Strange sounds of the ICELANDIC language

[@xosferens]

Perhaps you’re not aware of it as a native speaker but the Icelandic pronunciation of “r” seems very distinctive; there is often a breathy or whistling quality to it which you certainly don’t hear in other Germanic languages. I haven’t seen anyone talk about this. Cheers from Australia.

[@AFFoC]

It's almost the same as it is in Hungarian

[@ivargu]

That is a good point. I additionally have a hard time trying to quantify it exactly myself as the sound differs (at least in my mind) quite a bit based on the context with other sounds.

[@ivargu]

@@AFFoC Is it similar? That's interesting!

[@sirseigan]

You do have this R-sound in Norwegian and Swedish though (and in Sami and Finnish as well) - the "trilling R" :-)

[@Pytterr]

thare is a similar pronunciation regarding to the "r" in portuguese. Nice to know.

[@eizzah8323]

I remember reading that the Hv- question words in Icelandic, the Wh- in english, the W- in German and even the Qu- in French all share the same Proto-Indo-European roots

[@baltulielkungsgunarsmiezis9714]

Ofcourse they are. Core vocabulary is most strongly retained trough the ages my people say Ko? What? Kāpēc? What for?/Why? Kur? Where? Kura? Whos? Kurš? Who? Kas? What?/Who? Kā? How? Kādēļ? Who for?/Why? Kurā? In whom? See the pattern? Where in english questions start with wh, our questions start with k.

[@simonolthenorwegian]

@@baltulielkungsgunarsmiezis9714 Where I'm from we say Kor? - Where? Ka? - What? Kem? - Who? Koffor? - Why? Kas? - Which? Kordan? - How?

[@amanwithaplaninavan]

@simonolthenorwegian hvilken dialekt?

[@thetrueoneandonlyladyprinc8038]

Proto European is an European language created by a germanic dude and it isn’t similar to Indian languages at all (Indian languages are similar to Arabic languages, not to European languages) and it’s very incorrect to refer to it as ‘Indo’ and it’s just Proto-European, which is the first language ever created, that a dude created from scratch a long time ago that came with the first writing system ever, which inspired all other languages and writing systems that exist today, either directly or indirectly - English got the wh from Norse languages and Old English, and Germanic got it from Proto Germanic, and Proto Germanic and Norse got it from Latin, as Germanic languages come directly from Latin, as a dude created Proto Germanic and a dude created Norse by modifying Latin words and by creating lots of new words based on the new spelling rules that they had set, and languages don’t magically appear on their own, each language was created by a dude by modifying a previous language or multiple previous languages and by creating new words!

[@thetrueoneandonlyladyprinc8038]

By the way, I am upper intermediate level in both Old Norse and Icelandic, and I have the right Norse pronunciation, which is the most logical, and by the way, I will use DH for the TH sound in the English words this and that, which is the approximant of D and not the approximant of T like the TH in the English word think, and I will use AO for the ‘closed’ A sound that is like an A and O sound said 2gether in one sound (similar to the A sound in Hungarian) that melts into a soft O sound! For example... - hvat sounds like hvat or vat or kvat - mæra sounds like mera - ávast sounds like avast - nágrindr sounds like naogrind:r - líkligr sounds like liklig:r or likliguhr - frænda sounds like freinda or freoynda or frenda - þat sounds like that - ræðir sounds like reidhir - hárr sounds like haruhr or har:r (could have also been har / harr) - gæfr sounds like gev:r or gevuhr - hverfa sounds like hverva or verva or kverva (any of them or all 3 could’ve been used) Also... - hæll sounds like heyl - saltr sounds like solt:r - mæla sounds like mala - drápa sounds like drapa or dropa - kæra sounds like kaera or kaira - ferr sounds like fer:r - jafna sounds like yavna - hœgri sounds like heoyri - girðing sounds like girdhing - hádegi sounds like haodegi - ørendislaust sounds like eorendislaust The word... - verr sounds like ver - ekki sounds like eki or ehki - þverra sounds like thverra - gegna sounds like gekna - vefja sounds like vevya - yfir sounds like ɪvɪr as in Icelandic - ætla sounds like etla - ofn sounds like ovn - náliga sounds like naoliga - sauma could have been pronounced either saima or seoyma like in Icelandic or both or even sauma as it is written - ofleti sounds like ofleti The emphasis of stress in Norse languages such as Norse and Icelandic etc is always at the beginning of the word - for compound words made of multiple smaller words, one should add a bit of stress at the beginning of each word that the compound word is made of and the most stress always at the beginning of the compound word... I don’t think there was any fixed way of pronouncing the diphthongs, and it’s most likely that the pronunciation of diphthongs such as AU would differ depending on the word, including pronunciations such as ai / au / ao / eoy / oy / ey etc, and it may have also differed depending on the region and accent, and the Æ in Norse can have many pronunciations, depending on the word, so it can sound like e / ei / a / eoy / oey / uey / ai / ea / ae etc, depending on what sound sounds best and the most natural and easiest to say in each word, so one should use one’s intuition a lot in Norse... The Rs are always different depending on the region and depending of the speaker in every language, but in Germanic languages, a soft normal R is usually used by most speakers and by younger speakers, and I highly recommend using a soft normal R in Norse and in all other languages that aren’t English as soft Rs have the best and most refined sound, soft Rs that are pronounced as fast as possible being the types of Rs that truly suit such refined languages as Norse and the other Germanic languages, whereas hard or prolonged or thrilled Rs sound very harsh and unrefined... By the way, it’s also important to know that in Norse and Icelandic the G is usually pronounced like a K sound, especially at the end of the word, and in many words the G is pronounced K even in the middle of the word, and there are also some words where the G is pronounced as a K even when it is at the beginning of the word, so it is normal to hear a lot of K sounds when there is a G in spelling - for example, lots of speakers of Icelandic will pronounce even the G in góðan (góðan daginn) as a soft K sound, without even realizing, and this pronunciation rule comes from Norse!

[@ivargu]

I of course omitted that 'Q' is not used in the Icelandic alphabet either.

[@edwardamosbrandwein3583]

Can you understand OLD NORSE if you're fluent in Icelandic?

[@ivargu]

You can understand bits and pieces, and I'd say gleam general meaning, but there will be a lot of gaps.

[@edwardamosbrandwein3583]

@@ivargu Thx. And Faroese?

[@thetrueoneandonlyladyprinc8038]

Technically, one can understand only certain sentences and certain words, because, even though Norse and Icelandic have mostly words that are cognates, many of the cognates are used with different meanings in Icelandic, and many Norse words aren’t used in Icelandic, while the new words that Icelandic has don’t exist in Norse - I highly recommend learning both Icelandic & Norse 2gether with Dutch / Norwegian / Gothic / Faroese / Danish / Welsh etc, as these languages are way too pretty not to know, they are the prettiest languages ever, as pretty / refined / poetic as English!

[@thetrueoneandonlyladyprinc8038]

Some of the most notable differences between Norse and Icelandic are... - the R vs UR word ending (for example, vindr vs vindur = wind / veðr vs veður = weather) - the Norse letters ǫ / ǫ́ / œ / ǿ / ø are spellt with the letter ö in Icelandic (ǫld vs öld = age) - the definite article it is spellt ið in Icelandic (veðrit vs veðrið = the weather) - the letters d and t at the end of short words is spellt ð in Icelandic (at vs að = to + that) - the special Norse letters ą / ę / į / ǫ / ų and the long version of these letters aren’t used in Icelandic (ęsir = gods) - certain adjective endings are slightly different (likr vs legur = like)

[@eduromero2971]

Dear Ívar: I was in Iceland -at last!- last July and I loved every micro-second of the journey. I also bought myself a method ("Complete Icelandic"), which seems fine. As for the language's sounds, I find that - Í / í are the sounds of FEET in English, whereas I / i sound like FIT in English. - R / r is /r/, a multiple thrill (Spanish CARRO, to name a widespread language). - Þ / þ are like THINK in English, whereas Ð / ð are THE in this language All in all, what I love is how you pronounce your S / s: they sound like Basque (and European Standard Spanish) S /s, something between /s/ (SEA) and /g /ʃ/ (SHE). Takk!!!

[@illalima6670]

As an Icelander I totally agree! Good observation 😊

[@ateabag8410]

You speak English with such a beautiful accent ! It's a pleasure for ears to listen to you. Thanks for giving us a look into the word of Icelandic

[@ivargu]

How kind of you. Glad you enjoyed 😊

[@sachab6098]

I recently became invested in the Icelandic language. This and Acadian french has me practicing my trills. The Icelandic trill is a soft flutter compared to the strong Acadian trill. I've noticed that the Icelandic trill has 3-5 "r's" while the Acadian trill is typically a point-blank single trilled "r", more like a hard "L". Acadian french is a dialect from Old French, so there's some similarities between the languages I've become enamoured with. They sound so different and I cannot wait to learn more.

[@coolterminator99]

About [Hv] pronunciation, in some few places in Southern Iceland there's are reminicents of a dialect which actually "pronounce" the H. I am no Icelander, but I do pronounce the xʷ sound (that's Hv sound, basically). As a personal preference I like doing it because it is known that this dialect is dying off and I like the idea of helping preserving it. As well that I am understood when pronouncing words like that. I also got to learn from a local Icelander that his Grandfather would say "Hvuð" instead of "Hver" (of course pronouncing the Hv sound). Among other very interesting things!

[@vampyran]

There used to be more dialects and accents in Icelandic, but they've mostly died out. Today, not pronouncing hv as a kv is considered a bit superfluous because most people don't do it naturally (but you will find people who speak like that; it is not the standard, though). There also used to be an accent in the Westfjords where people read words as he mentioned in the video (langur, gangur, munkur) as they are written, with an a or u, instead of á and ú. Pronouncing HV as HV is a bit like saying (h)what, (h)where, (h)why and so on

[@chadmensa]

This was a great video for me. I'm an amateur linguist, and currently I'm studying Old Norse. I prefer reconstructed medieval pronunciation for that, but I'd eventually like to be fluent in modern Icelandic also. I know all of the grammar rules, etc., but it was very helpful to hear the sounds pronounced by a native. I found this video two years late or I would have offered any linguistic explanations that you might want. I'm still here, though, if you're curious.

[@brcnptech]

Ha, I'm trying to forget work and learn to say good morning when I pick coffee up in Reykjavik today and here you are in a Trailblazer hoodie 😆 Thanks for the video. I feel less like an obnoxious tourist with your help!

[@ivargu]

Glad to be of help and may the salesforce be with you ;)

[@spaceCowboy924]

Takk fyrir! Ég byrjaði að læra síðustu viku íslensku. I was wondering about some of the other double consonants, pp, tt, kk, mm for example. I haven’t found great resources for how they’re pronounced

[@ivargu]

That might be a good idea for a follow-up video 😊

[@Julia-br5tq]

Interesting, your R sounds like mine in German with a Bavarian accent. I used to describe it as Spanish-like, but Icelandic is much closer. 😇 Cool video!

[@ivargu]

Cool. I didn't realize that. Will now be looking up videos to see examples of a Bavarian accent. Thanks for pointing that out!

[@julian.16]

And mine in Spanish

[@baltulielkungsgunarsmiezis9714]

That r sucks!

[@Alexandra-uk4vr]

​@@baltulielkungsgunarsmiezis9714No.

[@celerya8365]

thank you so much for this video - the hv has been really confusing me, and you explained it really well im going to iceland in about a year and a half so i’ve been binging your videos recently lol, keep it up!

[@ivargu]

Thanks, I appreciate you watching! :)

[@baltulielkungsgunarsmiezis9714]

Why would it confuse you? hv is a digiggraph thats actually kv/khv end of story.

[@jurekmonk]

Very exotic language. I hope I would learn something while working in your beautiful country ❤ greetings from Poland 🇵🇱 and thanks for the video

[@DunningKrugerSan]

Þetta var frábært. Gerðist áskrifandi. Takk frá Ameríku. ❤

[@regular-joe]

It's fun to find similarities and differences - Þ in English is called the soft th (unvoiced), đ is called the hard th (voiced)😁. Thanks for teaching me so many new things!

[@thetrueoneandonlyladyprinc8038]

The TH sounds in English are the thorn and the eth sounds from Icelandic and Norse, and the TH in words such as this / the / that is not a T sound, it is a D sound - they are D and T sounds that are pronounced in a less obvious way aka approximants of D and T!

[@thetrueoneandonlyladyprinc8038]

By the way, I am upper intermediate level in both Old Norse and Icelandic, and I have the right Norse pronunciation, which is the most logical, and by the way, I will use DH for the TH sound in the English words this and that, which is the approximant of D and not the approximant of T like the TH in the English word think, and I will use AO for the ‘closed’ A sound that is like an A and O sound said 2gether in one sound (similar to the A sound in Hungarian) that melts into a soft O sound! For example... - hvat sounds like hvat or vat or kvat - mæra sounds like mera - ávast sounds like avast - nágrindr sounds like naogrind:r - líkligr sounds like liklig:r or likliguhr - frænda sounds like freinda or freoynda or frenda - þat sounds like that - ræðir sounds like reidhir - hárr sounds like haruhr or har:r (could have also been har / harr) - gæfr sounds like gev:r or gevuhr - hverfa sounds like hverva or verva or kverva (any of them or all 3 could’ve been used) Also... - hæll sounds like heyl - saltr sounds like solt:r - mæla sounds like mala - drápa sounds like drapa or dropa - kæra sounds like kaera or kaira - ferr sounds like fer:r - jafna sounds like yavna - hœgri sounds like heoyri - girðing sounds like girdhing - hádegi sounds like haodegi - ørendislaust sounds like eorendislaust The word... - verr sounds like ver - ekki sounds like eki or ehki - þverra sounds like thverra - gegna sounds like gekna - vefja sounds like vevya - yfir sounds like ɪvɪr as in Icelandic - ætla sounds like etla - ofn sounds like ovn - náliga sounds like naoliga - sauma could have been pronounced either saima or seoyma like in Icelandic or both or even sauma as it is written - ofleti sounds like ofleti The emphasis of stress in Norse languages such as Norse and Icelandic etc is always at the beginning of the word - for compound words made of multiple smaller words, one should add a bit of stress at the beginning of each word that the compound word is made of and the most stress always at the beginning of the compound word... I don’t think there was any fixed way of pronouncing the diphthongs, and it’s most likely that the pronunciation of diphthongs such as AU would differ depending on the word, including pronunciations such as ai / au / ao / eoy / oy / ey etc, and it may have also differed depending on the region and accent, and the Æ in Norse can have many pronunciations, depending on the word, so it can sound like e / ei / a / eoy / oey / uey / ai / ea / ae etc, depending on what sound sounds best and the most natural and easiest to say in each word, so one should use one’s intuition a lot in Norse... The Rs are always different depending on the region and depending of the speaker in every language, but in Germanic languages, a soft normal R is usually used by most speakers and by younger speakers, and I highly recommend using a soft normal R in Norse and in all other languages that aren’t English as soft Rs have the best and most refined sound, soft Rs that are pronounced as fast as possible being the types of Rs that truly suit such refined languages as Norse and the other Germanic languages, whereas hard or prolonged or thrilled Rs sound very harsh and unrefined... By the way, it’s also important to know that in Norse and Icelandic the G is usually pronounced like a K sound, especially at the end of the word, and in many words the G is pronounced K even in the middle of the word, and there are also some words where the G is pronounced as a K even when it is at the beginning of the word, so it is normal to hear a lot of K sounds when there is a G in spelling - for example, lots of speakers of Icelandic will pronounce even the G in góðan (góðan daginn) as a soft K sound, without even realizing, and this pronunciation rule comes from Norse!

[@regular-joe]

Thanks, that's a huge amount of information - much appreciated!!

[@DanielCatarinoo]

The Composition Vowels you mentioned in the video are known as "diphthongs" :D Thank you so much for doing this video. Learning Icelandic from the internet is quite hard because there is little content about this language online. Takk fyrir! :D

[@markdpricemusic1574]

Superb clarity and patience! Many thanks for this - I am at the stage of learning basic words and this help immensely. I hope to live long enough to one day understand the tyrannical beauty of Icelandic grammar.

[@ivargu]

Thank you, I really appreciate that! :) And I love the description "tyrannical beauty", it makes so much sense :D

[@MonikaYTMonika]

Hi! Finally someone made a video with the islandic characters and their phonetic sound. Thank you! I am learning this beautiful language, planning to visit for the vacation job this amazing and peaceful island. Regards from Poland!

[@Maria_Sikora]

Thanks for the video and sharing more about this beautiful language!

[@ivargu]

Thanks! :)

[@Peter_1986]

My village in central Sweden has its own local language, called "Elfdalian" in English, which is very similar to Icelandic in a lot of ways - even the accent is quite similar. For example, the phrase "Ur ir eð min dig?" means "how is it with you?" or "how are you doing?", and "Ur ietter du?" means "what is your name?" (technically it is more like saying "what hight you?", but nobody really speaks like that today).

[@coryjorgensen622]

Wow, interesting! Now you have me going down a language rabbit hole. I never knew this existed.

[@chadmensa]

Awesome! I've never met a native speaker. Those of us who study Norse languages have heard of you, even in America.

[@OldSchoolHippieFood]

Am studying íslensk & this is fantastic (the entire channel is fantastic 🥰) ! Takk!

[@ivargu]

Happy to hear it helps / gaman að heyra að þetta hjálpar! :)

[@SwimminWitDaFishies]

This is the clearest explanation that I've ever heard, great job on the video! I also love the jazzy background music 😎 I have subscribed!!

[@willardkeeran6100]

Always interesting content. Keep up the good work.

[@markw4206]

Thanks for the disclaimer up front. So rare to see on a KZbin video. :)

[@BBArcticGhost]

Very helpful video! One thing I've noticed and tried to understand is the varying pronunciation of words like "dalur" or in locations such as Reykjadalur. It may just be the particular speaker, but I tend to hear more of an "sh" at the end, where a word like fjörður has a recognizable trilled or rolled "r" - what would differentiate the pronunciation with a similar "ur" ending?

[@ivargu]

Excellent question! I honestly hadn't noticed this blowing "-sh" sound at the end until you mentioned it here. It's not intentional, more a question of finding it difficult to make a hard stop on the 'r' when speaking relatively quickly. I recorded a short soundbyte for you and uploaded to soundcloud: soundcloud.com/ivar-gunnarsson-682989350/reykjadalur

[@BBArcticGhost]

@@ivargu ah ok, that makes way more sense. I've been trying to be more cognizant of the pronunciations in everyday conversation when compared to a structured language course. Appreciate the response and sound bit!

[@psodq]

For me the absolutely most difficult thing to pronounce is the LL. And I've heard so many versions of it, like TL, and Tj or Tch (T with German voiceless CH), or just a short T, etc. etc. My tongue does not want to bend that way. I also noticed that Icelandic is pronounced in the very front of your mouth, even more so than Finnish is.

[@sazji]

Atlas.

[@RDAAOWFDL]

I was confused when I learned that Icelandic [LL] sound is as common as the [TL] sound among the Aztecs (in well known locations /Tenochtitlan/, designations /Altepetl/, names /Axolotl, Quetzalcoatl/, etc.). And sounds a bit similar. Is it a coincidence?

[@ivargu]

I presume it is only a coincidence, but that is actually quite interesting :)

[@marycampbell7340]

These videos are amazing! Thank you! (takk fyrir! Hawk-fearish?). Would you be willing to shoot a video that runs through the entire Icelandic alphabet? Takk!

[@Rymomen]

Hello, as a Pole, it is difficult for me to pronounce some sounds. To me, Icelandic sounds like a language from some magical world, like the language of elves or something like that. I would like to learn your native language and visit your country.

[@noneofmybusiness9895]

Im heading to iceland at the end of october. It appears to be a difficult language, but then the more i travel, i see how difficult english is to learn with all of our weird rules that sometimes apply between 37-83% of the time 😂😂 Thanks for the crash course!

[@Urspo]

Two letters as one (æ) is called a ligature. Icelandic is a beautiful sounding language. I’ve heard it hasn’t changed much through time. is this correct? I hope it isn’t being altered by English?

[@ivargu]

Ligature. Nice. Always learning something new. :) It's true that the icelandic language evolved in relative isolation for so many centuries that it didn't change severely, and among the nordic languages it it indeed the one which most closely resembles the original Old Norse language. We are conscious of the fact that we need to actively work to preserve it if we want it to remain, because in the global modern world, the practicality of english weighs heavier and heavier.

[@richblackmon3399]

Correct, a ligature is the typographical term for two letters physically made into one, as æ, but another related term is diphthong - this is when a two letter combination makes a unique phonetic component /sound (what you called a “composition” or “composed letter”) like ei/ey, au etc (or sh or th in English) - thanks so much for a fantastic video!!!!

[@wyatt35810]

I am Faroese and I tried guessing the way you pronounce words and letters before you say them and they LOOK similar but they are soooooooo different 😅. I can read Icelandic but hearing it spoken is so strange

[@ivargu]

Exactly the same for me. I can easily read Faroese, but when spoken at full speed I have a hard time understanding what is going on. Simple, generic speech, can sound exactly alike whith just a difference in accent. I remember from a visit to Tórshavn that for example the pleasantries you exchange with people in stores seems to sound identical 😊

[@wyatt35810]

@@ivargu yes! So strange how the insular languages evolved, away from each other like that

[@wyatt35810]

@@ivargu we didn’t have written Faroese until like early 1900s though 😭

[@thetrueoneandonlyladyprinc8038]

Languages do not ‘evolve’ on their own, they are created by certain dudes, languages don’t magically appear on their own, each language was created by a dude by modifying a previous language or multiple previous languages (each language creator first observes and analyzes the languages spoken in the surrounding areas, and uses them as a base or as inspiration) and by creating new words based on the new spelling rules that he’d set, except for the first language Proto-European, which is the first language ever created, that a germanic dude created from scratch a long time ago that came with the first writing system, which inspired all other languages and writing systems that exist today, and Germanic languages come directly from Latin, as a dude created Proto Germanic and a dude created Norse by modifying Latin words and by creating lots of new words based on the new spelling rules that they had set!

[@thetrueoneandonlyladyprinc8038]

Each language is created using a writing system, so the creator of Faroese did write the words down, applied the modifications, then taught the new language to the group of ppl that he controlled, and they taught others, and so on - languages cannot be created without a writing system, as that would take a lot of years and wouldn’t be efficient, and lots of words would be forgotten, and every true linguist / language creator knows that each language needs to be written down, at least until he learns it fluently and successfully teaches it to a group of ppl, and, there is no true isolation either, as all the dudes that created languages had access to at least one previous language or multiple previous languages that they used as a base for the newer languages, so even if islands may seem isolated at first sight, language creators and others still traveled from a to b by boat or something like that, and analyzed the languages spoken in the surrounding areas!

[@tonyf9984]

No credentials - yeah, right! How on earth, then, did you acquire such a fluent command of English - and such a vast vocabulary? You put many a native to shame with the level of your articulacy ... Really great explanations and demonstrations, Ívar. A follow-up video would be most welcome, including in particular that (to Anglophone ears) weird phenomenon known as 'pre-aspiration' of consonants. You do it a little when you speak English (in the word 'letters', for instance), which to ears like mine born in England makes you sound Welsh, as in certain contexts the Welsh insert a sort of delay before they articulate the next consonant. But in Icelandic it's clearly not a pause but aspiration - a puff of air, a sort of 'h' sound BEFORE the consonant, whereas in English (when it's a voiceless consonant) the aspiration always comes AFTER the sound. Say 'Sty(h)kkishólmur' (lovely place, BTW) and you'll know exactly what I mean ...

[@ivargu]

Thanks Tony, for your kind words. I'm glad you found the video interesting! This pre-aspiration is fascinating. Reading through your comment I had no idea what it was and didn't understand what phenomenon you were referencing until you gave the example of "Sty(y)kkishólmur". I've honestly never noticed or given this any thought, but it indeed is quite apparent once you've mentioned it. :) I'll have to figure out why we do this.

[@tonyf9984]

@@ivargu Thx for the response, Ívar. I didn't expect you to be so assiduous in acknowledging comments, especially months after the event. This pre-aspiration phenomenon actually seems to colour the English speech of most Icelanders, so it's obviously something fundamental to the spoken language. There's a wonderful old KZbin video of 'Björk talking about her TV' (kzbin.info/www/bejne/bWa6d4d-pbSqbrs) which contains some wonderful examples - the best being the word 'ci(h)ty' (at 1:21 and 1:23), which sounds so sweet that you/I/English natives immediately want to give her a big cuddle ...! The breath-before-the-consonant occurs throughout before p, t & k sounds, and even before d in 'hea(h)daches' (3.15), where the d is devoiced to a t, as in Icelandic. It's a hilarious, very endearing video - I mean, who other than an Icelander would turn to a poet (!) to find out how an old cathode-ray TV set works? Anyway, thankfully Björk decides to trust her down-to-earth 'Danish book' and concludes with the sound advice: 'Don't let poets lie to you.' So now you know ...

[@vampyran]

It is very interesting how often we Icelanders do this, we say "Bohston" for example, almost like it is written Bosston.

[@JackieOdonnel]

This was really helpful. Thank you!

[@Cardinal-cw5xr]

I’d love more of these. Quite helpful.

[@ivargu]

Thanks. Glad you found it useful. Any specific things you would like to see me cover in this area?

[@Cardinal-cw5xr]

@@ivargu I'm visiting Reykjavik in July. Your video was very helpful in teaching how to pronounce Icelandic words. Could you do a video on helpful vocabulary for a vistor? I'd love to know what the words mean as well. Thanks.

[@Cardinal-cw5xr]

@@ivargu I can't get a handle on how the letter "g" is pronounced. It seems like it silent, but also not. Also, how is the letter "r" pronounced at the end of a word? Thanks a lot.

[@purplezart]

if you can't put eth at the beginning of a word then when would you capitalize it?

[@ivargu]

That is a very good point. The capitalized version is used only when entire words are written in uppercase.

[@TheKawaiiCakes]

You know after learning both finnish and icelandic I've come to realize that despite the fact they are in a completely different language group the accent and pronunciations of letters are similar in a way.

[@ivargu]

Yeah, I've heard this before, and it always seems curious

[@a.w.3772]

Finnish has no "th" sound. Also, the 1st syllable is ALWAYS emphasized in every single Finnish word. Also, Finnish has no letters b,c,d,f, etc.

[@samaratenzin]

Great video to learn basics . Thank you for sharing 🙏🤍

[@cufflink44]

Hello Ívar, and thanks for this interesting video. I was wondering about the tt sound in a word like þetta . I've heard that it sounds as if there's an h before the t-sound, as if it were þehtta. Is that correct?

[@ivargu]

Yes, I would indeed describe it that way :)

[@nolongerlistless]

Takk fyrir! Very helpful, thanks!

[@inf0phreak]

As a native speaker you probably just didn't think of them, but to me the voiceless nasals found in words beginning with hn or when m or n precede a p or t are _brutally_ difficult to produce.

[@ivargu]

I indeed hadn't realized those. Am wording these now and amazed I've never noticed 😋

[@GustawStudios23]

Þ is my favourite Letter of all time second would be ð

[@fulvia1454]

I agree. And ancient letters too, full of history. Hope they will never be changed in the name of simplification

[@paulkiss1981]

Very interesting, thanks for the video, Ívar

[@rebeccahjorleifson3819]

So helpful!! Thank you so much!

[@ivargu]

Happy to be of help :)

[@lalopedra3741]

Muy bueno! Me sirvió para aclarar algunas dudas.

[@ivargu]

Glad to be of help :)

[@tonysirawid]

Thank you for making this video. I've been curious how to make the click sound when you pronounce " ll ". please correct me. Do you click on the side of your tongue like blowing short/quick wind out?

[@ivargu]

Sure thing Tony. I'd say that describes it perfectly, a short clicking release of air from the side of the tongue.

[@Deedoo_r]

facinatinf that Icelandic has that double LL, spanish also has a LL but its pronounced more like Zh/Y theres also a click like L sound in spanish, its TL, and its more common in Mexican spanish words because its nauhatl in origin, so usually just nauhatl words like Nauhatl(nauhatl) or Tlacuache(opossum)

[@ErinaBee.sMoney]

it's Nahuatl not Nauhatl

[@FrankNestel]

Random late remarks: - I have the impression, that a bit of this ll smellur also often happens in things like sn, sl or alike. - The pronounciation of the f and the p seems strange to my German ear, i.e. I hear an f in September and an p in safna. But it does not seem to be consisten over all the words with f and p. - Strange things also happen with consonant combinations like tt, tl where first consonant seem to sound more like a foss, i.e. noisy something (a ch in German, dunno how to describe). - Worst for me are the r's mostly at the end of words like mér, where I sometimes hear an r and sometimes more that noise sound (nearly an English sh). All very weird, I'd guess no Icelander will understand me, when I start trying to speak his language.

[@claytonsmith195]

Hahahha I have the same salesforce hoodie. Great video!

[@TrimbakkiFonElsass]

Great video man

[@ivargu]

Thanks! :)

[@ojonasar]

The vowel blends (ey for example) are known as diphthongs in English.

[@thkonstantofbeing1887]

Thanks! So interesting :)

[@TheMoonyr]

what I would be interested in, is phrases that locals say. or like how when local icelandic people speak so quickly they drop letters. like in hvað segir þú it sounds like k va segeh tu

[@ivargu]

That's a good idea, the way we drop letters and merge words in common speech. I need to cover that.

[@Blast-Forward]

Hvernig segirðu "Ísland"? Is there a slight t in there like "Istland" or do I hear it wrong?

[@ivargu]

Correct, the "l" gets almost prefaced with a very short "d"-ish sound.

[@Blast-Forward]

@@ivargu Takk!

[@calummunn]

Are you able to translate English to icelandic for an important tattoo to my heart? Any help would be amazing. Love from scotland

[@markcollins4654]

Do two LL's become pronounced like dL ?

[@ivargu]

yeah, it's a soft clicking sound which I think is best described as a dL

[@adavirus69]

9:07 This is why Norwegian Nynorsk ended up using kva instead of hva

[@thxspyro989]

I am learning old norse from a book but prounociantion is black magic to me so these explanations are really helpful anyways i have question about ð in words like sverð or Suðreyjar should it be pronounced sverff and Suffreyjar or more like english th sound sverth and suthreyjar?

[@ivargu]

it is definitely a "th"-sound. 'Þ' is the hard "th" where you force the air out, while 'ð' is the soft, passive one where the air escapes more gently.

[@Mightydoggo]

When you add the accents, the letters literally just sound like the letters without accent would be pronounced in German. Hella confused my mind for a second :P

[@DerpASherpa117]

7:30 = "Composite vowels" are called diphthongs in linguistics, whereas single vowels (a, i, e, o, u) are called monophthongs. 7:01 = It would be "orthographically" not grammatically, as orthographically refers to how it's spelled in the written form. The phonemes (the sounds the symbola represent) are the same, however. Very informative video! Thanks!

[@thomarch]

I am curious to know if there is a way I should pronounce "s" in Icelandic since when Icelandic people speak English, there is a very distinctive soft "sh" when they way words with an "s" unlike any other Scandinavian accent. I think it's an "S" as in Seydisfjordur, but I am not sure why it translates to "sh" when Icelanders speak English.

[@ivargu]

I am not sure myself, as the "sh" sound you refer to I can't identify myself. It is most likely one of those things we don't hear ourselves 😊

[@thomarch]

@@ivargu I imagine that would be the case. It's a quite unique and charming aspect of the Icelandic accent in English.

[@tonyjim8053]

I wonder if people used the y in stead of I .in spelling because it makes some words look cooler hahah like vampire and vampyre

[@ivargu]

I like that suggestion, and am going to stick to it until I get a better explanation ;)

[@tabormayes2003]

Hvernig að veðrið, Ívar?

[@ivargu]

Veðrið er bara fínt takk :)

[@pagophilus]

I thought the HV thing varied according to where in the country you live.

[@ivargu]

Well, you're not wrong. The Hv-pronunciation is what you might call a regional dialect. It is however retreating and is only seen in a very small part of the population in the south, so as such - with all due to respect to those who still use it - is more of an anomaly than a proper dialect nowadays.

[@coryjorgensen622]

As a nonnative speaker, I found the numbers 1-4 to be very interesting: einn, tveir, þrír Tveggja ára barn Tvo bjóra, takk! Í tvær vikur í tvö ár fyrir tveimur dögum og svo framvegis Anyway, I became so interested in Icelandic, that I have learned it to about a C1 level. Bara mjög áhugavert tungumál!

[@rafalkaminski6389]

What is that click sound look like? Is it more like kl or tl?

[@ivargu]

If you mean the sound made by "ll", I would at least describe it as "dl" or tl", rather than a "kl" as a 'k'-sound is further back closer to the throat, and this sound is made to the front or side of the tongue.

[@ProleCenter]

The LL sound in Icelandic seems somewhat similar to the Welsh LL.

[@ivargu]

I've heard that comparison before. That it becomes more of a "dl" or "tl". That being said, and I may have forgotten this in the video originally, there is also a softer pronouciation of it where it is closer to the double-l in english (e.g. "ball")

[@makedonas_ellhnas]

Do you believe that Icelandic needs a spelling reform like what we did here in Portugal?

[@ivargu]

It's a good question. I think there wull be changes, but that they will happen gradually, and over time

[@chriskelvin248]

If you look into it, IcelandIC is considered quite a "conservative" language. Meaning, the speakers, the people makes a conscious effort to preserve the form of the language as it was. Loan words and letters that creep in due inevitable exterior cultural influences, are periodically pruned out. For this reason, I would bet against any reform. It's yet another fascinating aspect of the Icelandic culture that socially, they might seem rather open and progressive in certain respects, but the language integrity is heavily guarded against change.

[@thetrueoneandonlyladyprinc8038]

Absolutely not, pfff, Icelandic spelling is perfect and it perfectly fits the language, and modifying its spelling rules would create a new language, which is so unnecessary and makes no sense - ppl need to støp messing with languages, and need to støp making new languages, and all the pretty languages should be strongly regulated by the ágèncÿ that has the power, and no one should be ałw’d to modify the pretty languages, only I should be making the right modifications that only improve the pretty languages without changing their aspect, and both Icelandic and Norse are perfect languages that don’t need any ‘reform’ qua spelling rules lol!

[@thetrueoneandonlyladyprinc8038]

There are already way too many pretty languages, I won’t even have the time to learn them all, if ppl don’t støp messing with their spelling and creating more new languages - pfff, ppl need to støp trying to ‘fix’ what ain’t broken!

[@thetrueoneandonlyladyprinc8038]

Actually, it’s only a few dudes that decide those things, most ppl aren’t involved in such things and don’t know anything about language construction and things like that, and just do what they are told and use the words they are taught - nowadays, it’s the ágèncy that has the power that controls everything and that decides everything and every change, including language related changes, and before that, it was the dudes that controlled each group of ppl from different regions that made new languages and made the group of ppl that they controlled learn the new languages, and each language was created by one dude by modifying a previous language or multiple previous languages, except for Proto European which is the first language ever created that a germanic dude created from scratch a long time ago 2gether with the first writing system, which inspired all other languages and writing systems, either directly or indirectly!

[@ancientswordrage]

I couldn't heard a difference between the two 'Langur, ...' examples

[@ivargu]

It's always ineresting how, based our accustomed soundscape, where we hear difference and where not

[@rendeenar.99]

Takk Takk og hæ frá Ítalíu! ^^

[@bilson34]

cool language

[@aryansidhu8358]

LETTERS Á Ð É LL Ó Ý Þ Æ Ö

[@CaioWhistler]

Takk!

[@anaelhonings8683]

Nice! You forgot the double "k" wich is pronounced "hk".

[@petelobl]

Latin script is nice and all, but nothing compares to runes.

[@ivargu]

They are notoriously difficult in cursive though ;)

[@hakudoushinumbernine]

So, its not pronounced NEED A VIL LEAR. its NEETH

[@ivargu]

"Niðavellir"? -- I'd describe that as NITH-AH-VETLIHR

[@petersorensen9440]

Duolingo says that Icelanders bobble, inhale or swoop to say yes.

[@ivargu]

And they are probably right :)

[@chriskelvin248]

The Finns often do the inhaling yes as well. In fact, an icelandic conversation barely heard on the other side of a door could sometimes be mistaken for a Finnish one. Not for the grammar or words, but for the intonation and inflections. Quite strange, but I've been told from Finns that this is a weird phenomenon.

[@otonanoC]

waiting an hour for the slashed d, ð

[@ivargu]

Save yourself ~54 1/2 minutes and look for it around the 5:30 mark

[@ShockAllArt]

❤️ Takk

[@gretapowles3888]

You sound a bit Welsh. I'm Welsh that's why I say 😊

[@ivargu]

Yeah, there is definitely something in welsh that sounds familiar. 😊

[@ЕвгенийПанков-ц5с]

takk fyrir

[@ivargu]

sjálfsagt :)

[@baltulielkungsgunarsmiezis9714]

I believe youre making a mistake when you use ðe english alphabet as ðe default raðer ðan ðe latin one. Ðe english is very weird, ðe latin is nice and orderly. It is also clear as day ðat youve never studied any linguistics. I cant say a word of icelandic and I can just see how youre strugling to decribe phenomena ðat are well know to me. Yea, didnt get ðe information I wanted about ðe /c/, gona go watch professor Croford.

[@ivargu]

Indeed. Just layman's observations from me. I definitely recommend www.youtube.com/@JacksonCrawford (which you might already be referring to). He does great videos from an academic perspective. Best of luck finding what you are looking for!

[@baltulielkungsgunarsmiezis9714]

@@ivargu Wait wait! If you can answer me directly it would be much quicker. Do you see the kj in Reykjavik as 2 sperate k and j, or 1 diagraph for a single kj sound? To my latviešu ear the way Croford said it sounded like 2 seperate sounds, but hes not a native speaker and its reasonable to assume that old norse, his speciality, didnt have such a sound even if it does exist in icelandic. Also yea I recall like 2 years ago me and an icelander who studdies linguistic for fun laid out the alphabets we knew and provided bough had the same letter, in the latviešu and icelandic alphabet they bough meant the same thing, cos they are based on latin and only the english have had their great vowel shift. I actually have the latviešu - english one saved so I dont ever have to rewrite it { written = spoken = spoken letter = latviski = english e = e = ī ē = ē r = err = ār t = tē = tī u = u = jū ū = ū i = i = ai o = ua = ou ō = ō p = pē = pī a = a = ei ā = ā s = ess = es š = ešš d = dē = dī f = ef = ef g = g = džī ģ = ģē h = hā = eich j = jē = džeī k = kā = keī ķ = ķē l = ell = el ļ = eļļ z = zē = zī ž = žē c = cē = sī č = čē v = vē = vī b = bē = bī n = enn = en ņ = eņņ m = emm = em as you can see in english even the names of the letters dont corespond to the sounds they are used for. } You can see that latviešu alphabet is more comprihensive, and you can also see the pattern of ee --> ii; i --> aai; a --> eei, aka the chain sound change that is universal in all english words and dialects. If you want to sound late old english/early middle english just read written english with the icelandic alphabet, lol.

[@baltulielkungsgunarsmiezis9714]

The answer is no, icelandic does not have the /c/ sound it only has /kj/.

[@crisantinapangilinan8375]

VQ

[@ivargu]

?

[@EttaKamenatios]

ф 👀

[@oligultonn]

Frábært myndband! Veit ekki um neinn sem gæti útskýrt þetta betur! Bestu kveðjur frá mér.

[@ivargu]

Takk fyrir það Óli, mér þykir vænt um að heyra :)

[@Robinicat]

Interesting. But I think it would be better not to tell us the names of the letters. Just the sounds would be easier.

[@siliyemoodislam]

I was proud my native language is the most difficult until I start learning Icelandic .