Hello! My name is Stefano
I'm Italian, and Italian is my mother tongue
but I also speak a little bit of Icelandic
I studied Icelandic for 4 months 10 years ago
in 2007
but then I had to stop studying it
because I had to work so much
and I just wasn't able to learn more.
But now I'm learning some more Icelandic
because I think it is a fantastic language
and Iceland is a fantastic country
I know that pronunciation is very difficult
and... obviously grammar is...
incredibly, incredibly difficult
but for me it's fun to learn Icelandic
and for me it's always... interesting to learn grammar [whoops forgot the accusative there :-p]
whenever I'm learning a new language
yep, and now I will speak with Thora!
See you afterwards
Stefano: Hi there! Hello! Thora: Good morning! Hello!
Stefano: How's it going?
Thora: Very good. How are you today?
Stefano: All good, thanks!
Thora: Nice! Stefano: What's your name?
My name is Þóra
Stefano: Where are you from? Thora: I am from Iceland, but I live in England currently
Stefano: I see, ok. Thora: And where are you from?
Stefano: I'm from Italy, from Milan
which is a city in the northern part of the country
but now I live in Belgium, in Brussels
I'm very happy here
Thora: Cool! Stefano: And are you having a good time in... London?
Thora: Yes, in London! It's a little bit windy here, at the moment...
the sun is shining, so the weather is fine.
What's the weather like where you are?
Stefano: The weather is great today, which is not ... How do you say "normal" in Icelandic?
... which is not normal :D
Have you been to Iceland lately?
Thora: Yes! I came home from Iceland just yesterday!
I spent two weeks there, it was amazing!
Stefano: Ok, how was the *winter* like there? [I said "winter" instead of "weather" :D]
Thora: What the weather was like? It was a bit windy in Reykjavík
It is often windy in Reykjavík... Then I went to Akureyri, which is in the North, in northern Iceland
Stefano: Yes, I know
Thora: Oh, nice! Have you been there? Stefano: Yes I have!
Thora: Yes, great! Stefano: I went to Iceland 10 years ago
and I went to... well obviously to Reykjavík...
and then to Selfoss, Hvolsvöllur, Höfn, Seyðisfjörður...
Thora: To Seyðisfjörður, yes. Stefano: Akureyri, Sauðárkrókur, and back to Reykjavík
Thora: Cool, you did the whole Ring Road!
Stefano: Yes, exactly, it was really, really nice
I love Icelandic nature
... and obviously Icelandic as a language :)
Which other languages do you speak?
Thora: I speak Icelandic, English, Danish and I understand Swedish and Norwegian...
I can speak some German and some French
and then a very little bit of some other languages, not enough to say that I know them
Stefano: Wonderful, wonderful! So do you like learning languages?
Thora: Yes, I have a lot of fun learning languages, I'm always learning some new ones
Stefano: Same here :D Thora: And you? Which other languages do you speak?
Stefano: I speak Italian as a mothertongue, and I can also speak English, German, Portuguese, French...
... Finnish, Romanian, Japanese... and a bit of Chinese and Icelandic [totally forgot to mention Spanish, sorry :(]
Thora: Wow, cool! You know a whole load of languages!
Stefano: So do you!
Oh and... What do you do for a living? What's your occupation?
Thora: I'm a translator.... Stefano: Noooooo...
Thora: Yes I am! Stefano: I am translator, too!
Thora: Oh alright, that's nice!
Stefano: Ok, ok, what do you do?
Thora: So, I'm a translator, that's my main occupation,
then I'm also teaching Icelandic sometimes on Italki and at other places as well
Stefano: Yes... I am also working as a translator AND as a tutor :D
Thora: Ok, I was going to ask you what you do but I guess it's the same as what I do!
Stefano: Yes I've been working for some 17 years... [still aiming randomly at cases here :))]
Thora: You have worked for 17 years
Stefano: Ok so I have worked as a translator for 17 years and I have just started to teach online as well
Thora: Online [in Icelandic] Stefano: Online, ok!
Do you like doing that?
Thora: Yes, I really enjoy it. I don't get to meet people when I'm translating
but then I get to speak to people and to practice other languages when I'm teaching
Stefano: Yes, I understand Thora: And you? Do you like teaching languages?
Stefano: Very much, very much, yes...
Stefano: So what do you plan to do at the weekend?
Thora: This weekend? I'm going on two visits... Stefano: What's that in English?
Thora: That's "visit" Stefano: Oh yeah ok got it
Thora: First I'm visiting a (male) friend of mine on Saturday, then a (female) friend of mine on Sunday
Stefano: This weekend my parents(?) are coming over... Thora: Yes, your parents(!) are coming this weekend
Stefano: They're going to visit us here in Brussels,
and that's very nice because they can help us a bit with the kids :D
Thora: So how many kid do you have?
Stefano: I have two kids. They go to school
Stefano: They speak Finnish, Italian and French... Thora: Wow, many languages!
Stefano: Well, ok, Italian and Finnish as mother tongues, and French because we live in Brussels
Thora: Yes, sure, so they have to speak French at school
Stefano: Yes, at school, yes. Here (in Brussels) French is spoken
Thora: I have a friend who's from Poland, her husband is Canadian...
he's from the French-speaking part of Canada
and they have a daughter who speaks Polish and French as mothertongues
and she goes to school and uses English there, so she can also speak three languages
Stefano: Yep, three languages, like my kids Thora: Like yours, yes
Thora: It's easier... Stefano: Easier to learn languages when you're a child
Thora: Yes, very true.
And I was born in Britain, but we moved to Iceland when I was two years old...
Stefano: Two? Thora: Yes, two! My father is from Iceland, we went there when I was two...
Then I started to learn Icelandic, and my mother as well, she's British, she was of course an adult
and after about 3 months I could speak Icelandic well,
but my mother was still trying to learn how to go to shop or so
Stefano: Fantastic, fantastic... Thora: Not for my mum, she did not find it fantastic :D
Stefano: Nope, not for her :D
I totally understand...
Stefano: Well, thank you for your time Thora: Sure, thank you, too
Stefano: And see you soon! Thora: See you soon!
Stefano: Bye bye! Thora: Bye!
Thora: You cannot use the grammar if you don't know the words
Stefano: Yes! Exactly! Thora: Exactly!
See you next time!
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