English and Globalisation in Denmark: A Changing Sociolinguistic Landscape (the Enida project)

From 2021-2025, CIP is participating in the Enida project, set up to investigate the role of English in Denmark and covering when and how much English is used by people in Denmark, what attitudes people have to the use of English, and what symbolic value the use of English has for young Danes.

The project is funded by Independent Research Fund Denmark and is headed by Associate Professor Dorte Lønsmann from the Department of English, Germanic and Romance Studies (Engerom). Professor Janus Mortensen and PhD fellow Marianne Haugaard Skov from CIP are also participating in the project.

The project sets out to explore the following research questions:

1: To what extent is English present in the everyday life of Danes across Danish society?
2: What language attitudes and ideologies exist among Danes in relation to English?
3: How and with what symbolic value is English used among young Danes?      

The project includes a questionnaire-based survey carried out in collaboration with Statistics Denmark. The survey was sent out to 2,500 people in Denmark, and 854 people chose to respond and give information about the use of English in their everyday life.

The researchers in the project have also conducted focus group interviews to investigate how attitudes towards English are related to factors such as age, international orientation and use of online media.

In her PhD project, Marianne Haugaard Skov explores the use of English among young people in Denmark. As frequent users of online media, English plays a central role in their everyday life.

By engaging with the three overall research questions above, the Enida project aims to examine and explain the relationship between social change, changing language practices and changing language attitudes and ideologies.

Overall, the project provides a detailed insight into the role English plays in Denmark today, how people in Denmark perceive English and how this has changed since the end of the 1990’s.

In November 2024, the Enida project published a book accompanied by a podcast series focusing on the core results from the project. The book, written in Danish, is entitled Engelsk in Denmark – What’s the story? and can be purchased in bookstores across the country and via the homepage of the publisher, where it can also be downloaded as an e-book free of charge. With the book and the associated podcast series, the project seeks to contribute to the ongoing conversation about the role of English in contemporary Danish society and the role it should play in Denmark in the future.

You can find more information about Enida project activities and publications as well as information about the other participants in the project on the Engerom website.