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Prerequisite for entry
For complete beginners or those who have had only very little contact with the language. Prerequisite for entry: Basic knowledge of Icelandic (successful completion of Icelandic syllabus 1+ at UCL Centre for Languages & International Education or other comparable studies).
Term duration
10 x 2-hour classes.
Aims and objectives
The aim of the course is to give students an opportunity to revise their survival skills and acquire more sophisticated ways of dealing with practical matters. Students will practice the Icelandic declension system for nouns. Cultural awareness will be developed and students will get to grips with texts that help them understand the declension pattern in action.
Functions
- Tackling practical matters (booking, accommodation, getting by)
- Talking about nature & describing location
- Planning your social life (inviting, accepting, refusing etc)
- Asking for availability: vera með / fást / eiga til
- Using the prepositions í & á for going/staying in places
- Describing where you come from, are heading – in correct grammatical cases
Linguistic structures/ Phonetics
- Rules for the pronunciation of 3 different consonants in a row
- The silent g (between 2 closed vowels)
- When g is hard/soft
- How to break up long words for correct pronunciation
- Tongue twisters
Grammar
- Weak noun declension, nominative, accusative, dative, genitive; singular & plural
- Strong noun declension, nominative, accusative, dative, genitive; singular & plural
- The definite article in declension (for weak and strong nouns)
- Possessive pronouns in declension, singular & plural
- Verbs in the present: which case do they govern?
- Verbs that take 2 objects
- The prepositions í & á (movement/static)
- Some other common prepositions governing accusative, dative & genitive
- Revision of strong verbs in the present
- Revision of the impersonal verbs “að finnast”, “að langa” & “að vanta” with nouns in declension
Learning resources
Books
- Course book: Colloquial Icelandic, Daisy Newman;
- Learning Icelandic, Mál & Menning
- Teacher’s handouts
- Online material from Bragi - íslenska
Dictionaries
- Glossaries from Colloquial Icelandic & Learning Icelandic
- Íslensk ensk orðabók - Iðunn
- Ensk-íslensk skólaorðabók – Mál & Menning
- Ordabok
In addition there is a wide range of language learning materials for self-study in the Self-Access Centre.
