I HOPE readers will forgive me for an obsession with the unpronouncability of Danish, but I'm pleased to see this week that it is shared. This charming video has been bouncing around the internet (and several sympathetic friends have e-mailed it to me). In it, two non-Danes living in Copenhagen bang together some electronics to create talking street signs, telling confused foreigners how to pronounce things like Kvæsthusgade and Rådhusstræde. If you don't know Danish, your best guess will probably not even be close.

I hope they've put one of these signs on Strøget. This is the most famous street in Copenhagen, the pedestrian shopping street right through the heart of town. It may also be the hardest to say in the city. It combines

- a strongly uvular r, not that hard if you know French or German, but still not easy for non-natives

- the ø; which is not so different from German ö, but still difficult for those who don't know it

- a g that is not pronounced at all, and worst

- the definite article -et ("the"), which in Danish always comes at the end of words. The pronunciation of this very hard to describe. English-speakers would normally make this sound only when trying not to vomit. It in no way uses the tongue-on-teeth sound normally associated with the letter "t".

The combination, "Strøget" as Danes say it in running conversation, is one long, slightly strangled-sounding syllable. You can hear two Danes saying it here.

Even if there were one of these awesome signs on Strøget, non-natives would have a devil of a time imitating it, even if they could do a passable rendition of "Rådhusstræde". I sometimes wonder if it wasn't chosen by Danes as the name for the most famous shopping street just so they could get a chuckle out of visitors. "Can you tell me how to get to, er..."

Addendum: Momo Miyazaki, one of the two designers (along with Andrew Spitz) wrote in, saying that they weren't able to put audio-guide on Strøget: "It was actually #1 on our list, but to be honest, our little ladder wouldn't reach that high!"