Yay for understanding my first real Icelandic lesson.
My Icelandic is coming along much better. I completed some of the translation exercises. Just simple sentences like Orðabókin er á borðinu, ("The dictionary is on the table"), and Ég les bókina í garðinum ("I read the book in the garden").
Unsurprisingly, Icelandic >>> English translation is much easier than English >>> Icelandic translation. Because English lacks the amount of declension and conjugation that Icelandic does, it's much simpler.
Take for example translating Orðabókin er á borðinu. All I really have to do is figure out whether orðabókin and borðinu are definite or indefinite. In other words, whether they mean "a dictionary / a table" or "the dictionary / the table." However, taking a sentence like, "The man fetches the horses," first I have to translate each word, and then keep consulting the appropriate declension tables to figure out which endings are appropriate. It translates into Karlinn sækir hestana. One letter can make all the difference in the meaning of the sentence. If it were written Karlinn sækir hesta, it would mean, "The man fetches (some) horses."
Wow. Ever since my big breakthrough of realizing that words themselves are declined and that the definite article is added post-positively as a separate suffix, it's getting much better! Yay!
My pronunciation is getting more fluid too, though I can hardly say that I'm pronouncing everything correctly. Oh well. Of course I'll have an American accent.
So yeah. :O) Yay!
DISCLAIMER: I know most of you don't really give one shit about what I'm saying - well, except any linguaphiles out there - it was more for the purpose of clarifying what I just practiced. If you don't care, sorry. (No, not really, but it sounded appropriate.)
Unsurprisingly, Icelandic >>> English translation is much easier than English >>> Icelandic translation. Because English lacks the amount of declension and conjugation that Icelandic does, it's much simpler.
Take for example translating Orðabókin er á borðinu. All I really have to do is figure out whether orðabókin and borðinu are definite or indefinite. In other words, whether they mean "a dictionary / a table" or "the dictionary / the table." However, taking a sentence like, "The man fetches the horses," first I have to translate each word, and then keep consulting the appropriate declension tables to figure out which endings are appropriate. It translates into Karlinn sækir hestana. One letter can make all the difference in the meaning of the sentence. If it were written Karlinn sækir hesta, it would mean, "The man fetches (some) horses."
Wow. Ever since my big breakthrough of realizing that words themselves are declined and that the definite article is added post-positively as a separate suffix, it's getting much better! Yay!
My pronunciation is getting more fluid too, though I can hardly say that I'm pronouncing everything correctly. Oh well. Of course I'll have an American accent.
So yeah. :O) Yay!
DISCLAIMER: I know most of you don't really give one shit about what I'm saying - well, except any linguaphiles out there - it was more for the purpose of clarifying what I just practiced. If you don't care, sorry. (No, not really, but it sounded appropriate.)