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.
Swimming in a Sea of Icelandic
When I was learning Icelandic words while living in New York, it felt like I had thrust myself into the deepest depths of the ocean. Being the do-it-yourself type, I figured that I didn’t need a class or instructor, and that if I adopted the method of thrashing around in a sea of words and phrases that I would hopefully navigate my way without feeling like I was drowning. I used websites like Memrise, Íslenska Fyrir Alla, and Viltu læra Íslensku? to familiarize myself with the language. I made progress when it came to making Icelandic sound less foreign to me but my lack of studying structure and core understanding of the grammar rules ended up biting me in the butt later. Now that I live in Iceland, I realize that I was nowhere near the deep area of the sea. In fact, I had been wading in the shallow end, not realizing that at any point I could have stood up and made learning the Icelandic language a bit easier on myself by investing time in learning the grammar rules. Yes, it is as boring as it sounds but it is totally worth it!
One fascinating observation has been my fight or flight response so far. The sea of Icelandic words can be daunting, and daily I choose between fighting it head on by immersing myself in it or retreating back to my cozy and familiar English language. I knew I hadn’t prepared enough before I arrived to be able to carry on a simple conversation in Icelandic but I didn’t expect that I would feel so lost when listening to conversations or reading some text. The more Icelandic I learn, the more comfortable I feel with speaking but I am still pretty far off from jumping into conversations. The sea of Icelandic words, phrases and grammar rules is vast and turbulent at times, and when I need a break from swimming in it I hop back into my English language “dinghy.” Even though this provides some much needed relief, it can hinder my efforts to become fluent.
Translating Icelandic to English and Back Again
I’ve lost count of the times that someone has spoken to me in Icelandic and I knew what I wanted to say but I just stood there staring at them with a blank face as my mind translated their words from Icelandic to English, and then my response from English to Icelandic. Oh, the agony of translating! It feels like a millennium is passing as my brain tries to decipher what was said and crafts a response.
Learning Icelandic words gets a lot easier once you understand the alphabet and how to pronounce them, but trying to recall the right verb conjugations, gender of the words and noun cases and declensions in the right order for a sentence to be grammatically correct, is what makes my brain feel like it is having a nuclear meltdown. I assume that many language learners have encountered this problem in one way or another throughout their journey’s but it is a step that I prefer to skip. LOL. I look forward to the day when Icelandic flows out of my mouth as smoothly as English, but for now I am working on familiarizing myself with the most commonly used words and phrases.
The Dilemma of Not Knowing Enough Icelandic Words
Photo by everysinglewordinIcelandic.com
Most people who plan to visit Iceland are happy to find out that nearly every Icelander speaks English. However, Icelandic is the national language and, rightfully so, the people here use their native tongue as often as possible, particularly when it comes to expressing themselves. I’ve noticed in company meetings or even in casual conversations with Icelandic people, that when they switch over to speaking in Icelandic the words flow out better. I can relate because I feel the same when I speak in English!
As I am learning Icelandic words, I start to recognize them in conversations but I am still on the edge of not knowing enough words to fully understand what is being said. However, I am training my brain to pick out the words I do know and use them as context clues to figure out what is being talked about. Sometimes it works and other times I am still clueless about what has been said, but it feels like I am making progress.
Taking Icelandic Language Classes
As soon as I moved, it was obvious to me that I could use some structure and expert help when it comes to learning the Icelandic language. In August, I enrolled in classes at the Tin Can Factory, a school in downtown Reykjavik that uses the language immersion method in the classroom to teach Icelandic. I am one week away from completing Level 2 and I definitely see the benefit of taking classes. I will be posting about my classroom experience within the next month, so keep an eye out for that.
Even though months have passed, I am still closer to the beginning of my journey to fluency in Icelandic than the ending but the path, thus far, is keeping my life quite interesting.
Þakka þér fyrir að lesa og sjáumst fljótlega! (Thank you for reading and see you soon!)
Have you experienced similar feelings or frustrations when learning a language? Feel free to share in the comment section.
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