How to Pronounce Icelandic Words
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- čas přidán 25. 02. 2018
- How to pronounce common Icelandic words including speaking of some of the most famous sights in Iceland.
Icelandic words discussed in this video:
Vík
Reykjavik
Þingvellir
Seljalandsfoss
Dyrhólaey
Landmannalaugar
Þórsmörk
Eyjafjallajökull
Kirkjubæjarklaustur
Seyðisfjörður
Mývatn
Vatnajökull
Jökulsárlón
Sólheimasandur
Snæfellsnes
Hallgrímskirkja
Höfn
AND the LONGEST word in Icelandic: Vaðlaheiðarvegavinnuverkfærageymsluskúraútidyralyklakippuhringur
*It's 64 characters long!!!
We ALSO teach you how to say "cheers" in Icelandic - stick around until the end!
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Doulingo needs to get Icelandic.
Icelandic online is a great site for learning, too. Not as easy as Duolingo, but good.
@@hannahprince3512 thanks for sharing
Drops is similar and has an Icelandic version!
use memrise! it's had it for ages
@@indigo5077 Oh yes I am currently using drops to learn Icelandic(It is the first foreign language I am learning) I am currently at 182 words
There's also the seven word sentence that uses the same letter seven times.
"Á á á á á á Á."
"Á" can mean "on", "a sheep", "a river", it could be the name of a place if it is capitalised like the last letter in that sentence, it can also mean "owning" something...
"A sheep on a river owns a sheep on a farm named River."
We have that same sentence (phonetically) here in America too, but the meaning and spelling are different. Ow ow ow ow ow ow ow! It's what you say when you slam your finger in a car door and are struggling to get the door open again.
@@Justin_Leone this was beautiful thank you
As someone learning Icelandic, this is an absolute godsend 🙏🏻
Very useful, thanks. But why do I see the words written on the pad in mirror image? They do appear on the screen too, but mostly flash on and off too quickly.
Two thumbs up for Ísafjörður
the best!
Lifehack: How to recognize born Icelandic people in comments section? They second name ends with -dóttir for girls and -son for boys ;)
Jakub Gondár yeps.
I am so soryy if it is rude to ask, but why do they use -dóttir and -son? Is it like a family name or everyone should use it?
I am just curious... sorry if it is rude...
And also, do they have a meaning?
@@booenthusiast9412 from what I know, it's an old Norse tradition. If you're dad is Harris, you'd be Harrison or Harrisdottir. They rarely have actual surnames.
@@meandmybobbygee1812 Your* you're = you are
Also wouldnt it be Harrisson, because it's like saying Harris' son
During my brief time in Iceland, a local told me the word 'Eyjafjallajökull' is similar to saying "I forgot my yogurt'. Will never forget that.
lol, sounds about right!
I'm a fan of this guy. Love the sense of humour. Thank you for this video. Very helpful for a tourist heading to Iceland.
This : long word
Wales: Hold my beer
New Zealand: Hold my crate of beer. 'TaumatawhakatangihangakoauauoTamateaturipukakapikimaungahoronukupokaiwhenuakitanatahu'
First time listener, new subscriber. I loved your video.
Sköl!
Your videos are really great. This one was especially fun! Thank you.
Thank you Joel! I know those Icelandic words can be tricky, so I wanted to bring on an expert rather than my bad foreigner pronunciation 😂
I've noticed that in any video featuring an American pronouncing Icelandic words while accompanied by an Icelander, the Icelander always smiles afterwards and says things like, "Yeah, pretty close..." :)
I thought that growing up around grandparents who spoke Norwegian and having a solid understanding of Nynorsk would help...until I decided to go to Iceland this year! Enjoyed this video and appreciate your enthusiasm--all very helpful!
Thank you! Happy to help!!
That's what I was EXACTLY looking for ! MAD THANKS
Happy to help! Thanks for watching! :)
I just took history of English language and had to basically learn old English, and this looks A LOT like old English.
Sharpe1502 it’s closer to Old Norse, which is very similar to Old English.
Icelandic is one of the oldest languages that is still used today.
@@forsaken.cowboy Yes it's almost the same since Icelandic came from old Norse, but it's just that old Norse and old English as you said were very similar
I thought the same thing! And after watching a documentary on how Old English sounded I thought this is very similar.
@@Morrisseys7thFriend I'm not sure it's one of the oldest (depends how many languages you include in the list, really) but it certainly is one of the most conservative ones. For example, Greek is a really, really old language, having been continuously spoken for over 3000 years, but modern Greeks won't understand much of ancient Greek texts (and even less of the spoken form). They'll perhaps pick up a sizable portion of the words, but won't be able to make any sense out of it without prior knowledge of the ancient form of the language.
Icelandic is very different in this regard, as I've seen Icelanders on youtube commenting texts 900+ years old, saying they have basically 0 trouble reading them. That's not to say they're *identical* though; Icelandic has undergone changes over the years. Also, when old texts are translated, a lot of the Old Norse syntax is transferred to the Icelandic translation, even though it's not really idiomatic to modern Icelandic at all. It may be understandable, but still unusual. Many of the letters represent different sounds today as well (the double L sound is not present in Old Norse, for example).
Take everything I just said with a grain of salt though, since I have no formal education in this area whatsoever. I just like reading about linguistics as a hobby. :)
Thank you so much for this video!! I'm super late but you definitely got yourself a subscription :)
I'm Mexican and I can pronounce those words, that's awesome. We have a lot of words that come from the nahuatl language and that makes easy for me to pronounce icelandic words.
I was just thinking the same thing. I studied abroad in Mexico and I speak Spanish, but the Nahuatl names are very difficult. The “tl” sounds the same!
Thanx, that is quite interesting. I've studied scandinavian languages and especially norwegian. That helps a lot, but in none of these languages ll is spoken like tl. OK, we all know, Vikings from Iceland were the true explorers of America . Maybe they landed first in Mexico😉
I love his lopapaysa, so cool with the offset buttons and spread collar
I'll be sure to let him know!
OMG YOU HELPED ME OUT SO MUCH. IT WAS SO HARD FOR ME TO PRODUCE THOSE HARD CH SOUNDS. BUT THE TIP FOR BREATHING IN OR OUT HELPED ME!
Happy to help!
Loved your video !!!
Thank you for watching! :)
I love this haha, I've been to Iceland four times between 12 and 23 each time and this guy is so Icelandic lol, you could identify him pretty quick even without speaking or the sweater. good stuff.
Jens is a treasure!
Wow,so helpful.thanks
The thing I noticed is that English tends to have a continous vowel flow. Where Icelandic you can hear subtle stops between constinats
Thank you for this video, I love it! But; is it possible to produce it not in mirror-image?
You are amazing Jeannie😍
Love your vids but even more I love how Jens is so deadpan in his delivery!
I slowed this down to 0.75x so I could hear the pronunciation more clearly, which had the hilarious side effect of making you guys sound like you were wasted. 😂 Skál!
That sweater...oh my!!! 😍
I'm an aupair in Höfn and pretty proud to be able to prononce it now !!
Thank you so much for pracitising with us :-D
Can’t get better unless you try!
Loved It!
What a beautiful language! I love it! I speak French and English, and to English-speakers, sometimes French sounds this complicated...haha! Thanks for these amazing videos. I'm canadian and heading to Iceland in March.
Every language is so difficult at first - but yes I agree I think Icelandic is beautiful! Hope you have a great time in March :)
Thank you
@Imapizza 1234 don't forget all the words for "the". Jesus Christ.
Le français est encore plus compliqué chez les québécois eux-mêmes on dirait LOL! ça semble vraaaiiiment dur d'écrire comme il le faut...
I disagree. As English speakers we're exposed to many French words within our language, Icelandic is much more foreign to the eye and ear than French is.
Love his sweater!♥️👍🏼🇮🇸
great video!
Thank you!
That is a gorgeous version of the lopapeysa! Where did you get it?
Watching this with closed captions is the best thing ever lol
I wonder what an Icelandic spelling test would be like.
🤣OMG great point! Poor kiddos.
I love the spelling part! Because it sounds so hard but there are grammar rules that basically tell you how it’s written... you say the word and check how it works with the rules and BAM! it’s there!
Spelling is pretty easy once you know the sound for each letter
Love Iceland!
Awesome and funny video
The volcano word no one can pronounce in the world. I was laughing at everyone. It’s so easy to pronounce his word, because I am technically Icelandic lol. I live in North America now. God bless you all. 🇨🇦🇮🇸😂😂😂
What is the background music for this video its dope
Going to Iceland for my honeymoon in a couple months. This was very helpful. We’ve definitely been pronouncing it “hoff-n”.
hey ! cool video thanks.
I do relate to the Höfn pronounciation too.
Also Sharpe 1502 mentioned that this is close to old english and I can only bring that previously english also used the ð and the þ to differenciate the th from THink and the one from THe.
takk
Thanks so much for watching! :)
I like your friend's sweater! He's quite handsome too!
Jeannie, we love your videos. We are heading to Iceland next week, 9.18 and are doing a 7 day Tour with Arctic Adventures. If we were doing a self drive tour, I definitely would have hired you to plan for us. So much fun to watch your videos. Your friend Jens (sp?) has a great sense of humor. Thanks bunches
Enjoy your trip!!!
hello from NY, would love to go see them gawgeous glaciers one day, great vid!
Thank you so much! I hope you do! :)
I love his sweater! Where did he get it or who made it for him?
I'm Icelandic, Haha awesome video. I love it. Cheers.
Thank you and thanks for watching!! :)
Why can’t I like this video more than once??!!! CZcams sort this out please?! x
Because some people would like a video thousands of times. It is meant to count the number of people who like the video and that cannot be done if you can like them more than once.
Wowee - good luck to us in attempting to say all things Icelandic correctly! Fun video, but I'll have to watch it many times!!!
Thanks for this video. I went to Iceland a few months ago, and wanted to be able to pronounce places I planned to visit at least reasonably well. Of course, it was a self-driving vacation, so I didn't have very much opportunity to use most of these with anyone who'd have known if I had them right or wrong. But one day we went snowmobiling on Myrdalsjökull, and our guide asked if anyone knew the name of the neighboring volcano to the west, and oh man, was I ever ready to blurt out the answer! I think I more or less nailed it, at least for an American. Anyway, amazing trip all around, and I'm already looking forward to some day going back.
I so want to learn Icelandic! I fell in love with the country when I was there (especially after we managed to make it without incident through the Oxi Road 😱). Thank you for your videos!
Ok I copied down all the letters of the Icelandic alphabet and now watching this and it's making a lot more sense now!
5:37 That pronounciation of Eyjafjallajökull was actually perfect until the last syllable, where it was missing that hard "ll" sound that's also found in "Þingvellir".
That was fun thx ......Skal! 🍻
Just when I was beginning to get some of the Faeroese pronunciations...
I've seen others observe that an Islander, Norwegian and Faeroese can pretty much understand one another with the written word, but very little when speaking.
video starts at 1:25
I just got back from Iceland, I did the same thing with Höfn! Then an Icelander said it to me and I had to ask her to say it like 10 times. What is that little sound after the 'p' sound??
What about Fjarðarárgljúfur?
I said all of them right...
*well I live in Iceland and im from Iceland*
I do this with my norwegian friend and he always gives me that look too haha
I‘m German and I really want to learn icelandic! The language is so beautiful!😊
Hey Linda, I'm also German and I just started to learn this wonderful language. Go for it, it's worth it !!! :)
It’s old Norse . Which is Germanic language . It’s very similar to our tongue/ language. Góða Ferð ~ gute Fahrt / (gute Reise)
Vaðlaheiðarvegavinnuverkfærageymsluskúraútidyralyklakippuhringur is my new safe-word 😂
Kind of strange to try all of these names, coming from a Thai + mandarin speaker. But very fun!
I've been to Vík
Takk fyrir.
Such a big help showing us the spelling in mirror image. Is it not difficult enough..Ha! LOL
I like your vídeó. I am Icelander
"Hup"? Really! I'm so glad I got to learn this now!
Yes! Happy to help :)
I've just been in Iceland for 2,5 weeks and I really should've seen this video beforehand :') Boy did we make a mess of the names of all the places we've been hahahaha! It's an amazing country and for sure I have to go back one day, if only because now I finally know how to say Eyjafjallajökull :P
No worries, it happens to the best of us! Hope you had a great time in Iceland :)
In Lebanese Arabic, I noticed we have a sound that is the same (or very close to) as the Icelandic 'll' sound. (Like in the way we say تلاتة)
Makes perfect sense!!! HAHAHA!!!! I'm dying......
What's the name of the music in the background?
From what I understand Old English had a lot of similarities to this, but the language has since been simplified. It's interesting to see Nordic nations like Iceland, Finland, and so on keep the old style. English has simplified itself multiple times throughout it's lifespan, first with the Romans more or less imposing it (Also why it uses the Latin alphabet), later because people just wanted it so (A dozen letters dropped, long and complex words shortened or removed with short substitutes replacing them) , then later again with the British Empire simplifying it further to help it's non-native English speaker subjects (English was often imposed upon them, even if simplified).
I ❤ your video and im from iceland😍
Hi Elsa! :)
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Jeannie - Life With a View can you talk iclendic 🇮🇸🇮🇸🇮🇸🇮🇸🇮🇸🇮🇸🇮🇸
Ég tala smá íslensku ;)
Jeannie - Life With a View
Flott veistu hvað fimleikar þíða á ensku
Kirkubæjarklaustur for me as Austrian the first and last words I would have understand. Kirkja - Kirche, Klaustur - Kloster. I love this language. I have to learn it.
The double ll at the end of jökull is so hard for me. It sounds for me like a "k" not "tl" or "dl"
Please, pronounce the name of the Island top Clubs, such Fimleikafélag Hafnarfjarðar
I always thought it was the other way around.that þ was hard th and ð was soft th.
uff. so fun watching this. having a bearded icelandic man as a partner i know it so well. you just can´t hear it. (especially when they do their fast in the beard mumbling). my best advice will always stay: do it like them Icelanders, talk fast and unclearly hot potatoe in your mouth spitting style. i often get away surprisingly well with just pronouncing the first sillable well and swallow the rest. since the endings are the hard grammar stuff including parts of the words AND even names. i mean how weird it was for me to figure out that Önnu is the same person as Anna. just a different case and form of the word. icelandic is fun. smile. i send a warm hug to yet another lovely foreigner living in iceland. hug. ása
Love this! Thank you so much for sharing, Ása :)
I live in Vestmannaeyjar and that is an island next to Iceland and we speak icelandic
haha really
He's so darn cute!
What town did he say he was from at 6:45? She said it was her favorite town, but I couldn’t catch it. Isa-something?
lol i been trying so hard to make the voiceless n
This is an awesome video, but I really wish you could have flipped the video around so when you wrote the words they would have been more readable. It also would have been nice if the word could have stayed up the whole time he's pronouncing it/you guys are talking about it. But thanks for posting this!
Ash and molten glass like Eyjafjallajökull
Great video but few suggestions. Your written words were mirrored so it's really hard to see what you wrote. Secondly the printed word should stick longer when he was pronouncing it. It flashes away quickly and it's really hard to look and hear what he said at the same time.
Thank you so much for the feedback!
Jeannie - Life With a View I hope I wasn't rude in writing. I absolutely love your channel 👌👍
Halfway through the video I realized that I have two phones (work+private), one of which worked as a charm as a mirror. Nevertheless, takk fyrir!
ALL WORDS ARE WRITTEN BELOW 😇
Yikes! The word in the thumbnail looks like somebody stumbled and their palms smashed against the keyboard!
Thumbs up for the Einstök!
Here are some long English words; floccinaucinihilipilification, the act of underestimating; hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia, the fear of long words; pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis, a lung disease caused by volcanic ash; and finally, antidisestablishmentarianism, the ideology that is in opposition to the notion that the Church should be separated from the state (disestablishmentarianism).
I learned that in 3rd grade
So Eyjafjallajökull may lead to pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis?
The only problem with these is, they are not English words... I mean, English using it as its own, but they are Latin words made their way into English. (except for the last two words)
Love this!! Like German and some other European languages, these words are just jointed together. Like the pneumo... has 6 words in it. :)
This was really cool - I do wish he could slow down by syllable at some point on these words, because it certainly sounds very slurry to me. But I should sound like less of a total ass when I visit now
Icelandic disguised as Welsh. That’s all I have to say!
11:48 I mean... Why? (btw... I love nordic languages... They are so cool, unique and beautiful!)
My story about seyoisfjorour. Visited there many times. We were taking pic and the cars kept coming and coming so we went into the town to see what was happening. The ferry had docked and cars were getting off. We went up the hill to get a better view. There we met a French family that just got off the ferry. We talked with them for about an hour while we ate. When we got home we got an email and a link to the video they made. My wife and I were in There video. We have been in contact and they invited my wife and I to visit them in France. We likewise invited the to visit us in the US. This is one of the reason to visit Iceland. If you go to Iceland with 10 friend you will leave Iceland with 50 or 100 or more new friends Iceland is that type of place. We pick up hitch hiker just to meet new people and make new friends. Linda and Ben
This is a great story, thanks for sharing! Totally agree, Iceland brings people together 💚
Great content, thanks for all your vidz. Do note : In a vid about pronunication, it would be good to articulate your own name a bit better ! Jamy, Jany, Namy :)
The funny thing is that jens lied there, there are many pronunciations for words like how fn can be a soft f in some places but a hard f in others, a v in some places but just a b in others
I lived in Iceland for two years. Loved it there! Wonderful people and Beautiful scenery. But..... I just couldn't get good at the language. My tongue just couldn't bend that way or something. Lol
I was there when the Vatnajokul volcano erupted. And when Hekla erupted in 1991. If I were a geologist or volcanologist, I'd live there forever. :)
I’m planning a trip to Iceland this September and want to meet Jens (sp?) lol
I think the words need to be left on the screen for longer so that we have time to read them- and it would be helpful if your friend said them twice- and he speaks very quietly.
Totally agreed! Although a great video idea (I came here for the Reykjavik word only) I find that she is talking (using how Americans/others would pronounce) way more than her Icelander friend! When he says it it is too quick and she is right there trying to pronounce it on her own accent again.
I can’t really hear him. Lol. I need him to say it like they do on Sesame Street. V...ik Vik Lol.
Thanks for watching! :)
Is it pronounced skull or school for the equivalent of 'cheers' in English please? Yen appears to be saying 'sskau'' or 'skull' but I have heard 'school' said quite often.
Correct spelling is: skál ~ correct pronunciation is more like "skau" where the "l" is silent. But, as long as you're having a drink immediately afterwards, any pronunciation is great! 😂
@@IcelandwithaView Thank you for that clarification - Much appreciated 👌🙂
I have tried to speak as many European languages as possible. Being French doesn't help - we have very few common sounds with most languages... I thought Russian would be difficult, but the sounds are very easy. Now, the three most difficult, yet not impossible, languages are Irish Gaelic, Danish and Icelandic (not to mention the two other Scandinavian languages - Norwegian and Swedish with their two-toned pronunciation. As for Icelandic, it is complex but regular - if you have done a bit of German, Danish and English, we can get along (not like a native, but it can do). Danish, like French, is mostly unpredictable. Thanks for the fascinating places to visit one day... Takk !
If you want a challenge, try Québecois, it's French with a Danish accent...ha! ha!
I agree, I speak some French myself and for French native speakers it is very difficult to 'mold' around that strong accent, same for some other cultures around the world.
I. ....am...Indian. ...nice. ..video