Beginner's Icelandic

by Helga Hilmisdottir, Jacek Kozlowski

A small volcanic island just south of the Arctic Circle, lceland is a place of fierce natural beauty and warmly hospitable people. Glaciers and fjords punctuate the coastline while geysers, waterfalls and hot springs dot the interior, harnessed by Icelanders to provide geothermal and hydropower energy. The island itself is composed primarily of basalt, or cooled lava. Icelandic retains ancient characteristics that today have been lost by most Western European languages. A North Germanic language related to Faroese, it is grammatically comparable to Latin or Ancient Greek, but is most closely linked to Old Norse. Written Icelandic has changed very little since the 13th century. Icelanders take the preservation of their language very seriously, and are immensely proud of the fact that the 800-year old sagas can still be read today. Beginner's Icelandic with 2 Audio CDs contains 14 lessons structured to help the student traveler gain ease and familiarity with this noble language. The dialogues follow a variety of practical situations such as shopping, transportation, discussing the weather, eating in restaurants, and renting a car or a room, while building on the grammar, vocabulary and phrases learned in previous exercises. The audio CDs follow the dialogues on the page, so that the student benefits from seeing the script while simultaneously hearing the pronunciation. A glossary of words and colloquialisms rounds out this remarkable introduction to a unique language.

Genres: Language, Nonfiction

221 pages, Paperback

First published September 10, 2008

Reviews

[Stevie Hendrix · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great learning tool, very helpful for complete beginners, I did wish the audio cd was at a more natural pace however. Was still good, can recommend it for its organization and "unique" lesson points.

[Julian de Clercq · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not only entertaining with its over-the-top yet practical dialogues, but also extremely useful in the way it teaches. Learners are more encouraged to read/listen to dialogues before glossing over the monolithic bundles of phrases and extensive translated terms that are packaged just after the dialogues.
Well put together and planned, starting with basic and shallow things to learn off-by-heart, and then ending on the cases and the future tense, striking a chord with the reader as we plan our futures with Icelandic.
Not essential but very useful, especially for those who do not have any experience with noun cases or extensive verb conjugations.

[Franz · Rating 2 out of 5]

I didn't go through this entire book, but I wasn't fond of the instructional method.

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

There are better Icelandic language learning materials out there. This one and the accompanying dictionary are just passable. Needs more description of usage and rules of the language not just vocabulary.

[Andy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Informative and well organized. The lessons provided good information related to the basics and get some good ideas of where more advanced skills would go. Unfortunately I only had the book for a short time, which was not enough to truly internalize all of the lessons.

[Jorgon]

Well, it took some time, and the rationale for doing nth