Soffía's Icelandic log

[Soffía]

In case anyone is interested, I've just started a masterlist of Icelandic and Faroese resources...

https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... =19&t=7451

[Soffía]

Icelandic

I'm enjoying the collection of shows that RÚV have generously put online as a holiday gift to their viewers: http://www.ruv.is/sarpurinn/jolaseriur

Sögustaðir is a series about places that are famous in Icelandic literary history. The host visits them, talks about the life of the author, and sometimes reads excerpts from their work. Beautiful scenery and the language is not too difficult: http://www.ruv.is/thaettir/sogustadir-m ... i-karasyni

Orðbragð is about language and words. It's extremely lively, with little comedic sketches interspersed throughout to illustrate the ideas they're discussing. Most of the first episode is about loan words in Icelandic, which ones catch on and which ones don't, and how new words are officially created in Icelandic. It includes a visit to the grave of Jónas Hallgrímsson in Þingvellir to thank him for the words that he created. http://www.ruv.is/thaettir/ordbragd

My listening comprehension in Icelandic seems to have taken another step forward – I noticed this while I was in Iceland too. This must be the result of all the reading that I did in 2016, because I really did very little with the language in 2017. It's funny how all that effort that you put in eventually reappears... somehow. Just think where I'd be with some real sustained effort! (Not like I'm actually planning much in the way of sustained effort this year – I want to devote that to getting my French into a mildly usable state – but I'll definitely do some more reading, and perhaps even listening, now that I've persuaded myself it can be a bit fun.)

RÚV have also posted some new audiobooks in the form of podcasts. I've been meaning to read Fiskarnir hafa enga fætur by Jón Kalman Stefánsson for a while – in part because it's actually for sale at Foyles in London. Maybe I'll listen to it instead, although I suspect that it's still a good way beyond my listening ability.

[Soffía]

French

I'm definitely looking forward to getting back to French in 2018. I looked at a sample DELF A2 test and was surprised at how easy it seemed. I still class myself as "not really having started studying French," as all my efforts have been fairly abortive, but I don't expect that I would have any trouble passing the listening and (especially) reading sections. With a few intense weeks of work, some test-taking mojo and some luck, I expect that I could manage the B1 reading section.

So... I've decided I'm not going to spend a lot of time agonizing over Assimil and Lingvist if I really want to read. I'm just going to start reading, damn it. A couple of months ago I bought Bridget Jones Diary in French for a pound or two. I'm just going to sit down and try charging through it. I know that people say you shouldn't read too early in French because you'll get all the wrong pronunciations embedded into your mind, but passive skills are my main priority in French (to a somewhat lesser degree than in Icelandic), so why not?

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!

[Tristano]

Hi @Soffía!
Unfortunately I can't follow your steps and learn Icelandic now but I cheer for you also this year
Icelandic rulez

[Soffía]

Icelandic

Listened to an episode of my favorite podcast, VÍSINDAVARP ÆVARS. This episode was about language: Í Vísindavarpi dagsins setjum við íslenska tungumálið undir smásjánna og spjöllum við Evu Maríu Jónsdóttur, miðaldafræðing og starfsmann hjá Stofnun Árna Magnússonar. ("...we set the Icelandic language under a microscope and chat with Eva María Jónsdóttir, a medievalist and member of staff at the Árni Magnússon Institute.")

Thanks to this episode I learned about http://malid.is, a new website from the Institute that lets you search all of their resources at once, including their invaluable dictionary of inflections AND a new modern dictionary of Icelandic that includes sound recordings. Eva María talked about how lots of foreigners study Icelandic as a gateway to understanding Old Norse – this definitely seems to be intended as a resource for foreign students as well as Icelanders.

It was very interesting to listen to Icelanders talking in Icelandic about the curious fact that Icelandic is popular among international language learners! Eva María said (I'm paraphrasing somewhat):

"Now there are 100% more foreigners studying Icelandic at university than Icelanders studying Icelandic... I find it really great that foreigners have so much interest in learning Icelandic and want to learn it. We often believe that it's a difficult language, with inflected words, complicated... but foreigners think it's exciting, cool, beautiful!"

Yes. We do. 8)

[Soffía]

Have started going through this "6500 Icelandic sentences" Anki deck. Think it'll be good review. https://ankiweb.net/shared/info/257529691

And I've ordered this French (satirical) cycling book, which I'm hoping will be a good motivator: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/2501124863

Oh, and a friend has persuaded me to rattle through the rest of the Duolingo French tree as a refresher/jumpstart before I go to Lille in April. Not a terrible idea, it's very fast if you don't take it too seriously.

[Soffía]

French

When it comes to using Duolingo, I'm not proud. But it's... not bad? Not as bad as I remember it, anyway. It's low effort and straightforward and the drill is definitely doing me good, so it seems worth spending 15 minutes a day. I'm 43% "fluent," currently, and about halfway through the tree. (c. 28 out of 78 skills)

I'm also a couple of chapters into Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, but I'm feeling a bit bored with it, probably because I've read it recently in Icelandic. I picked up a translation of Iain M Banks, The Player of Games, at Blackwells for £1 in the January sales and I'm tempted to try reading that instead. But I know that when I say "reading," what I mean is "staring at the page and trying to comprehend it based on what I remember from the novel." But hey, all's fair in language learning, right?

[eido]

So, I've only read about seven pages of your log, but it seems you started with basic vocabulary courses and tried figuring out news articles and novels from there? I'm kind of confused here. Is IOL that Icelandic Online course available from that Icelandic university?

I'm looking to learn Icelandic and I'm just wondering how you got to the level you did. I know you already answered a similar question but it wasn't a step by step. Whenever I've tried to learn Icelandic, all the materials have been in the language or some other complication comes up.

Any insight would be appreciated. If you don't feel like offering it, that's fine too I wish you luck on your language journey. Icelandic is an intriguing language for its sound and its grammar. I hope you continue to enjoy it.

[Soffía]

So, I've only read about seven pages of your log, but it seems you started with basic vocabulary courses and tried figuring out news articles and novels from there? I'm kind of confused here. Is IOL that Icelandic Online course available from that Icelandic university?

I'm looking to learn Icelandic and I'm just wondering how you got to the level you did. I know you already answered a similar question but it wasn't a step by step. Whenever I've tried to learn Icelandic, all the materials have been in the language or some other complication comes up.

Hello, eido! I'm happy to help. At the very highest level, and roughly in chronological order, my Icelandic language journey looked something like this:

1. Alaric Hall's mp3 course (taught in English): https://www.alarichall.org.uk/teaching/ ... landic.php
This might be slow for experienced language learners but it was a great first step for me. I did the original eight-hour course, but there's now an expanded sixteen-hour one available. It does a good job of drilling you with the basic grammar, starting with the structures that are most similar to English.

2. 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.)

3. Flashcards. At first I made my own flashcards on Anki, then I used the "first 5000 Icelandic words" deck on Memrise. I don't know how much it helped (and I only got 500 words into the Memrise deck) but it was possibly useful to drill some vocabulary.

4. Reading a lot of news articles on ruv.is. It wasn't like I ever did this systematically but it was the first non-course native content that I really engaged with. These days there's a useful little "hlusta" button that lets you listen to the articles as well.

5. Reading, reading, reading. As early as possible, as much as possible.

And alongside all of this... summer courses. I've taken three intensive courses at the University of the Westfjords, a one-week beginners course (which I was already a bit too advanced for, thanks to IOL), a two-week intermediate course, and a one-week advanced course focusing on reading. All these were really invaluable to me in their own way.

So there it is. I'm not sure that the precise details are that important: I'm starting to think that more than half the battle of language learning is keeping going, and that the best resource is whatever encourages you to do that. In a sense the beauty of Icelandic is that there are enough resources available, but not too many, so you don't get bogged down in endless indecision.

Anyway, if you're looking for materials taught in English, I'd definitely go for Alaric Hall's course, plus possibly Colloquial Icelandic, which I had on hand but never really used.

Feel free to ask me any other questions that you have. I can't claim to have taken the best or more efficient approach, but it did get me where I wanted to be, so I'm happy. : )

[Elenia]

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)