It’s 6am on a Monday morning. I have class in three hours. I
should be – no – need to be sleeping. But once again, I’ve woken myself up reciting
Icelandic grammar and various phrases I’ve learned in the past few weeks. My
grammar sheets lie on the floor next to my bed because I know at some point
I’ll wake up in the middle of the night and need something to do. I run through
the numerous tables of declensions for nouns and matching adjectives. I think
about conversations I had throughout the day and how I could have expressed
myself better, how I could have corrected my grammar. I think about how to
write an interesting blog post on the intricacies of the language of my
ancestors. And I think about why I am embarking on this seemingly impossible
endeavor of learning Icelandic.
In my heart, I know why I’m doing this. It’s difficult to
express in words why I feel the need to know this language and connect to this
one part of my cultural heritage. Unlike most of the people in this course, I’m
not studying Icelandic because it will aid in my professional and academic
interests (at least not for now – who knows, maybe I will teach here one day!).
I’m not studying the medieval Icelandic sagas, texts, or religion. I’m not a
language buff and by no means do I find grammar fascinating. In many aspects,
I’m the odd one out in our group. I want to understand the spoken language and
I want to speak. I don’t mind whether it’s grammatically incorrect – though speaking
correctly would be an obvious perk. I want to learn Icelandic because my
limited knowledge of it has connected me in so many ways to new family, new
friends, and a new home.
But for right now, my focus is on the academic side –
reading, writing, rules – and, of course, attempting to get a good grade in the
course. I finally broke down and bought the $80 Icelandic-English dictionary (orðabók) that our teachers recommended
us to buy. Through I cringed as I handed over my credit card, I’m quite happy
about this purchase. It’s amazing what will stick with you when you turn the
pages, scroll through the words, and pinpoint the translation. Using Google
Translate would probably make reading our texts a much easier task, yet I would
rather go the old school route. I doubt I would have remembered the word efri (upper; top – takk fyrir, orðabók) if I had just typed it into a search engine.
I'm also finding that I can pick out more words in
conversations that are happening around me, as well as understand why the words
decline as they do. For those unfamiliar with languages that use declensions,
essentially words can change based on how you are talking about the subject.
For example, and since I’m in Iceland, let’s talk mountains (fjöll).
Or do you want to talk about just one mountain (fjall)? Or that specific one right there (fjallið)? Would you rather being climbing up the
mountain (fjallið) or standing on the
mountain (fjallinu)? Or do you just
find it fun, in general, to stand on mountains (fjöllum)? Sometimes I will sit down and write pages of declensions
as to not forget the many different categories nouns fall into. I won’t even
attempt to explain adjective and name declensions. Sometimes my brain feels
like it is going to explode at the end of the day. Sometimes I just
can’t seem to turn it off. But for that, I am thankful. After this course, I will reconnect with my world of
Icelandic friends and family – and my communication skills will only have
changed for the better.
Adjective declensions that I told you I wasn't going to try to explain
I don’t know where my journey in learning Icelandic will
take me next, but I’m certainly happy with where it has taken me so far. We’ll
just have to see (við sjáum bara til). In the meantime, I can’t thank everyone enough
for their support in getting me to this place in my life. Specifically, I’d
like to thank mamma mín í Minneapolis,
Sigga, even though she is now living in Colorado. Her love, brilliant teaching,
and persistance in not letting me give up when I first started learning
Icelandic is one of the main reasons I am here in Iceland today. Also, a huge takk fyrir must be given to the
Icelandic Roots organization, headed by Sunna Pam Furstenau (http://www.icelandicroots.com). The scholarship I
received made this trip financially possible for me, as most of my income is
going towards graduate school tuition back home. I also need to thank the
organization for connecting me with even more relatives in Iceland that I didn’t
know I had until this June! Thank
you to the Icelandic communities in Minnesota and beyond which show support and
interest in my endeavor. Thank you to my amazing friends and family in North
America for putting up with me always talking about Iceland and feigning
interest in learning the Icelandic phrases I try to teach you all. Thank you to
my wonderful friends and family in Iceland for your endless generosity, as well
as your patience in understanding my Icelandic. And last, but certainly not least,
thank you to my parents. Thank you for teaching me how to be a strong and
independent person, thank you for teaching me the value of doing things you
love, thank you for allowing me to makes mistakes, but teaching me the lesson
behind each one, thank you for not holding me back from where I need to go, and
thank you for your welcoming arms when I need to return. Most of all, just
thank you for being my parents. I’ll stop now, mom, so you can go grab a
kleenex and dry your eyes J I hope I have not missed anyone out there, but if
I have (exploding brain!!), please know that I am truly grateful for your
support. Thanks again and goodbye for now, þakka
ykkur kærlega og bless á meðan.
No comments:
Post a Comment