Sorry for the delay FyodorPavlovich. I've been layed up in hospital for the past two and a half weeks. I wouldn't say that I prefer saying "talked of", but that this is an equally valid expression as "talked about", "spoken of" and "spoken about". There could be variations depending on the context, but would require a lengthy explanation here, and anyway, the differences are very little.
Hi rachabake. Briefly, the word "der" in this sentence is a pronoun, and is linked with the word "tales". (Der tales = there talks/there is being talked). Literally translated "Det tales der aldrig om" is in English, "It talks there never about", meaning, "It is never talked of/about". So "der" represents the "is" in the English sentence. http://ordnet.dk/ddo/ordbog?select=der,2=der (When in the link, write "der" in the search field, then scroll through the various explanations. Note the three versions to the right of the page.)
'Der tales aldrig om det' means 'There is never talked about it', where 'Det tales der aldrig om' means 'It is never talked about'. There is a subtle difference, but the first is used like in an argument and the second is used casually like 'oh, it is never really talked about'. I don't know if it is understandable, but I hope it helped.