Why I’m learning Icelandic in January

When Liz asked us if we’d be interested in signing up for her January challenge to learn a language with uTalk, I immediately knew which language I was going to pick: Icelandic. Then she asked me why and I struggled: I don’t have a good reason. I have never been to Iceland, I don’t have any Icelandic friends and, realistically, I’m unlikely to need to speak Icelandic in the near (or even distant) future.

And yet I am incredibly excited about the prospect of cramming as much Icelandic as possible into my mince-pie stuffed head in January, and trying to beat all my colleagues in the challenge. Ever since recording uTalk Icelandic with our genuinely lovely and professional voice artists Saga and Smarri, I have wanted to know more about the language and culture of this beautiful country of Northern lights, roaming wales and unfailingly excellent Eurovision entries.

I’m also a bit of a fan of the Nordic sagas and the idea of being able to vaguely decipher the genuine article with some of my newly acquired Icelandic really appeals. That’s probably a bit ambitious for January, but it never hurts to have a long-term goal, and I’m hoping that the uTalk challenge will start me off on a serious 2015 language quest.

Who else is going to join us?

Nat