The Icelandic language is considered to be a strong identity-forming factor for Icelanders. The cultural heritage that is inherent in every language, seems to be even stronger within Icelandic, since it has changed relatively little since the 13th century. The language is thus deeply connected to the history of the country. With its only around 330 000 speakers, Icelandic is a language that needs to stay practised in order to stay alive. 

Nevertheless, even some foreigners, who are intending to stay in Iceland for a longer period of time, do not necessarily consider it as important to learn Icelandic because of its economical irrelevance. And since Icelanders have an immediate willingness to speak English, there seems to be no reason for making an effort to learn Icelandic. Especially the stigma saying that Icelandic is extremely hard to learn doesn’t really encourage people in exploring this language. But when putting the grammatical structure aside, Icelandic contains an interesting, meaningful, one could say poetic vocabulary, that tells a lot about the country and its people. Therefore, the acquisition of Icelandic can be a huge possibility for foreigners to get close to and into the Icelandic society and become a real part of it. 

Language is an instrument of power, it can include and exclude, it can create bridges and borders. Thus, it is important to give people the opportunity to explore Iceland's culture and society through its very important component, the Icelandic language. It is about diving into this society and learning how it thinks and works. The aim of this project is to find a way to support people in this undertaking.

Students: Jakob Einarsson, Berglind Gunnarsdóttir, Dagný Björg Stefánsdóttir, Darren Mark Donguiz Trinidad, Emma Theodórsdóttir, Guðjón Andri Þorvarðarson, Heiðdís Inga Hilmarsdóttir, Hrefna Sigurðardóttir, Lotta Kaarina Nykänen, Sævar Stein Guðmundsson
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