Soffía's Icelandic log

[Soffía]

RÚV have added a feature on their website using a tool called ReadSpeaker. Not only can you have news articles read out to you, but it will also highlight the words in the article as they're being read. Plus you can download the MP3 if you feel the need for it.

Not certain if this is something I'm going to use in any way – I'm at the point where I can follow along with text anyway – but it strikes me as something that will be extremely useful for learners in the future.

[Soffía]

In the wake of my trip to Foyles I've gone back to Amazon.com and discovered that Forlagið have added quite a few new ebooks there, mostly priced around $15. Wonderful news in theory; I've added quite a few things to my wishlist.

But at the same time it's so frustrating because I'm still building up a backlog of unread books. My reading speed in Icelandic is just not that fast and it doesn't seem to have got faster (I could be wrong) since I started reading novels. There's so much that I want to read but it takes most of the fun out of a novel when you have to take a month (at best) or a quarter of a year over it. I feel like I've been reading and reading and yet the pile doesn't really diminish. Maybe I just need to spend more time over it, but I'm waiting for another leap in facility here and it hasn't arrived yet.

(Also when reading in Icelandic I find a physical book is still much better than an ebook... having it there on my side table really plays a role in reminding me to pick the thing up and look at it. So I'm wary of spending too much on ebooks if they're just going to live on my phone and go nowhere.)

TLDR: Argh.

[Elenia]

But at the same time it's so frustrating because I'm still building up a backlog of unread books. My reading speed in Icelandic is just not that fast and it doesn't seem to have got faster (I could be wrong) since I started reading novels. There's so much that I want to read but it takes most of the fun out of a novel when you have to take a month (at best) or a quarter of a year over it. I feel like I've been reading and reading and yet the pile doesn't really diminish. Maybe I just need to spend more time over it, but I'm waiting for another leap in facility here and it hasn't arrived yet.

Have you tried reading with audio and playing with the speed settings? I haven't tried that myself, but it seems like it could definitely work, although you'd need to plough a lot of time into it.

I found that my reading speed increased when reading a book that I already know inside out (Pride and Prejudice, read in about two days) or when it's a fairly simple, but fast paced read (Cirkeln, which I read in about a week, with pauses). I think the latter is made slightly easier by the fact that it's young adult, but I've had another ya read hanging around on my 'currently reading' for what I am sure is the better part of a year, now.

How much reading have you done overall?

[Soffía]

Thanks for the encouragement, Elenia.

I don't think it's simply reading fast that's the barrier. I'm a very fast reader in English and so I can skim Icelandic as fast as I like; it's managing comprehension at the same time that's the issue, and I'm not certain that simultaneous audio would help with that. (It might help with my audio comprehension, but that's another issue.)

Probably the main problem is that I was just choosing stuff that's too difficult for me at the moment. There's nothing wrong with simple, fast-paced reads, and I need to allow myself to get through that sort of stuff before trying to tackle the real challenges. I just bought a Harry Potter novel so I'll try that. I feel like I ought to read more Icelandic-original stuff, and I do have my eye on one YA novel on Amazon, but again, better to read what I can than to read nothing at all.

I got through about 1500 pages last year, which was the first year that I read novels in Icelandic. This year I've read about 800 pages so far and am hoping for 2500 in total. Still not very high tallies by the standards of more experienced language learners, I think.

[Elenia]

Probably the main problem is that I was just choosing stuff that's too difficult for me at the moment. There's nothing wrong with simple, fast-paced reads, and I need to allow myself to get through that sort of stuff before trying to tackle the real challenges. I just bought a Harry Potter novel so I'll try that. I feel like I ought to read more Icelandic-original stuff, and I do have my eye on one YA novel on Amazon, but again, better to read what I can than to read nothing at all.

The translation will probably help you ease into native YA. Also, if the YA has any other scandi translations, do let us know on team Nordic we might not be ready to start a new book, but it'll be interesting to know. (Even if not, tell us anyway. Icelandic is definitely somewhere on my ridiculously long and convoluted list...)

I got through about 1500 pages last year, which was the first year that I read novels in Icelandic. This year I've read about 800 pages so far and am hoping for 2500 in total. Still not very high tallies by the standards of more experienced language learners, I think.

I don't think that it really is that low. In a super challenge, readers push themselves to read 5,000 pages over twenty months. (Note: push). If you continue as you have been so far this year, without any increase in speed, you'll reach a bit over 3000 words over the same period. I don't know if you're only counting book pages or not, but that is a significant amount, and more than I've managed over the past few years of trying to read Swedish. In fact, I should pick a Swedish book right now!

[Soffía]

The translation will probably help you ease into native YA. Also, if the YA has any other scandi translations, do let us know on team Nordic we might not be ready to start a new book, but it'll be interesting to know. (Even if not, tell us anyway. Icelandic is definitely somewhere on my ridiculously long and convoluted list...)

I shouldn't sell myself short: I started the year with a 430-page YA book written in Icelandic. It's the longest single thing I've read so far. That's "Hafnfirðingabrandarinn" by Bryndís Björgvinsdóttir, which was definitely a hit in Iceland and which I found both funny and a page-turning read!

The one that I'm planning to read next is "Tímakistan" by Andri Snær Magnason. Also very popular in Iceland, though I don't know what languages it's been translated into. I do know that there's not an English translation yet.

I don't think that it really is that low. In a super challenge, readers push themselves to read 5,000 pages over twenty months. (Note: push). If you continue as you have been so far this year, without any increase in speed, you'll reach a bit over 3000 words over the same period. I don't know if you're only counting book pages or not, but that is a significant amount, and more than I've managed over the past few years of trying to read Swedish. In fact, I should pick a Swedish book right now!

Yes, that's just counting book pages; I also read news stories but I'm not counting those. So it may be that I just have high standards. As said, I'm used to reading quickly in English so I think I just get impatient at the idea of spending more than a week on a single book. Once I've achieved a B2-ish reading level I'd definitely want to be reading at a Super Challenge pace.

We shall see! Practice makes perfect. I've managed the first two chapters of Harry Potter og fanginn frá Azkaban today, and I should be able to read another before bed, so I think this one shouldn't drag on for too long.

[Elenia]

The translation will probably help you ease into native YA. Also, if the YA has any other scandi translations, do let us know on team Nordic we might not be ready to start a new book, but it'll be interesting to know. (Even if not, tell us anyway. Icelandic is definitely somewhere on my ridiculously long and convoluted list...)

I shouldn't sell myself short: I started the year with a 430-page YA book written in Icelandic. It's the longest single thing I've read so far. That's "Hafnfirðingabrandarinn" by Bryndís Björgvinsdóttir, which was definitely a hit in Iceland and which I found both funny and a page-turning read!

The one that I'm planning to read next is "Tímakistan" by Andri Snær Magnason. Also very popular in Iceland, though I don't know what languages it's been translated into. I do know that there's not an English translation yet.

I checked the blurbs for these two books. It is always pleasantly surprising when I can understand a bit of Icelandic (even if only a little bit). Sadly, the only translation I saw was into Hungarian...

Sounds like you're making good progress with Harry Potter, hope it continues. It is really rewarding just racing through a book. I think it will make your sentence level comprehension better too

[Soffía]

Sounds like you're making good progress with Harry Potter, hope it continues. It is really rewarding just racing through a book. I think it will make your sentence level comprehension better too

Yes, it's great! I'm halfway through now. I would be further but I had an incredibly busy week at work.

Still, I think two weeks in total for a book which is around 400 pages in English will be pretty good. (It's only 300 pages in this translation but the print is really small.) I'm going to have to go back to Foyles and buy another one...

[Soffía]

How do you know you've made progress? When you go back and revisit old material. I remember when I started my studies, looking at the first page of IOL4 on Icelandic Online and thinking "someday I'll be able to understand that." It was along the lines of thinking "someday people will walk on Mars." Now I do understand it - and indeed all of IOL5, which they've added since, is pretty comprehensible to me. Icelandic Online drove me nuts when I was working with it, but I think I got some good training out of it. Probably I should go back and do some of the grammar exercises by way of review, as I know that my active skills are not up to my passive ones.

(They claim that IOL5 is equivalent to CEFR C1, which I strongly doubt. I don't think my own reading abilities are much more than a strong B1, although it's hard to tell because of the intense swerve that the CEFR scale takes from B2 onwards into specifically academic skills.)

Trying to decide when my Icelandic will have become strong enough that I can safely take on a second language. A reading knowledge of French would be really wonderful to have, and I've also been sneaking peeks at Norwegian. The NTNU "Norwegian on the web" course is intriguing, and my knowledge of Icelandic seems to transfer enough that I can just about muddle through the readings. Also I have a friend here is town who is learning Norwegian, so perhaps we could reinforce one another! (But no, French would really be more useful...)

My reading plans are always in flux, as most people's are I suspect, but I thought I'd list what I plan to read once I'm done with my current Harry Potter. Something along these lines...

Ævintýri Lísu í Undralandi by Lewis Carroll
Tímakistan by Andri Snær Magnason
Íslenskir kóngar by Einar Már Guðmundsson
Harry Potter og Fönixreglan by JK Rowling
Pals saga by Ólafur Jóhann Sigurðsson

That will probably be enough for the next six months or so! I've dropped Richmal Crompton's Just William in Icelandic - it's hilarious in English, and I picked up a couple of volumes as discards in an Icelandic library, but it just doesn't seem to be translating for me. Also Bítlaávarpið by Einar Már Guðmundsson. I think it's reasonable to expect that there will be Icelandic books I simply don't enjoy, though I'll wait a while before giving it away just in case all suddenly becomes fun and clear once my comprehension kicks up another notch.

[Soffía]

"Books from Iceland 2016" has landed! Very excited as I often use these guides to dream about future reading. Along with previous years it can be found here:

http://www.islit.is/en/promotion-and-tr ... m-iceland/