I spent 31 days speaking only Icelandic. Here’s what happened.

I’ve been learning Icelandic for quite some time but I’ve not felt very confident when it comes to speaking. To boost my confidence, my Icelandic husband and I agreed to spend the month of March in 2021 speaking in Icelandic. We tried this experiment for the first time last July but it was quite difficult. Even though we had an idea of how it could go, we each had reservations about it because it can be emotionally draining to not be able to express yourself. While this time around was much different than the first time, there were still challenges.

I think the biggest change for me this month was how much I was able to remember on the spot when I started to speak. Repetition is super helpful when learning a language and Icelandic is no different. We talk all about the challenges for both of us in this episode of the podcast. I hope you find it interesting and helpful.

The audio is taken from the video that I posted below on the All Things Iceland YouTube channel.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YYQHrlqgtyE

The questions that Gunnar and I answered about speaking Icelandic for a month

• What were our feelings about the experiment going into it?
• What was most challenging during this 31 day challenge?
• Did you/us notice any improvement in Jewells’ Icelandic during the challenge?
• What does Jewells need to improve?
• Do you plan to keep speaking Icelandic to each other? What is the plan going forward?

Two Facebook groups that are helpful if you want to learn Icelandic and want community support.

1. Practice and Learn Icelandic
2. Icelandic Learners – Læra íslensku

While Icelandic is difficult for many that are learning it, just know that it is possible to do it. I think pushing through your fear about speaking is a key aspect to any language learning journey. As I work on that, I will continue to share how it’s going for me and any other Icelandic language learning resources that I think will be helpful.

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Join the All Things Iceland Patreon Community

Some of you might be aware that one of my goals for the podcast is to travel around Iceland more to interview different people in each region. In July, I set up the All Things Iceland community on Patreon. It’s a membership platform that was founded in 2013. It allows for creators like me to provide exclusive content to listeners like you in exchange for a monthly subscription.

Each month I am doing Ask Me Anything videos, Live Chats, and Folklore Friday each week. Sometimes I do updates about my life in Iceland. I do not share this content on any other channel. The support from my patrons on the All Things Iceland community on Patreon will help to evolve All Things Iceland. There are several membership tiers to choose from and each tier has a variety of benefits.

If you would like to join the community, go to patreon.com/allthingsiceland. I look forward to having you join.

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Þakka þér kærlega fyrir að hlusta (og að lesa) og sjáumst fljótlega

Thank you kindly for listening (and reading) and see you soon!