# Danish: clothing-optional beach



## Russianer

How to say "clothing optional beach" in Danish language?


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## Alxmrphi

Russianer said:


> How to say "clothing optional beach" in Danish language?



If you asked me how to translate this in another language I know, or even to explain it to someone in English, I wouldn't have *a clue *what this means.
Unless I'm being a bit of an idiot today, I'd say it doesn't make sense, and you need to explain what you want to say first, before anyone can be sure they are giving you the best translation.


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## hanne

I suppose it means a beach where clothing is optional - where you can be naked or not, as opposed to regular nudist beaches where I believe you're expected to be naked.

That said, we still need context, telling us where you want to use this word. I don't know of a Danish word with this meaning, so I'd probably go for some variation of "a beach where nakedness is allowed" - unless someone else knows a word.

Doing a bit of googling, it seems like almost any Danish beach is a de facto "clothing optional beach" - it's not generally forbidden to be naked (info in Danish here). So as part of the context you provide, it'll probably also be useful to tell us if you're referring to beaches in Denmark, or elsewhere, where the legislation might be different.


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## Alxmrphi

I didn't even think of that possibility until you pointed it out, which is quite weird because now that I look at it again, knowing that option, it seems more obvious.


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## Russianer

Alxmrphi said:


> you need to explain what you want to say first, before anyone can be sure they are giving you the best translation.


 
Clothing optional beach is a type of beach with a right to bath in any possible way: and in swimsuit, and  topless(topfree), and totally nude,and  on the beach some persons  bathing in  swimsuit, and some persons bathing nude.  




hanne said:


> I suppose it means a beach where clothing is optional - where you can be naked or not.


 
Yes. it means a beach where clothing is optional - where you can be naked or not.


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## hanne

Great, now you've explained what the word means, then we only need *context* before we can answer your question. Please give us a sentence where you want to use the word, or if it's a heading, tell us what sort of text you're dealing with.


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## Russianer

hanne said:


> Great, now you've explained what the word means, then we only need *context* before we can answer your question. Please give us a sentence where you want to use the word...


 
A phrase:
"Her sisters Maria and Olga prefer to tan on a clothing optional beach."
How to say the phrase in Danish language?


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## hanne

Then I'd somehow rephrase it: "på en nudiststrand" (as I said, I think clothing isn't really optional there, but it sounds like the girls wouldn't matter if clothing is optional or forbidden - unless they just want to be topless, and not bottomless...), "på en strand hvor nøgenbadning er tilladt" (even though they're not actually bathing), "på en strand hvor de ikke behøver badetøj".

Either way, I'd go for some sort of rewrite, not look for a noun with that specific meaning. Someone else might drop by with a better suggestion, or I might come up with something else later...


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## Dan2

Re the English: In print, one always (or so it seems) sees these expressions with a hyphen: "clothing-optional beach".  It's easier to understand that way and I think leaving out the hyphen is considered wrong in two-word adjectives. Compare:

two armed robots (two robots with weapons)
two-armed robots (robots with two arms)

This use of the hyphen seems to me to be a great compromise between separate words (illogical and difficult to understand) and the long compound words of Scandinavian and German (sometimes difficult to break into their parts).


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