Danish movies and TV
Books, Podcasts, Stories about life in Denmark

Danish Movies and TV as a Guide to Danish Culture

Watching movies and TV is a great way to get through the long Danish winter, and if you watch Danish movies or TV series, it’s also a great way to learn Danish or learn about Danish culture.

Many newcomers to Denmark tell me they’ve been watching recent shows, like Borgen or The Bridge or The Killing. Or maybe movies like Another Round, which won an Oscar for Best International Feature, or The Hunt, both of which star Mads Mikkelsen, Denmark’s most recent contribution to the world of movie stars.

I saw Mads at the Copenhagen Opera recently, just standing by himself in the lobby with a glass of champagne, no one bothering him.

When you start watching Danish films, you’ll probably want English subtitles, but as your knowledge of Danish grows, it’s great to try out the Danish subtitles. That will help you bridge the gap between spoken Danish and written Danish, which don’t always resemble each other if you’re not a native speaker.

Continue Reading

January 22, 2026 by
Podcasts, Stories about life in Denmark

How to Live in Denmark audiobooks free on Spotify

Got Spotify Premium? Then you have access to all five of our How to Live in Dennmark audiobooks for free!

Enjoy:

📕 How to Live in Denmark: Are you moving to Denmark, or already living in Denmark and trying to fit in? Kay Xander Mellish, the voice behind the long-running “How to Live in Denmark” podcast, offers a humorous look at the joys and absurdities of daily life as a non-Dane in “the happiest country in the world.”

📙 How to Work in Denmark: With its high salaries and good work-life balance, Denmark is an attractive place to work. But the Danish workplace, like Danish culture as a whole, is built on unwritten rules and unspoken expectations. “How to Work in Denmark” explains some of the rules of the road in the Danish workplace, as well as how to find and keep a job in Denmark.

📘 Top 35 Mistakes Danes Make in English: A fun guide to small but significant errors Danes make when speaking otherwise excellent English. Is it “customer” or “costumer”? Should you translate “derfor” and “hermed” directly in your English text? Are you “living in a hotel” on your next vacation? This entertaining book will help you avoid common mistakes.

📕 Working with Danes: Tips for Americans Denmark is a great place to do business. Infrastructure is good, corruption is minimal, innovation is respected, and business structures are flexible. Most people speak excellent English. Still, many Americans put a foot wrong. This fun, easy-to-read book by an American who has worked with several Danish companies will help you avoid simple mistakes.

📘 Working with Americans: Tips for Danes Doing business in the US is challenging and exciting. The size, wealth, and diversity of the American market is hard to beat. But when it comes to business culture, too many Danes assume that the US is basically just like Denmark – only bigger. This can be the first of many expensive mistakes.

Just do a quick search for “Kay Xander Mellish” and all 5 books will appear, or follow the links above.

January 14, 2026 by
nisse in Denmark
Podcasts, Stories about life in Denmark, The Danish Year

December, Little Nisse, Big Money: The Danish Year Part 12

I’ve referred to “The Danish Year” before on How to Live in Denmark. It’s a series of events that are simply expected to happen every year in Denmark, even if they aren’t formal holidays. In 2025 I’m going to try to do a podcast every month about aspects of the Danish year, and how they fit into the overall context of where Denmark is coming from, and where it’s going.

The nisse is a centuries-old figure of folklore in Denmark, and in December Nisse get a lot of attention – all month, while Julemanden (Santa Claus) only has one big day near the end.

With their very short stature and pointed red hats, nisse are often confused with Christmas elves, although they are not the same.

Elves exist mostly to help Santa in his workshop, but Nisse have busy lives of their own, closely related to an individual household.

They live in the walls of the home and get up to mischief, like hiding things, or turning milk different colors. They expect a bowl of rice pudding on December 24 and will create trouble if they don’t get one.

Continue Reading

December 3, 2025 by
November Rain Denmark Danish Year Podcast
Podcasts, Stories about life in Denmark, The Danish Year

November Rain and “daylighting” buried rivers: The Danish Year Part 11

I’ve referred to “The Danish Year” before on How to Live in Denmark. It’s a series of events that are simply expected to happen every year in Denmark, even if they aren’t formal holidays. In 2025 I’m going to try to do a podcast every month about aspects of the Danish year, and how they fit into the overall context of where Denmark is coming from, and where it’s going.

I always thought November was the rainiest of Danish months, but it isn’t, actually. That’s October. But November feels rainier, because the sky is so grey, and it gets dark so early, and the rain sometimes comes down in little freezing pellets.

Denmark is a watery country, not just its long coastline and many rivers and lakes, but also the fact it is mostly near sea level. Like the Netherlands nearby, it is extremely vulnerable to flooding.

Climate changes in recent decades have made it worse, and sudden cloudbursts – or skybrud– cause a lot of damage.

So retrofitting Denmark for even more water in the future has become a national obsession.

Officially, a skybrud or a cloudburst is defined as more than 15 millimeters of rain in less than 30 minutes, or 3 centimeters of rain in an hour. In these intense downpours, there is so much water that the soil and the drainage systems can’t absorb it.

Continue Reading

November 22, 2025 by
Democracy in Denmark
Podcasts, Stories about life in Denmark, The Danish Year

October, Democracy in Denmark, and competitive poster hanging: The Danish Year Part 10

I’ve referred to “The Danish Year” before on How to Live in Denmark. It’s a series of events that are simply expected to happen every year in Denmark, even if they aren’t formal holidays. In 2025 I’m going to try to do a podcast every month about aspects of the Danish year, and how they fit into the overall context of where Denmark is coming from, and where it’s going.

I travel a lot around Denmark, giving speeches in various cities and towns, and I usually travel on the on the Danish train network, DSB. Danes love to hate DSB, but I kind of like it. The trains are clean, generally on time, and you even get frequent traveler miles for your trips that you can use to buy ice cream or other snacks. And the trains have big windows that you can look out and see this lovely, flat country roll by.

The name of this podcast is How to Live in Denmark, but Denmark is not a uniform thing. The landscape differs – a few hills in some places, forests in some places, water to cross over – and the government differs. While the Parliament in Copenhagen decides on big issues like defense and immigration, local authorities are in control of things that really matter to everyday life.

Continue Reading

October 13, 2025 by
Elite Sports Denmark
Podcasts, Stories about life in Denmark, The Danish Year

September, elite sports in Denmark, and the not-quite death of Jante Law: The Danish Year Part 9

I’ve referred to “The Danish Year” before on How to Live in Denmark. It’s a series of events that are simply expected to happen every year in Denmark, even if they aren’t formal holidays. In 2025 I’m going to try to do a podcast every month about aspects of the Danish year, and how they fit into the overall context of where Denmark is coming from, and where it’s going.

September is when fall sports season starts in Denmark. The badminton league begins, so does volleyball and basketball and hockey.

Most importantly, the handball season kicks off, and while I’m not a handball fan myself, I always know when that season is underway because my otherwise mild-mannered downstairs neighbor begins screaming at his flatscreen, cheering on or scolding Denmark’s handball girls or handball boys. The teams are equally popular in Denmark.

Team handball was invented in Denmark – and like design, it’s a national passion. Danish teams have won several World Championships and many Olympic Gold Medals.

Continue Reading

September 16, 2025 by
learn to be Danish
Podcasts, Stories about life in Denmark, The Danish Year

August, The first day of school, and how children learn to be Danish: The Danish Year Part 8

I’ve referred to “The Danish Year” before on How to Live in Denmark. It’s a series of events that are simply expected to happen every year in Denmark, even if they aren’t formal holidays. In 2025 I’m going to try to do a podcast every month about aspects of the Danish year, and how they fit into the overall context of where Denmark is coming from, and where it’s going.

August in Denmark is the beginning of fall. The summer strawberries disappear from the supermarket, the leaves start to turn brown on the trees, and the primary schools open again, after their usual brief six-week summer vacation.

This month some young Danes will be starting school for the very first time. They’re usually welcomed with a ceremony that includes Danish flags, speeches, and songs, and their parents, who take a lot of photos of the first day of school.

This was something I unfortunately didn’t know when my own daughter had her first day of school in Denmark. She’d already been going to playground classes there, so on the first official academic day I just dropped her off at school as if it were an ordinary day, and there nobody there to take her picture.

Such is being a foreigner and not knowing the local customs. She still brings it up to this day.

Continue Reading

August 9, 2025 by
In the Media, Merchandise, Stories about life in Denmark

Buy our “How to Live in Denmark” NFTs

Collecting NFTs is a fun way to engage with images you like, own something unique, and support the artist. (There’s also a possibility of making some money on your investment, although certainly no guarantee.)

We’re now offering a small selection of limited-edition How to Live in Denmark NFTs via Rarible, a marketplace for both new and established artists. Check out our How to Live in Denmark NFT listing here.

You will recognize many of the images from their earlier appearances on this site, such as this one and this one.

What are NFTs anyway?

Art NFTs, or non-fungible tokens, are unique digital assets that represent ownership of a piece of digital art, like a painting, animation, or music, stored on a blockchain (a secure online ledger).

Unlike regular digital files that can be copied endlessly, each NFT is one-of-a-kind or part of a limited edition, making it special and verifiable. It’s like owning an original artwork with a certificate of authenticity that can’t be faked, but it exists online.

Our How To Live in Denmark NFTs are priced modestly – one POL is roughly equivalent to one DKK, so the least expensive images are about DK10.

Limited edition

Will they ever be worth more than that? Beats me. As a former financial journalist, I’ve seen a lot of once-reliable assets crash land. (Apropos of nothing, I own shares in Boeing. Ouch.)

At any rate, the How To Live in Denmark NFTs on Rarible are a limited edition, and I’ve purchased a few for my own collection, so feel free to join me.

You need a crypto wallet to connect, but perhaps you already have that.

July 12, 2025 by
The Daisy Route in Denmark
Podcasts, Stories about life in Denmark, The Danish Year

July, Nature in Denmark, and following The Daisy Route: The Danish Year Part 7

I’ve referred to “The Danish Year” before on How to Live in Denmark. It’s a series of events that are simply expected to happen every year in Denmark, even if they aren’t formal holidays. In 2025 I’m going to try to do a podcast every month about aspects of the Danish year, and how they fit into the overall context of where Denmark is coming from, and where it’s going.

July is vacation month in Denmark, and it’s ironic that many Danes go elsewhere on vacation at just this time of year, when you have the best chance of good weather in Denmark. And I do mean chance – there is never any guarantee.

Some Danes go abroad, driving vacations to Southern Europe are popular. There’s a well-known cycle in which the summer weather is good one year, so everyone plans a vacation in Denmark the following year, and then the weather is awful, so everyone plans a foreign vacation the next year, and then the weather is good, and so on.

You can surf in Denmark

Staying in Denmark, even if you don’t own one of the famous Danish summer houses, can be a great choice. There’s a surprising amount of nature to experience in this small, flat, country that isn’t as densely populated as the UK, or the Netherlands, or even Germany.

You can surf in Denmark, along the windy west coast, and when you’re done explore the ever-changing sand dunes. Maybe visit the little lighthouse that is slowly being swallowed up by the sand.

Hike through ancient forests

In Denmark you can hike through ancient forests, and even sleep there in some of the public forest shelters. Most of the forest shelters are big wooden boxes with one side entirely open, but with a roof to protect you from the rain.

Continue Reading

July 1, 2025 by
Denmark's National Day
Podcasts, Stories about life in Denmark, The Danish Year

June: Danish pride, women in uniform, and the reverse Jante Law: The Danish Year Part 6

I’ve referred to “The Danish Year” before on How to Live in Denmark. It’s a series of events that are simply expected to happen every year in Denmark, even if they aren’t formal holidays. This year I’m going to try to do a podcast every month about aspects of the Danish year, and how they fit into the overall context of where Denmark is coming from, and where it’s going.

June is a glorious month in Denmark, the sun has arrived but the mosquitos haven’t, and it is full of special days, from graduations to weddings to the midsummer festival of Sankt Hans, where Danes meet to sing traditional songs before a giant bonfire.

Danes love a good bonfire, and kids are generally introduced to them in kindergarten, where small children gather around the big open flame in their play clothes.

The Danish National Day

June also includes the closest Denmark gets to a national day, Constitution Day. The Danes are modest about this, there are no parades or fireworks or military fly-bys. A few politicians make speeches about how important the Constitution is, but many people don’t even get a day off work. And the Constitution has to share the day with Father’s Day in Denmark.

Continue Reading

June 2, 2025 by