Modern Icelandic & Old Norse almost identical when spoken..

[Doctor Who]

From the "Be proud of your heritage" department:

Not much research has been done on the pronouciation of old Norse and how it differs from modern Icelandic. People generally think modern Icelandic pronouciation is somewhat different from what old heroes like Ingólfur Arnarsson and his peers spoke. But to what extent do they differ? A news reporter went on quest with a help of researchers to find out how ancient nordic people spoke and compared it with modern Icelandic. The conclusion: Modern Icelandic and old Norse are strikingly similar when spoken, with a tiny difference in pronouciation.. they are almost identical:

http://visir.is/section/MEDIA99&file...9-1AB2A0E5FBBD

Sorry but the video is in Icelandic

[Loddfafner]

A roommate who studied old Norse was surprised to find how useful this supposedly dead language was when he visited Iceland.

[Doctor Who]

A roommate who studied old Norse was surprised to find how useful this supposedly dead language was when he visited Iceland.

The biggest difference lies in the phonology.

[The Ripper]

Also Finnish and Estonian have preserved the old form of some Norse loans, that have experienced a shift in the Scandinavian languages. For example:

Laugardagr in Old Norse, Laugardagur in Icelandic, Lördag in Swedish, Lauantai in Finnish, Laupäev in Estonian.

[esaima]

I have noticed that Icelanders and Finns have very similar accent when they speak English.

[Don Brick]

I have noticed that Icelanders and Finns have very similar accent when they speak English.

Interesting. I´ve never thought of it before but that´s actually quite true.

[The Ripper]

I have noticed that Icelanders and Finns have very similar accent when they speak English.

Just listening to Icelandic is interesting, there is something familiar about it.

[Doctor Who]

I have noticed that Icelanders and Finns have very similar accent when they speak English.

Just listening to Icelandic is interesting, there is something familiar about it.

Yes and it is quite common for Icelanders to be asked if they come from Finnland when they travel Europe.

[Äike]

Finnic people are the original inhabitants of Scandinavia/Northern-Europe. Maybe Old Norse still had some Finnic influences, from assimilating the native population?

This is just a speculation, but this topic is rather intriguing.

[Moonbird]

I've heard from friends visiting Iceland that the language is some ways resemble the old Swedish dialects spoken in Finland.