Hello,

As to your recent message to Norse Course email group, I am a soon-to-be undergraduate student learning Old Norse for fun. Don’t ask me why, but I find it relaxing to study declinations and such after a busy day of classes, athletics, and a lot of homework.

I began studying Old Norse after reading the Icelandic Sagas in translation. While my original purpose was to be able to read them in the original, I have now developed a wish to be able to write and –if it is even remotely possible – to be able to speak in Old Norse. I consider it to be incredible if I were able to write a poem or story in Old Norse, for my own amusement. I follow the email course in order to observe what other people do with their translations, for to be able to do that is still beyond my grasp. While pursuing Old Norse, I have not been able to find a coursebook that provides an accurate and comprehensive teaching of Old Norse. Thus, I have to make do with the website of the Course and also another website, this from the University of Texas’ Language center that, although it has a very comprehensive grouping of grammar reference material, sadly does not have it in a way that is very approachable to a new or semi-new student.

Now, then, to another point you brought up. Although I have, as Ive mentioned earlier, only superficial knowledge of Old Norse, I have found it useful to search through the emails we receive for the verbs I know in order to see them conjugated or nouns declined. This way, I can confirm earlier suspicions. If that does not happen, I also sometimes use the website Verbix.com. It has a very incomplete rendering of Old Norse verbs, but I look at the Modern Icelandic conjugation for the verb, as they are very similar and can give me an idea on  whether I am on the right path.

AJRS