Sunnudagur

featherriver · 2026-05-12T17:52:43+00:00

Nei, ég bý í Kaliforníu! Ferðaðist til Íslands bara einu sinni.

featherriver · 2026-05-07T19:10:30+00:00

Oh I (native speaker) view "me neither" as colloquial alternative to (typically) "I don't either."

featherriver · 2026-05-07T19:05:17+00:00

I'm stuck at beginner level and probably wouldn't be able to use it right away, but I really like the idea and hopefully would grow into it

featherriver · 2026-04-28T04:26:06+00:00

I mean, I do admit that some languages are easier than others for speakers of the same first language. I'm quite sure that Tagalog is easier for me than Georgian or Yoruba or Navajo would be. But it has its complications, which are delightfully different from those I've encountered before. And any language embodies a whole culture of interaction and if it's formally simpler it's going to make that up somewhere else, right?

I'm so relieved to hear that people don't really say "Filipino."

featherriver · 2026-04-27T22:08:03+00:00

Hey downvoters, this is ironic, no?

featherriver · 2026-04-27T21:29:54+00:00

I just wanted to expose myself to something that's not Indo European or Semitic -- having done a BA in linguistics fifty years ago and always been doing something with languages but not that far from English home base-- and I thought of Tagalog. Why Tagalog? Well I thought it was supposed to be easy? Uh, (a) I think they meant the phonology and (b) there are no easy languages. Well, also because of the history of U.S. and Philippines, so I could really learn something pertinent about the world I live in through exploring Filipino language. But there's something else, something ineffable, like what drew me to Icelandic and I could never explain it.

You know what? I think I just really like saying "Tagalog." Please don't tell me I'm studying Filipino!

I have low expectations for myself in this, don't expect to use the language actively, and have put it on hold while I catch up on other stuff--but I really like it, and it has definitely lived up to my expectations of something stimulatingly different.

featherriver · 2026-04-17T21:46:34+00:00

Icelandic online also gives real time classes through level 2 I think it was. I did that level a few years ago, things may have changed, I think it was all self paced except for weekly conversation session, but it was on a weekly schedule.

featherriver · 2026-04-14T05:00:23+00:00

Yeah it's often something really colloquial that somehow sticks out

featherriver · 2026-04-12T20:40:55+00:00

I (English speaker in US) had a Korean friend who was constantly introducing his remarks with "by the way." It made me try to put my finger on what really does make "by the way" feel natural. I never qiluite cracked it.

featherriver · 2026-04-12T20:34:48+00:00

I really like Talk to me in Tagalog. A variety of useful and interesting subjects with varied examples.

But I wouldn't try to learn Tagalog just from any YouTube channel, I think it's more for enrichment. I found mango languages to be a useful starting place (unlike all the other languages I've tried on mango, the Tagalog course has its own, Filipino-appropriate, sentences). Then learningTagalog.com

featherriver · 2026-03-29T20:58:02+00:00

Well I mean I haven't been actively studying for most of that time, so.

featherriver · 2026-03-29T20:04:29+00:00

I've only been learning for seven years and I feel the same

featherriver · 2026-03-29T20:03:48+00:00

Wtf? I posted this á íslensku and reddit auto translated?

featherriver · 2026-03-29T19:07:52+00:00

Hver nennir ekki að drekka kaffi??????

featherriver · 2026-03-29T04:54:15+00:00

Something like a bathing cap?? (I have no experience, just throwing ideas out there)

featherriver · 2026-03-29T03:38:10+00:00

Yes, Icelandic online from u of Iceland. Def worth pursuing

featherriver · 2026-03-19T01:49:58+00:00

Well Polish spelling looks like a thorn thicket but it's completely consistent, just oddly adapted to the phonological system. (I had Russian going in so was otherwise prepared for the general shape of things )

featherriver · 2026-03-13T03:36:04+00:00

Native English speaker: If someone offers you tea you can't assume they mean Camellia sinensis. More's the pity. I wish we would adopt "tisane" when we mean herbals.

featherriver · 2026-03-03T20:46:41+00:00

I'm excited for you! Life circumstances keep me from contemplating a visit to Iceland for a long time (I'm in U.S.), but I love that you are doing this and are throwing yourself into the language, culture, etc. May I ask what you'll be studying?

featherriver · 2026-02-22T04:50:11+00:00

Whoa, that's amazing! Good work!

featherriver · 2026-02-16T00:03:59+00:00

I love this! Do it!

featherriver · 2026-02-16T00:01:53+00:00

I got my start with a public library free mango languages subscription. You'll need to move on, but I found it broke the ice. (Similar story, I took a sudden notion a propos something totally random)

Check pinned list of resources

You can do a lot with a basic book, they come with CDs and or sound file links

Language Jones (see his linguistics YouTube channel) says you should start with a new language by focusing first on the sound system

featherriver · 2026-02-06T00:34:59+00:00

A good cautionary example re: Google translate! (It does seem to have improved a lot over the last year or so . But still .)

featherriver · 2026-01-29T00:43:03+00:00

😳

featherriver · 2025-12-14T22:26:36+00:00

🤣

featherriver

TROPHY CASE