First off I would like to say that I wasn't 100% sure where to put this as there is no language category but here goes anyway....
About a year ago I have being dabbling around learning icelandic in my own time, but now I am seriously considering learning the language as I'm thinking of moving there in the future. I don't want to go there completely ignorant of the language even though english is widely spoken.
Now given it's rep as one of the hardest languages to master, I would be happy to just be able to hold a conservation with people, be able to read a menu at a restaurant and telling the waiter what I want, you get the idea.
Since I have a better chance of winning the lotto than finding an icelandic teacher here, I'm going to attempt teaching myself. I'm thinking of getting Colloquial Icelandic: The Complete Course for Beginners by Daisy L Neijmann or Teach yourself icelandic by Hildur Jónsdóttir. I reckon a dictionary would be needed too? I will also be using the website icelandiconline.is as well as I found this to be really helpful when I used it before, but only went so far so I wish to finsih it. I'll also use online videos, read the news etc. as I become better. Thoughts on these?
I am studying ecology atm but I would like to specialise in art so I will be studying the language alongside the studies. I may not move for another 4 or 5 years so although I probably won't become fluent will it be long enough to know the basics?
Sorry for the long post, to break it down:
-Learning the language: good idea or bad idea?
-Are the icelandic books and website good enough to study?
-4/5 years: decent length of time or would I need more time?
EDIT: Almost forgot to say my name is deirdre and that any comments will be really appreciated!
Learning icelandic
Hi Deirdre! I had made a research some time ago, to find books, dictionaries and anything else that could be helpful to teach myself some Icelandic, since here in Greece there are no Icelandic teachers! Bellow you can find all the info I have. Hope you'll find all these helpful, too.
Kind regards,
Lena
Self-study books
Colloquial Icelandic: The complete course for beginners by Daisy L. Neijmann
ISBN-10: 0415207061 / ISBN-13: 978-0415207065
Beginner's Icelandic (Hippocrene beginners series) by Helga Hilmisdóttir and Jacek Kozlowski
ISBN-10: 0781811910 / ISBN-13: 978-0781811910
Learning Icelandic (text book & grammar exercises) by Auður Einarsdóttir, Guðrún Theodórsdóttir, María Garðarsdóttir and Sigríður Þorvaldsdóttir
ISBN-10: 0452900565 / ISBN-13: 5690452900567
Dictionaries
Íslensk-ensk orðabók. Concise Icelandic-English Dictionary by Sverrir Hólmarsson (et al.) 2009. Published by Forlagið.
ISBN-10: 9979535288 / ISBN-13: 9789979535287
Ensk-íslenska orðabókin. The English-Icelandic dictionary. Published by JPV Forlag in 2006
ISBN-10: 9979791837 / ISBN-13: 9789979791836
Links
uwdc.library.wisc.edu/collections/IcelOnline - Icelandic dictionary and bilingual readings.
ruv.is/ - Icelandic video and radio with podcasts.
icelandic.hi.is/ - Icelandic online program.
ielanguages.com/icelandic.html - Icelandic tutorial (good deal of grammar).
tungumalatorg.is/ifa/ - Icelandic video tutorials and lessons.
tungumalatorg.is/viltu_laera_islensku/ - TV episodes on the internet
youtube.com/watch?v=3bnhTrEjeyg - Great video with Jordan Chark talking about Icelandic how he taught himself Icelandic.
the amount of time it takes you depends on your skills, your other languages (other Scandinavian languages or German are quite helpful), and your own dedication. I think that it'd take a good long time if you're not able to be IN Iceland for any of these 4-5 years you're budgeting.
the books and online classes are good for the basics but if you really want to be fluent I think it will be hard if you're not able to spend time conversing and corresponding with native speakers.
I used the online course you mention before I moved and it helped me to skip a level of classes, which was handy.
I tried to start learning on my own before moving here and, the things I thought I was getting right, I so wasn't. It is a really hard language to learn, but being around people that speak it is invaluable (to me, anyways) There is a site connected with the university icellandiconline.is There are also some materials on mimir.is, along with actual textbooks they use. The problem with that is that there is no "key" so, if you make a mistake, there's nobody to correct it. verbix.com is a big help with conjugating verbs. Good luck!
