ISLAND - REYKJAVIK

In my second blog, I will share my experience with languages in Iceland. Like in other countries, English is not the mother tongue of Icelandic people; it is Icelandic. Icelandic is a language from the Germanic branch of the Indo-European language family and is one of the oldest languages in the world. Icelandic is currently spoken by just over 300,000 people on a daily basis. Due to the high number of tourists, most Icelandic people can speak English fluently, and sometimes even a second foreign language. Over the last five years, there has been an upswing in tourism, during which many freelancers or workers came from around the world. You will quickly realize that if you go to a restaurant, you will often see people from Poland, Czech Republic, or Lithuania. Therefore, you often have to order in English.

During the introduction week at the university, we had a short crash course in Icelandic. The professor told us that Icelandic is hard to learn, but people from Norway, Denmark, or Germany have some advantages. Nevertheless, it was very hard for me, and I understood only a few words. A few examples: “Hvað kallast þetta á íslensku?” would be “What is it called in Icelandic?” or “Ég er frá Austurríki” (I'm coming from Austria). Nevertheless, the Icelandic population is proud of their language, and they like it if you can say a few words. Our professor recommended us to learn a few basic words like good day, thank you, or goodbye (góðan daginn, takk, and bless).

A complete change for me was speaking English the whole day. I had learned English since I was nine, but I was never good at it. Therefore, I was a little bit curious at the beginning, wondering if I could talk with other people and also follow them, but it was better than expected, and I could discuss several topics with them. I can remember when I was on my first trip with an Italian guy from my flat, and we talked the whole car drive in English. In the evening, we were both so tired that we drove quietly to our accommodation. For us, it was like a day-long English session, which we were both not used to. A few months later, we laughed about this silent moment, and now we can tell each other different English stories all day long.

However, I faced several challenges with the Icelandic language. At the university, I attended only English-speaking courses with other exchange students or Icelandic students. So, I never had to try to understand Icelandic. That changed during my first big exam when they explained the table of contents in Icelandic, and the supervisor spoke in Icelandic. It was an English course, but we were a minority, so Icelandic people started to ask questions and spoke in Icelandic. For us exchange students, that situation wasn't so easy. We asked them to speak in English, and then we got just a quick summary. Luckily, that was enough for us, but it was not so pleasant. Thankfully, the test and the explanations were in English, so we had no problem solving our exam.

The next challenge was in my free time when I went to grocery stores or public spaces because most things are in Icelandic, and not every time is there a translation in English. In the grocery store, it is not such a big problem because you can look at the package and the picture, and if I still do not understand the words, I can translate them. But in public spaces like public swimming pools, I did not have my phone in my swimsuit, and you are looking at a big sign with no idea what you should do. Mostly, I tried to find the big picture, but sometimes it was not possible for me. In such cases, I was not worried and pretended as if I had never seen the sign. So far, I haven't had any problems with that.

Altogether, I would say that English is more than enough in Iceland, and you can live without Icelandic language skills. Since being here, my fluency has improved, and my vocabulary is increasing. However, I would say that my grammar has not improved that much, as many of the exchange students are not from an English-speaking country, and therefore, many of us use our own creative grammar. Despite that, I would say that the exchange semester helped me a lot to improve my English skills, and I would do it again.