Danish etiquette: "ignoring people is polite here"

What The Denmark | Danish Culture for Expats, Internationals and Danes

Danish culture is premised on various values such as trust, equality and respect for privacy.

Whilst this has many virtues, from an outsider perspective, this can also appear to play out in scenarios where Danes come across as... well, a bit rude.

For example, it's not natural for Danish people to hold the door open for each other, or to offer help for someone struggling to take a baby stroller off a train.

In this episode Sam and Josefine are joined by Danish anthropologist Dennis Nørmark.

We talk about a whole range of scenarios in Danish culture that can seem perplexing to outsiders, but begin to make sense when viewed through the Danish prism (for example, buying your own birthday cake on your birthday?!)

We discuss various other things such as:

• How whether cultures seem cold/ rude is linked to the sense of privacy
• How Denmark (and Scandinavian countries) are in fact living a sort of extreme individualism
• Why Danish people won't instinctively help people struggling in public
• How Danes view specific reciprocity vs generalised reciprocity in other cultures
• How the trust in Denmark means there's not the need to "get to know" people you do business with
• How the smiley face is the Danish word for please
• Giving and receiving gifts
• The fear (or not) of being laughed at

You can learn more about Dennis' work at: https://dennisnormark.dk/

Thanks to Hotel Mayfair in Central Copenhagen for hosting us for the recording. You can get 25% off your stay by using the code WTD at checkout

Learn more about What The Denmark via: www.whatthedenmark.com and @whatthedenmark on Instagram