All Things Iceland

The history of the Icelandic language dates all the way back to the 9th century, when settlers, mostly from Norway, came to live in Iceland. What was spoken at that time was Old Norse and this eventually evolved into Old Icelandic. Like many cultures, the language was passed on through spoken word before being preserved in the form of text. Impressively, the oldest preserved text in Icelandic was written around 1100.

If you are interested in being able to read Old Norse and Old Icelandic, check out the interview I did with Jesse Byock, a professor of Old Norse and Medieval Scandinavian Studies at UCLA and Háskóli Íslands. He wrote a Viking Language book series that teaches you how to read those languages.

Dr. Jesse Byock

During the 12th century and onward, is when the famous sagas and eddas (poems) were written in Old Icelandic.  Being an isolated island in the middle of the Atlantic, worked in favor of Icelandic when it came to preserving the language. Even though, Icelandic is a Germanic language that was birthed from Old Norse, its incremental amount of evolution over many centuries resulted in it becoming a completely separate language from modern day Norwegian and other Scandinavian languages.

It is remarkable that even under Danish rule for more than 500 years (1380 to 1918), the Icelandic language did not change. Danish was learned by many but Icelandic was still used for official communication. Another fascinating tidbit of information is that there is an absence of dialects as you travel from one region of the country to the next.  Some of my colleagues have mentioned that some words are said slightly different in the north than in the south but the language is pretty uniform around the country.

www.islandskort.is

Because the Icelandic language has changed so little since the 1300s, modern Icelanders have the privilege of being able to read and understand the ancient text of their ancestors that was written 800 years ago. Even though the text has not changed that much, how the language sounds has changed over time. I’ve heard that a modern Icelandic speaker who is reading Old Icelandic is comparable to a modern English speaker reading Shakespeare.

Like some other Indo-European languages, Icelandic grammar is complicated. When a language learner is first introduced to the grammar, it seems like a daunting task to take on. I am still learning it and there are many days when the grammar structure trips me up. For starters, nouns, pronouns and adjectives are inflected in four cases (nominative, accusative, dative and genitive) and they can be in either singular or plural form. Nouns are also categorized into genders:  masculine, feminine or neuter. Verbs can be in the indicative, imperative, conditional or subjunctive mood.

As you can already tell, the language can become very complicated to speak and process quickly, if you have never been exposed to it before. For the sake of time, I won’t go much deeper into this topic because it deserves its own series of podcast episodes to explain it properly. For those of you that have interest in learning the language, you can dip your toe in the pool by learning how to speak with an Icelandic accent. 😉

While Iceland’s archaic language might seem odd to many foreigners, Icelandic people are very proud of their language and they don’t seem interested in changing it. In fact, there is an official committee at the Árni Magnússon Institute for Icelandic Studies whose job is to plan and preserve the language. The evolution of technology and increased exposure to other languages has posed some challenges for the language. The committee has found some clever ways to include words that didn’t exist in the language before. One example is that they will take existing Icelandic words and combine them to create new words.

The Icelandic word of the episode is tungumál, which means language. Listen to the podcast at 14:27 to hear how it is pronounced. I also shared a random fact about Iceland during this episode at 13:38. Check it out.

Want to learn Icelandic words and facts? Sign up for my Icelandic word of the week newsletter. The newsletter includes a word directly translated from Icelandic to English, a picture representing the word, an audio pronunciation of the word and a fact about Iceland.

If you have enjoyed this episode of All Things Iceland, please subscribe to the podcast, so you don’t miss an update. If you are listening to this on iTunes, Google Play or any other platform that allows reviews, please leave a review.

Þakka þér kærlega fyrir að lesa ( og að hlusta). Sjáumst fljótlega!

Thank you kindly for reading (and listening). See you soon!

During part 2 of the interview that I did with Dóra Björt Guðjónsdóttir, Iceland’s youngest President of the Reykjavík City Council, she reveals even more details about Icelandic society that are unknown to the outside world. If you haven’t listened to part 1 yet, I highly recommend that you do because Dóra shares some insightful information about Icelandic politics and society.

In this episode, Dóra talks more about Iceland’s aggressive discussion culture and ways she is working to combat it in order to foster a more democratic society. She also hits on the shift toward freedom of the press, independent media, transparency and the growing feeling in Icelandic people that it is their responsibility to care about what is happening in politics in their country. However, there is a long way to go and this interview opened my eyes to some deep seated beliefs in Iceland.

I hope you enjoyed listening to part 2 of this interview. The third and final part  will be released next week, so make sure you are subscribed to the All Things Iceland podcast so you don’t miss it. If you are able to leave a review, please do so, if you haven’t already.

Let’s be social! Here is where you can connect with me on social media platforms:

Þakka þér kærlega fyrir að hlusta (og að lesa) og sjáumst fljótlega (Thank you kindly for listening (and reading) and see you soon!

While most Icelandic people agree that the weather is more “summery” in June, the beginning of summer in Iceland is officially celebrated on the first Thursday after April 18th. In Icelandic, this day is called Sumardagurinn Fyrsti and it is an official holiday. The ironic part is that, historically, the weather is not very good on that day. If you had the opportunity to listen to Episode 5 of the All Things Iceland podcast, which is titled – What is Winter Like in Iceland?, you would have heard me mention that the winter and summer season start and end dates are according to the Old Norse calendar.  If you haven’t listened to that episode yet, I recommend checking it out. It is amazing how different these two seasons are.

If you only use the Old Norse calendar as your reference for the length of the summer season, it will amount to being about 26 weeks long.  It would be awesome if that were true but the reality is that the long, bright days and warmer weather only lasts about 3 months (June, July & August).  It is important to point out that this country is known for its unstable weather.  Summer in Iceland can vary from being rainy, windy and chilly to clear skies, relatively warm and not very windy. If you get a clear day, with sunshine and little to no wind in Iceland, it is like hitting the weather jackpot. The majority of Icelandic people take advantage of days like that by doing some kind of outdoor activity because it would be a shame to miss out on such awesome weather.

When visiting Iceland between June and August, you could theoretically experience a temperature change from a low of 6 degrees Celsius (44 degrees Fahrenheit) to a high of 20 degrees Celsius (68 degrees Fahrenheit). However, the temperature rarely gets that high. Realistically,  you can expect a range of 10 – 13 degrees Celsius (50 – 55 degrees Fahrenheit) as a high during the day. For most people, this temperature range is nowhere near the summer temperatures in their home country, but such is life in Iceland.

If you plan to visit during this time period, the best advice I have for enjoying summer in Iceland is to embrace unpredictability and pack lots of layers!  Waterproof, or at least water resistant, clothing will be your best friend here. Using an umbrella in this country is like wearing a big, red sign on your back that says you’re a tourist. Icelandic winds tend to blow the rain in a horizontal direction and on many days, the wind speed will break your umbrella like a twig. Save yourself the trouble of trying to wrestle an umbrella in the wind and stick with clothes designed to keep you dry.

If you enjoy being out in nature at all hours of the day, summer in Iceland is the perfect time for you to visit. There are a plethora of activities that you can do during the height of the day or during the midnight sun. Some of the most popular  activities are hiking, glacier walks, partying, cycling, road trips, whale watching, bird watching, horseback riding, driving a 4×4, going to a music festival, going to the local pool or nearby hot spring, camping and driving on rugged mountain roads in a super jeep. You can find a lot more activities with a quick search online.

When I first experienced the midnight sun on my second visit to Iceland, I felt as if I could stay awake forever. I visited during the summer solstice, the longest day of the year, and it was magical. However, the nonstop brightness confused my brain, and I kept thinking that I could easily stay up and do more activities. I eventually crashed, but I only slept for a few hours at a time. While it is fun to feel like the day is never going to end, the downside is that most people in Iceland still have to go to work and keep some kind of schedule during the week. You might be asking yourself, “How does one cope with 24 hour brightness?”

Some people, including myself, use blackout shades or curtains to block as much light as possible from streaming in. I also use a face mask to ensure that it is completely dark. That might seem like overkill but it works for me, so I stick with it.  Many Icelandic people will tell you that they rest just fine without a curtain or mask. They just close their eyes and go to sleep. Of course, they’ve had the advantage of being raised in this environment, so many of the have adapted to the brightness. Thankfully, the rest of us have methods to cope. I recommend at least bringing a face mask to wear for when you plan to sleep.

That was a little taste of what summer in Iceland is like. I encourage you to check it out for yourself.

The Icelandic phrase of this episode is Gleðilegt Sumar. Listen to the podcast at 9:01 to hear how it is pronounced and what it means. I also shared a random fact about Iceland during this episode at 8:15. Check it out.

If you have enjoyed this episode of All Things Iceland, please subscribe to the podcast, so you don’t miss an update. If you are listening to this on iTunes, Google Play or any other platform that allows reviews, please leave a review.

Þakka þér kærlega fyrir að lesa ( og að hlusta). Sjáumst fljótlega!

Thank you kindly for reading (and listening). See you soon!

Aldís Amah Hamilton, who is half African American and half Icelandic, shares what it is like living in Iceland as a person of color. Aldís and her friend were the first people of color in the country to be admitted to and graduate from the country’s National Academy of Theater. She is a working actor and flight attendant in Iceland.  It was fascinating to chat with her about her experience growing up with physical features that are different than what you typically associate with being Icelandic.

Aldís was so pleasant to chat with. Even though this was my first time meeting her, the conversation flowed like two friends just chatting about life. At the end, she shares a few funny Icelandic idioms, so stay tuned to hear them.

Here is the winter episode that I mentioned in the introduction of the podcast.

Let’s be social! Here is where you can connect with me on social media platforms:

I hope you enjoyed listening to this interview. I release a new podcast episode every week. Make sure you are subscribed to the All Things Iceland podcast so you don’t miss new episodes. If the platform you are listening to this podcast on allows you to leave a review, please do so, if you haven’t already.

Þakka þér kærlega fyrir að hlusta (og að lesa) og sjáumst fljótlega

Thank you kindly for listening (and reading) and see you soon!

I had the pleasure of interviewing Jesse Byock, professor of Old Norse and Medieval Scandinavian Studies at UCLA and Háskóli Íslands for the All Things Iceland Podcast. We sat down in his lovely apartment in Reykjavík to chat about his book “Viking Language 1: Learn Old Norse, Runes, and Icelandic Sagas”.

I met Jesse at the 2017 Polyglot Conference in Reykjavík, Iceland after seeing the captivating cover of his book (below) that was laying on the table.  I ended up having a chat with Jesse about living in Iceland, the Icelandic language and the Viking Language book series. As an archaeologist and an expat that has lived in Iceland for decades, Jesse has some fascinating stories to share. You will hear some of them in this interview.

Can you guess what the creature is on the front cover of his book? Jesse reveals the answer at 24:05 in the podcast.

Viking Language 1 is a grammar book for beginners that want an introduction to Old Norse, but it goes beyond the normal humdrum grammar book. Over the course of 20 years, Jesse developed this book based on the feedback he received from his students while teaching Old Norse.  Instead of just cramming the book with rote grammar and vocabulary exercises, he decided to weave in tidbits of history, culture and stories in between the exercises. He also included maps that display where Vikings traveled in Europe and North America. This refreshing approach made doing the exercises fun.  History and culture enthusiasts will be delighted with the plethora of information he provides.

While Jesse uses this book to teach Old Norse in the classroom, he stated in the interview that he structured the book so people could use it for independent learning. As a do-it-yourself kind of person, I appreciate the effort he made to create a book that is also useful for people who are not taking a class.

You can find Viking Language 1 & 2 on Amazon

Jesse’s Viking Language website

Jesse has authored many books and they are available on Amazon.

Þakka þér kærlega fyrir að lesa (og að hlusta). Sjáumst fljótlega.

Thank you kindly for reading (and listening to the podcast). See you soon!