Hi there. I would like to introduce myself. I'm Ryan. I'm learning
Runes and also learning about the Old Ways, and although I know this
group doesn't involve those aspects, I wanted to learn another
Germanic Language. Besides English, I speak Spanish. I have also
studied a little German, but I don't know it well enough to use it. A
friend of mine went to Sweden for a semester. She taught me what she
could remember. In attempting to learn Old Norse, I hope to read the
old literature, pick up all of the Germanic languages easier.
I have a question. I learned that many use Islandic pronunciation to
say Old Norse words including the Islandic people. I read how Old
Norse is close to modern Islandic from hi.is site, and that the
continental Scandinavian languages are more different. I was
wondering, how do the Swedes pronounce Old Norse?
Or if I learned Old Norse in the Islandic way, how can I get around
the differences in pronunciation of "hann" and "hon"? it seems that
Islandic may pronounce hann with a short a as in cat, and hon with a
short o as in lock at least from the written primers. Swedish on the
other hand from what I've heard pronounces han as and a in father,
and hon as a long oo as in shoot but more in the back of the mouth. I
just went to another site that has conversation that showed that
Islandic may pronounce hann with the a in father, but then how do
they pronounce hon?