Note: Icelandic Roots will have a members seminar featuring Óskar Bragi and his Speak Viking online Icelandic Language training course on December 4th. Watch for the listing on the Icelandic Roots event calendar.
Join the celebration with our Icelandic cousins! On Saturday, the 16th of November, Iceland celebrates the preservation of the exclusive Icelandic language, as well as its history. It is called Dagur Íslenskrar Tungu or, more easily understood to Western Icelanders as “Icelandic Language Day”. It is celebrated on this day in honor of the birthday of Iceland’s most famous poet from the 19th-century, Jónas Hallgrímsson, who kept the Icelandic language free from Danish influence while Iceland was under Danish rule.
Language is an integral part of culture and cultural identity. [1]
CELEBRATING THE ICELANDIC LANGUAGE
Please revisit an article written by Sunna Furstenau in 2021 where she defines the Day of the Icelandic Tongue. Click on the title for access.
Sunna links her lineage to Jónas Hallgrímsson, the most famous poet of Iceland and tells us a bit about his life. She also reviews the Icelandic alphabet, how the letters are different from our alphabet, as are their enunciations. It’s an entertaining and interesting article that many of us can relate to as we do our own family research or learn about our forefathers' country all written in Icelandic.
THE ICELANDIC LANGUAGE
While we anticipate the celebration on November 16th, and to help put us in the mindset for our own celebrations of Dagur Íslenskrar Tungu or “Icelandic Language Day”, read about why the language is to be celebrated and why it is remains unique centuries later.
The root language of Icelandic is traced back to Germanic but is more closely related to Norwegian and Faroese. The preservation of the language is important as it has not changed since the 12th century and the writing of the sagas. The language of the sagas is Old Icelandic, a western dialect of Old Norse. Because of this preserved language, many of those in Iceland today can read and understand the original sagas that were written over eight hundred years ago.
Icelandic remains a pure language in that very few words are used or borrowed from other languages, even in the more contemporary age of technology. The Icelandic Language Council advises on language policy. New words are discouraged and those intent on keeping the language pure, will find an appropriate work from old Icelandic and Old Norse roots. As an example, according to Gizmodo [2], “the word for “computer” is “tölva”. It is a combination of the word tala (number) and völva (prophetess).”
Wikipedia [3] states that Icelandic is spoken by its population of just over 300,000 people. There are few other parts of the world Icelandic is spoke: Denmark (approx. 8,000 people), the United States (approx. 5,000 people) and Canada (approx. 1400 people). Most of the Icelandic spoken in Canada is in the region of New Iceland in Manitoba.
Another interesting aspect of the Icelandic language is the absence of regional dialect of the language. The pronunciation of the Icelandic word is the same no matter what part of the country the speaker is from.
LANGUAGE CLASSES
Would you prefer to communicate and understand the Icelandic language? Maybe language classes are more to your liking.
There are some options available:
Icelandic Roots also has a link to Learning Icelandic which can also be found on the website under the tab "Heritage/Genealogy", which is listed as "Learning Icelandic". Check out the information at the two links to see if one will work for you.
INLUS offers Icelandic language classes twice a year. You can access the site HERE. The class for this fall has already commenced, but if this is what you are looking for, check the site for another Spring session. Classes are taught online.
INLNA also offers links to learning the Icelandic language on their website. Have a look at the different options HERE.
Check with your local Icelandic Club. Sometimes they will provide an opportunity in association with another club or educational facility.
Other resources for learning Icelandic are through various online sites. There are many to choose from. More recently, Icelandic Roots Outreach has been in contact with Óskar Bragi and his Speak Viking, an organization that provides Icelandic language classes.
There are many ways in which Icelandic language training if offered. You choose what works best for you.
TRANSLATION
So, how adept are English speaking Western Icelanders at reading the Icelandic language? Some better than others, no doubt. Many of us might have heard our parents or grandparents, and relatives speak the language when we were younger, and we may have understood much of what was said. However, as we've aged and the opportunities for Icelandic conversations have diminished, our understanding may have equally decreased. However, while researching our family histories in Icelandic, words and phrases will become familiar. If not, help is only a click away.
Icelandic Roots offers translation services. Details of the service can be found under the Services tab as Translation. Requests can be made from Icelandic to English for a reasonable fee. If you need translation from English to Icelandic, please contact support@icelandicroots.com. Translation services are provided only to IR Members through the Full Annual, Quarterly, or Samkoma Membership.
Additionally, help is readily available on the Icelandic Roots website. Click on the tab "Heritage/Genealogy" and scroll down to "Other Resources". Under the sub-header "Resources to help interpret information in the IR database" there are links to translations of Icelandic words used frequently in genealogy research, the place names, and the meaning of people's names. Further down that list are other resources, including the Icelandic to English Dictionary.
There are other translation apps that one can use, but not every app will translate to or from Icelandic. These apps provide a quick fix when one needs to understand a word, a phrase, or sometimes a whole passage. One might also need to be cautious of the app's accuracy; all apps have limitations.
One app used regularly by Icelandic Roots volunteers is Translate King. It has a decent accuracy in translation. Another popular one is Google Translate. Which app does the job conveniently for you?
Happy Icelandic Language Day! Gleðilegan dag íslenskrar tungu!
References:
[1] United Language Group: Preserving Icelandic Language
[2] Gizmodo: Icelandic Has the Best Words for Technology
[3] Wikipedia: Icelandic Language
[4] Icelandic Language: Languages of Iceland: