Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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25 of 25 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Very very good, 9 Nov 2003
It's fun to learn Icelandic, because of its multifunctionality: even if the opening of the present Icelandic society to you may seem insignificant (with 290,000 speakers a very small language), you can also learn it for reading the medieval sripts of the Saga's and Edda's in their original form. And if you just enjoy learning languages, Icelandic may just be the step-up to Latin and Greek, also languages with plentiful inflections.
This book is very very cool for self-studying Icelandic, whatever your reason to learn this most beautiful language. The book is divided in 16 lessons, gradually introducing you to new aspects of language, not found in English. The environment is amazingly fun, Daisy Neijmann did an honourable job, finding press-cuttings and other helpful items to have you "playing" with the language, when doing exercises (with full key!). There are also Icelandic texts here and there, which you can translate, if you want, because the correct translation is given in the back. The texts and exercises almost always have something to with Iceland.
Icelandic is hard to learn, especially when you are not familiar to terms like "subject", "dative" and "article". Lucky for you, Daisy has included a full list with all those terms, so you'll be brushing up your English as well!
The separately sold cd set, is not essential, but makes the pronunciation easier and with it, you can create a moment of being totally snow-bound by the Icelandic language, which, above all, is a good thing to become more or less fluent!
Buy this, and you can look forward to knowing a fairly high amount of Icelandic, and if worked consequently and eager, already in 3 months!
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21 of 21 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Go for it, 14 May 2002
It is known that Icelandic has a lot of grammar. here is finally a book that is really fun to use, extremelly well done, leads you from level 0 all the way up to a decent level of proficency,and all this without having to burn the midnight oil over declension cases, or the proper way to use the dual voice, and many others grammatical nightmares. The book comes with a set of 2 tapes. Buy the whole package. It is absolutely worth it. Not only for mastering these tricky sounds in icelandic but also because there are some orals exercises as well.
Everybody in Iceland speak perfect English, so why bother ??? Yes, Icelandic is far from being widely spoken, and it's difficulty could be too much of a burden to even bother with it. But, not only it's a lovely language, but it is also the latin of the north, and its knowledge opens access to all the sagas, and a lot of great writers as well. Iceland is the country in Europe where people read the most..By learning it, you will be mastering the language our viking ancesters were using, as Icelandic has not changed since the VIII century...
Talarðu íslensku? Ekki ennÞá...so go for it...it's never to late to learn
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14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Fun, well structured, easy to follow, CDs available too, 7 Mar 2003
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I've been to Iceland a couple of times and been ashamed to find that the language is so alien that barely a single word of it filters through. I'm going again soon and I've decided I want to at least understand a little of what I hear and read, even though "talarðu ensku?" (do you speak English) is a question you hardly need ask in Iceland. Learning a little of the language is all part of the fun!
Having tried and discarded the impenetrable "Teach Yourself" book, I came across this, and find it much more approachable.I highly recommend getting the tape/CD that goes with this book. It really helps you understand how words sound when they are strung together in phrases and sentences. You would never get close to it simply by reading since lots of sounds (or whole words) are omitted in speech. Icelandic is very rhythmic. Without the tape/CD, it would be much less enjoyable. Thankfully, the book starts out very simply, with greetings, pleasantries, "my name is" etc. The progression is well judged, so you don't quickly feel out of your depth, and it's satisfying to realise that the things you learn early in the book make sense later on. There are exercises to do, here and there, if you want. I'd definitely recommend this to beginners who are more interested in starting to understand day to day Icelandic than studying Icelandic grammar. It doesn't give you lists of conjugations and declensions to learn, but gradually and gently introduces new elements of the language so that you don't feel overwhelmed, and genuinely feels like an aid rather than a hindrance.
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