Complete Icelandic Beginner to Intermediate Book and Audio Course: Learn to read, write, speak and understand a new language with Teach Yourself

I love languages, and I've learned a few, if not well. I'm currently enamored of Icelandic, having watched shows like Trapped and The Valhalla Murders, so I've been looking for a way to get to know the language a bit better. I tried the Drops app again, and it's not my style. I looked around a bit more and stumbled upon this series. Now this is more like it! It starts with an introduction to how to pronounce the letters of the alphabet, then dives into phrases. My style! I have two Android phones, so I downloaded the Teach Yourself app to both of them, and it works great as an accompaniment to my Kindle version the Complete Icelandic book. No need for the CD. I've only just started this course, so that is my disclaimer here. However, I am very impressed with it, and as a lifelong student of languages, I look forward to diving further into Icelandic with this Kindle book and the app.

This book is excellent, very well-written and easy to follow. The exercise sections at the end of each unit are short enough you can finish quickly, but also really help firm up concepts. The audio supplement is quite helpful too! I’ve been using this in conjunction with pimmsleur Icelandic and feel like I’m progressing in leaps and bounds between the two!

I now have three copies of this, all from Amazon: my first purchase was the standalone book, then I bought the boxed set of the book plus CDs, and finally I purchased a Kindle copy for my IPad. I have tried online courses but found that my learning style needed a more systematic and grammatical approach. The CDs are downloadable to an MP3 player and are a great way to hear the language in really realistic dialogues and learn by repetition. The set takes you to an intermediate level which enables you to interact with Icelanders in Icelandic at a basic level and understand some of what is going on around you when you are visiting that wonderful country. I found that I needed a better dictionary to show the gender of nouns than the book provides, but that is a small criticism. I recommend any version, depending on what you need. I'm still using all mine.

Awesome for self study. Be sure to use the accompanying tracks online which are slow enough, clear, and helpful. Having a great time with it.

First off, I would like to start by thanking the authors of this book, Complete Icelandic, for creating a tool that gave me access to pursue my odd hobby. Takk fyrir bókina þína. To me, learning a language is among one of the most fun parts of life, and this book does a really good job at helping one to teach themselves. There are some downsides to it, but relatively few as compared to its many pros. As well as having the book, I found other resources incredibly helpful when paired with Complete Icelandic in beginning to learn the old Norse language. A few of the downfalls of this book were some of the physical features, the print could possibly be a bit small for some people, but I mainly found the thinness of the pages to be a slight nuisance when I nearly tore several pages while reading. Aside from the physical, this book cannot be read like a traditional book, at least not if one is actually looking to learn very much of anything. The book also comes with CDs, of which are very useful, but aren’t always included if the book is bought used. It may be a bit more expensive, but I believe buying the book new to guarantee CD access is worth it if planning on seriously trying to study the language. Compared to the few pitfalls of the book, there were many, many good things that I loved about it. Complete Icelandic has short, easy to follow conversations placed throughout the lessons that really increase comprehension with or without the CDs provided. After getting even just halfway through, I found myself understanding the general meaning of conversations, without having to check what every word meant. One of perhaps the most helpful things in truly comprehending the language, was the exercises at the end of each lesson (chapter) that went over what was covered in it, as well as answers to check understanding and go over anything missed or misunderstood. Some of the exercises are directly paired with the CDs so, again, it is better to have them, even if they are possible to do without (the answers just won’t match exactly). All in all I really appreciate everything about Complete Icelandic, and I think it is an incredible resource for those starting out with the language. I loved the easy-to-follow conversations, exercises, and consistency that made the book easy to follow and the language easy to comprehend. As with most languages, it is often best to have many resources. I believe that the Complete languages series does an amazing job with the way they teach the languages, and I would recommend the books to anyone interested in expanding or starting their collection of resources in any particular language that they want to learn.

Good intro to Icelandic language

but Quality is really good is part of my dream thank you

It arrived just fine and the book is on a new condition. It appears that the audio is no longer CD but online, you have to go to the website of Teach Yourself to listen to it (Don’t buy the $80 CD). I just think the Amazon item’s picture should be change it to avoid future confusion among the costumers.

bruh

Very nice course. Sound is clear on my iPad. I've read some complaints, but it seems to have been fixed. Now I'll make a dream come true: learning Icelandic!

O Tam do livro é pequeno. É um pouquinho maior que um pocket book. É muito útil e os áudios são só online e gratuitos

Very good book, among the best from the Teach Yourself language series. Very intuitive, perfect pace of grammar/vocabulary introduction, well structured lessons.

Recensione per gli amici italiani: Buon corso, si finisce (se si ha costanza) nel giro di poche settimane. Insegna bene, il libro è strutturato con una parte di teoria, una di grammatica e una di esercizi per capitolo. Attenzione però! Bisogna avere un buon inglese per capire bene il libro, ma secondo me basta avere un traduttore a portata di mano. Si imparano in fretta le frasi, che sono quelle più utili per un viaggio di svago. I due CD sono fatti abbastanza bene, ma non sono il massimo del pratico (insomma, chi ha sempre dietro un lettore cd?) si salvano in extremis per la possibilità di ascoltare (senza inserire codici vari, basta solo registrarsi) i CD dal browser o dall’app (che non so se disponibile anche per Android). Conclusioni finali: ottimo corso di islandese per tutti i livelli, unico requisito, un buon livello di inglese.