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Dawn of the bolla. Posted by hulda on Feb 13, 2013
I will probably live, I think, fighting against the rising panic in the back of my throat. I sharpen my ears: the lady is trying to ask me something and it’s vital that I understand it now or I may not get another chance. I shout my answer to her, hoping to be heard above…
A 5 step guide to rhythm. Posted by hulda on Feb 6, 2013
Like I promised last month, here’s the entry on the length of vowels and what determines whether a vowel is long or short. For example, why is the name Vala pronounced with a long first “a” but the name Valla with a short one? Why do the words gata (= street) and hús (= house)…
A naked tourist on the Prime Minister’s lawn. Posted by hulda on Jan 31, 2013
One of our current classes is now focusing on what makes written text difficult to read. The most obvious causes are very topic specific vocabulary (that can make the text hard even for the locals), proverbs and idioms that are impossible to understand unless you already know what they mean etc. Then there’s the word…
Personal pronouns, or how polite can be rude. Posted by hulda on Jan 23, 2013
Personal pronouns – something that should be among the easiest things to learn in almost any new language – take a surprising amount of time to learn when it comes to Icelandic. This is partially because of the many declensions they have, but also because there are two different sets of them in use depending…
Getting understood in Iceland, part 2. Posted by hulda on Jan 16, 2013
“It didn’t sound anything like Icelandic.” “What didn’t?” “Well, for example Thorin’s name isn’t really pronounced like that.” Roughly a week ago we went to see Hobbit, or There and Back Again and the discussion above happened right after the movie was over. We agreed that the movie itself was awesome, but the Icelandic viewers…
Getting understood in Iceland, part 1. Posted by hulda on Jan 9, 2013
A typical problem, when trying to use Icelandic to speak with the locals, is that for some reason they look at you quizzically and go “ha”* and you end up repeating yourself over and over again. Yet in the classroom or when talking with your teachers you never run into this same problem. Why is…
Gleðilegt nýtt ár! Happy New Year! Posted by hulda on Dec 31, 2012
New Year is called áramót, or nýár, in Icelandic. Whereas the latter needs no specific translation the former is rather poetic and means “years meeting” or “the meeting of the years”. New Year’s Eve is gamlárskvöld, “old year’s evening”, and New Year’s day nýársdagur, “day of the new year”. New Year’s celebrations in Iceland are…