View source for Icelandic language

{{Infobox language
| name             = Icelandic
| nativename       = ''{{lang|is|íslenska}}''
| pronunciation    = {{IPA-is|is(t)lɛnska|}}
| states           = {{flag|Iceland}}<br>{{flag|Norway}}<br>{{flag|Denmark}}<br>{{flag|United States}}<br>{{flag|Canada}}<br>{{flag|Brazil}}<br>{{flag|Sweden}}<br>{{flag|Poland}}<br>{{flag|Australia}}<br>{{flag|Germany}}<br>{{flag|Finland}}
| speakers         = 320,000
| date             = 2011
| ref              = <ref>[http://www.statice.is/?PageID=1390 97% of a population of 318,000]</ref>
| familycolor      = Indo-European
| fam2             = [[Germanic languages|Germanic]]
| fam3             = [[North Germanic languages|North Germanic]]
| fam4             = West Scandinavian
| script           = [[Latin script|Latin]] ([[Icelandic alphabet]])<br>[[Icelandic Braille]]
| nation           = {{ISL|Iceland}}<br>{{flagicon|Canada}} [[Gimli, Manitoba|Gimli, Canada]]
| agency           = [[Árni Magnússon Institute for Icelandic Studies]] in an advisory capacity
| iso1             = is
| iso2t            = isl
| iso2b            = ice
| iso3             = isl
| lingua           = 52-AAA-aa
| notice           = IPA
| minority         = {{CAN|Canada}}<br>{{DNK|Denmark}}<br>{{NOR|Norway}}<br>{{_USA|United States}}
}}
'''Icelandic''' is the [[language]] spoken by the people of [[Iceland]].

It is a [[Germanic languages|Germanic language]]. It comes from the [[Old Norse language]], the language spoken by the [[Viking]]s. Because Iceland is far away from other countries, the language has not changed much. Icelandic people can still read words from hundreds of years ago.

Icelandic uses four [[Letter|character]]s that are not used in [[English language|English]]: [[þ]] (thorn), (like 'th' in thin), [[ð]] (edh), (like 'th' in this), [[æ]] (pronounced like I) and [[ö]] (pronounced like the French U). It can also be said that ð is a "softer" version of þ.

Some linguists say there are only two Nordic languages, Eastern-Nordic and Western-Nordic, which includes Icelandic and Faroese because of their similarity.

Icelandic is also one of the most difficult languages to learn.

==References==
{{InterWiki|code=is}}
{{reflist}}

{{Germanic languages}}


{{Europe-stub}}

[[Category:North Germanic languages]]
[[Category:Languages of Europe]]
[[Category:Icelandic culture]]
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