--- In norse_course@..., "Óskar Guðlaugsson" <hr_oskar@...> wrote:

> I feel a need to increase awareness of a certain "fact";
> I devised a little "play" to get my point through.

Óskar - that was truly inspired! A brilliant exposition,
indeed. Congratulations on a job masterly done.

> DS: "So, I won't learn the "actual" language of my ancestors, just
> some phonetic guesswork of 13th century Icelandic, complete with
> localisms and idioms of that time and place?"
>
> T: "Pretty much. That's the practical truth. If you're more
> interested in other forms of the language, you'll probably have to
> finish learning it first, then read linguistic literature about Old
> Danish and perhaps do some research on ON dialects."

I would be interested to hear your opinion on the
Modern Icelandic matter. It seems to me that the
easiest way to learn ON is to spend some time first
learning the rudiments of Modern Icelandic. I asked
Martin Regal, an Englishman who has lived here for
many years, and is one of the translators of "Sagas
of Icelanders". He agrees. I also asked Jesse Byock,
an American, who teaches ON at a University in
California, and has translated Völsunga saga, and is
currently working on a new translation of Snorri's
Edda (for Penguin Books). He also agrees. Haukur
disagrees. I wonder what you think?

The reason is mainly that it is much easier to
learn the basics of a living language. For example,
you can get children's books, which is a great help
for the beginner. Also, Icelandic translations of
books you know really well, which helps a lot. And
the newspapers. Etc.

I'm basically thinking of saving time. I think you
can learn ON much faster by spending the first couple
of months learning the basics of Mod. Icelandic.

Regards, and thanks again for the play!
Eysteinn