I had a lot of fun creating my first Youtube video about my experience at the 2017 Polyglot Conference. I have included the transcript of the video below. However, there is one awesome thing that happened at the conference that I forgot to mention.
Category: The pursuit of fluency (Page 1 of 2)
Because Icelandic is spoken by a whopping 380,000 people (roughly), there are not a ton of resources dedicated to learning the language, especially when you compare it to more widely spoken languages like Spanish, English, French and Mandarin. However, if you want to learn the language, don’t let the lack of abundant materials deter you.
The 2017 Polyglot Conference will be held at the Harpa concert hall and conference center in Reykjavík this year! When I first learned about the Polyglot Conference in 2015, I was stoked. This blog had already been up and running for about a year and I was looking forward to attending an event that brought together budding and fully blossomed polyglots. The cherry on top was that the conference was to be held in my hometown – New York City! Sadly, I never made it to the event in 2015, but it will be different this year.
Memrise is Rolling Out an Official Icelandic Course!
I have spoken about my love for Memrise on here before, so it is no surprise that I am super excited about Memrise’s recent announcement to roll out an official Icelandic course on their language learning platform.
Observing how children learn can be a fascinating experience. While it is true that most children have lots of free time, the luxury of being totally immersed in a language, and their own personal tutors (their parents, family, and peers), it doesn’t mean that adults can’t adapt some of their behaviors when it comes to learning a new language. Below are some of the behaviors I have started to implement into my practice that are based on my observations of how children learn.
Recently, I have been going to a boxing strength and conditioning class at Hnefaleikafélagið Æsir (try saying that three times fast) with some of my co-workers. The gym looks like something Rocky might train in, and when you walk in the smell of sweat and hard work smacks you in the face. Well, mostly sweat 🙂 At first glance, boxing and my pursuit to learn Icelandic seem totally unrelated. However, I have noticed that this very intense class not only has a lot of similarities to my language journey, it has also reenergized my focus.
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I know we are almost three weeks into 2017 but hooray for a new year!!! Whether you made resolutions or not, now is a great time to reflect on your fluency progress in 2016 and see what you can improve or change in order to reach your language learning goals this year. There are no set rules for learning a language but I think these top 5 tips for success in 2017 can be applied to any method of learning that you are currently using. Read. Apply. Repeat! 🙂
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First 3 Months Down: Settling In and Learning the Icelandic Language
It is officially fall and about two weeks ago I hit the three-month mark since I made my big move to Iceland. Living here and learning the Icelandic language has been an exhilarating and exhausting experience. I knew that I would need to give myself time to adjust to my new environment, job, and culture but I underestimated how much time I need, particularly when it comes to learning Icelandic. I don’t know how long it will take until I feel “settled in” but my language learning journey has been quite a whirlwind so far.
I know that it seems like I literally fell off the earth recently but so much has happened since my last post in November. As you can tell from the title of this post, I am making the big move to the land of Fire & Ice. Gunnar and I have worked tirelessly to make this happen and it is such an awesome feeling to accomplish this on our own terms. I connected with Iceland and its people on my very first visit back in December 2013, and now I get the opportunity to further explore this beautiful place as a resident. Before I jump ahead to that part, I want to recap on how I have gotten to this point and where I am in my polyglot journey. 🙂
Kæri Vinur (Dear Friends),
Today is special not only because it is Icelandic Language Day (Dagur íslenskrar tungu) but also because it is when I officially launched the blog last year! This day holds a special place in my heart and to celebrate I am listening to some epic Icelandic folk music below. 🙂
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