Danish voice overs: what you need to know

Danish is a North Germanic language with around 5.4 million native speakers. Most of the  Danish speaking population resides in Denmark and Greenland – with the latter having around 15-20% of its population adopted Danish as their first language.

There are Danish-speaking communities Scandinavia (most prominently in Norway and Sweden) with smaller pools all over the European Union.

Language History

Danish dates back to the Viking Era – it’s a descendant of the Old Norse language. It comes from the East Norse dialect group, classified as “mainland Scandinavian” alongside Swedish and Norwegian. Danish language history is split into three periods: Runic Danish, Old/Middle Dialect, Early Modern Danish, and Standardized Danish.

Danish officially accepted the High Copenhagenian dialect in the mid 20th century, making it the national broadcaster’s official dialect, slowly pushing out the other standards. This Copenhagen Dialect was initially developed in the 17th century, thanks to the growing popularity of the printing press.

Close Relations

Danish being part of the North Germanic language family is closely related to Swedish and Norwegian, as they all derive from Old Norse.

In fact, Danish, Norwegian and Swedish are mutually intelligible. The speakers of all three languages can understand each other.

Additionally, Danish was widely spoken in Northeast England, where some words derived from Norse are still used. This is most common around Yorkshire, thanks to the Jorvik settlement which was established by the Danish Vikings.

Meanwhile, from the Middle Ages, Danish began borrowing many words from Low German, otherwise known as the Low Saxon language. This accelerated the prominent change that set Danish apart from Swedish and Norwegian languages.

Accents and Voice Over Tips

Danish is divided into four main dialects: Standard Danish, Insular Danish, Jutlandic, and Bornholmian. The latter three are all different from the standard in phonology, vocabulary, and grammar.

When it comes to the Danish dialects, the most popular one is Standard Danish. The standard language variation is preferred by most companies, government agencies, news broadcasters, and other institutions. Unless you’re recording a very specific voice over, using the official Danish variation will be the right choice.

When recording Danish voice over, be aware of the very subtle difference coming from its massive vowel inventory. Keep in mind that when recording informal speech there is a big reduction of final consonants and unstressed syllables.

Additionally, many vowels form diphthongs – gliding vowels which change the pronunciation of the two elements making it up.

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