It is troublesome finding good apps for learning Icelandic. My books are great, but apps are more helpful for establishing daily learning routines. I have been using Duolingo for Norwegian the past two weeks, but they do not have Icelandic, unfortunately. And it is Icelandic that I truly love and want to ‘master’ one day.
I’ve been using Helga Hilmisdottir’s Beginner’s Icelandic book-with-CD set: http://www.indiebound.org/book/9780781811910
I took the University of Iceland online tutored course Icelandic Plus, but it was not especially helpful. The material isn’t well-organized, and there were a number of technical issues with the website. The self-taught course is free, but the tutored course carries a fee of about US $500. I passed, but I didn’t feel I’d learned anything, so I’m starting over with the Hilmisdottir course.
What I really want to do is go to Iceland and do an immersion course, but that doesn’t quite fit with my day job at present.
Since no ones really made a comprehensive Icelandic Textbook for non-Icelandic speaks that isn’t total crap, I’d like to second Helga Hilmisdottir’s Beginner’s Icelandic Book with CD set, it’s very helpful with pronunciation and was recommended to me by my prof who said my pronunciation was too Faroese urgh. I´ve tried the University of Iceland´s online site and it´s just not run very well it´s very disorganized.
The Íslenska to enska vasaorðabók by Forlagið is also the god damn best dictionary ever that has helped me sooooo soooo much in learning. It´s expensive and like a pain in the ass to get but oh my goddddd it´s so helpful.
Arnold Taylor’s dictionary is okay in an emergency but it’s not a good trust worthy book.
My prof Jackson Crawford might come up with a comprehensive Icelandic Textbook for English speakers in the future tho so there is hope!
If we are talking Icelandic text books I really enjoyed the Learning Icelandic by Audur Einarsdottir and co. Which was really helpful for my first year taking Icelandic. It was published in 2001??? And also comes with an audio cd going over most of the Icelandic text in the book.
Another REALLY GOOD through incredibly HARD TO READ textbook is islenska fyrir utlendinga by Asta Svavarsdottir and Margret Jonsdottir. For a textbook that is specifically for foreigners to learn Icelandic it is written in a very advanced Icelandic. But what you learn from it is incredibly detailed and very good. While this one doesn’t have an audio cd it does had a super handy exercise book to help work those grammar skills. I know my instructor at the university of manitoba as well as the intermediate students are working on translating this one though I am unclear on if it will be published or not (fingers crossed for it to be because it is a good textbook)
If you are just looking for some exercises, Hitt og Þetta is great workbook for that. you can actually get the workbook PDF free to download here: https://www.mms.is/namsefni/hitt-og-thetta-pdf Ive found sitting down to translate these and answer the questions really help. I believe it also has an audio CD you can also download? but Ive never used it myself so I’m not quite sure on it.
For apps, I dont really have much, but I know if you use quizlet there are a few flash cards and flashcard games you can get to practice. All you have to do is download the app and search for sets any classes or sets people have made available to share and you can use them! I think I may also have a few sets available to use on there as well.
and for websites I’ve used and have been told they are quite handy sites.
http://icelandiconline.is/index.html this site has modules you can work through from easy to harder levels! its mainly in Icelandic but is easy enough to navigate and fun to use! Also free to use!
http://tungumalatorg.is/viltu_laera_islensku/ and then this website has some videos you can watch. They are made specifically for foreigners learning Icelandic so they speak verrrryyy slooowwlllyyy and their pronunciations are verrryyy pronounced.
Lastly, the best icelandic dictionary ever is available online here: http://digicoll.library.wisc.edu/IcelOnline/Search.TEId.html I use it for all of my translations and its free and easy to use (and you can cheat at finding english words by typing in the english word and changing the drop box option from Headword Only to Entire Entry, though, it is hit or miss depending on the word you are looking for)
Anyways sorry for the information drop but I’ve got plenty more for anyone who ever needs to know!
Advice and resources from friendly folk!
