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Faroese material is hard to come by | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Specific Languages |  | |
| vman81 Newbie Faroe Islands Joined 5678 days ago 4 posts - 6 votes Speaks: Faroese* | Message 1 of 6 11 May 2009 at 8:19pm | IP Logged | ||
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Many people who mention learning Faroese on the Internet can't seem to find enough material to learn from, and I'd love to help anyone out in the same situation, and mention some good sources of spoken Faroese (not exactly teaching material, but great for some immersion). Faroese is my native language, and I think most faroese people are thrilled when a foreigner takes the effort to try to speak it. It should be very familiar to anyone speaking Icelandic, and to lesser extent the rest of the scandinavian languages.
The main radio/tv broadcaster in the faroes is "Kringvarpið", with an FM and tv station, most of which can be streamed from this page: http://kringvarp.fo/index.asp?s=29 Other well written online resources include the history of the local postal service: http://www.post.fo/Default.aspx?ID=307 Some music is also very language specific, such as Metal band "Týr", reciting the centuries old faroese ballads that kept the spoken language alive when Danish was the language of law, trade and god: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T%C3%BDr_(band) "Ormurin Langi" and "Regin Smiður" are good examples of their reinterpretation of the ancient ballads. I'm not quite sure if this thread should be in this sub forum, but please move it if it isn't. If anyone has questions regarding pronunciations or translations feel free to post in this thread, or message me. Thank you dr Alexander Arguelles for some enlightening youtube clips, I only wish there were more. My highest level of Faroese education was an A level exam, so I do not claim to be any kind of expert, but it'd love to help where i can. - Helgi 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| vman81 Newbie Faroe Islands Joined 5678 days ago 4 posts - 6 votes Speaks: Faroese* | Message 2 of 6 11 May 2009 at 8:50pm | IP Logged | ||
It's hard to say, some people seem to be able to understand the other language easily enough, if spoken clearly, but others are unable. I'd say they are very close, if you spend an hour understanding the basic rules. The þ sign does not exist in the Faroese alphabet, but ð does. Danish is taught from the 2nd grade as a secondary language, and is the language we get most of our tabloids, comics and some of our TV, but English is also present in this context. Newspapers and local TV/radio are Faroese. Danish is not spoken other than in some judicial contexts, because some administration is Danish, but this is also being replaced by faroese. Strange to think that up until 50 years ago church, schools and government was totally Danish in language. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| vman81 Newbie Faroe Islands Joined 5678 days ago 4 posts - 6 votes Speaks: Faroese* | Message 3 of 6 11 May 2009 at 9:17pm | IP Logged | ||
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I can understand most of it, but there are words in every sentence that I'm unsure about, and i should consult a dictionary to be sure about anything. Spoken Icelandic is even more foreign to me, but if in a conversation it is easier to understand, as you can adjust your speech to the other.
But yes, if you'd study Icelandic you should be able to learn Faroese relatively easily, especially as you have some Swedish experience. One of my annoyances is that the gender of specific words are quite often a different gender in the other language. Daniel Tammet learned reasonably good icelandic in 7 days in this very interesting documentary, and I can understand what he is speaking easily (skip to part 5 if you don't want the entire documentary, just the language part) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AbASOcqc1Ss btw I don't speak Icelandic 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Louis Triglot Groupie Italy Joined 5732 days ago 92 posts - 110 votes  Speaks: English*, Italian, Spanish | Message 4 of 6 11 May 2009 at 9:48pm | IP Logged | ||
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Ah, Týr is one of my favorite bands and if weren't for them, I wouldn't know about your beautiful collection of islands! Because there are only 40-something thousand speakers of Faroese, I opted to learn Icelandic instead. Just out of curiosity, do you still live in the Faroe Islands? According to the Internet Usage Stats for Europe, 77 % of the Faroe Islands' population has Internet access. I honestly cannot picture that, since the stereotype of Faroe Islanders seems to be that they are all primitive fishermen.
Source: http://www.internetworldstats.com/stats4.htm And I have recently come across a summer language program for Faroese, but I'm a year too young for it (and my parents probably wouldn't let me, hehe). The link is here, for anyone curious. http://www.setur.fo/en/university/faroese_summer_institute/ 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| vman81 Newbie Faroe Islands Joined 5678 days ago 4 posts - 6 votes Speaks: Faroese* | Message 5 of 6 11 May 2009 at 10:03pm | IP Logged | ||
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I can understand the Icelandic choice, especially because of the rich written history. Out of curiosity, can you tell me if you understand the lyrics for the following song?
If you can ignore the obvious travel ad in this video, the audio from around 1 minute in the video is one of my favourite songs arranged for a symphony orchestra. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ow2HumAf13w But yes, the stereotypical faroese is a fisherman etc etc, but society is very much like the rest of scandinavia. There are 3 separate fiber links to Iceland/Shetland/Scotland for communications, and IT is a major business. I live in Copenhagen, Denmark right now, but I am planning to move back in a few years. Hope you get time to reply to my question :) 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Emperor ß Triglot Newbie United States Joined 5682 days ago 5 posts - 6 votes Speaks: English*, German, Dutch Studies: Russian, Esperanto, Icelandic Studies: Faroese, Norwegian | Message 6 of 6 12 May 2009 at 11:41pm | IP Logged | ||
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Faroese is, in my opinion, one of the most beautiful languages I've ever heard. Historically, it's very interesting because of the celtic influences which you can hear in the phonology of the language.
Týr is also one of my favorite bands- Regin Smiður and Torsteins Kvæði are my two favorites in Faroese, but Sinklars Vísa is a good Norwegian song. Vman, do you also study English in school? Of all the Faroese people I've talked to, they all have very good English. I know Danish is a required second language, but do most Faroese children also elect to study English? If anyone is looking for some half way decent internet sources on Faroese, make sure to check out these links: http://www.tyrforum.fraendar.com/viewtopic.php?t=561 -The Faroese Viking Metal band Týr's language subforum and a collection of links on Faroese. http://books.google.com/books?id=2n11D06DJqoC&pg=PA3&dq=Skul abokagrunnur&lr=#PPP1,M1 -Google books with a full version book of the history of Faroese folk songs, various songs and the melodies thereof, and the importance of the 'kvæði' in Faroese culture. http://books.google.com/books?lr=&q=Skulabokagrunnur&btnG=Se arch+Books -Google books search for Skulabokagrunnur, the school book publishing company of the Faroe Islands. There are some good school books here to practice reading and comprehension. http://www.unilang.org/wiki/index.php/Faroese -Faroese language wiki. It is still rather rough and limited, however. Hope this helps a bit! ~Emperor ß 1 person has voted this message useful |
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