Hello.
My family is planning two weeks in Iceland over the summer, and I'd love to learn to speak the language a bit- I lived in Germany for a year and immersing myself through language was one of the best experiences in my life.
So, what's the best way?
Thanks in advance for any guidance!
Search Amazon for a book that teaches Icelandic and/or an icelandic phrasebook. Figure out the phonology: the sound inventory and the sound pattern, how to pronounce the sounds that are not in English, the rules for how the phonemes are sounded depending on the neighboring sounds. Phonology is a major part of languages I didn't know exists until my first phonology class in college. Previously, I naievely assumed foreign languages should be pronounced with the sounds and sound pattern of my English speech, because I didn't know any better.
I've been using the Doulingo app to learn a little Greek before our trip in April. It is a fun way to start learning a new language!
Thanks Mike.
There are so many books that I was hoping to save some time by getting specific recommendations from someone who's already found a good one, or a website or app where I can actually hear.
Reading the internet can be a significant waste of time I've found :-)
Thanks lken56.
Fun story- Duolingo does not have Icelandic. I found a forum discussion where a person bemoans the fact that Duolingo has Klingon (a fake language from Star Trek), but not Icelandic.
Icelandic is a very difficult language pronunciation wise for English speakers. I tried to learn before my first trip to Iceland. Fortunately, on that trip, I learned that most people in Iceland speak English or at least some.
I've been to Iceland a few times and never had a problem communicating.
Sorry I can't be of more help but good luck.
Thanks Frank II.
I just want to learn as much as I can because it was so much fun when I was in Germany, where they also speak English. I just think it breaks down barriers when you're speaking the native language, or at least trying.
By all accounts Icelandic is very difficult. Unlike most other European languages, it seems to have retained most of the complexities of its forefather, Old Norse; isolation can do that to a language, I guess. I can only wish you good luck.
The Wikipedia entry will give you an idea of the scope of the task: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Icelandic_language
I speak a bit of Icelandic and it might not be the easiest language to learn, but not that hard as you might think. A good start can be https://icelandiconline.com
If you speak German you will have a bit of a head start since you will recognize several grammatical rules that English dropped centuries ago. Another thing that will make it a bit harder is their attitude to loanwords. While many modern words are more or less the same in many languages, such as electricity, telephone or helicopter, in Icelandic they create new words instead. So while in Swedish it is elektricitet, telefon and helikopter, in Icelandic it is rafmagn, sími and þyrla.
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Badger--Thank you for that link. We are headed back on our 3rd trip in aa couple of days, so not enough time to learn it for this trip but will definitely look into it for later.
If you need a bit of entertainment while packing, how about some Icelandic reggae? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7MGkaS2bBLc
Badger, this YouTube video is one that just makes me grin from ear to ear.
On our recent trip to Iceland we learned "please" and "thank you", as those phrases are always appreciated. We spent time talking with the guesthouse hosts or hotel receptionists and asking them how to pronounce certain words. Hearing from a native speaker was fun and we got to share some Hawaiian words with them. Like the fish humuhumunukunukuapuaʻa LOL
They all speak English. Except for hello, please, thank you, you are wasting your time
Tom, there's some info on "th" here: https://www.quora.com/How-common-is-the-th-sound-in-other-languages#:~:text=The%20%22th%22%20sound%20of%20an,most%20varieties%20of%20the%20language.&text=The%20%22th%22%20sound%20of%20an,most%20varieties%20of%20the%20language.
It mentions Albanian and Spanish. Like you, I didn't immediately think of Spanish, but the Castilians tend to turn "s" into "th" in the spoken language.
I’ve been learning Icelandic on and off for about about a year - for English speakers the grammar is a bit daunting but I can understand the gist of written Icelandic now and I’m hoping when I visit this year I’ll be able to have some conversations if I can overcome my stereotypical British fear of talking in a language other than English!
Free resources I’ve used
The YouTube channel “Icelandic for Foreigners” has lots of videos about grammar. Start with the pronunciation ones for each letter. The others are handy when you know a bit more about the language.
The University of Iceland has free online courses - search for “Icelandic Online”. These are all in Icelandic but do listening, reading and writing up to an advanced level. Took me a few goes to get started with them but they are useful.
A lecturer who has taught Icelandic in the UK recorded tutorials and you can listen to the mp3s. search for “Alaric Hall Icelandic” and his website should come up. There is also a link to the language site Memrise where Alaric has put the vocabulary from the recordings. I found these great as you’re learning in real time with Rachael and Ben!
I also did some other courses on Memrise for vocab but there isn’t much audio and I’ve just started using the Drops language app as it does have audio and quite a lot of vocab and short phrase content. Although you can only do 5 minutes per day free so I bought a year pass (about $35 USD)
Gjörðu svo vel as they say in Iceland!
Clozemaster.com has an Icelandic course, if you want to just dive into the deep end/get the language in your ear. It is free, there's a lot of audio & you focus on learning vocabulary through sentences. The website uTalk.com offers more practical words & phrases for visitors (I think you pay to subscribe per language). Lonely Planet publishes a phrasebook Fast Talk Icelandic designed to get you speaking in a brief amount of time. It is very small/skinny, but cheap & portable. Colloquial Icelandic by Daisy Neijmann is user-friendly course book. It has free companion audio files online.
