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 :)
It’ll be tempting, but don’t try to drive there.
I’m so, so sorry. Also, if Trump is reelected, FLEE.
We’re moving away from the US, did you misread that or are you suggesting we should flee further than Europe?
Do you speak the local language, if not start getting courses now, even if many person are fluent in english, not everyone will want to speak English. (You know the joke about Parisian who don’t know English if you start talking with them in English, but would switch to a perfect English if you have a slight foreign accent when speaking french)
Expect that even basic stuff won’t work the same way as you’re used too. It’s already an issue when moving between two European countries, even basic stuff like what you can legally find on a lease or how to get health coverage will drastically change.
In southern Europe people are pretty touchy/tactile and an America would feel sexually harrassed, Nordic Europe is the other way around with pretty distant people where an American would pass for way too touchy/friendly
Learn to ride a bike, and expect to walk way more than in the US, also remember that even though winter are milder, Europe is way far up north than the US
Don’t bring your gun, also public transport should be good, so using a car might not always be necessary / the best option.
So, do they just issue you a new gun when the plane lands? Is the ammo the same caliber there, or is it all metric?
No gun, but an axe. The raiding party’s don’t fill themselves afterall.
'Merican here. Y’know (responsibly kept) guns can be a neat unique part of American life, but as dirty and carcinogenic and freaking LOUD as they are, I think I’d rather just get good with a bow, sling, axes, that sorta thing anyway these days. All the fun of hitting a thing with another thing from far away, but without the tinnitus, lead exposure, and expense.
Especially if I could go to a place where crime rates are lower, work/life balance was tilted toward the “life” end, I could walk or bike places, there are trains, accessible education, less fascist subcultures, and maybe if seeing a doctor wasn’t a financial catastrophe even with insurance…
I know everywhere has pros and cons but… Sheesh, between guns and all that?
“CLUNK. Here’s all my hole-punchers, when’s the next plane?” LOL
American 11/32 inch ammo will definitely need to be exchanged for 9mm
Unless work is helping you out, expect to have difficulties opening up bank account in EU due to FATCA. Lots of banks don’t want to deal with that, so they’ll outright reject Americans.
As others have said, try to learn the language, at least a little. Although I’d say 90% of the population will know English.
Take ferry over to Germany if you want cheaper beer/wine/alc. The Swedes go to Denmark, and Danish go to Germany :).
Q: will you be returning to the US?
They are helping set up a bank account, thankfully.
Yeah, for sure we are leaning in and gonna try to learn Danish. Worst case my wife and I have a secret code language to ourselves in the future :)
We don’t intend to return, but anything could happen in life
Hej Frank!
Welcome in advance!
Where are you gonna live? You don’t need to specify city, but perhaps approximate destination? Jylland, Fyn, Sjælland? And which part?
Which line of work?
Indeed, try to learn Danish even though it is a ridiculous language. I believe there are even free courses, although I am absolutely sure. Here’s a few words to get you started:
Hej/godmorgen/goddav’ = hello/good morning/howdy (last word especially in Jutland) Farvel = goodbye Tak = thank you Velbekomme = you are welcome Undskyld = sorry Undskyld mig = excuse me Ingen problem = no worries Jeg hedder Frank = my names is Frank Godt at møde dig = nice to meet you Vi ses/hav det godt = see you/take care Hav en god dag = have a good day
And remember! Free health care! Free schools and education! Although you will pay higher taxes, lol.
Hope you will enjoy! And feel free to ask questions. I live very near Aarhus in Eastern Jutland.
Ah this is great! We are doing some Danish, and will continue to learn it. We’ll be in Copenhagen, which will make leaning on our English a little easier.
I’m an engineer, and my work will be all in English, which is a great way to start.
I spent ~$8,000 USD on shoulder surgery this year. I can’t wait for healthcare lol
Depending on where you’ll live exactly, look up the local train and bus operator. If you’re in a city, chances are, you won’t even need a car most of the time.
Also get ready to install a different suite of apps. WhatsApp is big in europe, although Signal is obviously preferable when possible.
Yeah, I’ll be in Copenhagen. I hope to not own a car at all! Just a bike and public transit
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.
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.
Plus one for taking language lessons. Even if you don’t plan on getting fluent, it will help you settle in a lot more
First of all, a practical item that people sometimes forget: traffic laws are different in every country. Even if your driver’s license is valid in other countries, take a moment to read up on traffic rules.
If you live in a city, give public transport a serious consideration. It’s not for everybody and not every place has good connections, but you’d be surprised how little you need a car if you live in an area well-served by public transport.
As with any foreign country, you’ll do well to learn the language. Written Danish probably isn’t too difficult to learn when you already know English (they share a heritage after all) but spoken Danish is quite peculiar. You’ll probably get by with just English just fine, but most people will prefer to speak their native language.
What I’ve heard from family moving to Denmark: check and double check your tax information and registration. The bureaucratic process can take a while, even when moving within the Schengen zone. Also: America has some weird laws where you need to pay taxes regardless of if you live there or not, as long as you’re a citizen. Make sure you know how much taxes you need to pay to what government! You generally don’t need to pay tax in both countries unless you make a boatload of money but it can’t hurt to check.
Speaking of, you’ll pay a lot of taxes. You get a lot in return, but make sure you know what your net income is going to be like and what taxes are hiding around the corner. The amazing Danish welfare state needs to be funded somehow!
If you live near any borders (European definition of “near”), check any visas you may have for what you’re allowed to do. Some visas allow you to move freely within a single country but not leave it for x amount of days consecutively/in a year, for instance. Denmark is actually one of the few countries with border checks (Germany too these days).
What I’ve heard from other Americans visiting Europe: it’s smaller than you think and everything seems closer than you think. That’s very nice when it comes to stuff like grocery stores, but some people feel a little claustrophobic because of the lack of free, open space.
Make sure your credit card is set to allow for international payments, unless you already have your money in a Danish bank account. You don’t want to arrive and find out you can’t pay for anything.
Get yourself a local SIM card. It’s probably a lot cheaper than carrying your American number in general, but roaming charges between the US and the EU are Not Fun.
Most Danes speak English well, in my experience. However, don’t let that fool you into thinking they share the same cultural norms. Things common in some American subcultures (calling everyone “dear”, saying stuff like “we should hang out some time” without actually meaning it) can cause some humorous/awkward interactions when misinterpreted. Knowing the words isn’t the same as knowing what you actually mean!
Prepare to do a lot of currency conversions in your head. You can get tricked into spending more money than you thought if you don’t know what amount of DDK translates to USD. 1 USD is about 6.8 DDK, so yeah, good luck with that, multiply by seven and subtract a bit I guess?
Stores in Denmark will often show prices including tax, so don’t do too much mental math. You generally don’t need to apply the 25% VAT on listed prices unless you’re buying business to business.
Based on experience from expats: immerse yourself into the local culture and language. Making connections with strangers is hard, likely harder than in the US, but you’ll end up quite lonely if you only hang out with coworkers and other expats.
Also read up on punctuality expectations. Some cultures expect you to be five minutes to half an hour “late” to an agreed upon time, others expect you to be there much earlier, and then other cultures expect you to arrive right on time. That applies both professionally and socially!
On a similar note, make sure you read about the expectations your coworkers may have of you, culturally. 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.
Working overtime may not be appreciated as much, and may even be seen as a bad thing in some contexts (i.e. constantly working after 5PM to finish your work, implying you can’t finish in time when you’re really trying to show your work ethic or something like that). Work/life balance is important and every country has different standards.
From what I can tell, the Danes are quite strict in not wanting to spend too much of their life working, so don’t be that person that brings work into every conversation. As a foreigner, you probably have much more interesting topics to talk about!
I’ve only head good things about Denmark from people who worked/moved there, so I hope you enjoy your time there!
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.
It’s a bit hard to articulate the difference I’ve noticed with Americans when talking about work. It’s not like America is stuck in the 60s with executive toilets and executive lunches, but office culture definitely seems different.
What probably makes a difference is the difference in management styles.
Wait, stores display prices in the US without the tax? Wth? That can’t be!
I mean I guess stores in places with 0% sales tax don’t, technically. American stores just don’t want to bother doing the math while labeling and make you do the math in your head (and then they do it at the till).
Another consequence of the crazy American tax system.
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.
They know the price to charge at the till so they definitely can show the full price. It’s just convention not to at this point. Why go through the effort when it only makes you look more expensive compared to the competition, after all?
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).
Sending the labels from a central location seems wildly inefficient when label printers are as cheap as they are.
Plus, prices are already adjusted at the state level at the very least, if you’re gonna ship every store their labels from a central location you may as well update the tax info on them.
Even the budget stores here are switching to a digital display system with those small e-ink displays. When that technology hits the US, there really won’t be an excuse not to label things including tax anymore.
When I was last in the US, most of the supermarkets and such had the eink displays, but most other places didn’t yet.
Then there really are no excuses left for those supermarkets. Just a weird Americanism, like using imperial units.
It’s definitely a thing.
expats
The word is “immigrants” but Brits and Yanks are scared to call themselves that lol
Most expats leave after a few years. They only move in to make a quick buck with tax advantages and then move back/on to another country.
I suppose they’re a form of immigrant, but a very specific subgroup. One that often also doesn’t intend to integrate with local culture, so their approach is quite different from most legal immigrants. You can’t really compare the experiences of war refugees with Americans that come work in another country for five years, even though they’re both forms of immigrants.
I don’t just consider the Brits and Americans to be expats, I’ve also met expats from eastern Europe, India, and South East Asia. Maybe the rich expats don’t like to be grouped together with them, but I also consider the cheap eastern European labourers that do jobs like working the fields for half a year to be expats.
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.
You could finally visit the only real Legoland in Billund of course!
Getting new friends in Denmark can be difficuelt at first. Many are reserved and needs to thaw up first. Do not expect colleagues to invite you home, if you are ysed to that. However, when people open up it is because they like and respect you. Danes are in general not superficial as Americans often can be. So remember, we are not unfriendly, just different from Americans :) Advise from a 100% Dane.
Lol, and Danes are definitely the most outgoing of the Nordics. I’ve found Danes to be pretty similar in terms of outgoing-ness to people from New England in the US; unlikely to start conversation with complete strangers, but certainly kind once you have that initial connection.
That’s great, I like that a lot. As the commenter below said, sounds like New England to an extent. I’m fine with that and happy with less superficial
As a Norwegian: seconded. It’s tough to get real close and personal with Nordic people. We have smaller friend groups and don’t swap out friends often, but that is largely because we are quite loyal. So when you’re in, you’re in to stay.
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!
Buy fancy feast and put in on some toast. Now you know what danish food is like.
