There’s nothing like a heatwave to draw people outside - and head en masse to the beach. Or, if you’re in Copenhagen, cruise Strandvejen.

So after a none-too-cool day in the office on Monday, I decided to bike home via the scenic route, up Strandvejen. As I crossed over onto Strandvejen I thought I’d hit the Friday rush hour, but as I got further north the traffic got heavier and heavier instead of thinning out. It was all black and metallic silver, bumper to bumper on both sides of the road.

An ideal opportunity for all those stuck to their hot seats to do a bit of windowshopping of course, and for those lacking a shopping gene, some serious people-watching. Once the shop fronts disappear, then what else is there to do?

That’s the only way I could reason the three-car smash further up the road. When you’re only going 5 km/h, what other reason is there? A sweaty footsole slipped off the pedal?

There’s nothing like car queues, in-car heat, and ever-so-cool-looking pedestrians eating gigantic waffle icecreams to cause a bit of distraction. And its a sure sign that summer has finally arrived on Strandvejen.

For more Strandvejen-like driving distractions and some retro summer music, put your earphones on a take a look at this:

At Eye for Image, the English language is our bread and butter. So the recent debate on the use of Danish versus English in the Danish business community and educational institutions hasn’t gone unnoticed.

To those of you who haven’t been following the debate, here’s a quick recap. In spring 2007, the Minister of Culture, Brian Mikkelsen, appointed a language committee or “Sprogudvalg” to study the Danish language and evaluate if there was a need for a Danish language law.

Last month the committee published their findings in a report, “Sprog til tiden”. The committee found that the Danish language is thriving better in some areas than others, but that there’s no need for a Danish language law.

One of the committee’s conclusions was that the Danish business community needs to strengthen their use of the Danish language. And what’s more, the business community has a responsibility to ensure that English doesn’t automatically become the language of corporate Denmark.

But the Danish Chamber of Commerce (Dansk Erhverv), who represents 20,000 member companies, doesn’t agree. According to Christian Tanggaard Ingemann, Market Director at Dansk Erhverv, the Danish language isn’t under attack, and that increased use of English as the working language in education, research and business won’t marginalise the Danish language.

Dansk Erhverv believes that the way forward is to secure the use of English in educational institutions, while maintaining the use of Danish in trades and educations where the job market requires it.

Whatever way you look at it, English is here to stay. With so many Danish companies operating in niche areas, they have to take their products and services abroad. And as Ingemann points out, English isn’t only “nice to know”, but “needed to know”.

So, yes, English is necessary if Denmark is to remain competitive and communicate with the world around us. And personally, I don’t believe that the increased use of English in the Danish business community and at universities will spell the death of the Danish language. It will continue to evolve of course, like all languages do, but that’s “nice” isn’t it?

Last night I went to a concert by the New Zealand-Australian band, Crowded House. They have a fantastic stage presence – so it wasn’t just the music that was good - the way they interact with each other on stage made it a really memorable concert.

I’d seen Crowded House perform live once before, at Roskilde Festival, years ago.

What was different last night was not only the venue (Amager Bio is slightly more intimate than the dirt patch in front of the Orange Scene), but the audience.

We’d all paid money just to see Crowded House perform, so of course there were some very dedicated fans there.

As I scanned the audience, I couldn’t help pick out people that had to be New Zealanders or Australians among the many Danish faces, and we seemed to be quite strongly represented.

It struck me, standing in the middle of a sea of people that even though the accents of the band members, their charisma and lyrics are distinctly New Zealand/Australian, the band’s appeal extends way beyond those of us who share the same cultural background.

When they sung the opening lines of a song about the small North Island town where both the lead singer and my father were born, everyone was getting something out of it and really enjoying it.

That’s why I like going to concerts. They’re a cultural leveller.

I must remember to get to more.

You can’t get away from it. It’s always on the news, it’s at the movies, and every time you look out the window. Climate change.

The issue is now widely acknowledged as a global problem affecting us all, and people are starting to be more aware of what they’re doing and how they can make a difference.

As consumers, we want to know that the companies we’re lining the pockets of are also doing their bit. Our latest Wordspin article gives some suggestions on how to develop a green branding strategy that will stand up to consumer scrutiny. With people keen to know exactly what companies are doing in their daily operations to make a difference, companies can no longer get away with simply paying lip service to the issue.

So has your company’s brand gone green? Or do you think this is just another flash in the marketing pan?

This morning while gulping down my coffee, this article in Politiken grabbed my attention.

Copenhagen University asked 232 Danes to evaluate 16 people’s personalities based solely on the way they pronounced the text from a Danish tv ad. The 16 people came from eight countries, with a man and woman from each.

The outcome of the evaluation is that many Danes get irritated when they hear Danish spoken with an accent. It seems they get really irritated if Danish is spoken with a Middle Eastern accent.

If you happen to speak Danish with a Germanic clang then you’re not doing too badly as you’re seen as being independent, ambitious, effective, interesting, reliable, gifted, and pleasant. But if you speak Danish with a Middle Eastern accent then you’re considered incompetent, indifferent, stupid, unreliable, unpleasant and irritating.

That’s a harsh call considering that all 16 people speak excellent Danish and are university educated.  

Lighten up people! Isn’t there supposed to be unity in diversity?