August - 2016

To travel really is to live

I pass by the statue of the famous Danish author H.C. Andersen a couple of times a week when I go into the centre of Málaga. And he was so right! – “To travel is to live”. That’s why my very first backer trip, at the age of 23, changed the things I wanted in life and that’s why I live in Spain today. I’ve stopped counting the number of times relatives have asked me: “When are you moving back to Denmark?” or “Aren’t you going to settle down soon?” or “What about children?”. I

The globalisation of English

I grew up in Scandinavia and in this part of the world, it’s taken for granted that you speak good English, for example when applying for a university or a job. We start learning English from a very early age in school, our films and TV-series aren’t synchronised but kept in the native language (which often is English) with subtitles, and especially in the bigger towns and cities you’ll find people with many different nationalities and the number one language to communicate i

Translation vs. Interpretation – and why are they needed?

Are you one of those feeling confused about the difference between translation and interpretation? I have to once again share a TED-Talk with you (I just can’t help it!). This 11-min clip will give you a great insight into the topic. The difference is actually very simple: Translation is written and interpretation is spoken. Interpretation is either done simultaneously or consecutive. Simultaneous interpretations are probably the ones we hear most about. Think about big inter

Language learning and awkward moments!

When learning a new language one sometimes has to step completely out of one’s comfort zone. Especially if you live abroad in a country where the language is spoken. I can promise you that you will feel frustrated, uncomfortable and down once in a while. You’ll even end up in some really awkward situations, where you make a complete fool out of yourself! ;) But it’s all part of the learning process towards fluency. One day you’ll feel optimistic and full of positive energy, a

“Home” and belonging

Where is home? I’m getting to a point where I don’t know the answer to this question anymore. I was born in Denmark, moved to Sweden when I was 19 (and lived there on-and-off for 10 years), worked in Norway, studied a semester in Australia, traveled for a long period in South-East Asia, East Africa, and Europe, and the last couple of years I have spent in Spain. I’ve got a Danish passport and both my parents were born and raised in Denmark, so technically I’m Danish. But I le

Becoming a Freelancer in Spain

I’ve thought about it for so long, and I’ve now decided to go “autónomo” (= self-employed) in Spain. To try my luck as a self-employed translator/language teacher..as a full-time freelancer! :) Find my own clients, create invoices for my services, take care of my tax matters by myself and so on. I’m excited! I must say that the whole system of becoming self-employed in Spain seems like bit of a jungle to me. First of all, coming from Scandinavia, I don’t understand why you ha

TED-talk on honor killings

I can recommend this TED-Talk if you’re interested in women’s rights and empowerment. Kahlida shares her own experiences with honor killings in Pakistan, in a very moving and engaging way. Also, I have created the Danish subtitles for the talk. If you like languages and would like to try to do subtitling, I can recommend you to sign up as a volunteer subtitle translator on Ted-Talks, it’s lots of fun. #empowerment #TEDtalks #women #rights #subtitling #translation #Danish #Eng

Learning (and teaching!) Spanish

I have finally started this blog and I’m planning on writing about my passion for international development, migration and women’s rights, but definitely also about languages and language learning. I work as a translator, and though I have many different plans for the future, then I enjoy this life at the moment (especially the freedom it gives me) and I’ve always imagined combining my two interests, international development, and languages, in the long run. So on to my next

What language should I learn next?

“What should my next language to learn be?”, you might ask yourself. I think about this every day. I cannot help myself (just to let you know: it will probably be French, Arabic or Swahili), because learning a new language is such a pain-in-the-ass-challenge, and SUCH a reward at the same time. It’s difficult to choose between the more than 7000 languages in the world, but there’s a good excuse to choose Spanish. It’s one of the most widespread languages in the world, and spo