This week’s recommendation is to learn Icelandic. It is believed to be the hardest Germanic language to learn for English speakers. It has some intense grammar and complex pronunciation. But you should learn it anyway! Icelandic is the closest living relative to Old Norse, which was spoken by Vikings. I’ve been trying to learn it and Drops is so far the best app to do it. One of the best features it has is lessons to teach you how to pronounce the extensive alphabet, which is tricky as there’s a mix of rolling r’s similar to Spanish, the eu sounds similar to French, and the gargling r’s from German. Some fun words I’ve learned are Hjàlp! (Hee-owl-fff-p, i.e. help!), tuttugu (impossibe to describe how it’s pronounced, i.e. twenty), and sveppur (sveh-prrr, i.e. mushroom). Some not so fun words I’ve learned are matvöruverslun (…, i.e. grocery store) and sjúkrahús (shoe-crah-whose, i.e. hospital).
