It's really fascinating how useful immersion is for learning a language. I wondered how it would go for me, not being a particularly social person, but I really can tell a big difference in my comprehension. Production is still difficult, but I didn't expect to learn Danish overnight. Here's an example. When configuring my iBook and router for our new broadband connection at home, I was using the CD that CyberCity sent to us. It was in Danish, but I could figure out enough, especially paired with pretty pictures, to get through the set up. It was a "wizard" type program, and between each screen, I had to click a button labelled fortsæt. I didn't think too hard about what that word must mean, because a single usage of it isn't that clear. It could be "ok" or "next" or "understood" or any number of things. The next day, Thomas and I are taking the S-train into Copenhagen, and the familiar S-train voice comes on. I've heard her tell me the same message dozens of times in my short span here, but it didn't really click until then. Toget fortsætter til Farum. "The train continues to Farum." Continue. Fortsæt means "continue." And to top it off, I now know how to pronounce it. I feel like there's no way I'll forget this word now, whereas staring at a vocab list in a classroom before a test, it could very easily fly out the window just when I need it.

By the way, I love the S-train. We're about 15 minutes from the central station, 17 minutes from Palads movie theater, or 25 minutes from Fisketorvet without ever having to transfer. A short walk from a station will get us to Tivoli, the Imperial, Strøet, and any number of other worthwhile things in the city. A slightly longer walk to an Apple Center. One transfer and less than half an hour to get to the Zoo. The S-train will transfer us easily to Kystbanen to get us to the in-laws in Nivå, or to Sweden if we wanted to.