The fastest way to learn Icelandic is to spend most of your study time on Icelandic you can mostly understand. That kind of Icelandic is called comprehensible input. What you read and listen to should change as you improve, so the plan below shows what to do at each level and how to split an hour of study.
What to Do at Each Level
Find the level that sounds like you. Its bar shows how to spend an hour of study.
- First Week
I can't read the Icelandic alphabet yet.
Learn the Alphabet 40 min. Listen 20 min.
Icelandic has four letters that English does not have, þ, ð, æ and ö, and an accent mark changes how a vowel sounds, as in á and ó. Learn them first, and listen to easy Icelandic while you do, so the sounds start to feel familiar.
- Level 1
I'm just starting out or know only a few words.
Read and listen 35 min. Review 15 min. Speak 10 min.
Read short stories with audio, such as LingQ's Mini Stories, and listen to each one twice. Review the words you saved, then say a few lines out loud.
- Level 2
I can handle simple exchanges.
Read and listen 40 min. Review 10 min. Speak 10 min.
Read Ylhýra's short texts and look up only the words that stop you. Watch Viltu læra íslensku?, TV episodes about everyday life in Iceland with Icelandic subtitles, and start short talks with a tutor or a friend.
- Level 3
I follow conversations on familiar topics.
Read and listen 40 min. Review 5 min. Speak 15 min.
Read the news in easy Icelandic on Auðskilið and the short stories in Árstíðir, which was written for learners. Listen to each one once more without reading along, and talk about what you read for longer.
- Level 4
I understand most content but miss some nuance.
Read and watch 45 min. Review 5 min. Speak 10 min.
Watch RÚV shows on RÚV Orð, which has Icelandic subtitles with help in your own language, one episode a week. Listen to Icelandic Immersion, a podcast in natural Icelandic for learners.
- Level 5
I read complex topics but rare words slow me down.
Read and watch 50 min. Speak 10 min.
Watch RÚV without subtitles, and read articles about things you like. When an ending puzzles you, look the word up in BÍN, which shows all of its forms.
- Level 6
I read at near-native level.
Read and watch 50 min. Speak 10 min.
Read Icelandic novels and the sagas, listen to audiobooks, and talk about them, for their own sake.
Move up a level when your lessons start to feel easy, and move back down if you lose the thread by the third line.
How Long Does It Take to Learn Icelandic?
Icelandic is not on the U.S. Foreign Service Institute's current list, and its closest relative there, Norwegian, takes about 552 class hours to reach professional fluency. An older version of the list put Icelandic in the group it calls hard languages, which takes about 1,012 class hours today.
| Language | FSI group | Full-time weeks |
|---|---|---|
| Norwegian | Category I | 24 |
| German | Category II | 36 |
| Icelandic (older list), Russian | Category III | 44 |
| Japanese | Category IV | 88 |
Iceland's Ministry of Education sets out 240 class hours for its basic Icelandic course for adults, which aims at level A2, and 300 more for its advanced course, which aims at B1 and B2. So the two courses take 540 hours. Here is how long those take at different amounts of study a week:
| Study per week | Basic course, A2 (240 hours) | Basic and advanced courses (540 hours) | FSI hard group (1,012 hours) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3½ hours | About 16 months | About 3 years | About 5½ years |
| 7 hours | About 8 months | About 18 months | About 2¾ years |
| 14 hours | About 4 months | About 9 months | About 17 months |
| 28 hours | About 2 months | About 4½ months | About 8 months |
These are class hours, so treat them as a rough guide. Time you spend understanding Icelandic on your own counts too.
What Slows Learners Down
- Case Tables AloneIcelandic nouns change their endings across four cases, so hattur (hat) can also be hatt, hatti or hatts. A table of endings is hard to use until you have read each form in many sentences.
- Reading Without ListeningSome Icelandic spellings hide their sounds: the ll in fjall (mountain) sounds like tl, and the hv in hvalur (whale) sounds like kv. Listen while you read, so you learn each word with its real sound.
- Content Far Too HardA RÚV drama where you know one word in five teaches you very little.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which Icelandic app should a beginner choose?
If you are serious about learning Icelandic, start with Bubblegum. Poppy writes lessons at your level about things you like. Our Icelandic app comparison covers courses, tutors and speaking apps too.
Can I learn Icelandic in three months?
You can learn the new letters and enough Icelandic to greet people and order food. At 14 hours a week, three months is about 180 hours, which is three of the four 60-hour courses in Iceland's basic Icelandic course for adults.
How much should I study Icelandic each week?
Aim for three to five hours a week of Icelandic you understand, in sessions of at least 15 to 30 minutes. A longer session lets you get lost in a story, which teaches more than five minutes a day, and steady time each week matters more than a daily streak. Our post on deep sessions over daily streaks explains why.
Is Icelandic hard for English speakers?
Yes, by the Foreign Service Institute's older list, which put Icelandic in its group of hard languages, with Finnish and Russian. Many Icelandic words look like English ones, such as hús (house) and bók (book), and most of the time goes into the word endings, which you pick up fastest from Icelandic you understand.
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 your first one is free, and Bubblegum Pro gives you unlimited custom lessons.
The Icelandic Alphabet course on this site is also free and needs no account.
Sources
- Árni Magnússon Institute: The History of Icelandic (closest relatives, the letters þ and ð, and four cases)
- U.S. Department of State, Foreign Language Training (FSI language categories)
- U.S. Department of State, FSI language categories (archived May 2018, with Icelandic in Category III)
- Ministry of Education, Science and Culture: Íslenska fyrir útlendinga, grunnnám (2008; four courses of 60 class hours, 240 in all, for A1 to A2)
- Ministry of Education, Science and Culture: Íslenska fyrir útlendinga, framhaldsnámsskrá (five courses of 60 class hours, 300 in all, for B1 to B2)
- Ísland.is: Icelandic test for citizenship (the 240-hour basic course matches A2)
- Wikipedia: Icelandic grammar (four cases; hattur, hatt, hatti, hatts)
- Wikipedia: Icelandic phonology (ll before a pause, and hv)
- Icelandic Online: About Icelandic Online (free courses from the University of Iceland)
- Tungumálatorg: Viltu læra íslensku? (21 TV episodes with Icelandic subtitles)
- RÚV: Auðskilið, news in easy Icelandic
- Forlagið: Árstíðir (101 stories in simple Icelandic)
- Lingvis Foundation: RÚV Orð (interactive subtitles with help in your language)
- BÍN: Database of Modern Icelandic Inflection
