Websites in Icelandic Posted by sequoia on Nov 27, 2011 in Uncategorized
Hopefully this post is useful. If you don’t like posts where I just link things, tell me and I won’t make one like this again.
Here’s a list of things that can be set to Icelandic, either through changing Firefox’s language settings in the preferences section or by your personal setting on the site itself. Below is a list of Icelandic websites you might have some use for. I’ve probably forgotten some and I certainly don’t know everything, so if you find something else let me know!
Popular sites and computer programs that can be in Icelandic: (For instructions on how to change your keyboard to Icelandic, if you have a Mac or use Windows, go here.)
If you set your Mac to Icelandic, some programs will automatically change to Icelandic if that option is available. To do this go to system preferences, then “language and text”, then add Icelandic as an option and drag it to the top of the list of languages there.
Firefox (also, an Icelandic spell-checker is available for download so it can check your Icelandic spelling when typing online)
Adium (an IM program for Macs that can compile all of your existing IM accounts so you can use them at once by logging into a single program. I don’t know if there’s a Windows version.)
Google, Facebook, Livejournal (partially), and Youtube (at least partially) can all be set to Icelandic. If you have the type of Email service that looks like this, it can also be set to Icelandic:
Websites: (I’m leaving the URLs written here instead of linking regularly so you can know beforehand if you’ve already seen the site I’m showing you.)
Music lyrics – http://www.gitargrip.is/
Conjugation and declinations (type into the search box, ex. “heita”. The checkbox means “yes, I’ll search for this word as if it’s not in dictionary form”) – http://bin.arnastofnun.is/
Podcasts and radio programs – http://www.ruv.is/podcast/
Free online Icelandic-English dictionary – (to search for English-Icelandic, type an English word in and select “search all” instead of “search headword”) http://digicoll.library.wisc.edu/IcelOnline/Search.TEId.html
Vocabulary blog (no longer updated, but might be resumed in the future) – http://dailyicelandic.blogspot.com
Shopper’s guide to food in Iceland (scroll down for a word list, extremely useful if you plan to visit Iceland as food doesn’t always have photos of what it is on the packaging) – http://www.landbunadur.is/landbunadur/wgbi.nsf/key2/shoppersenska
Icelandic music, sometimes they offer MP3s you can download as a free sample of the band (and the offers for the same band change every so often). They include bands that haven’t released a CD yet – http://www.rokk.is/default.asp
Search engine for businesses and addresses, Iceland map viewer like Google maps, and a free SMS/text message service to Icelandic phones. They recently changed it so if the phone you want to text is from the company Nova, you can’t text them with the site anymore (but as far as I know other companies work fine). – http://ja.is/hradleit/
Political comic archive from the newspaper (I forgot if I linked to these before, if so here it is again) – http://visir.is/article/20111023/SKODANIR07/111029578
Something like 9gag only in Icelandic. Posts of funny screencaps and photos that usually happened either in Iceland or the Faroe Islands – http://www.flickmylife.com/
Page with most of the grammar in modern Icelandic, I use this but it might be too confusing for someone who needs to have explanations or who hasn’t been studying Icelandic for very long – http://www.ielanguages.com/icelandic.html
Icelandic blog site, I think you have to have a kennitala (social security number) to register but you can view other people’s blogs – http://blogg.is/
If you’re in/moving to Iceland this is useful, click on your municipality and you get links to your local health centers and such. The main site has other info but I have only looked around this one section – http://www.mcc.is/sveitarfelagid/hofudborgarsvaedid
Stories and fairytales in Icelandic for reading practice – http://www.snerpa.is/net/index.html
The University of Iceland’s podcasts – http://student.is/audio/
Icelandic radio stations that you can listen to via streaming (I think only one station is missing, which is a kid’s channel?) – http://www.listenlive.eu/iceland.html
Translations of the most common topographical names in Iceland (quite good to know if you plan to come to Iceland) – http://www.landmannalaugar.info/Pages/commonTerms.htm
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About the Author: sequoia
I try to write about two-thirds of the blog topics on cultural aspects and one-third on the language, because there's much more out there already on the language compared to daily life information. I try to stay away from touristy things because there's more of that out there than anything else on Iceland, and I feel like talking about that stuff gives you the wrong impression of Iceland.
Comments:
Verónika:
Exellent post, very informative, I enjoyed it. 🙂
sequoia:
@Verónika Glad you like it!