More and more people worldwide are making a concerted effort to learn Icelandic. This is excellent news as it helps to keep the language alive and well.
Icelandic belongs to the North Germanic group of languages and is closely related to Faroese and Western Norwegian. It is conservative compared to other modern European languages and has a four-case synthetic grammar distinguished by many irregular declensions.
Basics
So, what language do they speak in Iceland? It is always helpful to start with the basics when learning Icelandic. This includes basic vocabulary and expressions as well as pronunciation. It is also essential to know how to say hello, goodbye, and thank you in Icelandic, as these are the first words many people will hear when talking to an Icelander. It is also a good idea to know some numbers in Icelandic.
As an island country, the language of Iceland is relatively isolated from outside influences. This has helped keep the tongue from changing too much over the centuries, but it is not entirely immune. English and Danish strongly influence the language, as do other modern Scandinavian languages. However, the language has a distinct identity as an Old Norse dialect, which has been modified over time.
While some people might argue that Icelanders are stubborn in preserving the language, there is no doubt that it is a beautiful and unique language. It can be challenging to understand initially, but it is well worth the effort. Whether you are an avid traveler or want to be able to greet locals and express yourself, learning some Icelandic is the way to go. Icelanders are very proud of their language and welcome visitors who take the time to learn it. They will be happy to see that you are making an effort and will be impressed by the fact that you can pronounce their complicated words.
Pronunciation
In addition to having a unique alphabet, Icelandic has an unusual way of pronouncing consonants. The letter r, for example, is more like a trilling sound than the booming r of Italian or Russian. It also produces a vibration between itself and the surrounding vowels that lends a poetic quality to the language.
When learning Icelandic, it’s essential to break the language down into its sounds and try each one out until you can pronounce it correctly. Practice with friends and listen to Icelandic radio or television shows for a good feel for the language. It’s also a good idea to focus on just one accent, as Icelanders can have quite different pronunciations from each other, and it can be challenging to decipher their meaning.
The Icelandic language has been remarkably unaffected by foreign influences over the centuries and still closely resembles Old Norse in many ways. This is partly because it is so isolated from the rest of Scandinavia. Still, it also has a strong tradition of linguistic purism. e.g., Eggert Olafsson was a 19th-century writer and linguist who pushed for Icelandic to be free of foreign words.
However, some Icelandic words have been influenced by foreign languages over the years, especially during Christianity. Some of these new words have incorporated religious terminology from other languages, such as kirkja ‘church.’ Still, others have been coined by native elements, e.g., simi’ telephone,’ tarp ‘radio,’ befriend ‘car,’ and flugvollur ‘airport.’
Vocabulary
As a result of Iceland’s isolation, the language has kept to its roots and doesn’t accept many loan words. It has also been quite conservative in reducing its inflection level and has a unique system of sounding letters that include the letter representing the sound /th/.
Icelanders are creative in constructing words for new ideas and often revive old disused talks for those concepts. For example, the word for television is sjonvarp, which combines the ancient words for vision (sjon) and throwing (varp). In other cases, foreign words may have to be borrowed or adjusted to suit the language’s rules. For instance, kaffi is an Icelandic translation of the French and Italian words cafe and cafe.
The language has nine vowel phonemes, with stressed vowels long in monosyllables and word-final position, before single consonants and before the clusters /pr, tr, kr, sr, pj, tv, kv/. It has five diphthongs /ei, oei, ai, au, ue/ and rounded vowels /y, ye, oe, ae/.
Its grammar is similar to other Germanic languages and is divided into weak and strong verbs. The strongest ones are numerous and have four subjunctives and two imperatives. Icelandic has a few letters that don’t appear in English, like J, which sounds much like the y in yoyo, and R, which is rolled a bit like French.
Grammar
The Icelandic language is highly pure – it hasn’t been influenced much by its neighbors and hasn’t adopted many loanwords from Latin, Low German, or Greek. This has helped preserve the integrity of its phonology, but it also makes it challenging to learn. For example, it’s not a tonal language and has no consonant clusters. In addition, Icelandic’s “R” sound is distinct and doesn’t sound like the R in Spanish or French.
Icelanders go to great lengths to protect their language. For example, when a new technology such as a computer or helicopter comes along, Icelanders will not just adopt the English name for it. They will try to find an old Icelandic word that describes the item or its purpose.
This process can take time, but it has effectively prevented word loss over the years. It’s common for Icelanders to combine old words to create new technical lexis. For example, the word vedurfraedi comprises the old terms for weather and science.
As a result, Icelandic has some complex grammar. It has three genders and four cases (nominative, accusative, dative, and genitive) and is a declensional language. This means that chances are determined by prepositions and verbs rather than sentence position. Inflection is also irregular.