Icelandic: So many consonants.

The fortunate thing about being a tourist in Iceland is that nearly everyone speaks English. The native language, Icelandic, is one of the hardest languages to learn if you are not a native speaker. Although my group has been listening to Icelandic and trying to catch on, we have failed miserably with our pronunciation and attempts to learn new phrases. Interestingly, Icelandic is a language that has hardly changed since it’s creation. The Icelandic sagas are written about the original settlers of Iceland, the Vikings. Although they were written hundreds of years ago, they text is still legible today and can be read with ease, whereas English has been changing and evolving constantly with time.

Most of our guest speakers and the residents of our town like to say that they do not speak English well, but I am constantly amazed with their ability to communicate. I haven’t experienced a miscommunication in language, and the locals are always very kind when my group attempts to discuss a place or landmark that we have visited. Words like Skagafjörður, Goðafoss, and Jökulsárlón are always tripping us up. I make a point to try and learn how to pronounce each location we have visited. Besides the names of the places we have been, I only attempt to say “thank you” in Icelandic in order to avoid embarrassing myself. “Takk” is easy enough and is at least a phrase I can say without feeling too self conscious of my horrible pronunciation abilities.