The Best Way to Learn Icelandic in 2026

The best way to learn Icelandic is a mix: mostly Icelandic you can understand, plus review and real conversation, with the balance set by your goal. Icelandic you can mostly understand is called comprehensible input. Below, you'll see what each way of learning builds and the mix that suits six common goals.

Which Ways of Learning Icelandic Work Best?

Reading and listening to Icelandic at your level works best, and each other method adds one skill on top of it.

Input is the base of the mix: a 2016 review of 49 studies in Reading in a Foreign Language, a University of Hawaii journal, found that reading a lot of easy material improves reading in a new language.

What Is the Best Way to Learn Icelandic for Your Goal?

For every goal, the best way is the same base of reading and listening, with the rest of your time on the skill that goal needs most.

• 🏠Live and Work in IcelandRead and hear Icelandic about work and errands most of the time, and use each new phrase with the people around you.
• 📝Pass the Citizenship TestRead and listen at your level most of the time, and try the sample test on Ísland.is as the test gets close, since it has listening, reading, writing and speaking parts.
• 💬Talk With Family or FriendsRead and hear lots of everyday conversations, and spend the rest of your time talking with them or with a tutor.
• ✈️Travel to IcelandSpend most of your time on short dialogues about ordering food and asking for directions, and say each one out loud.
• 📺Watch Icelandic TVPut most of your time into listening, and move from Viltu læra íslensku? to RÚV shows on RÚV Orð, which shows word meanings in your language.
• 📖Read Icelandic BooksSpend most of your time reading short stories, and move on to novels and the sagas once the stories in Árstíðir feel easy.

To see how many hours each stage takes, read how long it takes to learn Icelandic.

What Are the Best Resources for Each Part?

Each part of the mix has a good free option, such as Icelandic Online for a course or Anki for review, and an app or service for when you want more. Bubblegum, which appears in a few rows, is a language app where Poppy, an AI tutor, writes Icelandic lessons at your level about things you like.

What Should You Avoid?

Avoid anything that keeps you from reading real Icelandic sentences you can follow.

• 🔤English Spellings of IcelandicSigns and maps in English often write þ as th and drop the accent marks, so learn each word in its Icelandic spelling, such as Þingvellir.
• 🗂️Lists With No SentencesAn Icelandic noun takes a different ending in each case, so save words from lines you have read, and each one comes with its ending in use.
• 🎬Shows You Can't Follow YetSave RÚV dramas for when you can follow an episode with Icelandic subtitles on, and read and listen to easy Icelandic before that.

Frequently Asked Questions