Name: Bubblegum
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Author: Bubblegum

Stories, audio, and videos can all help you learn Icelandic when you can follow what they mean. That is the idea behind comprehensible input: learning from Icelandic you can mostly understand. Learners on Reddit say there are few graded readers for Icelandic, and many of them turn to RÚV, Iceland's public broadcaster, for Icelandic to read, hear, and watch.

These apps and sites give you Icelandic at your level, or help you follow the Icelandic you pick yourself. For courses, speaking practice, and tutors, see our Icelandic app comparison.

Custom Lessons Made for You

Bubblegum

Learn Icelandic with a path made just for you. Start with your level, what you like, and why you want to learn. Your path grows as you learn, with new lessons that fit you. Bubblegum also has news and stories, so you can read and listen to a mix of Icelandic about music, food, family, or everyday life.

Poppy, your AI tutor, writes each lesson for your level, interests, and goals. If a sentence is hard to follow, just ask her to explain the words or the grammar.

The trade-off is that Bubblegum can't help you read or watch Icelandic you found yourself. For a RÚV show, a web page, or an audiobook you already picked, RÚV Orð, Readlang, and Storytel are the better fit.

Get Bubblegum ↓

Read and listen to lessons, news, and stories about things you like.
New lessons fit your level, interests, and goals.
Regenerative Review™ brings saved words back in new lessons, so you review them by reading instead of using flashcards.
Ask Poppy for help as you read.

Lesson audio uses AI voices, not recordings of Icelandic speakers.
You cannot bring in your own books, articles, or videos.
A new custom lesson costs us real money to make, so you can ask Poppy for a free one, and Bubblegum Pro gives you unlimited custom lessons. The lesson library is free for everyone, because we believe everyone should be able to learn.

Regenerative Review™
Teaches the Icelandic Alphabet

Mobile

Read and Listen to Stories for Learners

LingQ

LingQ lets you read and listen to Icelandic from its library or bring in your own. Learners on Reddit suggest starting with its Mini Stories, and one says the easiest of them are at about level A1.

Start with Mini Stories, a beginner course of more than 60 lessons with audio.
Read Icelandic folk tales, children's books, and Litli prinsinn (The Little Prince) from its library.
New words and words you are learning are highlighted, and words you know are left plain.
Bring in your own Icelandic texts and audio.

The free plan lets you save 20 words and import 5 lessons.

Flashcards

MobileWeb

Watch and Listen to RÚV

RÚV Orð

RÚV Orð is RÚV's free service for learning Icelandic from its own shows and news. RÚV built it with Språkkraft, a Swedish nonprofit that makes tools for learning a language at your own level, and Iceland's government signed an agreement with RÚV to support it. It suits learners who want real Icelandic TV with help at their level.

Watch RÚV shows and news with Icelandic subtitles you can tap to see what a word means.
Choose your level, from A1 to C2, and the language for word meanings.
Words in the subtitles turn green, yellow, or red to show what you should know, what to learn now, and what to leave for later.
Practice the words you save with flashcards.

Some videos are marked as available only in Iceland.

Flashcards
Doesn't teach the Icelandic Alphabet

Web

RÚV

RÚV is Iceland's public broadcaster, and its free app plays RÚV's TV and radio. Learners on Reddit often suggest watching RÚV to hear everyday Icelandic, from children's shows to the news.

Watch RÚV's TV channels live, or find shows to watch later.
Listen to RÚV's radio channels, even with your phone's screen off.
Turn on subtitles for shows that have them, and RÚV remembers your choice.

Many shows can't be watched outside Iceland. The radio and the TV news work everywhere.

Doesn't teach the Icelandic Alphabet

MobileWeb

Listen to Icelandic Audiobooks

Storytel

Storytel is an app for audiobooks and e-books with a service in Iceland. Learners on Reddit name it for Icelandic audiobooks, and one suggests starting with a book you have already read in English. It suits learners who can follow some Icelandic and want to listen for longer.

Listen to Icelandic audiobooks, or read the e-book.
Read and listen at the same time, with the text following the audio.
Slow a book down when it goes too fast.
Save books to listen to without the internet.

A paid plan is needed after a 3-day free trial.
Some learners outside Iceland could not pay for an Icelandic account.

Doesn't teach the Icelandic Alphabet

Mobile

Read Icelandic You Choose

Once you know the basics, you can read Icelandic you pick yourself, such as the easy news and free books below.

Readlang

Readlang helps you read Icelandic on the web. Tap a word or phrase to see what it means, and it saves the words you look up so you can review them later.

Tap a word or short phrase to see what it means.
Read Icelandic web pages with its Chrome extension, or upload your own texts.
Save new words and review them with flashcards.

The free plan lets you translate 10 phrases a day. Single words have no limit.
For Icelandic, Readlang suggests paying for Premium Plus, which uses a stronger AI for better translations.

Flashcards
Doesn't teach the Icelandic Alphabet

WebBrowser extension

Free Icelandic to Read, Hear, and Watch

RÚV writes news in easy Icelandic on Auðskilið, with new stories most days. Each story uses short sentences, often one to a line. Once a week, the RÚV English Radio podcast reads one of these stories in simple Icelandic, and you can follow along with the text. Krakkafréttir, RÚV's news show for children, comes out several days a week, and learners on Reddit suggest it because it tells the news in a way children can follow.

Ylhýra has free Icelandic texts from A1 to C1, from tweets and poems to articles and short videos, and it shows a translation for each word and sentence. One learner on Reddit calls it a favorite free tool. Learners also read the free e-books on mms.is, where Iceland's center for school materials has a section for Icelandic as a second language, with easy story books among them. One learner shared a list of the easiest e-books, sorted from easiest to hardest.

Karítas Hrundar Pálsdóttir writes short stories in simple Icelandic. Árstíðir has 101 stories, Dagatal has 91, and Vikuspá has 86. The bookshop Forlagið sells all three as e-books, and the first two also as audiobooks you stream in its app. Learners on Reddit say the first two work well for adult learners, even early on. For a book from outside Iceland, Olly Richards' Short Stories in Icelandic for Beginners has eight stories for levels A2 to B1, and it also comes as an audiobook. A learner on Reddit read each story first and then listened to it.

For listening, Icelandic Immersion is a podcast in natural Icelandic for learners at every level, with two new episodes a week. A learner on Reddit says the host speaks slowly and clearly, and supporters on Patreon get the transcripts. For watching, Viltu læra íslensku? has 21 TV episodes about life in Iceland, such as a trip to the dentist or the swimming pool, with Icelandic subtitles. For vlogs about everyday life in Icelandic, a learner on Reddit suggests Andrea Gudny.

Learn Icelandic in Your Language

These counts cover menu-language choices, including script variants. Other apps’ counts and full lists come from their iPhone listings, except Readlang (its help forum). RÚV and RÚV Orð come from Iceland's public broadcaster, and RÚV Orð shows word meanings in a language you choose. Word meanings, lesson explanations, and other platforms may differ.

App	Supported Display Languages	Full List
Bubblegum	74	Full list Afrikaans Albanian Amharic Arabic Armenian Azerbaijani Basque Belarusian Bengali Bulgarian Burmese Catalan Chinese (Simplified) Chinese (Traditional) Croatian Czech Danish Dutch English Estonian Filipino (Tagalog) Finnish French Galician Georgian German Greek Gujarati Hebrew Hindi Hungarian Icelandic Indonesian Italian Japanese Kannada Kazakh Khmer Korean Kyrgyz Lao Latvian Lithuanian Macedonian Malay Malayalam Marathi Mongolian Nepali Norwegian Persian Polish Portuguese Punjabi Romanian Romansh Russian Serbian (Cyrillic) Serbian (Latin) Sinhala Slovak Slovenian Spanish Swahili Swedish Tamil Telugu Thai Turkish Ukrainian Urdu Uzbek Vietnamese Zulu
LingQ	17	Full list
Storytel	18	Full list
Readlang	1	Full list

Other Apps We Looked At (5)

TalavarpA Chrome extension that translates the Icelandic subtitles on ruv.is into one of 17 languages, and can show the Icelandic line above the translation. It is new and growing.
PlusOneLanguageTexts made for your level, with the words you look up saved for review. It is new and growing.
TVÍKA three-month Icelandic course told as one story in 84 lessons, with new grammar in each conversation.
SagnalandAn Icelandic audiobook app with more than 2,000 Icelandic books and a focus on stories for children. It is new and growing.
Hlusta.isIcelandic audiobooks, from novels and short stories to the sagas, poems, and stories for children.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I need to learn the Icelandic alphabet first?

It helps, and it does not take long. Icelandic uses the Latin alphabet with four letters that English does not have, þ, ð, æ, and ö, plus accent marks that change how a vowel sounds, as in á and ó. Bubblegum's Icelandic Alphabet course teaches them in three short chapters.

How do I choose Icelandic at the right level?

Choose a story or show whose main idea you can follow, even if some words are new. In Árstíðir, symbols above each story show how hard it is, from one for the easiest to five for the hardest. If you need to stop at almost every line, try something easier.

Where can I watch Icelandic shows with English subtitles?

RÚV has a collection of shows with English subtitles, such as the drama Verbúðin (Blackport) and Áramótaskaup, its comedy show for New Year's Eve. On Disney+, some films come with Icelandic dubbing, but learners on Reddit say which ones depends on the film and where you live.

Is Bubblegum free?

Yes. The lesson library is free for everyone, because we believe everyone should be able to learn. It holds lessons that other learners asked Poppy for. A new custom lesson costs us real money to make, so you can ask Poppy for a free one, and Bubblegum Pro gives you unlimited custom lessons.

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