Denmark’s highest-circulation newspaper, the Jyllands-Posten, published an extensive interview with “How to Work in Denmark” author Kay Xander Mellish about working culture in Denmark.
Accompanied by photos taken at the Copenhagen headquarters of Carlsberg, Kay’s former workplace, the article goes into Kay’s reasons for coming to Denmark and her observations about the Danish workplace.
Kay Xander Mellish’s new book on Danish working culture, How to Work in Denmark, has received extensive coverage in the Danish media, including an appearance on the nationally-televised “Go’ Morgen Danmark” to publicize the book.
Kay also stopped by the P1 Morgen studios in DR Byen to discuss the book (listen here). She also chatted with Anders Christiansen on Radio 24-7 about the ins and outs of Danish working culture, and appeared with Karen Høgh on her Solopreneur podcast.
“Dansk kultur set med amerikansk øjne” was the topic when Kay Xander Mellish was interviewed for Vores Villa, Denmark’s most popular interior design magazine with a circulation of more than 1 million homeowners.
In a light-hearted article entitled Sådan ser danske boliger ud – set med en amerikaners øjne, the magazine quoted Kay as saying ““I er et folkefærd, der går efter kvalitet frem for kvantitet. Jeg oplever, at danskere har færre, men gode venner og færre, men bedre ting!”
According to Kay, these are the “10 særlige kendetegn ved danske hjem”:
DE 5 FANTASTISKE:
🇩🇰 Færre ting giver mindre at fokusere på og gør det nemmere at slappe af
🇩🇰 Dansk designhåndværk – som fx Georg Jensens frugtskål
🇩🇰 Naturens farver spiller en stor rolle i danske hjem.
🇩🇰 Velholdte trægulve
🇩🇰 Gardiner og vinduer, der er designet til at lukke lys ind
DE 5 KNAP SÅ FANTASTISKE:
🇩🇰 Stor ensartethed, fordi der er en frygt for at sprænge rammerne.
🇩🇰 Isolation, der er designet til at holde på varmen – smart om vinteren, men upraktisk en hed sommerdag.
🇩🇰 Hårde sofaer og senge – og der er ikke nok puder i dem!
🇩🇰 Amatørmalerier på væggene, der slet ikke lever op til de smukke, dyre verdensklassemøbler
🇩🇰 Stole, der er rene kunstværker, men som man sidder elendigt i.
Read more in the article in Vores Villa.
Hear all our How to Live in Denmark podcasts on Spotify and on Apple Podcasts (iTunes).
One of the most popular events for internationals in Denmark is the How to Live in Denmark Game Show.
We brought the game show to a group of newly-arrived students in Kalundborg, and the local press had this to say:
I Danmark kommer man klokken otte nul dut, hvis man er inviteret til klokken otte. Kommer man for tidligt, så venter man pænt i bilen, indtil klokken slår otte – og Gud nåde og trøste dig, hvis du kommer fem minutter for sent.
Sådan er en af de uskrevne regler for etikette og god tone her i landet, og det blev udlændinge bosat i Kalundborg torsdag aften klogere på, da den amerikanske journalist og foredragsholder Kay Xander Mellish holdt foredrag på vandrerhjemmet i Kalundborg.
Kommunens bosætningsteam var værter for kulturmødet, og de havde inviteret udvekslingstuderende på gymnasierne, udenlandske medarbejdere fra byens virksomheder, folk fra Sprogskolen og de nye internationale studerende fra Professionshøjskolen Absalons ingeniøruddannelse til at lære mere om normerne i den danske kultur.
Med glimt i øjet gav hun de fremmødte humoristiske eksempler på, hvad man gør og ikke gør over for danskere.
– Har I prøvet at sige godmorgen til nogen efter klokken 9? Den går bare ikke. Folk tror, I gør grin med, at de lige er stået op, lød det blandt andet fra den amerikansk foredragsholder.
Efter foredraget blev der leget lege – et jeopardy-spil om danske værdier samt en leg, hvor udlændingene skulle svare på, hvad de troede danskere ville svare til konkrete spørgsmål.
Et af dem lød: »Hvilken dessert er danskernes foretrukne?«.
Hertil blev der svaret »rødgrød med fløde« – så lidt har da sat sig fast.
See all our events for internationals on our events page.
Hear all our How to Live in Denmark podcasts on Spotify and on Apple Podcasts (iTunes).
Amerikansk foredragsholder Kay Xander Mellish taler med Michelle Hvid om Kays new bog Top 35 Mistakes Danes Make in English og Kays bog, blog og podcast How to Live in Denmark.
Læs mere om Kay Xander Mellishs arrangementer om Danmark og Dansk kultur, USA, og Janteloven, eller book hende til et foredrag.
Hear all our How to Live in Denmark podcasts on Spotify and on Apple Podcasts (iTunes).
As number of refugees in Denmark continues to rise, the Danish business newspaper Børsen asked Kay Xander Mellish how she thought they could best survive and thrive in their new country of residence.
In this business-oriented piece, Kay suggests that some of the new residents could make life better for both Danes and themselves by creating new shops and services, as previous Muslim immigrants to Denmark had done.
“Not long ago in Denmark – certainly within the memories of many adults today – shops closed Saturday afternoon and didn’t open again until Monday morning. If you were unfortunate enough to run out of milk on a Saturday evening, you had to borrow from a neighbor or figure out a way to cook Sunday dinner without it.
“The first large group of Muslim immigrants to Denmark changed this. In the early 1970’s, they started kiosks that were open on evenings and weekends, when Danish-owned shops were closed. The kiosks were very popular, and still exist today, even though supermarkets are open late. Those immigrants created something that wasn’t there before: they made the lives of Danes better. Now even the most hard-hearted Dane who talks of sending immigrants home can’t help but secretly think of the local Muslim-owned kiosks. What would we do without them?”
Read the Børsen article in English.
Photo: European immigrants to the USA arrive at Ellis Island, 1874.
As part of their series “Hvad er Danskhed” (What is Danishness?) Copenhagen-based Raadio24syv asked Kay Xander Mellish: What is Danishness to you?
Speaking the heavily-accented Danish it has taken her 15 years to learn, Kay tells how she came to Denmark (and how her first employers went bankrupt, leaving her alone in Denmark with a great deal of furniture), and why it can be difficult for foreigners to make Danish friends.
Listen here: https://www.radio24syv.dk/programmer/ak-24syv/12452246/37:10/ak-24syv-16-11-2015-1 (or try this link.)
Asked what it’s like to work in a Danish environment, Kay says the culture of constant equality can be good, but can also present some challenges. For example, when meeting a group of Danish businesspeople, it can be difficult to tell who the boss is, and who will be the one to give a final “yes” or “no” to a project. Because of the culture of consensus, no one wants to admit to being the boss, because that would suggest a lack of equality.
She also discusses the connection between Danish drinking habits and childhood candy habits, how she broke the Danish rule of “correct” bread when making her daughter’s school lunch, and what aspects of Danish culture she thinks it’s most important to focus on on the future.
Kay’s 11-year-old daughter Georgia also appears on the show, explaining why her mother is “different” than her Danish classmates’ mothers.
The How to Live in Denmark project was recently featured on DR.dk, the website of Denmark’s national broadcaster DR.
The journalist chose to focus on love and romance in Denmark. Here are a few translated excerpts:
Having lived in Denmark for 15 years, Mellish has noticed that there are special rules for love here.
“Many of the dating mechanisms that work in the rest of the world don’t work here in Denmark. No one knows who should take the initiative. Women can’t figure out if a man is ‘Danish passive’ or just not interested.”
“Danish men are ‘nice boys’ that won’t go after a girl who doesn’t want them. There’s very little mystery and a woman simply cannot expect a Danish man to seduce her.”
Instead, Mellish has found, romance is facilitated with large amounts of alcohol consumed in the evenings.
“In Denmark, it’s easy to find sex, but hard to find love. People drink a lot of alcohol and go home with someone they don’t know well, and then figure out the day after if they want to get together for coffee.”
Cheating on one’s romantic partner is also common, Mellish says.
“I see a lot of infidelity, and I believe that’s because in Denmark, everything is so secure. There’s no war at the moment, people are financially protected by the welfare state, but you can still be unfaithful! That’s still dangerous! In Denmark, people are so open about sex that there is very little ‘forbidden fruit.’ But forbidden fruit is one of the things that makes sex sexy!”
Read the full Danish-language DR interview featuring How to Live in Denmark. Or read all of our blog posts on dating in Denmark on our dating tag.
Photo: Roman Boed via Creative Commons
The Trondheim-based blog Life in Norway interviewed Kay Xander Mellish about the How to Live in Denmark project.
Life in Norway: How do you think Denmark is different from Norway?
Kay: The landscape is so different! The landscape affects the way people see the world. It’s said the Danish language is flat because it mimics the flat surroundings, whereas the opposite is true in Norway. I think the landscape means Norwegians are more colorful in many ways. The language has more energy to it, and as a people they are more in touch with nature.
Life in Norway: How easy or hard was it to learn Danish?
Kay: It’s similar to Norwegian but pronunciation is much more difficult. I do think you have to be born here to have the pronunciation perfect. I don’t think I’ll ever stop making mistakes in Danish, but I’m at the point where I can hold my own at both business meetings and social situations in Danish.
Life in Norway: What keeps you in Denmark?
Kay: My network is here now and it’s a nice place to raise children. In the US there is too much pressure on children to achieve too early. There’s too much testing and too much pressure on getting into colleges. The Danish system focuses on holistic knowledge, which I really like.
There is more time here, people are not as stressed. You don’t buy as much stuff because you don’t have as much money. People have fewer things but better things, and most importantly, more time for family and friends.
Read the full Life in Norway blog post featuring How to Live in Denmark.
Photo: Roman Boed via Creative Commons
In an article about whether the Danish reputation for being the ‘world’s happiest country’ helped attract tourists, Politiken asked Kay Xander Mellish what she thought.
»Jeg får mange spørgsmål fra folk i udviklingslande, og for dem er lykkemålingerne ikke så vigtige – de vil bare gerne til Danmark for at tjene godt. Men jeg får også mange spørgsmål fra folk i USA og andre lande, hvor mange i forvejen har det godt, og blandt dem er der stor interesse for, at danskerne er verdens lykkeligste folk«, siger Kay Xander Mellish.
Hun har netop udgivet en humoristisk guide til udlændinge om at bo i Danmark. Hendes forklaring på dansk lykke er, at man i Danmark har tilrettelagt livet, så mange har tid til både job og familie.
»I Danmark har man en balance mellem arbejde og fritid, som man slet ikke har, når man som jeg boede på Manhattan i New York, hvor alle konkurrerer med hinanden om alt fra jobs til lejligheder og kærester«, siger Kay Xander Mellish.
I sin bog ’How to Live in Denmark’ gør hun dog også op med misforståelser om danskernes lykke, som mange har.
»Især venstreorienterede amerikanere er meget optaget af, at sundhedsvæsnet og uddannelsessystemet i Danmark er gratis, som de siger. De sætter sig slet ikke ind i, at man faktisk betaler en langt højere skat og moms for at have det på den måde«, siger Kay Xander Mellish.
Read the Politiken article featuring How to Live in Denmark