Don't go and scare her off while her interest is budding.  The grammar is NOT horrific, there are just a few things you have to connect to make the grammar make more sense.  The best place to start off (at least in my own opinion) is to familiarize your self with the sound change laws that effect the grammar ( and which are the things that make it HORRIFIC for some:) )eg. i-mutation U-mutation etc. this will make working the declentions out a little less arduous. If you want to learn a living language definately learn Icelandic. I suggest learning it in conjunction with Old Norse.  This will be very beneficial as good grammar books are much easier to find for Icelandic and the grammar is essentially identical (except small differences such as infixes eg. ON Hestr v. MI Hestur ).  for a good book on modern icelandic grammar i suggest Stefan Einarsonn's "Icelandic," it has a very dense but easy to follow grammar section and good readings.  A book on Old Norse i have found to be beneficial is "Lessons in Old Norse" there are two authors and at this moment i can only remember the last name of one of them and it is Cathey (i will get the whole citation up ASAP) this book has been out of print for a while but you can find it in some libraries, especially if you have access to a good university library.  I hope this has been helpfull.
 
Jarrod

 tolstrup <david_tolstrup@...> wrote:
your right (as you have probably heard from dozens of people) Icelandic would be you're choice. Modern Icelandin is relatively unchanged from Old Norse. Good luck - the grammar is horrific!!!!!
 
----- Original Message -----
From: Rose Lieberman
Sent: Saturday, April 10, 2004 2:08 PM
To: norse_course@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [norse_course] Newbie with QUESTIONS
 
Hello, All.  My name is Rose, I'm 56, I live in rural upstate New York.  I have embarked on a study of the runes and it has kindled an interest in Old Norse, especially for the reading of poems, eddas, etc.
 
QUESTIONS:  Other than learning Old Norse, I would also like to learn a living language that is as close to Old Norse as possible.  What would that language would be?  And are there any online resources for learning it?  Would it be Icelandic, Norwegian, Finnish?
 
My thinking is that even though Old Norse is no longer spoken, it must still bear at least a faint resemblance to some extant language akin to it; for example, as Italian is to Latin, perhaps. 
 
This is all very new to me as I have never studied a language on my own.  Latin and Spanish in high school, but that was alotta presidents ago.......
 
Thanks,
 
Rose


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