Morgana wrote:“Ow-hoo-wa” whaaaa?
ROTFL
Morgana wrote:trying to stop myself from doing the sj-sound in my head when I’m reading the Icelandic, nor doing the rs-thing either
I think sj in Icelandic is really interesting. It seems to be in free variation between literal 'sj' and a sort of 'sh' sound - from what I can hear, native speakers appear not to notice the difference (I haven't asked one yet!). I've found it happens quite naturally once you get your tongue in the right position for 's' and 'j'... unlike Swedish 'sj' and, heaven help us, the rs-thing (and rt/rd), never managed that. What Swedish 'sj' do you use? I learned a Skåne-style velar fricative with lip-rounding, which I found a lot easier than a more 'standard' Stockholm one.
Also yes I'm sure it is interference - I've often had Ita/Fre/Spa, Ger/Swe and Swe/Ice interfere with each other. One technique I've used when I've been studying two potentially interfering languages at the same time is to try and make sure they go into separate mental boxes, so for example study one for a week and then the other for a week, or do one on the bus and the other at home, or something like that. Or you could just face it head-on and learn them in parallel - sometimes one has to learn 'false friend' pairs of course, but I'd be nervous of doing that in general. I'll be interested to know how this goes for you.
BTW Morgana, if this is you at reduced Icelandic rate, I can reassure you that I'm still in serious danger of watching you cruise past me on a scale of months