Iceland – Most Isolated Country in The World
Iceland is one of the most isolated countries in the world, and it’s also one of the most sparsely populated. However, that doesn’t mean that Icelanders don’t have their own national language or any literary heritage! In fact, Icelanders have created quite an extensive language that’s not only spoken in Iceland but also used by some Icelandic immigrants in Europe, Canada, and the United States making it a common language worldwide. Here’s everything you need to know about what language is spoken in Iceland and why it’s so special!
The Official Language of Iceland- Native Language
Icelandic. The Icelandic language of a beautiful country Iceland is part of what’s known as Nordic languages or Nordic Greenlandic and Finno-Ugric languages that are spoken in Scandinavia in its authentic form and original form, Finland, Estonia, and Hungary. While you may think Icelandic would be similar to Scandinavian languages like Danish or Swedish—it’s not. Instead, it’s more closely related to Faroese (which is also an official language in Denmark) and Norwegian.
It’s also worth noting that while most Icelanders speak English fluently, many do not consider it their first language because of boundaries between dialect areas. According to a 2016 Eurobarometer survey, about 76% of Icelandic citizens say they can speak English well enough to have a conversation with someone who speaks English fluently; 55% say they can read and write well enough in English.
So while English version isn’t technically an official language in Iceland, it’s still widely used among locals! For example, Reykjavik University requires students majoring in business to take at least one course taught entirely in English. And both Reykjavik University and the University of Akureyri offer Master’s degrees completely taught in English.
Icelandic Language
Icelandic is an Indo-European language that belongs to the North Germanic branch of the Uralic languages. It is spoken in Iceland, Faroe Islands, Greenland, and parts of Northern Europe and North America. Icelandic is spoken by around 300,000 people worldwide, mostly living in Iceland. It has its own alphabet and grammar rules, but it shares many similarities with English. Read facts about the Iceland Language.
Icelandic Alphabet
There are two main versions of the Icelandic alphabet: Latin and Cyrillic. Both alphabets use letters from other European languages, such as Greek and Roman, along with several additional letters unique to Icelandic.
Icelandic Accents
Like English, Icelandic is a West Germanic language with its roots in Norse. However, over time, Icelandic has undergone many changes that have made it unique among other Scandinavian languages, making it one of the distinct dialects. The most noticeable of these differences is in pronunciation of literary purposes: some sounds such as s or z don’t exist at all, while others like g and k are pronounced much differently than they are in English.
Many of these pronunciations come from older versions of Icelandic; for example, /k/ was originally pronounced as /x/. This is why you may hear words like fjord (which means inlet) being pronounced more like fjordh. While vowel sounds are similar to those found in Swedish, each letter also represents different phonemes. For example, ei can be either an i-sound or an ey-sound depending on where it appears in a word—this is because Icelandic lacks an e-sound entirely!
How To Learn Icelandic
Icelandic is a North Germanic language spoken by about 330,000 people worldwide. Icelandic is considered one of Europe’s most difficult languages to learn because it has more distinct sounds than most European languages (many European languages have borrowed sounds from Icelandic over time). However, after learning to speak Icelandic for a few weeks, you’ll begin to notice how similar it actually is to English international language.
For example, many words in Icelandic which is a primary language are formed using vowel combinations that are used in English (such as ei and au), and many other words are spelled similarly to their English counterparts. If you already know some German or Danish as a Foreign language, then you might find it easier to pick up on some of these similarities between languages. Icelandic also uses lots of fricatives—the th sound—so if you have trouble with those, you may want to stick with another Scandinavian language such as Swedish or Norwegian.
On top of all that, Icelanders speak at a rapid-fire pace; mastering proper pronunciation will be your biggest challenge when learning Icelandic! The best way to get started with Icelandic is to listen and repeat native speakers. There are default teaching language courses available but the best is to learn a standard language is not to use any language technology but listen to native speakers.
Words And Expressions That Only Exist In Icelandic
If you go to Iceland expecting everyone to speak English, you’re likely to find yourself disappointed. Unless of course you head for Reykjavík, where a large percentage of residents and visitors know some English at least. However, if you travel away from big cities in search of Icelandic nature and culture, don’t be surprised if no one speaks any English at all! If that happens, you will have to rely on those few words and expressions that only exist in Icelandic.
The good news is that most locals are very friendly and will try their best to help you out, even if they can’t understand what you are saying. Here are some words and phrases you might want to learn before traveling to Iceland:
Hæ: Hello
Þakka þér fyrir: Thank you
Sæll!: Hi! – informal greeting
Velkominn/Velkomin: Welcome
Sjáumst!: See you later
informal Leitaðu…?: Do you speak…?
Insular Language
An insular language is a language that has developed within an isolated community also called as a minority language, without contact with other languages. Icelandic is an example of an insular language. Icelandic is an islandic language spoken in Iceland by Icelandic speakers. It belongs to the West Scandinavian group of languages, along with Norwegian and Faroese.
Iceland has two official languages, Icelandic and English. Icelandic literature with foreign influence also has English speakers and Icelandic. It has linguistic purity as per Scandinavian scholars and has slight traces of literary texts of ancient language and ancient literature. It is considered as one of the most beautiful language of Archaic languages. Both are spoken in everyday life, but Icelandic is the only language used for all government business.
