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Tag Archives: English in Iceland

This is Hrekkjavaka Posted by on Oct 13, 2016

It’s almost time, Halloween is here. Though it’s not a traditional celebration in Iceland it has made itself a steady foothold – with some original things excluded and some Icelandic things added on, of course. Time for a quick vocabulary lesson with a look on how Halloween is (and isn’t) celebrated in Iceland! Hrekkjavaka (=…

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Nananananananana LEÐURBLÖKUMAÐURINN Posted by on Sep 8, 2016

One of my favourite things about Icelandic is that there’s usually an Icelandic word for anything and everything. Icelandic did at one time steal and borrow from other languages just like almost every other language in the world does, most notably Danish and then later on English, but today extra effort is put to keeping…

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5 points to reading Icelanders right. Posted by on Feb 25, 2016

As more and more tourists pour in run-ins with the local habits and culture are inevitable. One of the big issues I’ve seen foreigners take with Iceland is rudeness, or what’s perceived as rude. I say “perceived” because in many occasions I find the real problem is a culture shock rather than any real…

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New words for Icelandic Posted by on Nov 19, 2015

On the 4th August this year Samtökin ’78 declared a competition to find new words for the Icelandic language called Hýryrði, Gay Words. By this they meant it was time to find Icelandic equivalents for words that were only used as loanwords from English because – well, as many of you readers probably know already…

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Icelandic – unchangeable? Posted by on Jun 11, 2015

At some point or another anyone interested in Icelandic will come across the popular idea that Icelandic is being kept unchanged, or at least that it has changed very little with time. Occasionally you’ll even hear people claim that Icelandic is so close to Old Norse that Icelanders can still understand it. Alas, all of…

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An Icelander walked past a bar. Posted by on Jan 29, 2015

It happened years ago on an evening in May. I had just met my SO and we were sitting together in a garden swing talking of this and that, and eventually started telling each other jokes. This was the first one he told me. (To understand the following you’ll have to know that reipi means rope, and…

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Iceland: the most successful loser of Eurovision? Posted by on May 19, 2013

If there is one thing that the Icelanders always excel at without a single flaw it’s partying. Yesterday’s Eurovision song contest was therefore no exception, the partying started well in advance when Iceland’s representative made it into the finals and is still going on as I write this. Well, the aftermath is mostly bitter comments…

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