rewards cards with no foreign transaction fees when living overseas. They’ll send you replacement cards overseas if you ask them to, even when your account address is in the US.
If you don’t already have retirement IRA accounts set up (not just 401k), do it before you leave the US. Also, open a brokerage account (e.g. Schwab or Fidelity) with a US address before you leave and don’t change the address to your overseas address, ever. Leave as is. It can be very hard for Americans to invest because foreign banks are required to report different things to US authorities about customers who are American citizens. They don’t want the bother, so they may not allow you to open an account there. And once you move it will be much harder to open the account in the US. Use a service like Wise to move funds cheaply to your US accounts for investments and paying off credit cards.
Get a cheap eSIM phone subscription with a US phone number for two-step verification abroad. You can use Wifi-calling to connect.
Finally, remember that you are eligible to vote in the US as a US citizen living overseas. You’ll still be registered as a voter in the state and county you moved overseas from. You’ll use your most recent address, and you don’t have to have any attachment to that address any longer. It’s only for voting purposes. If you’re not already registered to vote when you move overseas, you’ll also use your most recent address to register to vote. More information here: https://www.fvap.gov/citizen-voter.
Good luck!
Since you are moving to Denmark: flee! Take a car and drive north to seek refuge in Sweden. Once you make it there you are safe, but you never know, the Danes could invade any minute. Keep driving north until you start seeing reindeer walking around like they own the place. Move into a cabin in the woods and never look back. The Danes can’t reach you there.
It’s a trick. There are no roads north out of Denmark.
We don’t really have to worry about the Danes invading. We can just move the inventory of all the Systembolaget stores in Scania to other parts of Sweden so they won’t get long.
Out of curiosity, did you find work in Denmark so that you could move, or is current work sending you over?
The former :)
Very cool. Have fun!
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Don’t bring a truck or guns with you. Change some dollars for euros. Remember that the US has an insane tax system that follows you abroad and you still have to file taxes in the US in addition to the country you live in.
yes, be very careful of PFICs. I can’t use any of Japan’s versions of ISA/IRA because they all end up being PFICs which are awful to deal with on the US and more than destroy any tax advantage of putting money in them.
It’s worth it. I’m almost two years in Germany. Wouldn’t move back for a million dollars (although at 3 I could be bought). Work on the local language, volunteer or other community involvement activities, treat it like the new home it is. We’re fortunate to be able to move to a new country, try to be a part of improving it and earning your spot there. I’m even more fortunate to be white, male, straight etc - assuming you’re at least some of those things, do your best to counter the anti-immigration fear mongering that comes out of the political right. It effects you now, but more importantly it’s ramping up and it’ll effect people less fortunate far worse.
Hope you love it and welcome to Europe.
That’s great advice. I’m really excited to experience it and really embrace it. Thank you!
Remember, they’re called just pastries over there.
What’s called pastries though.
Danish pastries…
Pilsner Urquel is a damn fine beer.
And from Czech, not Denmark. Are you thinking of Carlsberg? Mikkeler is the brand you recommend to people going to Denmark
Czechia is where I learned to love it, but I found it in Austria, Germany and the Netherlands as well.
