Hi Gordon !
You wrote :

> I've also been skimming (am now on Lesson 11 out of 16 lessons)
> through _Hugo's Norwegian Simplified_, which focuses primarily on
> developing one's reading ability, in order to gain some

understanding

> of "Scandinavian" much more quickly and painlessly than I could by
> trying to skim through an Icelandic grammar, with its incredibly
> complex system of declensions and conjugations.

Actually, it is not a bad idea to study a "mainland" Scandinavian
language in parallell with Icelandic/Old Norse.
Of course, you will have to put in more work that way,
but learning Icelandic/Old Norse is a big task in any case,
where you'll have to count on several years of hard work.
So maybe, studying some "mainland" stuff alongside will
only have the effect of "firing up" your enthusiasm a bit.
And in that case it is a good idea.

Of the Scandinaviam "mainland" languages, I actually
think Danish is what is most easy to learn. Somehow it
seems more "straightforward" to me, than the two others.
Swedish, for example, has all these accents, that are confusing
(at least to me they are) and also seems to have a tendency
to shorten words, so that it becomes more puzzling.
Norwegian has at least two spelling norms, which will also
cause you some difficulty. If you choose the "riksmål" variety,
you will however be fairly close to Danish, although the
spelling does differ. Maybe the best choice is simply by
choosing the country that interests you the most - or maybe
ask yourself, which country has the authors you'd like to read.
(Do you like Strindberg, or Hamsun, or maybe Blixen?)
-- okay, the Danes pronounce things a bit "muffled" sometimes.
So they are difficult to understand for that reason.
The Swedes are much more clear and distinct when they pronounce.

Then here are some of the "stages" of knowing a language
that have proven important for my own way of looking at things.
1) begin by learning to sing a song.
(six or seven verses to start with maybe)
Get a record, and listen to it every day,
and try to sing the song as much as possible like they
sing it on the record.
2)Read a short book written for childeren, say 8 or 10
years old. Look up the words you don't know and compile
your own dictionary. 20 - 25 pages is enough, as a first goal.
3)Watch a movie where they speak the language you wish to learn.
4)Get a simple textbook. e.g. "Swedish for tourists".
Spend, say 3 weeks, trying to read as many chapters as you
can. Then put the book away, regardless of whether you feel
you learned much or not.
5)Get hold of some comic books in the language you are trying
to learn. (there was something called "Les Gammas" for French
which was very good)
6)Get yourself a language course on video tape.
See one lesson each day, during a time when you have
vacation, so that you can stay home and relax with the language.
Try this for two or three weeks.

By now you should begin you have started to learn a little.

7)Get hold of a Swedish (or Danish) book with parallel English
text. See how far you get.
8)Get hold of a Danish (or Swedish) book without patralell text.
You may scribble in the margin.
9)After about a year of attempts of this sort, try to visit
Sweden or Denmark, for, say, a week or two. Rent a car and
drive around, trying to see as much as possible. Refrain from
ANY English. (tell them you are from Galapagos ;)

Okay, and so it continues.
The first goal is to be able to read a book in the language
of your choice. (a simple book - a detective story maybe)
The second goal is to be able to understand speech.
The third gfoal to be able to buy things in a store.
The fourth goal is to be able to converse well.
The fifth goal is to be able to write letters in the language
of your choice.

---------------
So what do you think.. Eventually you will no doubt learn
this way. But was it you who said you knew about modern'
methods that will significantly shorten the time it takes
to complete the different steps ?

If you have any good ideas, I am sure I will not be the only
one who is all ear.

Best regards
Keth

> In any case, I wish you all the best in your continued study of Old
> Icelandic!
>
> Gordon