The biggest problem I had with this video was the pronunciation of "ei/ey" and "ý/y." Maybe my ear is untrained, but it sounds like you're pronouncing the y in a Finnish accent, almost with an "oo" sound. You went back and forth between the correct pronunciation of "ei/ei." It's always "ay" (as in the English "hey"), whereas you sometimes slipped and said it as "æ" (which is, in Icelandic, pronounced like the first letter of "Iceland"). From what I've heard, there are no exceptions to this rule.
Much of these words i can find in my native language swedish. And of course icelandic its the ancestor to the three modern scandinavian languages. Like einstaklingarnir=Enstaka(swedish translation), myrkri=Mörker(Even myrkri on the gutnish dialect in sweden),loft=luft. Its very interesting and icelandic sounds so much cooler than swedish. Even the name of the capital of iceland got the same name in swedish translation. Reykjavik=Rökviken. Yay its similar!! ;)
As a native speaker of the elfdalian language i must say that icelandic got an older type of grammar than elfdalian. Off course we got an grammar much older than the modern swedish grammar but you will also find it very similar to more modern grammar(swedish). But RixPixable you just got everything right when you told us that elfdalian its closely related to old norse because it is :).
Herra, þú ert mjög góður í pronunciations og þýðingar. I am a polyglot and Islenska presents challenges to me. Má ég hafa samband við þig, persónulega? Má ég hef netfangið þitt? Þetta er netfangið mitt: anther77@cox.net. Ég heiti Anthony. Vinsamlega? Þakka þú mjög mikill.
I know about 10 people have already asked you this question and you are probably over it by now, but what is the EXACT name and Author of that grammar book you used in this video, as when I type in Egils Saga in Amazon it just comes up with the actual Icelandic sagas and none of the descriptions of all of the searches say that it includes a grammar reference. Also where abouts did you buy this book?
@frozenzoe Correct! It's almost exactly like ancient Norwegian, seeing as the inhabitants are the descendants of the Norwegian explorers who first came to Iceland. Though, Norwegian has changed a lot since they explored Iceland, so they might not be able to understand much of what they say.
I as a Swede can only understand about 40% of the text after quite a bit of analyzing, while I can understand about 90%+ of Norwegian.
Icelandic is the most intelligible Nordic language it's kinda like German where listening to it you know exactly where a word starts and where it ends. Danish on the other hand...jesus I 'm sure they themselves don't understand each other :)
tought so many centrys in the middle of the ocean would make you sound more different from the rest of scandinavia. Or we have evolved and you are the same, you vikings! I´m from Sweden btw ;)
@kokomjolk33 Hættu að vera svona góður með þig. Þetta er gamall texti og helvíti vel borinn fram miðað við að þetta er er ekki Íslendingur. Afhverju þurfa Íslendingar líka alltaf að auglýsa að þeir séu frá Íslandi, það er öllum sama.
Haha, you could benefit from relaxing your face a bit, you sound very strained whilst trying to talk. Otherwise it's a very good attempt :D And very fun to listen to.
Well, I guess I should rather have said that "ý" is indistinguishable from "í" in the modern language, as your pronunciation of "y" is at least very similar to that of "i". But your "ý" is definitely archaic, which might be the fault of using an old source.
Your pronunciation of "y" is archaic I think. In today's Icelandic it is indistinguishable from "i". But otherwise its good, although you do a distinctive American accent.
I would very much like to learn Icelandic, though I'm having some difficulty finding any resources to learn the language. What was the name of the book you displayed in the latter half of the video?
May I point out that even though Icelandic is the most archaic of the nordic languages there are still elements in the other ones that is more archaic then their icelandic counterpart.
That is, all the nordic languages including icelandic have changed a little.
It is definitely interesting to me to witness how different the West Germanic languages are from the North Germanic languages, despite that they have a common ancestor. In particular, it's interesting to me how the different sounds evolved and how the written language has been transformed across time and distance.
As an English speaker, I want to learn Dutch and German, and then learn Icelandic to explore the similarities and differences.
You did a great job translating considering you haven't been here and have never learned the language. You speak it much softer than we would do here, like I tell my foreign husband, "you need to put some attitude into it."
@dragonweerwolf It's funny you should mention that because J.R.R. Tolkien was a polyglot and one of the languages he spoke was Icelandic. He also spoke Welsh, Gothic, Old English, Finnish and Elvish (of course). Maybe you already knew this but I just found it out and it's amazing to me.
@ChaosDynamics Exept "ð" is pronounced like a voiceless "þ" before other voiceless consonants (t,s,f etc.)
However, this is not true in Old English, where "ð" is voiceless at the end of words. The two are often used interchangeably to an extant, as well. Also, I believe when they are doubled in Old English it is always voiceless.
I'm teaching myself Icelandic because it's one of the hardest languages to learn. I'm also teaching myself German and Dutch at the same time. I think it's easier to learn 3 at once.
I've always been interested in Icelandic and generally in Germanic languages/history; thank you very much for this video. I don't know how well you pronounced the words, but it sounded great to me, and this is a video I will most undoubtedly reference in the future. Thank you again!
Also, I'm not sure if you've already been asked, but could you tell the name of the book (or series of books) that you use in these videos?
@smallyoville Good luck. It will probably take you a lifetime (unless you go and live in Iceland of course). Along with Finnish, it's probably the hardest European language to learn.
@Achilles94627 That's mainly because Finnish isn't really an Indo-European language. It's Uralic. Just like Hungarian. In a rough sense, it's from Asia. ; )
@stinkypepe It's becase most people have trouble pronouncing the language and there are a lot of rules in writing (AKA how to spell, why it this way ecetera) to remember
@bordkrijt Icelandic peope in iceland pronunce every word very differnet from the other scandinavian countries. I'm from sweden and i can understand like 50% in danish and like 40% in farose 90% norwiegan and like 10% icelandic. i do actually belive that swedish and german are as similar as swedish- german. and Danish is even closer to the German.
@ownya88 really?clear swedish and danish are very similar (and norwegian). but i thought swedish is mor closer to german than danish. german had more influence to sweden than to danmark.
I think its the opposite. I come to understand that danish sounds so much more different than swedish and norwegian because of its close proximity to germany and all the other european contries.
Norwegian and swedish are virtually impossible to differentiate for an outsider while danish isn't.
it must be kick ass being this awesome at languages. my first language is English, though sadly, I know not my native Chinese and am currently struggling to learn Russian
Thank you so much! This helped me out a lot with prononciation and explaining to my friend (and myself) how to tell the difference between Icelandic and Old English. (:
It's nice to see people who want to preserve language. Do you have any recommendations on learning this language? Such as tapes, CDs, DVDs, books, etc. I am having trouble coming across some as this language is a bit rare unless you are connected to Iceland in someway. How were you able to learn?
Very interesting video! Icelandic is a wonderful language.
The way you teach in this and in other videos is really amazing.
I was looking for a dictionary english-icelandic/grammar. Could you suggest an author, please? The dictionary/grammar you use in this video, is it good?
These videos are truly fascinating, and I think the complexity of the Germanic language tree is absolutely astounding, and these Scandinavian languages are beautiful! They sound like you are speaking a song! I am curious to know however, which language do you personally find the most difficult! Thanks!
Thank you for making your videos, Dr. Arguelles. They are extremely informative, and I have learned a great deal about how to learn languages from them. If you have the time, could you possibly give the name of that book on Icelandic grammar that you show at the end of the video? I am currently learning French at university and teaching myself German, and I would eventually like to learn both Icelandic and Old Norse (among many other languages). Thank you once again!
haha im from iceland this is really cool story do you know and youre doing it wrong ð is NEVER on the front never it is the same sound but þ is allways on the front like ..... þetta var góður dagur , hvað fannst þér ....soo
A native Icelandic speaker here. You did a great job! Although you often pronounce the y/ý like in Old Norse (the ü sound), it's just like i/í in modern Icelandic. And your ei is sometimes strange (e.g. in heimildir, sounded like hæmildir), but it was most of the time correct. Except for that, you were spot on.
well done, if you want to work more on you icelandic all you gotta do is work on your accent, you deffinetly know all you need to know about the structure and meaning so I´d recommend you watch a few icelandic movies, that´s how I keep my German sharp :) wow just realized you posted this 2 years ago...never mind then :)
stop talking about his pronounciation you icelandic assholes, he said he doesn't speak the language and is basing his pronounciation on old norse. P.S. i'm 100% sure that none of you pronounce english words correctly
@macarion actually we pronounce english way better then some british do :) from an international prespective ofcource, anyway this guy does not do a bad job at all, everything he said was more or less correct and he was very clear and understandable even though he had a slight cartoonlike accent :)
Já þetta var bara fínt hjá þér! :) I can understand the pronunciation knowing your Old Norse background, you sound a bit Norwegian, like 'Y' today is pronounced the same as 'I', and 'Ý' the same as 'Í' but those used to sound different. Still lots of stuff there right like the 'R' which a lot of new people to the language have difficulty with, and I always like seeing someone showing interest in our little island :)
there is just one thing, when you read y, it hasn't a specific pronounsation it sounds just like i, so y and i, sound the same, it has lost the j-ish or u-ish sound it had originaly. It is therefor useless, unless you are trying to find out related words, or the original word the word you are reading, each word has many different forms, like: Yrkja- ort- orti. So it is sometimes very complicated to find out if you are to write i or y, I should know, i'm terrible at it.
I think your videos are awesome and insightful. I have been interested in Germanic and Norse languages for quite a while now (since high school), and I'm so glad I stumbled across your channel! Thank you!
Personally, the sound of any Germanic language that isn't English makes me want to rip my face off. Your series on this branch of IE has given me the ability to identify which language is paining me upon hearing it. Honestly, this is fantastic, I just wish it wasn't on one of my least favorite language families.
God, why is it that foreigners simply just CAN'T speak understandable icelandic?! It's bl**dy simple! Icelandic is made out of SO many languages but you only need to know ONE to understan it.
@addajona If you weren't Icelandic maybe you would understand that the Iceland language spoken is very complicated. The sounds are just so unusual. For example, the volcano that's erupting right now, Eyjafjallajökull; I listened to the pronunciation of it and I have no idea how any human pronounces it. It's just so weird.
I think he's doing a pretty nice job pronouncing the word :P. At least if he is basing his pronouncication only on other languages, or cheap tutorials.
@ynra9 I do not speak Icelandic, I have never been to Iceland, and I have never even met an Icelander in my life. At least unconsciously, I am basing my pronunciation on Old Norse, though my active model was the tape that comes with Magnus Peterussons Lehrbuch der Islaendischen Sprache. The point of this video is not to offer a sample of Icelandic pronunciation at all, but rather a scholarly overview of the language in the context of its family. I do wish there were more comments on that...
@ProfASAr I think it is fantastic what you are doing! Sorry for commenting on the wrong thing, I just thought some of the comments below were really mean, and wanted to comment on that. I am interrested in languages and their relativeness myself, albeit the only education I have on it are meager lessons in high school and a very fun assignment on Our Fathers in gothic :P. I think I will be checking out your other videos then to get a better view of it!
@ynra9 Thank you - I correctly assumed that you understood the purpose of these videos better than did the authors of the meaner comments, which is why I responded to you. I hope you do learn from the Gothic and other overviews as well.
@ynra9 There is something i always picked up on certain germanic langauges:The norwegians use certain words and letters in the alphabet that the germans don't.
It also seems like the norwegians use more words with special characters.
The dutch seem to have double letters often in their words.
I think swedish may be similar to norwegian in some ways,but not the same.I knew someone who understood some of it when i was sending him a translator translated words and speaking pretending for fun.
The I-mutation left the Y pronounced exactly like I, it's still in the language to represent if the word derived the I-sound somewhere along the way or had it to begin with.
This guy must be some like CRAZY good linguist... his English vocabulary and enunciation is dead on, and he sounds like he knows a bunch of languages... so like, he probably knows them all in depth... tis quite amazing I must say so myself
You speak Icelandic like a norwegian person, or swedish. Kinda funny, the accent is not right but you speak nicely comparing to other english people trying to talk with the right accent.
y and i are pronounced the same... and when E and i are together like this "ei" it's pronounced like "A" or like "hey" without the "H"..(and the same thing if it's "ey"). this is a great video, your accent is very funny :D
He's pronouncing the "ei" more like the German pronounciation of it in words like "ein" or "eine." The "ei" sound in Icelandic sounds more like the "ay" in the English word "yay."
I'm Icelandic and I don't want to be mean here, but I laughed my arse off when you started reading it. Honestly, you are one of the best I've seen on youtube, but still you're a long way off. Icelandic has sounds that I have never heard any foreigner say. I still seek the chosen one who can master the correct way to say the word ''Einstaklingarnir'' :P
Incredibly cool-sounding language. If I ever visit Iceland, I'll look to rent that old movie, Pee Wee's Big Adventure. You just gotta know that Large Marge's story in that movie sounds really cool in Icelandic...downright spooky I'll bet. ("It was a night just like tonight...")
Incredibly cool-sounding language. If I ever visit Iceland, I'll look to rent that old movie, Pee Wee's Big Adventure. You just gotta know that Large Marge's story in that movie sounds really cool in Icelandic...hair raising goose-bump spooky I'll bet. ("It was a night just like tonight...")
At the time of vikings, we spek Icelandic most of Scandinavia. It has chance alot in Northern Europe. Icelandic today is the most old Northern spoaken launguage, same as the vikings spoak. Icelanders take very care about this language. Most lauanguages use english words, like projector, computer and on and on, but Icelandic find a new word that match the Icelandic way to whrite and speak. This language has not change much since the vikings, very interesting.
Really nice video, I'm Icelandic myself and am interested in other languages so this was really interesting to see. Of course your pronunciation wasn't perfect but it was really good anyway, if you would like to have a recording for you video I could post a response with the correct pronunciation.
The biggest problem I had with this video was the pronunciation of "ei/ey" and "ý/y." Maybe my ear is untrained, but it sounds like you're pronouncing the y in a Finnish accent, almost with an "oo" sound. You went back and forth between the correct pronunciation of "ei/ei." It's always "ay" (as in the English "hey"), whereas you sometimes slipped and said it as "æ" (which is, in Icelandic, pronounced like the first letter of "Iceland"). From what I've heard, there are no exceptions to this rule.
spitzndribble 6 days ago
@ChaosDynamics NO!!! Ð is only inside a word like:BAÐ/bath and Þ is in beginning of words like: ÞAÐ/it... you dont give a shit... do you?
MyFunMakers 2 weeks ago
Þið verðið nú að gefa honum smá séns, hann er nú ekki einu sinni íslenskur.
translation: give the guy a chance, he isn't even Icelandic
themadicelandicguy 2 weeks ago
to me, it all looks like fugeslfhiwl fhjewahfjewafhilfheul. But it's still a beautiful language!!!
p1nkUn1c0rn 1 month ago
Ð and Þ are both used in the Faroe Islands, AND in some parts of Sweden, sir.
crazychiliquaker1959 1 month ago
This guy is horrible at pronouncing the text correctly
Turpezor 1 month ago 2
Ðð is used else where still, and that's Faroese. U Mad?
WestCanuckistan 1 month ago
Much of these words i can find in my native language swedish. And of course icelandic its the ancestor to the three modern scandinavian languages. Like einstaklingarnir=Enstaka(swedish translation), myrkri=Mörker(Even myrkri on the gutnish dialect in sweden),loft=luft. Its very interesting and icelandic sounds so much cooler than swedish. Even the name of the capital of iceland got the same name in swedish translation. Reykjavik=Rökviken. Yay its similar!! ;)
Svitjod100 3 months ago
As a native speaker of the elfdalian language i must say that icelandic got an older type of grammar than elfdalian. Off course we got an grammar much older than the modern swedish grammar but you will also find it very similar to more modern grammar(swedish). But RixPixable you just got everything right when you told us that elfdalian its closely related to old norse because it is :).
Svitjod100 3 months ago
Þ (þorn) is pronounced as "th" in thought.
Ð ð (eð) is pronounced as "th" in though.
y and ý are pronounced as i and í.
A "d" is often pronounced as "t". Eldingu should therefore be pronounced as "eltinku".
"a", "e", "i" and other sounds are always pronounced the same and not turned into a schwa.
It's a nice try, but try to pronounce it correctly next time. ;)
EgleTristanw 4 months ago
Comment removed
audveltadmuna 3 months ago
Herra, þú ert mjög góður í pronunciations og þýðingar. I am a polyglot and Islenska presents challenges to me. Má ég hafa samband við þig, persónulega? Má ég hef netfangið þitt? Þetta er netfangið mitt: anther77@cox.net. Ég heiti Anthony. Vinsamlega? Þakka þú mjög mikill.
hsingi7777 4 months ago
Yay :) I can half read it thanks to Swedish! And...I'm not even Swedish :)
TinyLittleSilver 4 months ago
Will you be reading Elfdalian?
It's a North Germanic language spoken in the old parish of Övdaln, and is very similar to Old Norse.
I think you would enjoy reading it.
RixPixable 4 months ago
It's much harder than Turkish :)
mrzaferbg 4 months ago
Hejsan,
I know about 10 people have already asked you this question and you are probably over it by now, but what is the EXACT name and Author of that grammar book you used in this video, as when I type in Egils Saga in Amazon it just comes up with the actual Icelandic sagas and none of the descriptions of all of the searches say that it includes a grammar reference. Also where abouts did you buy this book?
Tack,
Julian 23/08/2011
julianallees 5 months ago
You pronounce "y" and "ý" incorrect. It is exactly pronounced like "i" and "í"!
Matzerath24 6 months ago
Its abit like norwegian actually. :)
The pronouncements and such!
frozenzoe 7 months ago
@frozenzoe Correct! It's almost exactly like ancient Norwegian, seeing as the inhabitants are the descendants of the Norwegian explorers who first came to Iceland. Though, Norwegian has changed a lot since they explored Iceland, so they might not be able to understand much of what they say.
I as a Swede can only understand about 40% of the text after quite a bit of analyzing, while I can understand about 90%+ of Norwegian.
ploothable 5 months ago
@ploothable as a Dane I can do the same: understand about 40% of this and 90% + of Norwegian (bokmål)
MrOnkelDunkel 4 months ago
It is surprising how similar this is to Anglo-Saxon. It is wonderful.
eightbitheros 7 months ago 2
This is not correct pronounced.
icestarrbeatz 8 months ago 4
Icelandic is the most intelligible Nordic language it's kinda like German where listening to it you know exactly where a word starts and where it ends. Danish on the other hand...jesus I 'm sure they themselves don't understand each other :)
sondano 8 months ago
tought so many centrys in the middle of the ocean would make you sound more different from the rest of scandinavia. Or we have evolved and you are the same, you vikings! I´m from Sweden btw ;)
guitarjamdude 8 months ago
its a page from the Sagas of icelanders, its from Egils Saga
mrgruber 8 months ago
this is very helpful. What is the title of the grammatic book you showed at the end of the video?
sanhestar 8 months ago
im from iceland and it is awesome ;)
thecatgirl198 9 months ago
This is so not right.
btw. '' Vér '' isn't used in iclandic anymore it's an old thing.
And yeah I'm from Iceland
kokomjolk33 9 months ago
@kokomjolk33 lol kókómjólk :D
TheFemaleIcelander 7 months ago
@kokomjolk33 Hættu að vera svona góður með þig. Þetta er gamall texti og helvíti vel borinn fram miðað við að þetta er er ekki Íslendingur. Afhverju þurfa Íslendingar líka alltaf að auglýsa að þeir séu frá Íslandi, það er öllum sama.
maekkigleyma 7 months ago
@kokomjolk33 víst er vér notað ennþá, fáviti.........
beini321 6 months ago
@ProfessionalAirCorps I think it sounds a bit like combination of Swedish, German and Finnish. In his pronunciation.
Zenkka 9 months ago
þetta hljómar eins og Björgvin Franz
abcd09618 9 months ago 2
ég pissaði næstum í mig þegar hann hóf upplesturinn og las þetta alveg eins og Björgvin Frans lol
auda83 7 months ago
This is really good and helpful! Thanks for saying the translations because that helps A LOT.
Kivs01 9 months ago
þetta er nú meira bullið
adiosa850 10 months ago 28
@adiosa850 satt XD
mrbinni 6 months ago
@adiosa850 Sammála
MrIceland4life 5 months ago
@adiosa850 nákvæmlegaaaaa
96Iceland 2 months ago
Thank you for providing quick overviews for so many languages. They're interesting and a lot of fun!
queerpriestess 10 months ago
I <3 Iceland, Icelandic, & the Viking saga!!!
yankebloke 10 months ago 3
you read my language with a german accent...
911Dagur 10 months ago
very nice language!
newFranzFerencLiszt 10 months ago
whoa seying volcano is hard
Edgar33527 10 months ago
hey, this is perfect for me.. i really wanted to learn icelandic, but here in Argentina it's difficult to find any teachers!
i just wanted to know the name of the book you show in the very last part of the video!
keep doing this videos, you are saving lifes!
Heleh32 10 months ago
well i at least understand what you're saying, so your pronouncesation isn't half bad
arndisleaa 10 months ago
Haha, you could benefit from relaxing your face a bit, you sound very strained whilst trying to talk. Otherwise it's a very good attempt :D And very fun to listen to.
GH0854 11 months ago
For icelandic people this is easy. Its hard to speak/read but to read or speak anchient icelandic is hard
Vikingbayicepower2 11 months ago
Well, I guess I should rather have said that "ý" is indistinguishable from "í" in the modern language, as your pronunciation of "y" is at least very similar to that of "i". But your "ý" is definitely archaic, which might be the fault of using an old source.
mubli 11 months ago
Your pronunciation of "y" is archaic I think. In today's Icelandic it is indistinguishable from "i". But otherwise its good, although you do a distinctive American accent.
mubli 11 months ago
I would very much like to learn Icelandic, though I'm having some difficulty finding any resources to learn the language. What was the name of the book you displayed in the latter half of the video?
ShazMan4D 11 months ago
i'm from Iceland and it was good
brynka94 11 months ago
You did a great job. The pronunciation isn't perfect, it's a bit soft, but I think any Icelander would understand you none the less.
addovits 11 months ago
Good job! :)
MrsKeibii 11 months ago
haha this is so funny.. but you did a good job i've heard it's hard to learn but i woldn't know cause i'm icelandic :)
elinbjorg95 1 year ago
May I point out that even though Icelandic is the most archaic of the nordic languages there are still elements in the other ones that is more archaic then their icelandic counterpart.
That is, all the nordic languages including icelandic have changed a little.
Luredreier 1 year ago
It is definitely interesting to me to witness how different the West Germanic languages are from the North Germanic languages, despite that they have a common ancestor. In particular, it's interesting to me how the different sounds evolved and how the written language has been transformed across time and distance.
As an English speaker, I want to learn Dutch and German, and then learn Icelandic to explore the similarities and differences.
themafia306 1 year ago
You did a great job translating considering you haven't been here and have never learned the language. You speak it much softer than we would do here, like I tell my foreign husband, "you need to put some attitude into it."
skompo 1 year ago 2
Wow, it sounds like Elvish :P
dragonweerwolf 1 year ago
@dragonweerwolf It's funny you should mention that because J.R.R. Tolkien was a polyglot and one of the languages he spoke was Icelandic. He also spoke Welsh, Gothic, Old English, Finnish and Elvish (of course). Maybe you already knew this but I just found it out and it's amazing to me.
yurismir1 1 year ago
@dragonweerwolf I also forgot to mention that many of the characters' names in Lord of the Rings come directly from Icelandic (Gimli, Gandalf, etc.)
yurismir1 1 year ago
Can I have the following verified:
Þ/þ = voiceless 'th'
Ð/ð = voiced 'th'
So hypothetically if I were to use these letters in English to following sentence - "I thought that this was good." it would look like
"I þought ðat ðis was good."
Am I correct?
ChaosDynamics 1 year ago 35
@ChaosDynamics Yes :D
pjedinn 1 year ago
@ChaosDynamics yes
mubli 11 months ago
@ChaosDynamics you can not put ð in the begining of a word
acfdrp 7 months ago
@acfdrp hann er að tala um framburðinn á stöfunum, ekki staðsetningu
TheFemaleIcelander 7 months ago
@ChaosDynamics yep, correct
TheFemaleIcelander 7 months ago
@ChaosDynamics that would be correct :)
eightbitheros 7 months ago
@ChaosDynamics Pretty much.
JohnnyTxx 7 months ago
@ChaosDynamics Yes, you are.
ohmyfsm 7 months ago
Comment removed
audveltadmuna 4 months ago
@ChaosDynamics Exept "ð" is pronounced like a voiceless "þ" before other voiceless consonants (t,s,f etc.)
However, this is not true in Old English, where "ð" is voiceless at the end of words. The two are often used interchangeably to an extant, as well. Also, I believe when they are doubled in Old English it is always voiceless.
bogeaqYT 3 months ago
@ChaosDynamics Yes, this is correct. But the guy in the video does not do it well. It sounds actually kinda weird. I appreciate him trying though. :)
siljahg 1 month ago
i´m from iceland
angelica321star 1 year ago 3
i like your voice. it gives me the warm furries
awesome11991 1 year ago 2
I'm teaching myself Icelandic because it's one of the hardest languages to learn. I'm also teaching myself German and Dutch at the same time. I think it's easier to learn 3 at once.
wirklichdoof 1 year ago
Hey Alex, I found a interesting vid on the Rain Man learning Icelandic in a week.
/watch?v=qMz3gjl9x-M
snowdog03 1 year ago
i believe i can read that better !
Shinzuki63 1 year ago
I've always been interested in Icelandic and generally in Germanic languages/history; thank you very much for this video. I don't know how well you pronounced the words, but it sounded great to me, and this is a video I will most undoubtedly reference in the future. Thank you again!
Also, I'm not sure if you've already been asked, but could you tell the name of the book (or series of books) that you use in these videos?
Thanks again!
DominationSupreme 1 year ago
My goal is to learn this beautiful language
smallyoville 1 year ago
@smallyoville Good luck. It will probably take you a lifetime (unless you go and live in Iceland of course). Along with Finnish, it's probably the hardest European language to learn.
Achilles94627 1 year ago
@Achilles94627 That's mainly because Finnish isn't really an Indo-European language. It's Uralic. Just like Hungarian. In a rough sense, it's from Asia. ; )
kalebman5000 1 year ago
Which book are you presenting at the end of the video? I'm trying to teach myself langauge so I would love to know!
muffigw 1 year ago
Frekar gott... valdir ekki auðveldasta textann samt
bleikaa 1 year ago
Icelandic and Finnish are both extremely hard languages to learn. Swedish, Norwegian and Danish, on the other hand, are relatively easy.
Achilles94627 1 year ago
@Achilles94627 ｗｈｙ？i want to know please tell me!not to offend im just curious.=)
stinkypepe 1 year ago
@stinkypepe It's becase most people have trouble pronouncing the language and there are a lot of rules in writing (AKA how to spell, why it this way ecetera) to remember
Candyluvre20 1 year ago
I live in the netherlands and my best friend is icelandic, i dont understand anything of it, sounds for me like all other scandanavian languages.
bordkrijt 1 year ago
@bordkrijt Icelandic peope in iceland pronunce every word very differnet from the other scandinavian countries. I'm from sweden and i can understand like 50% in danish and like 40% in farose 90% norwiegan and like 10% icelandic. i do actually belive that swedish and german are as similar as swedish- german. and Danish is even closer to the German.
ownya88 1 year ago
@ownya88 really?clear swedish and danish are very similar (and norwegian). but i thought swedish is mor closer to german than danish. german had more influence to sweden than to danmark.
Gott2070 1 year ago
I think its the opposite. I come to understand that danish sounds so much more different than swedish and norwegian because of its close proximity to germany and all the other european contries.
Norwegian and swedish are virtually impossible to differentiate for an outsider while danish isn't.
peronkop 1 year ago
it must be kick ass being this awesome at languages. my first language is English, though sadly, I know not my native Chinese and am currently struggling to learn Russian
DasFunkwagen 1 year ago
How did you become so proficient in all these different languages? Have you lived in all the countries? I'm very impressed!
Achilles94627 1 year ago
Thank you so much! This helped me out a lot with prononciation and explaining to my friend (and myself) how to tell the difference between Icelandic and Old English. (:
It's nice to see people who want to preserve language. Do you have any recommendations on learning this language? Such as tapes, CDs, DVDs, books, etc. I am having trouble coming across some as this language is a bit rare unless you are connected to Iceland in someway. How were you able to learn?
HannahTheBrave 1 year ago
wow thanks
TJRHINO29 1 year ago
some ppl i know got a hard time spelling r and this icelandic got allot of r
sound very problematic for thouse who cany spell r
torso99 1 year ago
Your pronounciation is really good, actually.
jst006 1 year ago
hættið að segjast vera fra islandi það er kjanalegt xD
beini321 1 year ago
I like it, I think you are good! I'm Icelandic and I watched your video and listen to it all :)
Veigastina 1 year ago
you are a robot FTW
GladiatorShield 1 year ago 3
Hello, Professor Alexander.
Very interesting video! Icelandic is a wonderful language.
The way you teach in this and in other videos is really amazing.
I was looking for a dictionary english-icelandic/grammar. Could you suggest an author, please? The dictionary/grammar you use in this video, is it good?
Thank you, Professor.
ESoutoF 1 year ago
@ESoutoF no it's not ,it's as hard on the ear as it is on the eyes.
muzikman182 1 year ago
i can't believe how close this is to english just by looking at it
swissirish1 1 year ago
These videos are truly fascinating, and I think the complexity of the Germanic language tree is absolutely astounding, and these Scandinavian languages are beautiful! They sound like you are speaking a song! I am curious to know however, which language do you personally find the most difficult! Thanks!
KingTiger7700 1 year ago
Thank you for making your videos, Dr. Arguelles. They are extremely informative, and I have learned a great deal about how to learn languages from them. If you have the time, could you possibly give the name of that book on Icelandic grammar that you show at the end of the video? I am currently learning French at university and teaching myself German, and I would eventually like to learn both Icelandic and Old Norse (among many other languages). Thank you once again!
CSLGKC 1 year ago
im sorry, but it is very hard to understand your icelandic XD
you almost have a german type accent when you speak i think.
also, that is quite a good saga XD
the saga of egill skallagrimsson XD
kiddi1000 1 year ago
haha im from iceland this is really cool story do you know and youre doing it wrong ð is NEVER on the front never it is the same sound but þ is allways on the front like ..... þetta var góður dagur , hvað fannst þér ....soo
officooli 1 year ago
Does someone here know how can I get an English - Icelandic dictionary? I really need it.
paliss06 1 year ago
A native Icelandic speaker here. You did a great job! Although you often pronounce the y/ý like in Old Norse (the ü sound), it's just like i/í in modern Icelandic. And your ei is sometimes strange (e.g. in heimildir, sounded like hæmildir), but it was most of the time correct. Except for that, you were spot on.
MausPonticus 1 year ago
I think you are doing a really good job on these videos. :)
Starchild91 1 year ago
well done, if you want to work more on you icelandic all you gotta do is work on your accent, you deffinetly know all you need to know about the structure and meaning so I´d recommend you watch a few icelandic movies, that´s how I keep my German sharp :) wow just realized you posted this 2 years ago...never mind then :)
sollimuaythai 1 year ago
stop talking about his pronounciation you icelandic assholes, he said he doesn't speak the language and is basing his pronounciation on old norse. P.S. i'm 100% sure that none of you pronounce english words correctly
macarion 1 year ago
@macarion actually we pronounce english way better then some british do :) from an international prespective ofcource, anyway this guy does not do a bad job at all, everything he said was more or less correct and he was very clear and understandable even though he had a slight cartoonlike accent :)
sollimuaythai 1 year ago
icelandic is the most archaic and germanic language among all germanic language
mihanich 1 year ago
Já þetta var bara fínt hjá þér! :) I can understand the pronunciation knowing your Old Norse background, you sound a bit Norwegian, like 'Y' today is pronounced the same as 'I', and 'Ý' the same as 'Í' but those used to sound different. Still lots of stuff there right like the 'R' which a lot of new people to the language have difficulty with, and I always like seeing someone showing interest in our little island :)
gaurix 1 year ago
þetta var bara gott hjá þér
vitleysanvatt 1 year ago
there is just one thing, when you read y, it hasn't a specific pronounsation it sounds just like i, so y and i, sound the same, it has lost the j-ish or u-ish sound it had originaly. It is therefor useless, unless you are trying to find out related words, or the original word the word you are reading, each word has many different forms, like: Yrkja- ort- orti. So it is sometimes very complicated to find out if you are to write i or y, I should know, i'm terrible at it.
Urr666 1 year ago
Adorable pronunciation ;)
disadisa86 1 year ago
lol you sound like an old man when you try to speak with an Icelandic accent. :)
PesiCool 1 year ago
That's the funniest Icelandic pronouncing I've ever had.
But good for people that doesn't speak Icelandic
Gunnararnir 1 year ago
Dear JFman00: So you think your language is beautiful??? Don't bother other people with your bullshit
qwertz123459876 1 year ago
I think your videos are awesome and insightful. I have been interested in Germanic and Norse languages for quite a while now (since high school), and I'm so glad I stumbled across your channel! Thank you!
13243546abcdef 1 year ago
Personally, the sound of any Germanic language that isn't English makes me want to rip my face off. Your series on this branch of IE has given me the ability to identify which language is paining me upon hearing it. Honestly, this is fantastic, I just wish it wasn't on one of my least favorite language families.
JFman00 1 year ago
Respect. But pronounciation is not very good... sorry, but y and ý pronounce like i, not like danish y
Art7Boy 1 year ago
You blow my mind with your amazing linguistic knowledge!
venusasaboy 1 year ago
im from iceland and that is at least better icelandic than the english reporters trying to say eyjafjallajökull.
haddib 1 year ago 60
@haddib that was funny, then an american reporter just said "big volcano"
HarnesX 1 year ago
@haddib það er allt betra en það x'D
IcelandicGirl1994 1 year ago
it isnt hard at all
peronkop 1 year ago
@haddib satt
IgorDucamp 11 months ago
You sound like Megas ;)
ingboma 1 year ago
Good translation but terrible pronounciation
addajona 1 year ago
God, why is it that foreigners simply just CAN'T speak understandable icelandic?! It's bl**dy simple! Icelandic is made out of SO many languages but you only need to know ONE to understan it.
addajona 1 year ago
@addajona lol...
xmenfan5 1 year ago
@addajona If you weren't Icelandic maybe you would understand that the Iceland language spoken is very complicated. The sounds are just so unusual. For example, the volcano that's erupting right now, Eyjafjallajökull; I listened to the pronunciation of it and I have no idea how any human pronounces it. It's just so weird.
RobinScott93 1 year ago 2
I think he's doing a pretty nice job pronouncing the word :P. At least if he is basing his pronouncication only on other languages, or cheap tutorials.
ynra9 1 year ago 6
@ynra9 I do not speak Icelandic, I have never been to Iceland, and I have never even met an Icelander in my life. At least unconsciously, I am basing my pronunciation on Old Norse, though my active model was the tape that comes with Magnus Peterussons Lehrbuch der Islaendischen Sprache. The point of this video is not to offer a sample of Icelandic pronunciation at all, but rather a scholarly overview of the language in the context of its family. I do wish there were more comments on that...
ProfASAr 1 year ago 13
@ProfASAr I think it is fantastic what you are doing! Sorry for commenting on the wrong thing, I just thought some of the comments below were really mean, and wanted to comment on that. I am interrested in languages and their relativeness myself, albeit the only education I have on it are meager lessons in high school and a very fun assignment on Our Fathers in gothic :P. I think I will be checking out your other videos then to get a better view of it!
ynra9 1 year ago 7
@ynra9 Thank you - I correctly assumed that you understood the purpose of these videos better than did the authors of the meaner comments, which is why I responded to you. I hope you do learn from the Gothic and other overviews as well.
ProfASAr 1 year ago 4
@ProfASAr Thank you, and yes, your videos have helped me a lot. Pleace continue with your good job!
ynra9 1 year ago
@ProfASAr You are so darn cool! Thanks for posting :)
prontiAcorrereV12 1 year ago
@ProfASAr how many languages can you speak?
phantomsuccour 1 year ago
@ynra9 There is something i always picked up on certain germanic langauges:The norwegians use certain words and letters in the alphabet that the germans don't.
It also seems like the norwegians use more words with special characters.
The dutch seem to have double letters often in their words.
I think swedish may be similar to norwegian in some ways,but not the same.I knew someone who understood some of it when i was sending him a translator translated words and speaking pretending for fun.
piromaniac9999 11 months ago
it's cool that he is learning icelandic! But his prenaunciation is realy bad!
But stil he is awsome!
etuskit 1 year ago
It is my dream to learn Icelandic one time, but at the time I'm fully occupied with Spanish, Italian and Dutch.
19myself91 1 year ago
Interesting ,but seem to be really hard to learn though..... Hello from Brazil _|||/
fabianocalifa 1 year ago
Actually Frisian is more like Danish
metalgod1993 1 year ago
The I-mutation left the Y pronounced exactly like I, it's still in the language to represent if the word derived the I-sound somewhere along the way or had it to begin with.
sorryari 1 year ago
This guy must be some like CRAZY good linguist... his English vocabulary and enunciation is dead on, and he sounds like he knows a bunch of languages... so like, he probably knows them all in depth... tis quite amazing I must say so myself
Flyboy711672005 1 year ago
Þinn áhersla er fyndinn...
Svalir 1 year ago
Damn, much of it sounds very much like swedish, not so strange btw =) Its just the swedish that has changed alot.
Keep it up jävla Íslenningar :P
majorpluraeng 1 year ago
@majorpluraeng
Yeah, Icelandic is often word for word similar to Old Norse, and a lot to Swedish, but not veeeery much.
1PostPoMoMaN1 1 year ago
Damn, much of it sounds very much like swedish, not so strange btw =) Its just the swedish that has changed alot.
Keep it up jävla Íslenningar :P
majorpluraeng 1 year ago
I can see a relationship with english, it sounds an awkward language to learn.
gsf67 1 year ago
You speak Icelandic like a norwegian person, or swedish. Kinda funny, the accent is not right but you speak nicely comparing to other english people trying to talk with the right accent.
Good work =)
2blonde2ask 1 year ago
y and i are pronounced the same... and when E and i are together like this "ei" it's pronounced like "A" or like "hey" without the "H"..(and the same thing if it's "ey"). this is a great video, your accent is very funny :D
kchs 1 year ago 2
It would be cool to be able to understand and speak such an old language.
Sadly, the grammar is difficult...
jatojo 1 year ago
He's pronouncing the "ei" more like the German pronounciation of it in words like "ein" or "eine." The "ei" sound in Icelandic sounds more like the "ay" in the English word "yay."
omgrobbiee 1 year ago
I'm Icelandic and I don't want to be mean here, but I laughed my arse off when you started reading it. Honestly, you are one of the best I've seen on youtube, but still you're a long way off. Icelandic has sounds that I have never heard any foreigner say. I still seek the chosen one who can master the correct way to say the word ''Einstaklingarnir'' :P
Compootor 1 year ago 2
@Compootor the pronounciation isn't exactly easy for foreigners. give him a break, he's doing amazing
magneag 1 year ago
how many languages do you speak in total?
LauraMW12345 1 year ago
Incredibly cool-sounding language. If I ever visit Iceland, I'll look to rent that old movie, Pee Wee's Big Adventure. You just gotta know that Large Marge's story in that movie sounds really cool in Icelandic...downright spooky I'll bet. ("It was a night just like tonight...")
352352 1 year ago
@352352 In Iceland we don't translate the movies, the only thing that is translated is the kids stuff
bananii 1 year ago
Incredibly cool-sounding language. If I ever visit Iceland, I'll look to rent that old movie, Pee Wee's Big Adventure. You just gotta know that Large Marge's story in that movie sounds really cool in Icelandic...hair raising goose-bump spooky I'll bet. ("It was a night just like tonight...")
352352 1 year ago
At the time of vikings, we spek Icelandic most of Scandinavia. It has chance alot in Northern Europe. Icelandic today is the most old Northern spoaken launguage, same as the vikings spoak. Icelanders take very care about this language. Most lauanguages use english words, like projector, computer and on and on, but Icelandic find a new word that match the Icelandic way to whrite and speak. This language has not change much since the vikings, very interesting.
DjBjarki 1 year ago
i love Islandic!!!!
sunrisetarget 1 year ago
Comment removed
gaurix 1 year ago
haha this doesn't sound shit like icelandic, but you ca nsure read it
hildurelva95 1 year ago
@hildurelva95
please restrain from profanity.
MrSkeptical101 1 year ago
When you say "um" in that context it's more like "about" rather than "around".
binnulingur 1 year ago
English=cool. Icelandic=nett
TheKiller1998100 1 year ago
english=ok. icelandic=beautiful
01738083370 1 year ago
I like his voice and his hands.... uhmmm sexy man!
cheriesc 1 year ago
Icelandic is such a beautiful language! I really want to learn it...
Assan101 1 year ago 7
i know how to speak iclandic :o
danniingi 1 year ago
Me too :o
funyjoyappel 1 year ago
@Assan101
its awesome yknow hnje hnje
zubtebustas 1 year ago
Really nice video, I'm Icelandic myself and am interested in other languages so this was really interesting to see. Of course your pronunciation wasn't perfect but it was really good anyway, if you would like to have a recording for you video I could post a response with the correct pronunciation.
idunnyr 1 year ago