What do Icelanders speak?

What do Icelanders speak?

Daniel Cramer
(Updated: )
4 min read

If you mean about what we speak about, then we mostly talk about ourselves, how fresh our water is, how clean our air is, how strong our men are, how beautiful our women are or how ultra badass the Mountain is on Game of Thrones.

He is, by the way.

But, if you mean language then the answer you seek is bellow.

What do Icelanders speak?

We speak Icelandic or Íslensku in our language.

Icelandic is one of the oldest languages still spoken in Europe and has undergone only slight change from its origin as Old Norse allowing every literate Icelander to be able to read the old viking sagas with ease.

It's a Germanic language that is considered both ancient and modern, and is the official language of the Republic of Iceland.

An image of an icelandic saying
A popular Icelandic saying.
## How many people speak Icelandic?

Over 97% or about 350,000 of the inhabitants of Iceland speak Icelandic as a primary language. Additionally, Icelandic is spoken by several thousand people in the other Nordic countries, as well as about 20.000 people in the United States and Canada.

It is an endangered language but Iceland has continued restless efforts to preserve it by translating the majority of all major written works published to Icelandic, such as all major texts by William Shakespeare, educational texts and even modern literature such as A Song of Ice and Fire by George R.R. Martin.

The Icelandic government is also active in stimulating the invention of new modern words such as ?snjallsími?(smartphone) or even ?geimgengill?(skywalker).

What does Icelandic sound like?

I like to think of my own speech as romantic, charming, soothing and even inspiring but, according to what I've heard from foreign visitors, I sound more like I've taken Spanish and Swedish, mashed it together and thrown it through a meatgrinder before preparing with a dash of Finnish. It's a much harder tongue compared to the more melodic speech of the other Nordic countries.

Image of Icelandic word for Thank you and other languages
Takk is Thank you!
## Can you teach me Icelandic?

No, I don't think either of us have the time or patience for that. But what I can do is show you a few words and phrases that might give you an edge over the other visitors when you do travel to Iceland.

Letters

  • Á á - said as ?ow? as in cow

  • Ð ð - said as ?th? in the

  • E e - said as the short ?ai? sound in air

  • É é - said as yeah, but shorter

  • F f - at the start of words it is said as the English f. Between vowels as English. Before l or n as a b. Fnd is said as English m and fnt is said as hm

  • G g - At the beginning of words it is said as a hard English g. In between vowels and at the end of a word a very soft throaty g resembling a toned down German ?ch? at the back of the throat. It is not pronounced between accented vowels. It is said as an Icelandic j between a vowel and j. After a vowel and before a t or s it is a hard German ?ch?

  • I i - said as ?I? in win

  • Í í - said as ?ee? in we

  • J j - said as a ?y? at the beginning of words. Elsewhere it is aspirated before the ?y? sound

  • O o - said as ?o? in hot

  • Ó ó - said as ?oh?

  • R r - is always rolled

  • S s - always an ?s?, never said as a z

  • U u - said as the French ?eux? but shorter

  • Ú ú - said as the ?ew? sound in yew

  • X x - said as a hard German ?ch?

  • Y y - see I

  • Ý ý - see í

  • Þ þ - said as the ?th? sound in thing

  • Æ æ - said as ?eye?

  • Ö ö - said as ? ur ? as in murder

  • Hv - as ?kf? in thankful

  • Ll - as ?tl?

  • Nn - as tn after accented vowel or diphthong. This also happens between rl, rn, sl and sn

  • Pp, tt, kk are all aspirated (small puff of air)

  • Au - is said as ?öj?

  • Ei and ey - said as the ?a? sound in case

Basics

  • Já (Yow) - Yes.
  • Nei (Ney) - No.
  • Afsakið (Ow-sock-ith) - Excuse me.
  • Skál! (Scowl!) - Cheers!
  • Hvar er klósettið? (Kvar er kloe-set-tith?) - Where is the toilet / restroom?

Greetings

  • Halló (Hal-lo) - You can probably figure out what this means.
  • Góðan Daginn (Go-than-dye-in) - Good Day
  • Gott Kvöld (Got-Kvauld) - Good Evening
  • Blessaður (Bless-ath-err) - Used for greeting a male friend
  • Blessuð (Bless-uth) - Used for greeting a female friend

Farewells

  • Bless (Bless) - Bye
  • Bæ (Bye) - Bye
  • Sjáumst (Show-umst) - See you later

Useful Words & Phrases

  • Matur (Ma-tour) - Food
  • Viltu koma djamma? (Will-tu-kom-a-de-yam-a) - Do you want to come party?
  • Get ég fengið reikninginn? (Git-Yeah-fangith-raykn-ing-in) - Can I have the bill?
  • Takk fyrir (Taak-fyr-ir) - Thank you
  • Hvað kostar það? (Kvath kostar thath?) - How much does it cost?

I'm going to stop here cause I'm starting to doubt my ability to write the pronunciation correctly.

If you do want to learn more Icelandic online then I recommend these sites:

Góða skemmtun!
english: have fun!