I use old norse when i talk to my icelandic friends, and it works fine for me, Of course it is higly influenced by icelandic, but as more and more i work with old norse, as more old norse it becomes.
to make it sound like a living language i use modern icelandic pronounchiation discribed in "A new introduction to Old Norse".
and talk, write with icelanders and i watch movies and hear music in icelandic. but my words, spelling, grammar, syntax and the way of expression is old norse.

as more i work with old norse, as more pure it becomes

--- In norse_course@yahoogroups.com, CalecM@... wrote:
>
> Ed
> Let me give you different perspective. I've been studying ON for
> something measurable in weeks. However, it is far from my first foreign
> language. (French, Italian and Japanese). You will not learn ON the same as you
> would learn Swedish or Swahili. You will not become "fluent" in it because
> you will not use it as a communicative system with another human being.
> Rather, you will most likely sit in the middle of a pile of books and
> laptops, which you will use to decode or decipher the text. As time goes on, you
> will rely on the reference materials less and less, as you remember more
> and more. But the ON language in your brain will consist mostly of this.
> It will not be connected to memories of personal, physical experiences you
> have had. It will lack the positive reinforcement of successfully
> communicating with another human being. (If you're familiar with Piagetian
> Constructivist learning theory, this will make more sense.) If you have studied
> other second languages, think back: some of the language you know best is
> tied to the moment you learned it. Somebody on a bus, a key line in a movie,
> etc. You're not likely to get that studying ON texts. Doesn't mean your
> experience won't be fun, informative, successful, satisfying--but it will
> be different.
>
> One man's opinion--your mileage may vary!
>
> Alec MacLean
>