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Russian vs Icelandic | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Advice Center |  | |
| albysky Triglot Senior Member Italy lang-8.com/1108796Registered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4197 days ago 287 posts - 393 votes  Speaks: Italian*, English, German | Message 1 of 4 27 March 2013 at 8:50pm | IP Logged |
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Do you think it is harder russian or icelandic for an Italian who has an advanced level
both in English and German , and why ? 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Josquin Heptaglot Senior Member Germany Joined 4653 days ago 2266 posts - 3992 votes Speaks: German*, English, French, Latin, Italian, Russian, Swedish Studies: Japanese, Irish, Portuguese, Persian | Message 2 of 4 27 March 2013 at 9:32pm | IP Logged |
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English and German will give you more cognates for Icelandic as far as vocabulary is concerned. Moreover, some grammatical concepts from German will be transferable to Icelandic. Nevertheless, I think there is no real difference in difficulty if you want to learn both languages to a high level.
Getting Icelandic declension right is immensely difficult because of the many overlapping declension paradigms. Strong verbs can be a pain in the neck, too. On the other hand, Russian may have less paradigms, but there are more irregularities and exceptions to rules. Furthermore, there is the dreaded mobile stress in Russian, which is almost unpredictable. Verbal aspect on the other hand is not that bad - at least in my opinion. Although, in the beginning, you'll often be at a loss which aspect to choose. Last but not least, it will be much easier for you to find material (textbooks, grammars, dictionaries, podcasts, ...) for Russian than for Icelandic, which is important especially for the intermediate stage. As a conclusion, I found it easier to get a passive understanding in Icelandic, while my active skills are better in Russian, so it's really up to you what you want to get out of the language. Edited by Josquin on 27 March 2013 at 9:33pm 3 persons have voted this message useful | |
| Марк Senior Member Russian Federation Joined 4865 days ago 2096 posts - 2972 votes Speaks: Russian* | Message 3 of 4 27 March 2013 at 9:32pm | IP Logged |
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Russian because Icelandic is a Germanic language.
1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Serpent Octoglot Senior Member Russian Federation serpent-849.livejour Joined 6406 days ago 9753 posts - 15779 votes 4 sounds Speaks: Russian*, English, FinnishC1, Latin, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese Studies: Danish, Romanian, Polish, Belarusian, Ukrainian, Croatian, Slovenian, Catalan, Czech, Galician, Dutch, Swedish | Message 4 of 4 28 March 2013 at 12:46am | IP Logged |
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But Russian has far more international words than Icelandic, and the Germanic ones might not necessarily be recognizable. Especially to a non-native speaker; many cognates are sort of at the periphery, found only in dialects, old books, names etc.
If you're essentially deciding what to study, just study the one you can't live without. if you can live without them both, get more exposure till you get to the point where you NEED it in your life so badly that you won't be asking anyone or care which is more difficult. 7 persons have voted this message useful |
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