We Spoke Icelandic to Each Other for 31 Days Straight - Here's What Happened
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- čas přidán 7. 04. 2021
- Speaking Icelandic with my husband for the whole month of March in 2021 was a great learning experience for my husband and I. The Icelandic language is certainly not easy for most people learning it and I've my ups and downs with it. During this video, Gunnar and I go over what it was like for us to speak Icelandic to each other for 31 days straight. For us, that is a long time to not speak English and we did out best to push forward when it got rough. I hope that anyone who is learning Icelandic, or any language, finds some helpful bits in this video because the process of learning a new language is a journey. As I continue on this journey, I plan to share more of what I'm doing that helps me and how my husband, as well as friends/family members are doing to help me achieve my goal of speaking the language all of the time.
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To be fair, if you're speaking Icelandic 95% of the time you've already surpassed the ratio that Icelanders speak Icelandic to each other.
😂😂
really? What do they speak otherwise, English? Welsh? Some Scandinavian variant?
@Emma Dís Tómasdóttir you're reminding me how boring it is to grow up in the US. Your culture is amazing.
@@LordPrometheous it’s a dying language bc the internet
That's unfortunate. One of the things I love about this planet is the amount of diversity and cultures.
One thing I remember when I was in Wales was realizing that allowing myself to be a bit "poetic" really helped. Ex.: I couldn't remember the expression for saying that I was hungry. So instead, I said, "I need food like a wild wolf." It worked, and it amused the Welsh speakers around me. So there's one tip I remember: let yourself be a bit flowery with the language if need be. There's probably a strange way to get your idea across, even if it's not the normal way to say it.
😂 I love it. Thanks for the tip. 😊
Wow. This is fantastic. I definitely feel like I'm a bit more comfortable being silly when I speak foreign languages, but I love your poetic spin on this! Thanks for the tip!
Where in Wales were you that you couldn't speak English?
@@4seth I was learning Welsh. I didn't want to speak English. And I was up north on Ynys Mon, so there's lots more spoken Welsh up there.
@@AllThingsIceland how many kids do you have
I know a young woman who married a man from Mexico who spoke very little english and she didn't speak any spanish. Their patience for each other amazes me to this day. They both speak each other's mother tongue fluently. Keep on trying and congratulations!
Wow, that's amazing. Thanks for sharing.
jewell’s , You are so articulate, and beautiful. You speak really well,both English and Icelandic. My mom was from Iceland. She came to The U.S. in 1947. She didn’t have much English at all. Married my dad after knowing each other a few weeks. They were married for 63 years, happily. Love watching you from Vancouver Wa. Love and Light. Gunner you have a keeper!
Thank you for the lovely compliment. 🤗 Wow, it’s awesome that your parents were married for so long. Thanks for sharing.
Doing great! Follow the pain. That's where the learning happens.
It's so true. The more uncomfortable I am (regarding learning Icelandic) the more growth I see.
Sooo true when it comes to language learning
I liked his response when you asked him what you could improve on, he wasn’t going to fall in that trap😂
😂
That photo of you both at the end is so sweet! It looks like you have a lot of fun together.
Thanks! Yea, we like to goof off a bit. 😂
Wonderful conversation. I’m bilingual in English and Spanish, my mom was from Bolivia. I notice that my sense of humor is so different in each language, and a bit of personality differences too. Have you noticed that?
While taking Russian I did a few things that were REALLY helpful in getting vocabulary to function Naturally: instant recall of a word needed while speaking.
1) The Dictionary. Not reading each page, but reading a word and then going to all Realated words.. building your own mental thesaurus.
2) Reading Children's books.. YOUNG Children's books. Books with rhyming and stuff like Dr. Seuss. Books like that give you a sense of the underlying Rythm of the language.
3) .. Russian has an extensive 'naughty' vocabulary. Getting a SLANG Dictionary of Icelandic will give you a real feel for the way people use words linking ideas.. what has an underlying 'oops' and why it got that.. so that a word you use innocently doesn't have a rude undertone, or a 'very odd" idea link. This also, like the Children's books, gives you a feel for the cultural undertones and mental linking people do unconsciously.. without having to ask embarrassing child like questions.
Doing all this together AT THE SAMETIME will help your mind build an Unconscious Word World it can use as you speak. A vocabulary/cultural network.. just as we do with our Mother-tongue.
Each stage of language learning done naturally, as our brains are wired to learn.. goes through stages.
1) Aquire..
2) linking new to old
3) Applying..
4) Forgetting as the Brain rewires
5) Easy use of new and old knowledge together
6) New Acquisition.. REPEAT.
This can get EXTREMELY FRUSTRATING during phase 4. But if you're really LEARNING.. you can't skip that phase. If you have children you'll see them go through these phases in everything they learn right up into their early 20s.
Keep at it! 😊
Thank you for all the tips and the incredibly detailed comment. It's very much appreciated. 🙂
@@AllThingsIceland I'm very glad you found what I said helpful!!
I know you want to learn the language and feel much more a part of the community.
One added concept..
I noticed your husband mentioned you had trouble with the 'cadence' of Icelandic. The children's books will help. But there's another learning process to language that's the hardest for an adult.. Before we're born we're listening to the world outside.. we hear the Rythm and Lyrical movements of the language spoken. The period from birth to say 10 months we spend training ourselves to use our mouths and tongues to make the sounds we hear. Baby talk is language.. spoken without word units, in the lyrical movements we've been mimicking. By 10 months we begin to speak sentences.. but we still don't understand the idea of words as separate parts of the sentences.. we think of the whole sentence as a single meaning unit.
Watch a toddler. You'll catch them talking about something. If you ask them what they just said, they'll repeat EXACTLY the entire sound sequence.. then look at you expectantly..
They now know the Music of the language and what they think the sounds mean.
When the idea of single words comes to mind.. Suddenly all their communication theories fall apart. Suddenly they have to restart everything they've learned. They have to separate the individual words out in their 'meaning hums' .. and try to figure out which 'hum group' has what particular meaning section of the concept they want to convey. Then try to re-string the sentence back together in the right order.. The added layer of grammer Suddenly puts them back at square one again.
But through this painfully complex.. and extraordinarily frustrating process.. they're becoming Profoundly familiar with the Music of the language.
When I was going through this process myself, I thought humans communicated with a Humming Song Language.. All babies do.. They're all completely correct.
As you listen to a tv show, a children's story being told or read on a recording.. close your eyes and let the words blur together.. listen to the Humming Song... it doesn't even matter if you loose track of the story.. or slightly doze off..along the line try humming the muscial Song you'll begin to hear.
You'll begin to learn the Heartbeat of Icelandic.. and everything thing else you do to learn the language will begin to have the Icelandic 'Feel' and Cadence..
You'll learn the music of your husband's soul... 🙏🤗🙏🤗🙏
Maybe he'll try the same thing with English.. 😉☺
wow amazing! will be utilizing these tips in my quest to learn spanish
I think it is brilliant that you two make the effort to do this for each other. I think it's the basic show of respect for a country that has accepted you, if you're going to live there, to learn the local language. Besides it's great for your brain! Kudos to you both, and keep it up. Best wishes... oh and by the way, you make a really cute couple!
Thank you for the encouraging and lovely comment. 🤗
I live in Norway and my dad has always spoken icelandic to me, but for some reason I've always answered in Norwegian. My pronounciation is therefore bad and my vocabulary is also very limited. I really want to start talking icelandic to him but I am so sensitive about how I speak. This video inspires me to try it anyway!
I'm so glad this is inspiring to you, and I hope you give it a try. Hopefully, your dad can give you the space to practice without judgement. A private teacher might be a good thing to have because then you have a very safe space to make mistakes and have someone correct your pronunciation. Good luck!
anecdotally, I think that happens a lot for children of immigrant families. The kids want to fit into the local environment and just communicate. My daughter's first three years were in NZ. Her father started speaking his language to her when she was two, although I'd advised him to start younger. Her response was angry. She behaved as if he was trying to trick her. When we moved to his country and she started learning the language, she would still insist on speaking her first language to him, even if he had started speaking to her in the new language, she would answer him, correctly, in the first language. It didn't help that we have an international family and that L1 was the one we all used to communicate. Even now, though she is fluent in both languages, she prefers L1.
Hello from Australia. Subscriber. Only know English. But I have a place in my heart for different languages. 🤣💙
Hi and welcome! 😂 nice.
Wow! The fact that you committed to one month (twice-- no less) is extraordinary. I used to alternate French-English days with my French ex-partner and that was tough enough. Til hamingju, Jewells!
Takk kærlega! A month seemed like a natural progression. We started with a day, then a week, and then a month. Doesn't feel so bad now that we have done it but it is so challenging at times when we are doing it.
It is just telling that you did everything you could do accommodate this man and in the long run it was not enough.
You guys are so cute together! You seem much more animated and energetic, and your husband is calmer. Are those just your personalities, or is that also a cultural thing (e.g., the stereotype of Americans being very extroverted, etc.)?
He’s the kindest, sweetest and most gentle person You two are the most adorable couple
I’m learning Dutch and get to practice speaking with my Dad. I feel like I always know the words but find it difficult to actually put them all together quickly enough. It’s really inspiring to see all your videos and helps keep me going on my language journey, so thank you!
I definitely know that feeling because it happens often to me. 😂 Glad to hear this video is inspiring and good luck!
Your content is always meaningful Jewel..beautiful couple!
Aww, thank you so much. ❤️
Yes! Thanks so much for this peek into your language experiment! This is a major goal for me, so it's super helpful to see how you navigated the challenges
You're so welcome! I'm glad this is helpful and I hope you continue working toward your goal. Gangi þér vel!
I love you two's dynamic. Your husband seems super chill and thoughtful . I haven't finished the video yet, but I'm excited to hear how this went
It's lovely to see you both together. Thank you for this video!
Glad you enjoyed it and thank you!
Hey Jewells, it was a pleasure to meet you at Thingvellir two weeks ago! Really been enjoying the videos. My wife and I have discussed doing this very same thing, and this video really gave me an insight into what strictly speaking Icelandic for a month would potentially be like. Thanks for posting. You are a lovely couple!
Hi Matt! It was a pleasure to meet you and your wife too. So glad this video is helpful and I’m sure the two of you will figure out what works best for you. Thanks for the lovely compliment. 😊
Hey! Just wanted to say I hope you don’t stress too much about it. It will come slowly. Learning another language is a never ending process. I’m bilingual (english is my second language and learning Icelandic as pass time for a few years now). After 17 years of studying for a degree, working, teaching, now writing phd in english I still have my share of frustrations with words or what I’m trying to convey, but it’s a challenge that once overcome it gives a great pleasure. Good luck! Rooting for you! :)
You are so thorough. #GOALS! In all of your videos. I really enjoy all of your videos. Congratulations on your language journey. It was nice hearing about it from you and your husband’s perspective. ❤️
Thank you so much!!
Aww you two are so lovely! Thank you for sharing your experience with this month-long test. I've been learning Danish for quite a while and while my reading and writing is pretty good, I still struggle with speaking (and listening comprehension). I get so much anxiety when one of my Danish friends ask me something, in Danish, that I forget everything. I can't imagine asking them to converse only in Danish with me, even for just one day. It takes a willingness to be vulnerable, which takes courage, so good on you! And it's great that your husband is so supportive.
Yes, it's quite challenging to speak. Because my goal is to be able to speak, I have to force myself to do it. While it feels uncomfortable a lot of the time, I always feel better later on because the anticipation of it is normally much worse than doing it. Good luck to you on your Dutch language learning journey!
There are mainly 2 things I picked up from this video. Firstly the love and respect between the two of you and secondly, the private teacher verses the equality thing. Very good point and I will keep that in mind. Thanks a lot!
Love them.
The struggle is where the learning happens. As long as it is not frustrating.
So impressive.
Agreed. 😊
That is fabulous...😀👏👋...man I love you both for the transparency...thank you both for sharing...🙏🏼😀
Thank you and our pleasure 😊
I love the respect and love you both have for each other, it’s very beautiful.💗
Thank you 😊
What a lovely couple you are! I commend you, Jewells, for your dedication to learning Icelandic when so many others would have given up. Your children will benefit immensely from bilingual parents!
Thank you for the lovely comment. 🤗
Thank you for sharing your experiences. Learning and growing together are a testament to your commitment to one another. Lovely. ❤️
My pleasure and I totally agree. I'm very fortunate to have a partner like Gunnar.
You guys look good together! Your videos have become my prime time and for that I thank you. Keep up the good work. 🙏👍🙏👍
Awesome! Thank you! So glad to hear that you are enjoying the videos. 🙂
You guys are great! Thanks for sharing your language journey!
Our pleasure! Thanks for watching.
For some reason I learned reading Icelandic first, writing next & speaking last, mostly because I was afraid to make mistakes. To help my vocabulary , I got a dictionary & made myself spelling lists daily. Then onto my husband reading a page or two after dinner each night & me writing & correcting. So after living there and trying my best to speak , my husband & I still spoke english at home until one day he said I am not speaking english to you again. He didn't, so I had to sink or swim. Gunnar seems like a sweet husband , compared to mine. 😆
Did you sink or swim,
It sounds like you're doing great! And it sounds like you two are really open about how you use language together, which is great. Keep going!
Thank you 🤗
Kudos to you both.
Great experiment. I think the fact that you are so articulate with your own native language, English, that I helps you to learn a completely different language. I can’t imagine learning to speak Icelandic. When English is your native language, and you are learning for example Spanish, French, German, etc., there’s a lot of root word similarities between the languages that makes it easier to learn the new language. But Icelandic? I give you a lot of credit!
Thanks! 😃
Icelandic is in the same language family as English and German, and there are thousands of cognates. Spanish and French are not, even though English has a ton of loans from those languages, French especially. The language was taken to Iceland from mainland Norway back in the viking age. The difficult part about Icelandic is that it retains the complex Old Norse grammar with four grammatical cases and tons of declinations.
@@Neophema opposite to Polish which also kinda of like Icelandic includes Old slavic sounds and words but unlike Icelandic Polish can still be learned quite easily by Russians Czechs Slovaks Serbs and Croats. Bulgarian and Macedonian are however more further apart than other slavic so we cant understand each other. On the Other hand Polish is the hardest language to learn for a native English speaker.
It’s a journey. I had the same experience in Brazil. Hearing children speak really helped me and I sort of thought of myself in the childhood phase and became un afraid of making mistakes. You have to be okay with mistakes. Good job as always!
Thanks for sharing. I agree that the using the way children approach language learning can be very helpful.
Congratulations on your second month-long successful experiment and being willing to share your feelings about it with us. 🙂☮️
Thank you very much. 🥳😊
I loved this video. You two are awesome together!!
Thank you so much. 😊
(What a gorgeous face, teeth, and smile, you have!)
Thank you 😊
First time you actually slowed down and spoke so I could understand you in English, Brava. I understand what you are talking about, my wife was Italian and we both had to learn each other’s language. After awhile it became second nature to speak both languages to each other
Travelling to Iceland has been a dream of mine. I'm afraid to travel alone and know no one, but I'm sure there are nice people to meet and go on adventures. You are inspiring me more to move outside my comfort zone because...why NOT?
This ARIEL from independence, Missouri..love the program, love how you work together,and your PATIENCE with each other is wonderful....
Hi Ariel. Thanks for the lovely message. ❤
You both look an amazing people. Thank you for sharing things about Iceland.
Thanks for watching!
I admire all those who move to a country where a language is spoken they are not familiar with and go out of their way to actually learn the language. Even when I moved to the UK about 4 years ago, I spoke English perfectly, however, I spoke American English, so I've been learning a whole new English language for those past 4 years. Icelandic is a really hard language to learn, and because it is, unfortunately, dying out, I applaud all those who take on the challenge of learning it. You're doing a fantastic job!
Sincerely, an impressed Icelander :)
Þakka þér kærlega fyrir Katrín.
I'd love sooo much to learn Icelandic. To me it's the most beautiful language.
Hi Jewells and Gunnar! So good seeing you both.
Hey there! Thanks and I hope you enjoyed the video.
@@AllThingsIceland Yes I enjoyed it. You are so brave. Glad you've (both) had growth with this experience. I know I would've felt some type of way being corrected only because of my lack and ego. (That's why I don’t speak Spanish but I should). I now know that people want to help and you should continue in that lens. Someone mentioned you should speak the language when you feel it instead of building up pressure for a specific monthly time, I say do whatever works for you. Stay Blessed. BK love.
What a great idea and experience! Learning any language can turn into a lifelong adventure.
It really is! 🙂
Well done - and interesting to hear about. Thanks for sharing.
Thank you and my pleasure.
Loved this video and enjoy each perspective you bring from Iceland. I smiled watching you both the whole time💖 #greattv
Thank you so much. ❤️
My husband is French. He's lived in English speaking countries and speaks way better than lots of folks American born.
We watched this video together last night. I felt every minute of this video.
I started learning French seriously maybe 2-3 years ago. Almost a year ago I joined a French conversation club where I get a chance to speak with others learning French. There are several teachers that help us along.
Bernard & I speak French the vast majority of the time. We don't take breaks. I ask him quite often in French 'how to you say 'english word(s)' in French' hahahahaha. I spend a little time learning vocabulary related to topics of interest or those I need to be able to readily discuss. Our grocery list is in French. I write many posts in French. At times I read the news in French. We watch French news every day. That's the best I can do for immersion without living in a French speaking country.
Keep speaking to him in Icelandic. You already have the motivation to learn. Good luck.
Having been in the same situation for many years, I agree with your point of view. It is an individual choice as to how much a person wants to learn of the new language. As a couple, we agreed that one of us is not the teacher, but helps when desired. But again, each couple or individual must make a personal choice.
Yes, exactly. I can only speak for what works for us and I hope others figure out what is best for them because we all have different needs.
Such a fan of yours!!! Love your energy
Thank you 🤗
You two are awesome! Continue to be gifts to our planet.
I hope my Spanish becomes as good as your husband’s English.
Continue to prosper….always!
Thank you and best of luck to you with learning Spanish. 😊
I have to say. I really enjoy seeing you two together and interacting on these videos. Keep them coming Jules. xx
Thank you 🤗
@@AllThingsIceland you are welcome. 🤩
Love seeing you two together and hearing about you learning Icelandic. Think you two would be the most awesome parents, your love and patience shine through. I tried learning French, But too difficult with recording, Immersion in the way to go. I think intermittent immersion is great, less stressful, no deadline or “ I have only 6 weeks in this country to learn this language”, etc.💞
Thank you! 🤗 Yes, I think it’s less stressful too.
The idea of this impacting the "equal-ness" within the relationship is a fascinating insight! We are learning (here in 🇺🇸) and it's very interesting when I get something and he does not or vice versa. I know the circumstances are totally different but regardless, this video is excellent. Thank you!
Yes, even a little bit of “unequal-ness” can be very uncomfortable for couples that are in tune with each other. I hope your learning is going well. Thank you!
I really enjoy your videos and find them very interesting. Best of luck going forward:)
Thank you very much!
Great video!
Thank you!
That was super interesting and your persistence with trucking on learning Icelandic is so awesome :D Did Gunnar get something out of the experiment about you, himself, and you guys' relationship, as a psychologist?
I first heard about this speaking Icelandic for a month challenge after I listened to your episode on Innlendingar back in November. I just tried it myself in February and it was really challenging but helped a lot! I wasn't comfortable speaking Icelandic with my boyfriend before then but feel a lot better about it now :)
Yay!! So glad to hear that. 🤗
7:54. That's a very interesting matter: being equal in a relationship and then moving to your partner's country or language putting you in an unequal situation. I can relate to that in the case of my mother, a German who married a Spanish migrant and then moved to Spain with him. Any change of country/language makes you vulnerable, and you can either fight back and learn or surrender and suffer.
What a great way to learn!
Thank you 🤗
I am trying right now to relearn Icelandic. I spoke fluently as a boy in Iceland, but instantly forgot the language (Unfortunately) when we moved to the States at the age of 10. I am using the Pimsleur tutorial while driving semi overnight and I am currently on lesson 6.
I'm learning Arabic from the Pimsleur program & a couple University courses..no partner to speak with..you learning Icelandic gives me courage. I'm hoping to find a online group to interact with. Love your podcast..1st time CZcamsr & I loved it! Is the Tectonic fault line associated with your Volcanos the same as the one affecting the Volcano in the Caribbean?
So impressive you had the energy for this for a whole month 🙌 i’m learning a language and have started having lessons that are 100% in my target language….and after just 60 minutes my brain is totally dead 😂
It took a while to get to this point and we were both tired at the end. 😂😂
I am learning Icelandic as well, and took the crash course in Isafjördur in 2019. I was hoping to return in 2020 for the 3 week course but alas that does not seem possible for this year either. In the meantime, Drops is a good tool for drilling vocabulary and I listen to audio books in Icelandic, and watch all the awesome Icelandic television and films. I need to drill down on the grammar though!
I have lived the last 18 years overseas, 14 years in one country and didn't learn the language to any high level. The one I spent the longest in, my partner didn't want to help and even local people didn't want to help. I got told to my face that they didn't want me to learn their language so that they could talk about us (interestingly that attitude was changing in the last year I was there). My workspace was in English, and so, although I was keen to learn, it never happened. I am a language teacher myself and those students who did the best were able to immerse themselves in the language. I'm now going back to NZ where my daughters and I want to learn Maori, so we will make some space each day to just speak Maori. With that support structure, I think we will be able to start speaking it a bit more naturally. So, good on you and Gunnar for doing this. It will also help you feel a part of your adopted country and not just on the outskirts all the time.
Some people have a problem with being corrected by someone more knowledgeable about something, because they feel that person is acting superior, but I don't mind being corrected in the situation where that person is sharing their knowledge. In that sense, I think people who are called "grammar nazis" are misunderstood. They are not acting superior so much as helping you and protecting the language.
Yes, I agree. I think the problem arises in a relationship when you feel unequal regarding communication. It really boils down to ego and can be very challenging to set that aside.
Just found your channel. My husband and I can miscommunicate in English, our first and only language. Kudos to you both.
😊 thanks
Well done on making the effort. I've been learning Irish but I have no one to speak it with so I listen to Irish language radio.
Thank you. Hopefully, you are able to find someone online to speak Irish with.
Keep it light make it fun keep it kind and give yourselves plenty of time after all you have your teacher in house and hopefully for your whole lives together! You two look alike to me except for skin colour and hair texture and are very attractive people. Love is it's own language. Take good care and keep sharing!
Thank you 😊
Beautiful couple 😍 ❤️
This is a very interesting topic. Life in another country and culture has to be a huge motivation to learn the language. I was stationed in Korea for a year, and when we went out to bicycle around the countryside, it was truly a challenge sometimes.
By the way, you two look like a great couple. I have to ask about how you met - you sound like a West Coast gal (California, Oregon, Washington, maybe some of those inlanders), and meeting an Icelander is a pretty rare thing, I'd imagine.
Thanks for a great video, both of you. Some day I hope to visit.
Thanks for the comment and sharing your experience in Korea. I was born and raised in NYC but never picked up a NYC accent. 😂 Here is the video about how I met Gunnar - czcams.com/video/asHsuGz4_6M/video.html
@@AllThingsIceland Oh my gosh, what a story... By the way, your narration and speaking is very, very good. You are clear and easy to listen to, and you let your enthusiasm show so well. 👍👍🙂
You look so happy , and that's all that matters
Thank you 😊
Love you guys. Much say, your husband will NEVER die of stress or high blood pressure!!! LOL
😂😂😂 He is a bit camera shy. Off camera he can be very lively. 😊
This is so awesome!🥰 I wonder if audio books would be helpful too?
I feel like if I was doing this it would be challenging when I got tired. Btw I have nightmares that I'm trying to use ASL and my fingers get stuck.😬 It's a very awful feeling lol! 😂 Do you have any dreams like that about Icelandic?
Learning Spanish and I wish My hubby and I could practice together👍🏽👍🏽👍🏽
I assume that means he isn't learning Spanish too. I hope all is going well with your studies.
Hey Jewels, hope you and Gunnar are well. i was watching another channel on CZcams about Iceland and one of the comments I saw was that someone said that there are places in Iceland where they won’t allow you in unless you speak Icelandic fluently. Is that true? And also, does Iceland have a minimum wage?
I 💓 this so in San Antonio when someone switches between English and Spanish we say we speak Spanglish. It seems you are also at that level ( English & Icelandic)and I love it. Congratulations on your accomplishments ). 💟
Yea, I wish there was a word for combining Icelandic and English like there is with Spanish and English. Thank you!
How about Englandic or Icenglish? You’re doing great!!! I’m so proud of your accomplishments!!!
@@andreawilliams6952 "Englandic" is great - rolls off the tongue
@@x.h.449 also good!
My youngest daughter ended up with French as her first language (none of the rest of us do, and it’s a looong story). Anyway, my oldest daughter was fluent in French as an L2 but they’re 13 years apart in age, so there was a lot of screaming and crying from frustration when my oldest wasn’t around. (Until bilingual kindergarten, where the teacher could explain things in the same level of both French and English.)
I don't know if you drink (haha!) but I remember when I was learning German that after I had one beer, I was much more at ease with the language coming out. I didn't "stutter" as much. My brain wasn't stopping to think "Am I saying this right?" at every sentence. You sound like you are probably past that stage, but that's one tip I sometimes tell people, haha!
Another thing was that I had a partner who spoke very little English (or it was really ROUGH) so we opted to speak in German, although my German wasn't that much better when we met. Somehow, because we were in Germany, we just opted for German, I guess. I remember on our first date, I couldn't say something, but I knew how to WRITE it, so I asked for a pen and paper and wrote it out. HAHAHAHA! So, we were passing notes on our first date. Hilarious, now that I think about it.
Also: Keep in mind that if you have kids, you can learn right alongside them! Nothing wrong with that at all.
I promised myself I would learn Spanish during lockdown. My reasoning was to sing along to some songs I've fallen in love with! No matter the reason though, I got apps and books and watched videos and got so frustrated and discouraged that I quit. I know about 75 words in Spanish but it's almost like sight words. I can't string a sentence together to save my life.
I envy people that can speak more than one language, I think it's fascinating but so so hard! I hate that America sees multilingualism as a bad thing, we are a country of ignorance.
I want to be at the very least bilingual, however, I am taking ASL as an elective this upcoming semester and I am looking forward to that.
I can't help it. I have to comment, even though I wrote a lengthy (sorry) comment on one of your other posts. I said that I thought that we were kindred spirits. This is crazy proof of that, but my husband's name is also Gunnar (what?!), and he is also quite reserved like your husband seems to be and we also have spent time in Germany (for you Iceland) and in the US speaking kind of a combo of our two languages. What got me thinking about our situations, because they are so similar, is the issue of speaking his language at home or yours. When we were in Germany, I was learning German and I would speak German with everyone else that I encountered throughout my day and I would watch TV in German and I would listen to the radio in German, but when we were at home, I was kind of mentally exhausted and wanted to speak English. So we would speak English at home. But the irony for me is that, now that we are living in the US, he speaks English all the time. At home, we listen to the internet radio in German and we watch some German television over the internet, but 95% of the time, he is always speaking English. I'm sure that is also mentally exhausting for him, but he has never complained about it, not once. One thing that has come out if this is that our 16 year old son doesn't even speak German, and that's our fault. We planned on teaching him both languages when he was born, but we have always spoken mostly English at home around him. Finding a balance is key. I just recently discovered your channel, but I love your videos and definitely will keep watching!
He is so calm. Is that just his personality or is it an Icelandic trait?
I'd say that Icelandic people are pretty chill, but this guy is chiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiill.
@@Sindrijo I am typical American and keyed up.😂
I can't speak any other languages fluently so I'm curious to know whether Gunnar finds it easy to switch between the two languages, or whether for him Icelandic is still very much the default that he slips back into?
Hello Jewels, you and Gunnar touched on something that I had wanted to ask you and that was if you and Gunnar were planning to have a family in the future. And I wanted to know if besides speaking Icelandic, would your children also speak English?
Thanks for the question. Gunnar and I have talked about it and we like the idea of children. It has just not been a priority yet. Yes, they would learn Icelandic and English.
Is there is an Icelandic soap opera that you can watch daily? That helped me learn Dutch. They use alot of words to express thier feelings.
There are some great Icelandic TV series but not sure about soap operas. Will have to look into that. Thanks!
As someone who grew up speaking my mother's language at home, and English everywhere else, what was THE hardest was the lack of respect my mother, brother, etc. showed me as I suffered and fought to learn her language. ( I grew up in the states.) While I was required to speak my mother's language with them, nobody taught me my mother's language. They RARELY corrected me (maybe 1 out of 100 times), and they never taught me their language. I was required to just absorb their language and learn it on my own my entire life, when we lived together or even later on, after age 18. They only spoke their language, not English, so they demanded that I speak their language. They refused to learn English which forced me to learn their language if I wanted to be accepted, and still, they never accepted me 100%, because I never mastered it fully since I was never sent to school or formally taught their language. Basic respect and appreciation for someone/anyone , regardless of age, making the huge effort to learn and speak a foreign language has to be expressed in order for a healthy relationship to develop and be maintained.
Agreed and sorry that happened to you.
What language was that?
Would love a video on Icelandic currency compared to the United States. Average living costs. Bills etc.
Did you have times where either of you had something you would have said in English, maybe just some chit chat, nothing particularly important, but that you thought "oh I just can't be bothered to go through it all!" Either for you Jewells to express it, or for you Gunnar if you thought Jewells might struggle to understand it? Do you think you said less to each other as a whole in the month for these sorts of reasons, than if you had been speaking English? I very much admire you anyway, I am learning but on my own can be tricky at times, I have tried an online tutor but I find my lack of understanding of normal rate speech frustrating and disheartening! So it's been really good to read some of your comments here that say about going where the pain is cos that's where the learning is!
You look so similar to each other: round eyes, broad forehead, similar noses, similar face shapes, similar length of hair, similar brows; very cute.
😂 thanks
That is definitely the cutest comment!
A month is a long long long time. Why not Icelandic Saturday? Or just a week? Anyway...I love the checking in with each other and with your own feelings.
We tried it for a day, then a week and eventually tried it for a month. I don't recommend doing a month the first time out. Some people try even just an hour at first and that is great too. A month is a natural progression for us. 🙂
@@AllThingsIceland I see. Well good luck on the next go round.
Hello Jewel and Gunnar. I have an off topic question. Are there really no accents in Iceland? Have you seen Charlie Berens youtube channel , school of Ope , dad's during tornados ? Do you know of any Icelandic comedy on youtube?
I think you are referring to dialects. No, there aren’t dialects in different regions of Iceland. However, there are people in different regions that pronounce some words differently and that makes it a little easier to figure out where a person might have grown up here.
A big 👍🏻
I work for the government here in London (disability benefits) and many many times we have to arrange interpreter for people who have been living in this country for over 10 years, shameful really. You're an inspiration ♡
How are Icelanders (not sure if correct term lol), with interracial marriages/couples? Do people make it their business like they do in the states? Hopefully not, you two are beautiful together!
I admire you. If you are married to someone who speaks another language you should learn it.
There are so often moments when the correct word in English comes up... but the correct Icelandic word does not. My daughter keeps speaking in English (She is Autistic) and I answer in unthinkingly in English... I want to always answer in Icelandic. I often do not understand what she is wondering about, just because she keeps talking in English...
Maybe, instead of having a specific time to speak only Icelandic, you can just speak it whenever you feel like it. It might feel more relaxed and have less pressure on it. Anyway, you have come so far as it is so i hope you feel proud of yourself, you should.
I think that works for some people. We tried a bit of it but found we easily slide back into English too often. While the set time has more pressure associated with it, I think it kept us mindful of what we committed to. This month we have been speaking in Icelandic whenever we want and I think that is because it has become a bit of a habit since March ended.