Tag Archives: beginner
A Yule story Posted by hulda on Dec 21, 2013
Many Icelandic stories of Christmas time are about elves visiting humans, for one reason or another. They’re not always evil after all, many times they may be in need of help instead or just generally curious, even well-meaning if they like their human neighbours. Elves often gave gifts to people they liked in particular and…
Getting understood in Iceland: eight times G. Posted by hulda on Dec 4, 2013
Back to the pronunciation series! Speaking a new language is something that’ll grow on you little by little so don’t even think you’re supposed to learn this all in one go, but it may be helpful to read over and then go back to if/whenever something puzzles you. Something probably will, sooner or later, because…
Thor son of Odin wears it best. Posted by hulda on Nov 30, 2013
“What’s the most typical syllable that names begin in Medieval, Norwegian sagas?” our professor asked on our this week’s Medieval literature lesson. People guessed immediately Þór/Þor, which was actually not correct for Norway but rather Iceland. If you’ve ever read Icelandic sagas you’ll totally understand this one… it’s almost comical to try to follow the…
Harðrok in the whole country! Posted by hulda on Nov 14, 2013
On the news this week: what about the killer pheasant? Is the rok really harð? Is Jón Gnarr ok? Let’s see: The queen is here Margrét Danadrottning* is currently in the country. Her visit is due to the Medieval literature collector Árni Magnusson’s 300th birthday celebrations so naturally the entertainment has all been linked heavily…
I read the news today Posted by hulda on Nov 7, 2013
Oh boy. Despite the small size of Iceland there’s always something going on here, be it a lost tourist, strange accidents with lots of luck included, the mayor dressing up as a jedi and so forth. I collected some highlights from the most recent news here for you so without further ado let’s see what…
Draugasetrið, the haunted ghost-museum. Posted by hulda on Oct 29, 2013
“The man whose voice you heard on the tape died a while ago. Ingólfur, who made the ghost movie also died recently, of cancer. Then I died too but they started me up again.” It’s a little bit difficult to take our ghost museum guide 100% seriously but as he is one of the specialists…
Ice Cream Iceland! Posted by hulda on Oct 16, 2013
“It’s too cold for ice cream” – said no Icelandic person ever. I have no explanation to how a country that has a cold climate, has its capital city located 66°north and is even called Iceland is able to develop such a fierce passion for ice cream as the Icelanders have. They’re more than willing…