Soffía's Icelandic log

[PeterMollenburg]

Icelandic Online (also known as IOL): https://icelandiconline.com
I had a massive love-hate relationship with this course (full review: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... =70#p40941) but it was the main thing that got me over the step into native content. It is indeed all in Icelandic. All I can say is that I used Google Translate extensively and shamelessly. All the time. Interestingly I never did finish it either. I dabbled in the higher levels but if I recall correctly I didn't even finish IOL3. (If Peter Mollenberg is reading this, I'm sure he's twitching.)

Quickly slams laptop closed... covers camera on iPhone... ummmm, no, no twitching here, none at all. What makes you say I twitch? I mean that I might’ve twitched, but it was a joke, right, haha ... haha (laughing turns nervous)... Say, umm, great write up on your journey with Icelandic materials. No, really. Good to see you’re still language learning I’m not up to speed on your French of late though, I hope it’s going well!

Btw I watched something interesting today with regards to the Faeroe Islands. I posted it in the Team Nordic thread, so i’ll paste it here too as you might find it slightly interesting, if you can view it.

I just came across an interesting video from SBS Australia (in English) (to view this you would need a VPN or be located in Australia, sorry). In the video they talk a lot about the developing multicultural trend in the Faeroe Islands due to a shortage of women, who they themselves to a certain extent have gone off to other lands in search of opportunities. Language and culture, including the learning of Faeroese is discussed in the video. Worth a look. If you cannot watch the video, there is an accompanying article which summarises the video content.

Love in a Strange Land

Edit:

French

I'm definitely looking forward to getting back to French in 2018......
.....If I can get the time off work, I'm going back to Lille in early April to see Paris-Roubaix again. So if I've managed some proper reading by then, I'll reward myself with a few books from Le Furet du Nord (the most amazing bookstore). We shall see!

Okay, I’m up to speed now on your French. Now that wasn’t too hard PM, was it? I’m such a dickhead sometimes dickheading about in a world of dickheads (i’m referring to the dimension in which I reside).

PARIS ROUBAIX!!!!! Wow! I’m so jealous! You total **** (fill in blank with four letter word, like ‘cake’ or ‘bake’ or ‘guten tag, ja sehr güt, danke’ or a symbol like ^ - pretty straight forward really, stop fretting over it) ! Would love to be there too, riding of course, because i’m like so amazing at riding an’ that. I could win the Tour de France after like 2 weeks training, hands down flat out for realz. PM, shut up already.

Given you’ve provided a rough estimate of your French level (~ a little past A2, right?), what’s your current level of Icelandic, Soffía, out of curiosidad, si ça ne te gêne pas ?

[Soffía]

Hey, Soffía! This is a great post. If I figure out a good place to put it, can I repost or link it in the Nordic study group?

(By good place, I mean somewhere it won't eventually get lost, like in the first or second post)

Of course! I feel like I should possibly put more effort into an expanded version – I typed it up in a few minutes, it's not very polished or anything – but until then you're very welcome to share.

[Soffía]

Btw I watched something interesting today with regards to the Faeroe Islands. I posted it in the Team Nordic thread, so i’ll paste it here too as you might find it slightly interesting, if you can view it.

Thanks for the link. I watched the clip, although the full video wasn't available.

PARIS ROUBAIX!!!!! Wow! I’m so jealous! You total **** (fill in blank with four letter word, like ‘cake’ or ‘bake’ or ‘guten tag, ja sehr güt, danke’ or a symbol like ^ - pretty straight forward really, stop fretting over it) !

Unbelievably, Lille/Roubaix is only an hour and a half from London, so I'm lucky enough to be able to leave after work on Friday night for a weekend away. My first time at Paris-Roubaix was last year and it was great. No need for tickets (you just turn up at the velodrome) and all the team buses are parked outside, so you can mingle afterwards. I got to stand right there while Andrei Greipel was being interviewed by the press.

Plus Lille is a lovely city, beautiful old town with the benefits of both French and Belgian cuisine. People seemed to very much want to speak to me in French - despite the fact that I only understood a few words last year! It's different than Paris in that regard.

Given you’ve provided a rough estimate of your French level (~ a little past A2, right?), what’s your current level of Icelandic, Soffía, out of curiosidad, si ça ne te gêne pas ?

My reading comprehension in French seems to be somewhere around A2 – I wouldn't claim any abilities in anything else.

In Icelandic? Low B2 reading comprehension probably – judging by the "can understand contemporary literary prose" benchmark. At the moment I'm reading Lord of the Rings, to be fair not with full comprehension, but it's definitely harder than some contemporary literary prose! My listening comprehension is probably high B1 – I can manage podcasts aimed at older children, but adult podcasts are a bit beyond me. And I've had very little practice with active skills so I wouldn't claim too much in that department. I speak tourist Icelandic, really.

[PeterMollenburg]

Unbelievably, Lille/Roubaix is only an hour and a half from London, so I'm lucky enough to be able to leave after work on Friday night for a weekend away. My first time at Paris-Roubaix was last year and it was great. No need for tickets (you just turn up at the velodrome) and all the team buses are parked outside, so you can mingle afterwards. I got to stand right there while Andrei Greipel was being interviewed by the press.

Plus Lille is a lovely city, beautiful old town with the benefits of both French and Belgian cuisine. People seemed to very much want to speak to me in French - despite the fact that I only understood a few words last year! It's different than Paris in that regard.

Interesting. It’s a shame my French wasn’t as good when I was in the area 7 years ago now. The city seemed nice enough, but admittedly we didn’t explore it as much as we could have. Bad weather probably didn’t help. Nice to hear the French readily using French as you say! I even ‘hung out’ in the Roubaix area for close on a month. I didn’t even consider the race at the time. Idiot.

Mind you when we were in Maastricht just prior, I made it a semi regular thing to ride like a madman out of town over the few hills in the area on a heavy steel chunk of Dutch commuting (think paniers and all) bike imagining myself as some kind of excellent cyclist lowering my body to cut through the wind (think vertical position on these bikes). Then after returning to Australia I’ve watched world class races occur over the same hills. Nice to reminiss about my days as a world champion ummm stupid Aussie riding a Dutch touring bike around like a pro cyclist (no a pro cyclist wouldn’t do that!). I then got on to watching the Paris Roubaix each year as well.... those cobbles.... nasty! Sure makes for interesting watching though.

My reading comprehension in French seems to be somewhere around A2 – I wouldn't claim any abilities in anything else.

In Icelandic? Low B2 reading comprehension probably – judging by the "can understand contemporary literary prose" benchmark. At the moment I'm reading Lord of the Rings, to be fair not with full comprehension, but it's definitely harder than some contemporary literary prose! My listening comprehension is probably high B1 – I can manage podcasts aimed at older children, but adult podcasts are a bit beyond me. And I've had very little practice with active skills so I wouldn't claim too much in that department. I speak tourist Icelandic, really.

Cool, I was just curious to know where you were at. Pretty decent effort to get your Icelandic this far (Lord of the Rings! I’d be scared to tackle then even with my French at the current level... that’s a mammoth undertaking). Keep it up! As for your French, well done as well, it seems you’re meandering along with that one, but still progress. Thanks for sharing Soffía!

[Soffía]

Back from France, from my (now traditional) weekend watching Paris-Roubaix. So many people who spoke no English, or very very little. My spoken French is non-existent and it was painful. Also painful was seeing all the French books I want to read! (Not that I was dissuaded from buying a few anyway.)

So it's time to get back to French properly. Every day I'd like to:

• Do one 'skill' on Duolingo (it's getting even less usable than ever... and yet still strangely compelling)
• Do 100 words on Lingvist
• Read a chapter of Le Petit Nicolas
• Listen to an episode of Journal en français facile or L'avis de Marie

Though actually, who am I kidding, I'd be happy if I managed to do one or two of those things every day.

I'm also definitely going to sign up for the Super Challenge in French this year. Probably the half challenge, just to be achievable, although I do think I could manage the full challenge if I don't slack off in terms of momentum. It'll be very interesting to see how far I can develop my reading knowledge in a year and half – I suspect I could quite happily be reading novels by the end of it. We shall see!

(Icelandic I just haven't done much with recently. I keep eying things up and being faintly surprised that I can read them.)

[Soffía]

So I had this whole French studying PLAN, which basically involved doing something every day in the three-month lead up to the Tour de France. Then I bought a road bike myself and basically lost track of language learning for a whole month of reading about bikes, making wish lists of kit, watching maintenance videos on YouTube, and occasionally even riding the thing. (I did 30 miles last Saturday, which is not bad for a beginner I hope.) Not to mention watching the Giro d'Italia.

French
Anyway, I'm back at it. Plugging onwards with Duolingo and looking longingly at the books that I have lined up. (Besoin de vélo by Paul Fournel! I am motivated! And I don't think I'm that far away from being able to struggle through it, one short section at a time.)

Icelandic
I've also gotten excited about Icelandic again after chatting with Morgana and Ani about audiobook options. I'm back to reading Arnaldur Indriðason's Skuggasund, which I'm actually not that keen on (first Icelandic book I could really say that about), but it's a good easy read with lots of basic real-world dialogue, so I'm going to forge onwards. Maybe interspersed with Lord of the Rings, or maybe I'll just try to get through it as quickly as possible.

I'm listening to Útvarp Saga while writing this and finding myself in a weird situation where I recognise almost all of the words and I'm still not exactly certain of the subject of the discussion. (Something about the crash and house rental, I think.) I listen to audio so rarely. I need to learn how to relax and just let it flow over me; I expect it will snap into place sooner or later. But what I can say is that I'm certain all the reading I've done is helping me to parse audio better.

[zjones]

Hi! I've enjoyed reading your log Soffía! I'm at an A2 reading level in French as well, but I haven't yet convinced myself to read any "real" books in French other than children's books (ugh), so I'm impressed with your reading choices. What is your reading process like?

[Neurotip]

I'm listening to Útvarp Saga while writing this and finding myself in a weird situation where I recognise almost all of the words and I'm still not exactly certain of the subject of the discussion.

That is spooky.

Good to know it's still a problem when you can actually speak the language. No, wait...

[Soffía]

Hi! I've enjoyed reading your log Soffía! I'm at an A2 reading level in French as well, but I haven't yet convinced myself to read any "real" books in French other than children's books (ugh), so I'm impressed with your reading choices. What is your reading process like?

Oh heavens, I've hardly done any French reading so I don't think anyone ought to be impressed with my choices! I'm just aspirational and impatient. My French library is expanding frighteningly, and it's mostly a combination of books about cycling and books I got from my local charity shop for £2 each. (Why not stock up?) The only thing I've actually finished in French is Québec Land, by Pauline Bardin, Edouard Bourré-Guilbert and Aude Massot, which is a very entertaining graphic novel.

But I'm a voracious reader in English, and reading is the main skill I'm targeting in my language learning, and I love buying books. So my basic approach is to buy a ton of books and throw myself at them! I have a fairly high tolerance for ambiguity, so my approach with Icelandic has just been to read along and see what I can guess. I only look up words if it's one that I keep encountering or one that seems to be a very key word to the meaning of a passage. If I do look it up, I write it down in a little notebook. That is the entirety of my method. Sometimes I feel I should be more systematic and sometimes I get frustrated with feeling as if I'm reading through translucent glass, but my hope is that it becomes more transparent as I go along.

I'm listening to Útvarp Saga while writing this and finding myself in a weird situation where I recognise almost all of the words and I'm still not exactly certain of the subject of the discussion.

That is spooky.

Good to know it's still a problem when you can actually speak the language. No, wait...

LOL, I saw your post and was really interested because I'd assumed this was just a language learning phenomenon rather than a specifically Icelandic phenomenon. Maybe it's a bit of both? Listening is definitely far easier if you know the topic from the start.

[Soffía]

Dreamt this morning, while on the verge of waking, that I was speaking to someone in very basic Icelandic. They were actually French, but I decided (with perfect dream-logic) that I wanted to speak to them in Icelandic instead, to practice. And I told them this in Icelandic!

(Incidentally I remember learning 'to practice' in an early lesson of Icelandic Online - 'að æfa sig.')