Complete Icelandic: A Teach Yourself Guide

305 Pages·2010·5.38 MB·English

by  Hildur Jónsdóttir

Contents
Meet the author
Only got a minute?
Only got five minutes?
Introduction
Pronunciation guide
1 Hæ, hvað heitir þú? Hi, what’s your name?
Greeting people and saying ‘goodbye’ • Asking someone’s name and saying
your name • Asking where someone is from and saying where you are from
• Saying ‘yes’ and ‘no’ • Thanking somebody
2 Hvaða tungumál talarðu? Which language(s) do you speak?
Saying ‘excuse me’ • Saying which languages you speak / don’t speak •
Asking someone which language(s) they speak • Saying what your mother
tongue is
3 Mamma Björns er íslensk Björn’s mother is Icelandic
Saying which nationality you are • Referring to members of your family •
Referring to your male and female friends, your boyfriend / girlfriend, your
husband / wife
4 Christof er dökkhærður Christof is dark-haired
Describing somebody’s appearance • Describing somebody’s personality •
Asking somebody’s full name • Asking an Icelander what his/her last name
is
5 Christof er að lesa Christof is reading
Learning about Iceland • Discovering more about Iceland’s capital city,
Reykjavik • Making suggestions on what to do and where to go
6 Hann fer klukkan tvö He leaves at two o’clock
Asking somebody what their telephone number is and saying what your
telephone number is • Saying what time it is (whole hours) and asking the
time • Saying what year it is • Learning about the Icelandic currency •
Saying where you live
7 Sjáumst í kvöld klukkan hálfníu See you tonight at half past eight
Learning the days of the week • Talking about parts of the day • Saying
what the time is
8 Ég talaði við Erlu I spoke to Erla
Asking somebody what he / she does for a living • Learning about
occupations
9 Við sjáumst um helgina I’ll see you at the weekend
Talking about plans for the weekend • Talking about what you did at the
weekend
10 Hafðirðu það ekki gott? Didn’t you have a nice time?
Writing e-mails • Talking about your holiday
11 Geturðu farið út í búð fyrir mig? Can you go to the shop for me?
Going shopping • Asking for items of food and drink
12 Björn og Guðrún kaupa fiskibollur Björn and Guðrún buy fishcakes
More about shopping in the supermarket • Buying groceries
13 Hvað er í matinn? What’s for dinner?
Asking what’s for dinner • Laying the table
14 Takk fyrir mig Thanks for the meal
Learning about mealtime etiquette
15 Ertu til í að koma í bíó? Do you want to go to the cinema?
Making plans • Going to the cinema
16 Guðrún á afmæli It’s Guðrún’s birthday
Saying how old you are • Wishing somebody a happy birthday • Months,
seasons, high days and holidays • Saying what the date is
Taking it further
Key to the exercises
Appendix: more on pronunciation
Icelandic–English vocabulary
English–Icelandic vocabulary
Index
Meet the author
I have a BA degree from the University of Iceland and an M.Phil. degree in
general linguistics from the University of Cambridge, England, where I also
taught beginners’ courses in Icelandic for two years. I was awarded the Henrik
Steffens grant for a year’s study in Germany from the Alfred Toepfer Institute
FVS, Hamburg.
As a freelance translator I have performed assignments for Icelandic and foreign
translation agencies and a number of private enterprise companies, translating in
various fields, including tourism, advertising, administration and business. Since
2007 I have run my own translation agency in Iceland which undertakes
translating and editing, mainly texts from English and German into Icelandic.
Hildur Jónsdóttir
1 Only got a minute?
Icelandic is the official language of Iceland, a large country of 103,000 km² with
just over 300,000 inhabitants. Two-thirds of the population live in or near the
capital, Reykjavik, in the southwest.
Icelandic, like Norwegian, Swedish, Danish and Faroese, belongs to the
Nordic language group of the Germanic language family. Iceland was settled in
the period ad 870–930 by Vikings mostly from Norway, especially Western
Norway. In the eleventh century Icelandic and Norwegian began to diverge, and
two centuries later there was a clear distinction between the two languages.
Icelandic has not changed greatly through the centuries. The main changes
have been in the phonetic system, especially of vowels, with little effect on the
written language. The inflectional system and syntax have undergone fewer
changes. Most of the old Icelandic vocabulary, such as hann (he), hús (house),
sjá (see), still exists in the modern language. New words are generally formed by
connecting older words and word parts together in a new way: for example, from
the words líf (life) and fræði (science) the word líffræði (biology) was formed.
There are, however, many loanwords in the language which have been adapted
to Icelandic pronunciation, spelling and inflection. The word bíll, for example, is
a loanword from Danish. Other loanwords in Icelandic include banani (banana),
kaffi (coffee) and te (tea).
The survival of the written language has played an important part in
conserving the language. Laws were written in Icelandic at the beginning of the
twelfth century, and the Icelandic sagas date from the thirteenth and fourteenth
centuries. A translation of the New Testament into Icelandic was printed in 1540,
followed by the whole Bible in 1584.
The best-known modern Icelandic author is undoubtedly Halldór Laxness
(1902–1998), winner of the Nobel Prize for literature in 1955.
5 Only got five minutes?
Icelandic is the official language in Iceland, a country of just over 300,000
people. Iceland is a large country, of 103,000 km², but two-thirds of the
population live in the capital, Reykjavik, and surrounding towns in the southwest
of the country. People live only around the coastline, as the middle of the
country is uninhabitable with arctic deserts, glaciers, mountains and volcanoes
(usually dormant). The west, north and east coasts have many fjords, creeks and
coves.
In geothermal areas in Iceland there are many geysers and hot springs. The most
famous of these is the Great Geysir in southwest Iceland, which first erupted in
the fourteenth century and from which the English word ‘geyser’ is derived.
When it erupts it shoots a jet of steaming water to heights of up to 70 metres.
There are numerous waterfalls in Iceland, the most famous being Gullfoss
(Golden Waterfall) in the river Hvítá in the southwest, and Dettifoss, Europe’s
most powerful waterfall, in the glacial river Jökulsá in northeastern Iceland. The
glacier Vatnajökull (Glacier of Lakes) in southeast Iceland is the biggest glacier
in Europe and covers about 8% of the country.
The climate in Iceland is mild, due to the warm Gulf Stream that flows along the
south coast of the country and then continues west and north along the coast.
The winters are fairly warm and the summers fairly cool. The Northern Lights
(Aurora Borealis) can frequently be seen in Iceland from September through
March. In midwinter (mid-November to the end of January) the days are very
short and there is daylight for only three to four hours a day. In the summer, on
the other hand, there is continuous daylight for two to three months and the days
are long in early spring and autumn.
Icelandic belongs to the Nordic language group of the Germanic language
family, together with the other Scandinavian languages, Norwegian, Swedish,
Danish and Faroese. Icelandic, Faroese and Norwegian are West Nordic
languages and Swedish and Danish are East Nordic languages.
Iceland was settled in the period ad 870–930. Most of the settlers came from
Norway, especially Western Norway, with a few from Sweden and Denmark and
from Nordic settlements in the British Isles (Ireland, Scotland and the Scottish
Isles). The Norsemen from the British Isles brought with them people of Celtic
origin. The language in Iceland was, however, Old Norse from the outset and the
Celtic influence on the language is limited to a few loanwords and names of
people and places. Among the Celtic people’s names that have survived to the
present day are Kjartan, Njáll and Kormákur.
Icelandic and Norwegian began to diverge in the eleventh century, but the
distinction between the two languages was not fully marked until about two
centuries later.
Icelandic has not changed greatly throughout the centuries and can be classified
as a conservative language. Modern Icelandic is very similar to the Viking
language, and speakers of modern Icelandic can read the sagas, which were
written in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, without any great difficulty.
The main changes have been in the phonetic system, especially of vowels, with
little effect on the written language. The inflectional system, syntax and
vocabulary have undergone fewer changes.
Most of the old Icelandic vocabulary still exists in the modern language. Many
common words in modern Icelandic are the same as in Old Norse, words such
höfuð (head), þú (you), haf (sea). Many idioms and phrases from old Icelandic
literature are still used in everyday language today, such as koma einhverjum í
opna skjöldu (to take someone by surprise), which translates literally as to come
at someone on the side that isn’t protected by their shield.
Words have been gradually added to the language over the centuries and some
older words have been given new meanings alongside their old ones. Some old
words have been revived and given a new meaning. The word sími (telephone)
is an old word that used to mean thread or line. Changes in society in the last
two hundred years have called for more and more new words. Most of these new
words are formed by joining existing words and word parts together in a new
way. For example, ljósmynd (photograph) is made up of the words ljós (light)
and mynd (image), and the word líffræði (biology) was formed from líf (life)
and fræði (science). Some words have been derived from others. The word þota
(jet), for example, is derived from the verb þjóta (speed, dash).
The influence of language purism has been stronger than in related languages,
and new Icelandic words for new concepts are often preferred to imported
foreign words. Examples include sjónvarp (television), tölva (computer)
tölvupóstur (e-mail) and netfang (e-mail address). There are, however, also
many loanwords in the language which have been adapted to Icelandic
pronunciation, spelling and declensions or conjugations. The word bíll (car), for
example, is a loanword from Danish; other loanwords include banani (banana),
kaffi (coffee), te (tea) and tóbak (tobacco).
The survival of the written language through the centuries has played an
important part in conserving the language. The Icelandic language was first
written down around 1100, and then texts were written both in Latin and
Icelandic. Laws for the country were written in Icelandic at the beginning of the
twelfth century. The Icelandic sagas date from the thirteenth and fourteenth
centuries. A translation of the New Testament into Icelandic was printed in 1540,
followed by the whole Bible in 1584. The Icelandic language was the
seventeenth language that the Bible was translated into. The Icelandic Bible was
the foundation of the language of the Church, and sermons and religious books
were based on this translation.
Icelandic culture has a long, rich literary tradition. The Icelandic sagas are a
valuable contribution to world literature. Undoubtedly the best-known Icelandic
author is Halldór Laxness (1902–1998), winner of the Nobel Prize for literature
in 1955, whose novels have been translated into many languages. The most
famous is probably Sjálfstætt fólk (Independent people). Steinunn
Sigurðardóttir’s best-known novel, Tímaþjófurinn (The Thief of Time), 1986,
which has poetic language and poems integrated into the text, was made into a
French film, Voleur de vie, in 1999. A film of Einar Már Guðmundsson’s novel
Englar alheimsins (Angels of the Universe), 1993, was directed by Friðrik Þór
Friðriksson in 2000. Another leading author, Sigurjón Birgir Sigurðsson, writes
under the name Sjón; his best-known novel is Skugga-Baldur (2003). A very
popular crime writer is Arnaldur Indriðason, best known for his book Mýrin
(2000), which was filmed in 2006 by Baltasar Kormákur. Icelanders are still
enthusiastic readers and books are the most popular Christmas presents. More
book titles are published per capita in Iceland than anywhere else in the world.
Other art forms have developed greatly during the past hundred years. The
Icelandic film industry has flourished since the late twentieth century, and Börn
náttúrunnar (Children of Nature), directed by Friðrik Þór Friðriksson, was
nominated for an Oscar as the best foreign film in the year 1991. The music
scene has also thrived in Iceland during the past few decades. The most famous
Icelandic singer, Björk Guðmundsdóttir, has sold over 15 million albums
worldwide and the Icelandic band Sigur Rós is popular not only in Iceland but
internationally.