Native Swedish speaker (quite an archaic dialect if that means anything here) here, I'm interested in learning Icelandic. Trouble is, I don't know where to start from. Reading Visir.is or listening to Valravn, I can understand enough to figure out whats going on (usually with a little extrapolation or a single translated word) - all it took for me to get there was learning the alphabet. Should I just continue with that, or is there a more effective way to learn the language from this "level" (I feel like there definately is, but I'm unsure what)? and how about pronunciation? Tackar!

edit because I just remembered: I know modern Swedish (in Sweden) is genrally considered a pitch-accent language, but the Swedish I speak is not a pitch-accent language. Does this matter?

I do not understand the function of highlighted prepositions here:

Ef að þú vilt það.

Þú ert fær um að gera allt sem að þú vilt gera.

What if it were "Ef þú vilt það" or "allt sem þú vilt gera", would that change the meaning?

I have to do a presentation for my Icelandic class about my hobbies, and I’ve looked everywhere but can’t figure out what mounted archery, horse jumping and historical reenactment are called in Icelandic. Can anyone help?

The pronounciation of the letter g always confused me. Only half of the time it got pronounced as it was explained to me in my book. So I looked up online and... long story short after two years of learning I have to relearn pronounciation again.

Which brings me to my question: I don't get the [ɣ] sound. Can someone explain it to me?

As a German native speaker the IPA audio sample on Wikipedia just sounds like someone saying "ra" in German. But it's supposed to be a g?

Second question: Is a r at the end of a word always a voiceless rolled r?

Third question: the l and n in tl and tn at the end of a word is voiceless, does that count for gl and gn too?

The guy on this website (https://icelandicgrammar.com/) pronounces it that way I think, when trying to explain the g in hagl and logn

That's it for now, thank you very much in advance!

EDIT: Thank you very much for your replies everybody! You really helped me out a lot!

PS: If you're a German speaker trying to learn Icelandic don't use Stefan Drabek's book to learn pronounciation :/

Hello,

I'm interested in Icelandic, Old Norse, and Anglo-Saxon.

I want to make Icelandic a central part of my linguistic studies, because it is a living language and I would love to meet new friends through my studies.

I keep trying to learn, but I hold off as I want to start off on the right foot. The pronunciation is most important to me as I start.

Is there an audio series by an authoritative resource that I could get from a library or elsewhere, so that I could record and compare myself as I develop my pronunciation skills?

Thank you.

Hi! I want to write “she thinks it important to appear perfect” Would that be “henni finnst mikilvægt að birtast sem fullkomin” Can birtast be used in this way? Thank you in advance!

In the Icelandic Gospel I found this line:

Jesús horfði á þá og sagði: ,,Fyrir mönnum eru engin ráð til þessa, en Guð megnar allt.`` (Matt.19:26)

I have troubles with "ráð til þessa". How can one translate it? Is this phrase used nowadays? If yes, can you give an example?

Hello everyone, I'm trying to learn Icelandic but have no idea where to start. I've tried looking on Duolingo but they didn't have anything. Any help please, my girlfriend is Icelandic, she knows I don't speak it but for her birthday I would love to surprise her. Any advice on how/where to start helps.

I would like to know what is the english traduction of this sentence I found on a card. I tried using different translators, but I ended up with two different versions.

það hefur verið mitt aðaláhugamál síðan ég lærði að ganga

Thank you!

Hello!

So, everyone knows that ⟨u⟩ makes a sound like the German ü (IPA: [ʏ], maybe a little more centred), but sometimes I hear [u] (corresponding to ⟨ú⟩) in some words. Am I just hearing the wrong sounds or is there some unwritten nuance to the u phoneme? I haven't been able to find anything documenting this.

I’m a beginner icelandic learner and i’m really struggling with building sentence and having my head around where to place certain words. Does anyone have a tips on helping me get the hang of it?

Beginner here, i see in words like car ( bill )and scarf ( trefill ) the double L is pronounced more like a K? Am i correct or is there a few different pronouncements

been trying to name him culturally accurate so i wanted to ask for opinion of Icelandic people!!

I have seen both these words and have no idea whether there is a difference between them. The only meaning I know is "event". Is there?

I am wanting to learn Old Norse or Icelandic, and I am confused by whether Old Norse is Icelandic, or vice versa. I have heard them be used interchangeably. Is Icelandic a dialect? Why are they referred to differently? I am just confused. I am sorry if there is a master post explaining this, I didn't see it if it does exist. I also want to know what the more correct name is if one is a dialect. Thank you for reading or offering your help. Cheers!
(P.S. The main reason I ask is because I want to make sure I learn things correctly, and find and use the right resources, I do know of the master post for some good resources, though if there are any highly recommended ones, please leave them below).

Hi there, I have a hard time finding Icelandic audiobooks. Maybe someone has some good recommendations for an app?

Also if you have some interesting podcasts (lon Spotify), that have transcription as well :)

I would like to know diminitives of this name. Are there any?

Hello! In a writing assignment I sent to my teacher he marked the “sáum” as being grammically wrong, but I really can’t figure out why? Can anyone explain? Thank you in advance!

“Það var mjög heitt, kannski tuttugu og fimm hitastig, og sólskinið lét okkur sáum eftir því að við ekki vorum með sólarvörn. “

I saw on wiktionary that "frá" can also mean "about", is this true? And if so, any major difference between that and "um"?

Hey! I'm a little confused on the difference of "af", "úr" and "fram" in the meaning of "from"

My boyfriend’s birthday is coming up, and I am writing him a letter in Icelandic, and I Can’t use translation apps because of the grammatical errors. I want the letter to say this: To (boyfriend ) You know I love you, to the moon and back. You also know that I am forever grateful that I have such an amazing boy like you in my life. One of the things about you that I am grateful for, is that you have shared with me a whole different culture, that is yours. Iceland is beautiful in every way, from the language, the nature, the people, the music and probably much more that I haven’t seen yet. The biggest reason why I love Iceland though, is because of you and your amazing family. I hope to visit Iceland someday, and hopefully meet the rest of your family, and hopefully get to learn the language as well. From your (my name)

I think this would mean so much to him, considering we have always spoken my native language and not his, and he has expressed how this change makes him sad. This will be my first step to learning Icelandic for him :)

Hey, I've just seen that Árnastofnun has published a new dictionary: m.is (why they chose this name God only knows).

It allows you to search for meanings of words ('leita' at the top) and you can also get translations ('þýða' at the top) in quite simple terms (also for the Icelandic-Icelandic dictionary!). It is aimed at young people and anyone who wants to learn Icelandic as a second language. Here's a short video about the project (in Icelandic, alas with no subtitles).

This is what they published about it themselves:

M.is er vefur á vegum Árnastofnunar sem gerir orðabækur og upplýsingar um íslenska tungu aðgengilegri fyrir yngra fólk og fólk sem er að læra íslensku sem annað mál.

Í þessari fyrstu útgáfu er hægt að fletta upp í þremur orðabókum, íslenskri, íslensk-enskri og íslensk-pólskri, og fá skýringar og dæmi um notkun, sjá hvernig orð beygjast og þýða setningar milli íslensku og ensku með hjálp vélþýðingar. Einnig geta notendur flett upp algengum málfræðihugtökum í hugtakasafninu.

Mögulegt er að tala inn orð og setningar og hlusta á framburð orða með hjálp íslenskra máltæknilausna.

Vefurinn verður þróaður áfram með hliðsjón af þörfum ungs fólks og annarra sem eru að læra íslensku.

My translation:

M.is is a website by Árnastofnun which incorporates dictionaries and supplies information about the Icelandic language for young people and people who are learning Icelandic as a second language.

In this first edition users can search in three dictionaries: Icelandic, Icelandic-English and Icelandic-Polish. Moreover, they can get information and examples of their use, see how words are inflected and translate sentences from Icelandic to English with machine translation. Furthermore, users can look for grammatical terms in the thesaurus.

One can use the microphone function to enter words and sentences and listen to the pronunciation of words with the help of the Icelandic language technology.

The website will be developed further with reference to the needs of young people and others who are learning Icelandic.

NB: I am not affiliated with this website, just thought this might be of help to some of you.

Hi everyone! I’m working on a creative project and looking for help with translating a short poetic narrative from English into Icelandic and, if possible, Old Norse. The text reflects themes of fate, travel, and returning home to Iceland.

Here’s a portion of the text I need translated:

"I can't reach home tonight… my home’s out in Iceland.

I wanted to find out how other people lived.
A man is considered ignorant if he has explored no more than the shores of Iceland.
All kinds of trouble will arise from her if she goes east, they said.

Nothing ventured, nothing gained:

Out east I have enjoyed the kindness and warmth of others,
though I have not brought much luck to the people that touch me.

Few things are more powerful than destiny,
What fate decreed must come to pass,
What is intended will have to be.
I must reach my home out in Iceland now.

Here is a ship called Stigandi; the best ship of all upwind sail.
It is the one I chose to return.
I launched my oaken craft at the breaking of ice.
At sea, I often went out at night to study the heavenly bodies.
West over water I fared,
bearing poetry’s waves to the shore.

What is tested is known now:
I must be in Iceland by harvest...

The rest of the text is in a similar tone, revolving around a journey back to Iceland. If you are fluent in Icelandic or familiar with Old Norse, I’d greatly appreciate your assistance!

Feel free to translate part of it or the whole text, and let me know if you have any resources for finding translators or voice artists who can bring this narrative to life in these languages. Thanks in advance for your help!

It might seem totally absurd, but i searched for the translation of "assault Cinnamon" or "assault peanut" in Icelandic. Everything i found was unclear (or maybe is what i am searching who's unclear), so can somebody help me find what would it looks like plz?

Edit: Thanks to everyone who helped me, you are the best 👍

(btw, i was talking about a cinnamon that you would use as a weapon)

Bókin var svolítið leiðinleg fyrir minn aldur

I heard an Icelander use a word that sounded like “slá veður” to refer to a specific type of hot weather? Is that a thing? What word might it have been?

\"I'll Keep Your Dreams Alive\" - Icelandic

Hello!
So, if I can ask here (not the first time), I would like to ask about help with transcribing a few unknown lines of the song above dubbed in Icelandic.
My Icelandic friend managed to transcribe almost the whole song, with the exception of four lines.
These lines are from 1:22 to 1:39, and here's what my friend managed to transcribe:

"Nei, ég óttast enga dreka
og ??? fara sjá(?)
Þá á flótta fljótt mun dreka
frækin sigra þá???"

In the English original, it's:

"No, I won't be scared of dragons
Or demons in the night
I know that you can sleigh dragons
Win any fight"

I hope I'm not asking for too much, and that the audio quality still allows to understand what is said there.
That's all, and, as always, I'll be very grateful for any help!

Hi all! I found this beautiful song by Karlakór Reykjavíkur, and couldn't find the lyrics for it anywhere! If they sound clear enough to you, could someone transcribe them for me? Thank you! The link is below: https://youtu.be/678i043TVic?si=dhHmvAj8wnzwK8y1

I've been looking for a bilingual Icelandic reader (a book that contains stories in Icelandic specifically for those learning the language). These types of books are pretty readily available in other languages, but it's been proving to be a difficult task for Icelandic, so I've decided to try to use the power of AI to create one for myself! This is only a first draft, and since the word selection, writing, and translation were done by AI, don't expect anything stellar. If you have any suggestions on how to improve it, please let me know! The basic ideas are:

1. A small amount of vocabulary introduced per chapter.
2. A large amount of repetition to reinforce vocabulary.
3. The use of beginner everyday vocabulary for absolute beginners.

Here is the link: Icelandic Reader (pdflink.to)