Icelandic Resources

2025-07-30

So, you've decided to put your Iceland addiction on another level and finally learn the warm and beloved Icelandic language. Here are some resources that will help you become a true Iceaboo.

Online courses

Alaric's course. This is definitely the course for people that enjoy audio-based courses like Pimsleur, Michel Thomas or Language Transfer. Beware that the host is not a native Icelandic speaker (albeit highly proficient in the language), so make sure to listen a lost to other sources to pick up the most correct pronunciation.
Icelandic Online is a completely free course by Háskóli Íslands, the biggest university in Iceland, heavily used in their own teaching of the language as a part of the Icelandic as a foreign language curriculum (more info about this program below).
Pimsleur. This is a course that makes you focus on listening and speaking in order to acquire the correct pronunciation skills from the get go. Unfortunately for Icelandic only one level (30 lessons, approximately 15 hours of audio) is available, but it still gives a good introduction. The course is a bit on the pricey side, however they offer a monthly subscription for a bit less than US$20, which is much more bearable. One last note, when booking the subscription, you might have to pretend that you're from the US using a VPN if the website doesn't give you the subscription option, the payment went through just fine with my non-US credit card after that.
Ylhýra is an integrated collection of beginner texts and a course in basic Icelandic. The texts are graded based on their CEFR levels, even though in my opinion the classification is sometimes too arbitrary. The website also includes a flashcard feature that you can use to study vocabulary from the texts and also to learn the basics of the language (up to A2 level claimed by the creators of the website). Grammar explanations are also provided.
Viltu læra íslensku. This TV show with 21 roughly 15-30 minutes long episodes is a good starting point for listening comprehension. It covers many everyday situations in Iceland as well as a "classroom-like" repetition of grammar and vocabulary.

Dictionaries

Íslensk nútímamálsorðabók is THE Icelandic-Icelandic dictionary, available for free online, with most words having examples and audio pronunciation of them. When looking up words, you can enter any form of the word (e.g. erum would automatically "translate" to vera and point to the correct article).
BÍN can be used to look up conjugation and declination of Icelandic words, very useful if you're not sure
Wiktionary sometimes has better example sentences than the aforementioned dictionary and also offers translations to English. Beware that many words are missing and inflected forms are an even bigger hit or miss (they are pretty much never there).
Orðtíðnivefur has frequency lists for most common words in Icelandic that you can view and download in CSV format, useful if you want to make your own flashcard deck with the most common words.
https://stæ.is/os, an English-Icelandic dictionary that contains many mathematical terms, very useful if you want to do mathematics in Iceland(ic).

Websites about Icelandic

Icelandic Reference. A grammar course that covers the basics of the Icelandic grammar, most points are illustrated with example sentences, so good for improving one's passive vocabulary too.
Íslenzka.is offers grammar exercises for some grammar points, mostly conjugation and declination, very well complemented by the preceding website with explanations.

Textbooks

I've personally never used any of these, but just for reference here are some textbooks that were recommended to me by other Iceaboos.

Colloquial Icelandic, a textbook from the Colloquial series, audio is available for free from the linked website, if you spend a couple hours removing the English prompts from dialogues, you can get a viable resource for passive immersion
Teach Yourself Icelandic, a textbook from a competing Teach Yourself series, some free resources should be available here.
Íslenska fyrir alla. This textbook is fully in Icelandic, so best used with a teacher/tutor, although self-study with a dictionary should also be possible (albeit much more tedious).

Websites in Icelandic

RÚV is the national broadcaster of Iceland, offers both radio and TV content, some of the content (mainly subbed movies/shows from abroad and some sports livestreams) are geo-locked and thus require an Icelandic VPN to watch. RÚV also offers many podcasts, that can be listened to using any podcast app.
Útvarp Saga is another radio station in Iceland, subjectively has much more talking (in Icelandic) than RÁS stations by RÚV.
Blog.is is the Icelandic Blogspot, has a lot of different blogs about different subjects, most of them unfortunately inactive. Still a very good resource to find some interesting reading material in Icelandic.
Edbook, a website with some textbooks (mainly in STEM subjects) offered by HÍ.

Books in Icelandic

Short Stories in Icelandic. This book has some short stories in easy Icelandic, with some of the words translated to English after each chapter.
Árstíðir, another book with texts in easy Icelandic, similar difficulty to the book above.
Námsefni. This website by the Icelandic Department of Education, offers most textbooks used in Icelandic schools for free. Some kids' books are also offered there for free.
Emma. Some ePUBs are offered for free by an e-book store, there is also a library service with many more books, but it requires an Icelandic library card.
Forlagið. A bookstore that ships abroad with reasonable book and shipping prices.

In-person courses in Iceland

Háskóli Íslands offers several different courses in and about Icelandic that can be taken either separately or as a part of a degree program. There is also a full degree program offered called Icelandic as a second language. This program normally takes three years and I highly recommend it to anyone who wants to take their Icelandic to the next level with immersion in the most native environment possible. There are no tuition fees (except for a 75k ISK registration fee per year of study), however all applicants are required to pass an A1-A2-ish exam in Icelandic to make sure they can follow the coursework completely taught in Icelandic.
Mímir offers non-university courses in Icelandic for all levels, in addition to administering pretty much the only official exam of Icelandic as a second language called Ríkisborgarapróf, which is required to apply for Icelandic citizenship.