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!