Bwah, me please!
I can say "takk", and I can sing along to Hoppipolla...
Love Icelandic.
I don't think I'm committed enough to learn Icelandic, but I've jokingly considered adding the flag to my signature saying "Bits and pieces from Sigur Rós songs" :)This is exactly how I plan to learn Icelandic.
I can say "takk", and I can sing along to Hoppipolla...I can only say "takk" too, and I'm too afraid of singing absolutely wrong words to try Hoppipolla ^^ (But choir on Með Blóðnasir is perfect.)
This is exactly how I plan to learn Icelandic.Funny, I assume Sigur Rós is more magical for me because I can't understand the lyrics, so my mind can stay absolutely free and imagine anything :)
This is exactly how I plan to learn Icelandic.
This is exactly how I plan to learn Icelandic.Don't complain when the natives later tell you that you have a "singsong" accent, though. ;)
Don't complain when the natives later tell you that you have a "singsong" accent, though. ;)Hah, very good. But, you know, performing won't be an issue.
We can even start with a Sigur Rós song if you want, since you already know them. The only problem with using some Sigur Rós songs is that it can sometimes be hard to understand exactly what Jónsi is saying, especially since often sings in vonlenska (hopelandic).*Obliging*
To get þ, use option-T
To get ð, use option-D
To get æ, use option-'
To get any of the letters with right-facing accents (líké thís) use option-e and then type the letter you want
To get ö, use option-U + O
And those are (I think) all the relevant ones. I don't know if anyone actually needed this guide, but I would've found it really useful and so I'm putting it out there.
True, true. But I don't think you can get þ and ð like that. Or can you? Sorry, I have to go press all the buttons on my keyboard now :P
:iceland: Hæ ruth! Gaman að hitta þig! Þú talar góða íslensku :)
Hvaðan ertu? Ég er frá Kanada en ég hef búið á New Jersey og California líka. Ég er að fara til Íslands í júlí, kannski mun ég sjá þig. Lestu bækur á íslensku? Ég elska að lesa glæpasögur, mér finnst þær svo spennandi! :D
Ertu með íslenskar kvikmyndir eða teiknimyndir? Þú getur notað þær til að læra að skilja orð betur, en ég veit að það er erfitt að finna þær í Ontario. Kannski þegar fæ ég nýja tölvu við getum talað á skype eða eitthvað.
:uk:Spoiler: show
:iceland:
Það er svo afskaplega gaman að hafa fleira íslenskumælandi fólk hér í foruminu! Þeim sem langar að finna efni til að æfa sig með gætu kannski kíkt á þessar frábærar bækur, sérstaklega ef þið eruð á leiðinni hér í sumar:
* Bókasafn ömmu Huldar eftir Þórarinn Leifsson (en hún er oft uppseld)
* Ríólít reglan (http://www.eymundsson.is/nanar/?productid=8da3847c-ecdb-4794-9549-3e1e3d19c962) eftir Kristín Helga Gunnarsdóttir
* Skugga-Baldur (http://www.eymundsson.is/nanar/?productid=69cc4a5b-2bea-4e67-a92c-ecdd07d80d11) eftir Sjón
Þið getið fundið þeim til dæmis í Eymundsson (http://www.eymundsson.is/).
Aaaand almost forgot the English translation oops. :DSpoiler: show
:iceland: Þakka þér líka fyrir tillögurnar og velkominn (er það nafnorð?), Laufey! Ég vona að ég mun bæta íslenskuna mina nægilega til að geta spjallað með ykkur. Fyrr en þá, ég mun gera besta mitt!
:uk: Thanks to you too for your suggestions and your welcome (is that how you do the noun?), Laufey! I hope I can improve my Icelandic enough to be able to chat with you guys, but before then, I'll do my best!
Earlier today, I heard a story on public radio about the Icelandic language, which I thought you'd all enjoy.Takk fyrir! :D
The specific story I heard was apparently the 2nd podcast in a series, and isn't available online yet.
But yesterday's story (16 minutes) is available here: http://www.pri.org/node/80480/embedded
Print version, if you prefer it (slightly different from audio transcript): http://www.pri.org/stories/2015-06-01/future-icelandic-language-may-lie-its-past
EDIT:
And here's the sequel: The future of Icelandic.
http://www.pri.org/stories/2015-06-02/will-icelanders-one-day-ditch-icelandic-english
It's quite relevant to our interests, as it discusses the future of the Icelandic language, whether it'll get replaced by English, and how to get more people interested in learning it. If the Icelandic bureaucrats knew what SSSS is doing to revive interest in Icelandic, they'd nominate Minna for a medal!
Sorry for the double post, but I found the poem I mentioned earlier. It's supposed to "poke fun" at the way Western Icelanders mix English when speaking Icelandic (it also happens to be a surprisingly accurate depiction of the way Viola thinks... ::)).
Winnipeg Icelander
by Guttormur Guttormsson
(... that)
I love this, Viola! If you're up for it, it would be awesome to hear it spoken aloud; I imagine it would have a really cool rhythm.
I tried explaining to my partner why it was so awesome this morning, but she just gave me a funny look. I guess it's just a language nerd thing to get excited by all that code-switching.
I love this, Viola! If you're up for it, it would be awesome to hear it spoken aloud; I imagine it would have a really cool rhythm.
I tried explaining to my partner why it was so awesome this morning, but she just gave me a funny look. I guess it's just a language nerd thing to get excited by all that code-switching.
- A non-Icelandic problem: is Dana pronounced as "day-nah" or dah-nah"?
Btw it does have a really cool rhythm. :D I'd try recording it but I'm not entirely sure how some of those words are supposed to be pronounced:
- Why's ég always written as eg instead, and am I supposed to pronounce it as eg and not ég?
- Sometimes I'm not sure which language pronunciation I'm supposed to follow: I get that riffil is a loan word (rifle) but am I supposed so read it as "ræffl" or "riffil"?
- Same with fira, should it be "færa" or "fira"? I assume the latter "a" is pronounced because else the rhythm will sound a bit lacking.
- A non-Icelandic problem: is Dana pronounced as "day-nah" or dah-nah"?
Lojer, læfstæl, fokking, stúbid. I guess loanwords in Icelandic are rare enough that it's kind of a beautiful sight when you see them in the wild.
Personally I like the way læfstæl is spelt. We should spell it like that all the time :) (I am horrible at spelling things)
It's interesting though because if you translated to English it you would lose the way the English sticks out and the mood of the passage would be changed. Also here they are mocking this guy from earlier in the chapter, and you would lose some of that if you translated it directly.
Also Ruth, were you by any chance able to get the recording of the poem to work on your computer?
I think my favourite phonetic translation is still Norwegian kløtsj for "clutch," but læfstæl is pretty competitive. I love it.
I totally get that though, there's something about using untranslated words in context that makes them untranslatable. Maybe the English translation should replace them with Icelandic words? :P
Anyway, unfortunately, I couldn't get the recording to work either. It seems that something about the file is messed up, since if you try to download it it's only 119 bytes. Which is...less than this message in plaintext, let alone a full recording of the poem.
I am glad it's not just my computer, but sad that it's not working.Ef Laufey gerir það ekki, mun ég gera það kannski.
Ég gerði hlut: [deleted]
:iceland:
Segið mér ef það sé eitthvað sem ég get gert betur.
:uk:Spoiler: show
Þetta er frábært! Takk fyrir, Viola!
Fáar spurningar bara:
Er nétið virkilega með é og ekki e? Ég hef aldrei séð orðið stafað með é.
Þágufallsformið af "hann" er "honum", ekki "hönum," ekki satt?
Feeling pretty good about this list, though. I knew/could remember all but maybe 20 of them without having to peek!
Vá vel gert Viola, þú ert svo dugleg! Það virtist vera allt í góðu lagi, bara smá ritvillur og nokkuð annað sem ég vilji bæta við:Spoiler: show
I LOVE your accent! This was really interesting because I've never heard West-Icelandic spoken before, it sounds so soft! You also seem to use way less of the "p pronounced as f but sometimes also f pronounced as p"-thing and preaspirations, which makes sense because languages are a living things and constantly mold themselves to suit their users' needs (and if there's one thing that doesn't ever mesh well it's English and Icelandic pronunciation at the same time). Likewise over here it's English that gets Icelandicized instead because the language background is Icelandic.
Don't worry about the pronunciation, for a West-Icelandic poem (especially one that pokes fun at the changes in the language) it works perfectly, and I hear a few occasions where I assumed some pronunciation parts wrong that work better in yours.
I recently came across this beautiful thing which I figured might be interesting: some of the most popular board games (https://www.facebook.com/loaboratorium/photos/a.617624044991621.1073741827.163820550371975/899529290134427/?type=1&theater) played in Iceland (and the unfortunate effects of playing them).
What does "Fimbulfambleiðindi" mean?
What does "Fimbulfambleiðindi" mean?
What does "Fimbulfambleiðindi" mean?
http://www.visindavefur.is/svar.php?id=58102
According to this fimbulfamb originally meant a fool or an idiot.
They're actually two different words—"Fimbulfamb" is the name of the game, which I think means "gibberish" or something along those lines, and "leiðindi" means "boredom."
The word you're thinking of is "fimbulfambur" = massive idiot. Fimbulfamb, at least today, means "great nonsense/gibberish".
Yup, Fimbulfamb indeed is the name of the game, but I think it actually works as a compound word: Fimbulfamb + leiðindi - Fimbulfambleiðindi. Or maybe it should be Fimbulfambsleiðindi? :-\
Btw in this occasion leiðindi doesn't mean boredom, it means annoyance. :)
Whoops! Thanks for that. That's kind of a great pair of meanings, though—I can totally see how boredom could get aggravating. :D
Incidentally, BÍN (http://bin.arnastofnun.is/leit/?q=fimbulfamb) suggests that "Fimbulfambs" would be the genitive case. Though, wouldn't that overlap with fambur/famb/fambi/fambs? That might get a little confusing...
In the Icelandic alphabet, what's the difference between the accented letters and the un accented one? Are they pronounced differently?
YesAhhhh thanks for clearing that up! C:
The A is like the A in apple and the Á is like saying "ow"
The E sounds like the E in egg and the É sounds like the YE in YES
The I is pronounced short like the I in pick while the Í is pronounced like the EE in green
The O is pronounced like the O in hot while the Ó is pronounced like saying "oh"
The U is pronounced like kinda like the French U (sorry I don't know a good english word for this) and the Ú is pronounced like the OO in moon
Y is pronounced just like I and Ý is pronounced just like Í
Ahhhh thanks for clearing that up! C:
Wait, how is Æ pronounced?
Æ sounds like saying "eye"Ahh ok! Thanks! Sorry for asking so many questions!
Ahh ok! Thanks! Sorry for asking so many questions!
I just like ð's and þ's. ;D And I þink ðey're really fun to use in English, too :PHow are those pronounced??
How are those pronounced??
The A is like the A in apple and the Á is like saying "ow"
The E sounds like the E in egg and the É sounds like the YE in YES
The I is pronounced short like the I in pick while the Í is pronounced like the EE in green
The O is pronounced like the O in hot while the Ó is pronounced like saying "oh"
The U is pronounced like kinda like the French U (sorry I don't know a good english word for this) and the Ú is pronounced like the OO in moon
Y is pronounced just like I and Ý is pronounced just like Í
Æ sounds like saying "eye"
Þ is like the TH in threeSnarfed (http://sssscomic.wikia.com/wiki/Nordic_Alphabets#Icelandic), thanks. ;) Would you happen to have a last guideline for the missing "Ö", too ... ?
Ð is like the TH in father
Snarfed (http://sssscomic.wikia.com/wiki/Nordic_Alphabets#Icelandic), thanks. ;) Would you happen to have a last guideline for the missing "Ö", too ... ?
The Ö is another hard one to describe in terms of English. I've heard someone describe it as the U in murder but I'm not sure this fits. It sounds like the German Ö. How would you explain that in English?Not at all, if I can help it. :P And possibly "like the E in 'nerd'" otherwise - most of the difference in pronunciating "nerd" and "Nörd(linger Ries)" actually comes from the R IMHO.
Also the German Ü is a good fit for comparison to the Icelandic U. Better than the French U. Maybe change it to the German Ü for comparison, because according to IPA, that's more accurate.Well, that's embarassing, considering that just today in the French thread, I told someone to pronounce fr-U like de-Ü ... :-[
Well, that's embarassing, considering that just today in the French thread, I told someone to pronounce fr-U like de-Ü ... :-[
... but thanks, I'll add/change as suggested.
Æææ sorry. If it's any consolation they're still pretty close sounding (according to my limited knowledge of german)I would recommend LEO (http://dict.leo.org/frde/) again if it weren't for the fact that I just tried "müßig" (idle) and found that I'm totally not OK with their pronunciation soundbite for that (the Lady makes the "Ü" sound way too short, if that came up in conversation, I'ld probably misunderstand it as "flüssig" (liquid)) ...
Not at all, if I can help it. :P And possibly "like the E in 'nerd'" otherwise - most of the difference in pronunciating "nerd" and "Nörd(linger Ries)" actually comes from the R IMHO.
Well, that's embarassing, considering that just today in the French thread, I told someone to pronounce fr-U like de-Ü ... :-[
... but thanks, I'll add/change as suggested.
Hæ öll!
Ég er með spurningu um þennan texta: Við gengum tvö (http://www.snerpa.is/allt_hitt/textasafn/Vid_gengum_tvo/). Það er tvær setningar sem ég skil ekki. Fyrst, hvað þýðir 'við leiddumst hljóð'? Orðabókin segir að bara "við leiddumst" þýðir "we go hand in hand" en ég skil ekki hvernig það gengur með "hljóð". Get einhver hérna hjálpað mér?
Það þýðir að ganga hljóðlaus: þau ganga hönd í hönd saman og þagna.
Þakka þér fyrir, Laufey! Ég lagði saman aðra spurningu, skilurðu það?
er blærinn kvað
Jámmm... sko... það er bara "það er vindur" sagt í mjög skáldlegan hátt! :D
(Viola: Hææææææææ hvað segir þú gott?)
AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH *happy dance*<mikkel> [Locks book underneath a glass cover to shield it from the "tearing up" part] [Schedules turning the page over fortnightly] </mikkel>actually almost tearing up now so excited wow
Guys, guys, guys! GUYS. THEY HAVE A BOOK ON WESTERN ICELANDIC AT MY UNI LIBRARY
THEY ALSO HAVE WESTERN ICELANDIC POETRY AND SHORT STOIRES *much squeeing ensues*
ALSO ALSO THIS BOOK COMPARING ICELANDIC AND FAROESE PHONOLOGY
AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH *happy dance*
Be prepared for random language spams in the future!actually almost tearing up now so excited wow
Not Icelandic! As I understand, a thole or tholepin is a sort of a spike or long nail-like thing, similar to a trenail, specifically used in the building of wooden ships. Possibly the reference to wood is to Ask and Embla, the trees who were turned into the first humans to replace the humans of the old pre-apocalyptic world? Or could it be a reference to Mimir's Well, which stands among the roots of Yggdrasil, the World Tree? Fascinating poem!
Dunno, that's possible. The 'lingam and yoni', 'cup and sword' style of symbolism of procreation is widespread through many cultures.