Strangely, a lot of people in America will state with great confidence (as we do when we don't know what we're talking about!) that Icelandic is "the most difficult language in the world". Evidently, not only do these people not know how closely Icelandic is related to English, but have also never taken a look at at Russian, never mind a non-indoeuropean language like Finnish, Japanese, or any of the Native American languages (for example). For my part, I can't read Icelandic very well, but if I walk it through Danish, I can make some sense of it. It's mostly the spelling differences and the more complex grammar, not to mention a lot of vocabulary differences, that throw me. Still, it's not so difficult that I couldn't pick up good reading skills in Icelandic if I'd put my mind to it.

@uktana (really late response, I know) My understanding - based on anecdotal evidence found on the internet - is that everyone except native English speakers consider English the hardest language. This seems to primarily be due to English using every other language's pronunciations, grammar, spelling, and punctuation all at once.

To me, Chinese is the most difficult since I never learned to hear the changing pronunciation of the 'vowel' sounds (rising, falling, &c.).

@rentechie As far as reading goes, Japanese is the worst for me, with its three interlocking writing systems, plus romaji (romanization) to make things "easier" for us. The language itself is fairly logical, though its structure takes some getting used to, and the levels of politeness can be very confusing. Among the languages that I halfway understand, I have a great deal of difficulty understanding Danish and French when spoken, though I can read and write both of those fairly well. Dutch is interesting in that it very often sounds something like English (it's closely related) and it's not unusual to feel like you ought to understand what's being said, but don't.

English is very difficult to handle in a fluent, idiomatic way, because of its irregularities, odd pronunciations, and enormous vocabulary. But on the other hand, it can be spoken very badly and still be mostly understood. So long as the context is clear, and the words are in the right order, with a little listening practice we can understand all but the thickest accents. (Ask me how I know! )

@uktana Every language is the hardest language to learn for me. Spent two years trying to learn Spanish from Duolingo's mobile app and finally just gave up.

@Humility Depending on the person, with some languages you really have to take classes and learn to speak them in a formal setting rather than trying to self-study. I do all right by myself with Spanish and French, but I've been trying to tackle Japanese for years with almost no progress, and I think that if I really wanted to learn it, I'd have to go look for some place that holds Japanese classes.

...of fallingness.

Meaning: https://translate.google.com/#is/en/Dettifoss%20%3D%20(a%C3%B0%20detta)%20foss
Strongest: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dettifoss

To be clear, it's not the highest waterfall in Europe (Norway has all of those, and indeed many of the highest in the world), and it's not the highest flow rate - but it's more often than not (depending on the season) the highest height * flow rate in Europe (the rest of the year it's Rhine Falls). It's also just the start of a sequence of falls of large scale.

You may know of the waterfall from the opening scene of Prometheus.

https://www.google.com/search?site=&tbm=isch&source=hp&biw=1920&bih=914&q=dettifoss&oq=dettifoss&gs_l=img.3..0j0i30l9.350.1418.0.1500.9.6.0.3.3.0.174.698.1j5.6.0....0...1ac.1.64.img..0.9.698.-SPcMUzZXk0#tbm=isch&q=dettifoss+prometheus

Note that every so often a jökulhlaup (glacial outburst flood) runs over the falls; in some of the more powerful ones (occuring on average once every few thousand years) it's had several times the waterflow of all of Earth's major rivers combined (several hundred thousand cubic meters per second). These superfloods (and more accurately, the large boulders that they carried with them at tremendous speeds) carved out some impressive landscapes in a matter of days - for example, Ásbyrgi:

https://www.google.com/search?site=&tbm=isch&source=hp&biw=1920&bih=914&q=%C3%A1sbyrgi&oq=%C3%A1sbyrgi&gs_l=img.3..0j0i30l4j0i24l3.301.1267.0.1452.7.7.0.0.0.0.143.755.3j4.7.0....0...1ac.1j4.64.img..0.7.755...0i10i24.rPaqWdkgJv8

@Karen Woah, no kidding. 12 of the tallest 35 waterfalls are in Europe and Norway has 11 of them.

@VoidTorcher Yep - Norway has some very hard rocks that can sustain very long cliffs, and has been extensively folded - and is wet enough to form numerous small streams / creeks to plunge off of them Iceland, by contrast, couldn't do that - our land is mostly basalt, which isn't as strong, and we get too sheared off / pressed down during the ice ages to boot.

@Karen Our waterfalls are all so tiny, but not too bad, eh?

@VoidTorcher No, a very different look than ours Our landscape "bares its bones", while yours (at least in many parts) covers it with vegetation Very nice in its own way! I can only think of a few big ones there that go through forests - for example:

http://www.farmholidays.is/asset/7694/systrafoss-kirkjubaejarklaustur.jpg

We do have a fair number that go through low scrub - for example:

https://images.adventures.is/assets/uploads/2018/09/19113453/Hraunfossar-Snaefellnes-Iceland-511.jpg

But most are "water, rock and moss"

https://www.google.is/search?biw=1920&bih=1067&tbm=isch&sa=1&ei=M8vfXLykLuaY1fAPv4O06Ao&q=iceland+waterfall+-gullfoss+-seljalandsfoss+-sk%C3%B3gafoss&oq=iceland+waterfall+-gullfoss+-seljalandsfoss+-sk%C3%B3gafoss&gs_l=img.3...1218.10559..10664...0.0..0.84.2715.37......1....1..gws-wiz-img.......0j0i30.q4qvlXGTats

(and they're bloody everywhere ;) )

@Karen Wow! Iceland Is beautiful! We don't have many Natural Wonders where I live, or even within a 3 hour radius, but this one's worth the drive: https://www.google.com/search?q=gooseberry+falls&client=ms-android-verizon&prmd=minv&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiBpvih-KPiAhVN-qwKHZB1DboQ_AUoAnoECBMQAg&cshid=1558143516394&biw=412&bih=691#imgrc=dVHNB9BLxZCsjM

Not up to Iceland's standards, but still nice for us.

@Karen Just have to say, love your comments. ^_^

Sounds like the Icelandic people are the ones who should have a 'Boaty McBoatface'.

One of these days, I'm going to try making my own Gravlax.

It sounds like the name of a mighty hero's warhammer or something, doesn't it?

m i the only one to realize that Dettifoss sounds like dental floss?

@potatoe4life um, no. you're not alone.

this is true. The infamous Eyjafjallajökull translates to. "island mountain glacier".

@IcelandicComiclover sounds like an accurate description of quite a lot of things on Iceland, Svalbard etc...

@Wortel i guess?

@IcelandicComiclover your avatar is nice though :P

@Wortel thank you,

@IcelandicComiclover

@Wortel yea, it does.
(sorry for late reply)

@IcelandicComiclover doesn't matter

I actually like that :P But I’m weird so meh :P

Should I jump from the falling falls of LIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIFE

Well, some of them are pretty creative, like Ásbyrgi meaning "fortress for the æsir". I don't know if I explained that correctly though.

@SelfSexual close enough?

If the word "foss" has the exact same meaning in Icelandic as it has in Norwegian, I would say it more correctly translates as "cascade" than as "falls". Which would mean that "Dettifoss" is more correctly translated as "Falling cascade".

@Tjalve Foss means waterfall in Icelandic. If foss doesn't mean waterfall in Norwegian than what does? Also, what in your view is the difference between a waterfall and a cascade anyway?

Almost all Icelandic waterfalls end in -foss. The exceptions are cases where the waterfall's name is a descriptor, like "Glymur" (clashing/rumbling), "Dynjandi" (roaring) or "Hverfandi" (disappearing).

@Karen This is more of a technicality.
Yes, the norwegian word for "waterfall" is "foss". But the technical translation of "waterfall" would be "vannfall".
The norwegian word "foss" is also the basis for words such as "fossende", which would translate as "rushing" or "cascading". Thus I would say that a more correct translation of "foss" would be "cascade".

I don't know if there is a technical difference between a waterfall and a cascade. I am just discussing the minor details of the words, and not how they are used.

It's like "glacier". In norwegian we could call that "isbre", "fonn", or "jøkul". The common word for "glacier" is "isbre". But the word "isbre" is made up from "is", which means "ice", and "bre" which means "spread". So technically "isbre" means "ice-spread" in english.
Glaciers in Norway use all of these names. Such as Svartisen (The Black Ice), Jostedalsbreen (The Jostevalley Spread), Folgefonna, and Hardangerjøkulen.

Translations can be fun. Such as the english word "trailer", which in norwegian is "tilhenger", which is the same word that we also use for "fan" or "supporter". The word "tilhenger" would technically be translated as "hanger-on". And so it's possible to see how that can mean both "supporter" and "trailer".

@Tjalve Here glacier is just "jökull". The different types of glaciers are just *jökull, for example, "skriðjökull" (crawling-glacier), which is where a glacier descends down the side of a mountain.

I guess Icelandic is more prone to reusing base words rather than coining / importing new ones.

Tilhenger sounds sort of like "tilhneiging", which is like a longing for something. Supporter is stuðningsmaður or fylgismaður. Hanger-on... I don't know, fylgifiskur? As in, "something that tends to accompany something else"? Yeah, we have a lot of words and phrases that are fishing related ;)

Too bad Norwegian isn't as closely related to Icelandic as Faroese. Faroese is just the right distance from Icelandic such that it can be read easily, but the differences come across as *hilarious*. Here's some examples:

Faroese word: What it looks like in Icelandic –> What it actually means
afgangur : leftovers –> semen
skref: step –> pussy
limur: penis –> member, such as in a club
ríðingarfélag: "fucking association" –> horse riding association
Reyði Krossurinn: The Angry Cross –> The Red Cross
ástand: situation –> ladder for painting
bert: away, as in "go away" –> only, as in "employees only"
yfirgangsfólk: pushy people –> terrorists
bumba: paunch –> bomb
afmynda: deface –> take a picture
spæla: fry -> play (in Faroese it's perfectly natural to "spæla" football, while in Icelandic you'd either have to be completely mad or have some weird cullinary tastes!)
herbergi: room -> sometimes bed, sometimes outhouse
dýna: mattress –> heavy blanket
sæng: heavy blanket –> mattress
ljóð: poem –> sound
ljóðaldur: age of poetry –> sound wave
skuldsettur: indebted –> arrested
lífsvandi: life problem –> life threatening
pingvinir: parliamentary friends –> penguins
sjúkrabilur: sick breakage –> ambulance
rúsdrekkakoyring –> driving under the influence

And so forth. Too bad Norwegian isn't similar enough to be hilarious in that manner ;)

@Karen Interesting to see the different meanings in the same words in faroese and icelandic. I always thought icelandic was more or less the "original" norse. For a long time I have said that we norwegians don't speak norwegian. We speak danish. It's the icelanders who speak norwegian. But I might have to reconsider that, and assume that it's the faroese instead.

Faroese word: Norwegian equivalent -> Meaning of the norwegian word
afgangur: avgang -> leaving, or finishing. As in "the train is leaving" or "finishing student (last year of studies)"
skref: skrev -> crotch, but can also be used when stepping over something, especialy when it's so tall that you have to step over it sideways.
limur: lem -> limb
ríðingarfélag: rideklubb -> riding association. The faroese and norwegian words are not completely the same, but sufficiently similar.
Reyði Krossurinn: Røde Kors -> Red Cross
ástand: åsted -> scene, as in "crime scene", where something has happened
bert: bort -> away. But could also be "bare" which means "only". I think I'll go for "bort" though.
yfirgangsfólk: overgangsfolk -> This word doesn't exist in norwegian. But if it had existed, it would mean something like "people who are crossing" or "people who are moving from one thing to another".
bumba: bombe -> bomb
afmynda: Doesn't really have an equivalent in norwegian. The closest might be "avbilde (take a picture)" or "umyndiggjøre (disempower, as in taking away a person's right to make decisions for himself)"
spæla: spela (new-norwegian), spille (dano-norwegian) -> play
herbergi: herberge -> hostel
dýna: dyna/dyne -> duvet (I assume that's what you meant when you wrote "heavy blanket")
sæng: seng -> bed
ljóð: ljod (dialect), lyd (standard norwegian) -> sound
ljóðaldur: No equivalent word in norwegian
skuldsettur: skuldsatt -> This word doesn't really exist in norwegian, but if it had existed, it would probably mean "indebted". It might actually exist in some dialects. I don't know.
lífsvandi: Doesn't really exist in norwegian, but similar words do exist, with varying meanings.
pingvinir: pingviner -> penguins
sjúkrabilur: sjukebil/sykebil -> ambulance
rúsdrekkakoyring: ruskjøring -> not really the word we use, but it would mean "intoxicated driving".

All in all, I see what you mean with icelandic reusing old words for new meanings.
Afgangur -> semen (or I would assume "ejaculate" would be a more technically correct translation, just as I'd translate "foss" into "cascade" rather than "waterfall"), skref -> pussy, limur -> penis, and ríða -> fucking are all good examples of how an original word can get a new sexualized meaning. Just like "cock" originally meant "rooster", and "cunt" originally meant "wedge", "crack" or "crevasse" (I tend to have fun saying that "cuneiform" means "cunt shaped"). I can also easily understand the basis for most of the other differences in meaning between faroese and icelandic.

I do have a problem understanding why the icelanders have exchanged the meanings of "duvet" and "mattress" though. But then again, the norwegian meaning of the word "grine" also seems to be the opposite of what it "should" be.

Your word "tilhneiging" seems to be what we would call "tilbøyning". Technically it would mean "bowing for something", but I don't think we use the word in that form. We do however use "tilbøyelse", which means "propensity" or "being inclined to do something".
Our word "tilhenger" would have about the same meaning as "tilhanga" in icelandic. I'm not saying that word exists in icelandic, but "tilhenger" means "hanging onto something". So I guess you can understand why it can both mean "trailer" and "fan/supporter".
As for your "stuðningsmaður" and "fylgismaður", I suppose they means "supporting man" and "following man". Which would be the same thing, yes.

@Tjalve

Now I'm curious - I'm going to tally up the differences here into which Norwegian is more like

"afgangur: avgang -> leaving, or finishing. As in "the train is leaving" or "finishing student (last year of studies)"

I'd say that that sounds more like the Icelandic meaning (leftovers) rather than the faroese (semen). In Icelandic, afgangur can also mean the remainder of something (not necessarily food)

"skref: skrev -> crotch, but can also be used when stepping over something, especialy when it's so tall that you have to step over it sideways"

Sounds like somewhere in-between the Faroese and Icelandic

"limur: lem -> limb"

Clearly all three versions have the same origin, but different meanings.

"ríðingarfélag: rideklubb -> riding association. The faroese and norwegian words are not completely the same, but sufficiently similar."

Yeah, Icelandic is the unusual one, where "ríða" took on a sexual connotation

"Reyði Krossurinn: Røde Kors -> Red Cross"

Versus "Rauði krossinn" in Icelandic. I'd say yours is somewhere between ours (but you don't attach the definite article like we do)

"ástand: åsted -> scene, as in "crime scene", where something has happened"

So yours is clearly more like the Icelandic, I'd say.

"bert: bort -> away. But could also be "bare" which means "only". I think I'll go for "bort" though."

So it sounds like you're sort of in-between, but closer to the Icelandic.

"yfirgangsfólk: overgangsfolk -> This word doesn't exist in norwegian. But if it had existed, it would mean something like "people who are crossing" or "people who are moving from one thing to another"."

So you have similar meanings for yfir/over and ganga, just not the compound

"bumba: bombe -> bomb"

So more like the Faroese. But that's a loanword, not a native one, from the French "bombe". The Icelandic "sprengja" (both noun and verb) comes from "springa", to burst.

"afmynda: Doesn't really have an equivalent in norwegian. The closest might be "avbilde (take a picture)" or "umyndiggjøre (disempower, as in taking away a person's right to make decisions for himself)""

So neither.

"spæla: spela (new-norwegian), spille (dano-norwegian) -> play"

So you have one version more like the Icelandic and one more like the Faroese ;)

"dýna: dyna/dyne -> duvet (I assume that's what you meant when you wrote "heavy blanket")"
"sæng: seng -> bed"

Yeah, couldn't think of the best word in English for it at the moment ;) Icelandic is clearly the one that reversed these two for some reason.

"ljóð: ljod (dialect), lyd (standard norwegian) -> sound"

Interesting, more like the Faroese.

"ljóðaldur: No equivalent word in norwegian"
"skuldsettur: skuldsatt -> This word doesn't really exist in norwegian, but if it had existed, it would probably mean "indebted". It might actually exist in some dialects. I don't know."

Okay, so +1 Icelandic.

"lífsvandi: Doesn't really exist in norwegian, but similar words do exist, with varying meanings."
"pingvinir: pingviner -> penguins"

So more like the Faroese. But again, note that that's a foreign loanword that you both took on. The Icelandic is "mörgæs" ;)

sjúkrabilur: sjukebil/sykebil -> ambulance

Icelandic: sjúkrabíll. So yours is similar to both. The difference is that in bila, bilaður, etc (aka without the comma) refers to broken things.

"rúsdrekkakoyring: ruskjøring -> not really the word we use, but it would mean "intoxicated driving"."
So another case of more like Faroese.

So the total looks like, comparing the Norwegian word and seeing what it looks like:

Clearly Faroese: 5
Somewhat Faroese: 0
In-between: 5
Somewhat Icelandic: 2
Clearly Icelandic: 2
Neither / nothing similar exists: 4
Like the Faroese, but both are loanwords: 2

But this is of course just a rather small subset But looking at it, I'd say that it looks like Norwegian is equally similar to both except in regards to loan words, where you and the Faroes have taken on the same loan word while Icelandic just adapted native terms. Which is generally what we do - it's kind of fun sometimes to go to Wikipedia for a technical term, then mouseover the equivalent terms in other languages on the left, Icelandic is usually a standout. E.g., picking from different fields:

Photon (EN) / Foton (NO) / Ljóseind (IS)
Integral (EN) / Integral (NO) / Heildun (IS)
Mitochondria (EN) / Mitokondrium (NO) / Hvatberi (IS)
Polymer (EN) / Polymer (NO) / Fjölliða (IS)
Autism (EN) / Autisma (FO) / Autisme (NO) / Einhverfa (IS)
Transistor (EN) / Transistor (NO) / Smári (IS)
Seismograph (EN) / Seismograf (NO) / Jarðskjálftamælir (IS)
Hippocampus (EN) / Hippocampus (NO) / Dreki (IS)
Supernova (EN) / Supernova (NO) / Sprengistjarna (IS)
Velociraptor (EN) / Velociraptor (NO) / Snareðla (IS)

I think that's where Icelandic gets its reputation of being more "pure" of a language, being more resistant to loanwords (although English still infiltrates :Þ Nothing is so grating on my ears as the word "basically", I don't think your average teenager even knows the Icelandic equivalent). But still, we try. I remember when tablet computers came out, for example, and at first everyone was calling them tablets. But then there was big push, "no no, they should be called spjaldtölvur", and soon the stores picked up the name, and now everyone calls them that.

" (I tend to have fun saying that "cuneiform" means "cunt shaped")"

Haha, I didn't know that one, that's great ;)

@Karen
-------------
"afgangur: avgang -> leaving, or finishing. As in "the train is leaving" or "finishing student (last year of studies)"

I'd say that that sounds more like the Icelandic meaning (leftovers) rather than the faroese (semen). In Icelandic, afgangur can also mean the remainder of something (not necessarily food)
---------------

I think I disagree with you here.
I do not agree that the norwegian word "avgang" can be related to "leftovers".
"Avgangstid", "departure time" for trains.
"Avgangseksamen", "finishing exam" for students.

I would say that with regards to similarities between faroese and icelandic words, "avgang" would be similar to "ejaculation". Not so much with the ejaculate (semen) as with the act of ejaculation.

"Avgang" would be used more as (or related to) a verb than a noun. So with regards to leftovers or similar, I would say that "avgang" could rather be used to describe spoiled food. That is, food that has "left". Rather than food that "remains", as would be the case for leftovers.

----------------
So you have similar meanings for yfir/over and ganga, just not the compound
----------------

Not exactly. We have "overgang", which probably means roughly the same as your "yfirgang". We just don't use it in combination with "folk".
"Overgangsfelt" or "fotgjengerovergang" means "pedestrian crossing". "Overgangsfelt" would technically mean "over walking field" or "over walking area". I.e. the area where can safely walk over (across) the road. "Fotgjengerovergang" technically means "foot walker over walking". I.e. where a "foot walker" (pedestrian) can walk over (across) the road.
"Overgangsalder" means "menopause". Technically it means "over walking age", i.e. the age when you cross over from one condition to the other condition.

As for the other words you mentioned, I assume that "Ljóseind" techincally means "light unit". If we had made a similar word, it would probably be "lysenhet".
"Sprengistjarna" which sounds like it means "exploding star" is probably a name that has come after science has found out what a supernova is. The reason why it's called "nova" or "supernova", is because it was a new star that they hadn't seen before.
"Jarðskjálftamælir" is a word I like. I assume that technically means "earth-shaking-measurer". It's a good example of what I like about icelandic. You make proper icelandic words, rather than just importing the international (english) word.

We do also do that, from time to time. The norwegian word for "science" is "vitenskap", which can be translated as something like "the sum of knowledge". "Television" is "fjernsyn", which means "far seeing", which is exactly what "television" means.
However, we're not very consistent about it. We easily accept and adopt english words, and it takes too long to "make" a "proper" norwegian word. And when that happens, the english word is usually so ingrained that nobody bothers to use the "constructed" norwegian word.
So I think it has to do with attitude. The icelanders WANT to use proper icelandic words, whereas norwegians feel that using constructed norwegian words is old fashioned.

@Karen #9489319

One Danish word for ejaculation is sædafgang, litterally semen-off-going or semen-departure.

The word bil was the winning entry in a competition in the Danish paper Politiken for a better word for automobil. Politiken has held several such competitions, but as far as I know this was the only word that came into common use. It has even spread to the other Scandinavian languages. Doesn't bil mean axe in old Norse?

Danish has several words used only for Nordic terrain features. The common word for glacier is gletsjer. If it is called bræ, it is most likely in the North. (Bræ has no other meaning.) If it is called jøkel, it is certainly in Iceland.

Similarly the common word for river is flod. If it is called elv, you can be sure it is in the North. Neither is used for Danish watercourses. Here we have nothing larger than an å, though Gudenå and Suså would certainly be called rivers anywhere else in the world.

Similarly for mountain. The usual word is bjerg, but for Nordic mountains fjeld is often used.

@Karen "rúsdrekkakoyring –> driving under the influence"
What does that word look to Icelanders like?

Dettifoss sounds like a meandering stream ... or a name for a little girl.

@madameriverotter Sounds like "dental floss"...

@VoidTorcher Or possibly a brand of dental floss

soo about as creative as asian names

@o98 *Scowls*