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Prerequisite for entry
Prerequisite for entry: Basic knowledge of Icelandic (successful completion of Icelandic syllabus 1 at UCL Centre for Languages & International Education or other comparable studies). This course is not suitable for complete beginners.
Term duration
10 x 2-hour classes.
Aims and objectives
The aim of the course is to build on and strengthen students´ basic knowledge of Icelandic so they can function at a very basic everyday survival level (basic vocabulary and grammar). Students should be able to communicate in and understand Icelandic on a number of practical everyday matters. Students will receive means to master the different sounds of the Icelandic pronunciation.
Functions
- Describing people/your house/places
- Talking about clothes; colours
- Talking about work/leisure activities
- Talking about present, future and past activities
- Ordering food
- Talking about house, furniture
- The body parts
- Making plans
- The weather
Linguistic structures/ Phonetics
- Solidifying the pronunciation of ll & nn
- vowels before ng & nk
- the double voiced plosives: dd, bb, gg.
- the double unvoiced plosives: tt, pp, kk
- Working on f & g
- The difference between þ & ð
- Tongue-twisters for r, soft g, different pronunciation of f
Grammar
- Weak and strong nouns in the plural, nominative
- The definite article in the plural
- Strong adjectives in the plural, nominative
- Weak and strong verbs in the present, all 4 groups
- The I-shift (B víxl) in strong verbs
- The vowel-shift a-ö and ö-a in the plural
- The present and past continuous
- Sentence construction with auxiliary verbs for past, present, future (vera búinn að / var að / er að / ætla að)
- The numbers 1,2,3,4 in masc, fem, neuter. Nominative.
- The possessive pronoun with plural nouns
- The personal pronoun in all cases
- Impersonal verbs “að vanta”, “að langa” & “að finnast”
Learning resources
Books
- Course book: Colloquial Icelandic, Daisy Newman;
- Learning Icelandic, Mál & Menning
- Láki Jarðálfur, Dimmalimm, handouts
- Teacher’s handouts
- Online material from Bragi - íslenska
Dictionaries
- Glossaries from Colloquial Icelandic & Learning Icelandic
- Íslensk ensk orðabók - Iðunn
- Ensk-íslensk skólaorðabók – Mál & Menning
In addition there is a wide range of language learning materials for self-study in the Self-Access Centre.
