Viking Language 1 Learn Old Norse, Runes, and Icelandic Sagas

I am a language teacher (Chinese and Latin) who am teaching myself Old Norse. Dr. Jesse Byock's "Viking Language 1" (VL-1) is a wonderful textbook for learning Old Norse (ON) on your own, though it is completely suitable for classroom use. The textbook is extremely user-friendly and is especially so for those who would like to study ON on their own but do not have a background in foreign languages, old or modern. The book takes the student through carefully thought-out steps with detailed explanations of both grammar and vocabulary. Earlier texts (e.g., Sweet's Primer of Old Icelandic, and even E. V. Gordon's "Old Norse") are often difficult for the modern learner, assuming a knowledge of basic linguistics (which can no longer be assumed) or a familiarity with German or some inflected language. Certainly a knowledge of another language is very helpful (I have a comfortable familiarity with Old English and know Latin well, and have studied a bit of modern German), but Dr. Byock's book is eminently suitable for both the experienced linguist as well for an absolute beginner in the language. With the patience that is needed for the study of any language, the student should make good progress in the study of this beautiful and fascinating language. The selections introduced for reading are interesting (and fun!), and each chapter is interspersed with history, word study, and fascinating facts about Viking culture, including maps. I personally enjoy this sort of holistic approach to language learning where vocabulary, grammar, history and culture are woven together, greatly increasing the high-interest content and presenting the language in its real-world setting. The exercises are good, and there is a fine glossary at the back of the book. This makes for a quality textbook at a very affordable price. As others have mentioned, I highly recommend buying "Viking Language 2" to accompany VL-1, giving the student a solid grounding in ON and providing a wide variety of reading material. I have found that VL-2 makes excellent supplementary reading even while working through VL-1 and provides wonderful opportunities for gauging one's progress and achieving a sense of accomplishment, two things which increase the enjoyment of language study.One thing I especially appreciate is Dr. Byock's use of word-frequency lists such as those found in Mounce's Greek texts. He shows how a relatively small number of words accounts for the lion's share of words one encounters in actual reading. These lists occur in each chapter and are separate from the vocabulary lists given for the reading passages, which are necessarily longer (though the two lists overlap). The introduction of the most frequently used ON words at regular intervals is immensely helpful. In addition, the vocabulary given for the reading sections is very manageable in itself. These lists are not overlong (as vocabulary often tends to be in far too many language textbooks, something which can discourage any learner). Since the reading selections for each chapter are not long, the student really learns the vocabulary in context, by FAR the best way to fix it in the memory. And by learning in small chunks the most frequently used ON words, rapid progress can be made which is so helpful in maintaining the student's interest.A word about ON vocabulary. If your English vocabulary is good (and even better, if you know some German or---however unlikely---Old English [Anglo-Saxon]), the number of cognate words is extremely high (these are, after all, members of the same linguistic family), and the student can make progress even faster. None of that is necessary, of course, to learn and enjoy ON, but it does facilitate mastery of both vocabulary and grammar.As to pronunciation, a guide is given (rather oddly, in an appendix towards the back of the book rather than at the beginning) which enables the student to learn either the reconstructed ON pronunciation or the modern Icelandic pronunciation (for those with an eye to learning the latter as well). There are also accompanying MP3 files for help with this. The pronunciation segments of these are especially helpful for those new to a language such as ON. The readings are good but read by a native Icelandic speaker at natural speed, which can seem very fast to the beginner but which, with exposure, becomes more manageable in time.The Viking Language series is a very attractive and welcome set of textbooks, and from what I have seen, by far the most user-friendly to newcomers to any language. Highly, highly recommended!

My daughter loves it. She takes it to the pool and practices while laying out.

Edit: The answer key has now been made available on the publisher's website, so I have adjusted my rating accordingly and the review below should be considered in that light. Thank you Professor Byock!I have been reading Professor Byock's work on the Vikings since college, so needless to say, I was delighted to see this course made available, in my case for self study. I am now two chapters into the book, and I think it incorporates a wonderful strategy and method and has tremendous potential. However, I have two criticisms that prevent this from being a 5 star purchase: the first is that the answer key really needs to be made available *now.* I understand that perhaps the book is intended for college courses and oftentimes the answer key is presented in a "teacher's only" reader, but for those of us doing self-study, it is absolutely crippling and seriously hampers the ability to use the book effectively. It's boggling to my mind that they would release this book at all without making the key available as a download on the website. I believe the intention is to have the key in Viking Reader 2, which I would be happy to buy, but it is not available and may not be for quite some time. The two books should have been published simultaneously. My advice if your are considering purchasing this book is to wait until the Viking Language 2 book comes out. My second criticism of this course is that the audio accompaniment, which you will have to pay for separately, is very fast and not terribly user friendly. It is not read in such a way that it is useful for a student unfamiliar with Icelandic and very difficult to emulate or to parse in accompaniment with the reading. All in all, this is still however the best option on the market for learning Old Norse!

John McWhorter uses the phrase "bristling morphology" to label languages like Old Norse. You like ending? O.N. has 'em. (BTW, 'em is the Old English form of the word 'them', borrowed from O.N., not a contraction). Let me just list the features I like - I took a course in O.N. with a buddy and we still talk about what a great course it was having nothing to do with anything else we were studying. We affectionately call it our "Old Norse Course."Nothing is neglected. A good excursion into runes will delight some readers. Most interesting to me whose interest lies in language learning and teaching (SLA) is the approach to vocabulary: to go by word frequency in presenting it. Along with carefully crafted samples of O.N., explanations of how the poetry worked as well as an immense amount of cultural and historical background abound to give it all context. That background is filled out with good illustrations in pen and ink, photos, diagrams, maps, including those that clarify the linguistic background of O.N. in Indo-European linguistic and cultural history. And not just history but contemporary mates of O.N. in Modern Icelandic. The list goes on.Pronunciation is presented which is necessary to appreciate the poetry and the prose because of the many epics represented in O.N. An example of cultural background is that naming practices are explained, a topic that each culture tends to treat uniquely (cf. Spanish, Russian, Korean, etc.). And for those besotted by all this, there are follow up books! Purchase with confidence.

Este libro definitivamente es la mejor guía para empezar a estudiar la lengua de los antiguos vikingos. Combina historia, descripciones, mapas y una que otra runa con los ejercicios necesarios para comenzar el estudio del nórdico antiguo. Los expertos explican que estudiar una nueva lengua implica estudiar la cultura en la cual ésta se desarrolla; este libro hace caso de tal recomendación. También hay audios en línea que pueden usarse para practicar pronunciación. Ojo aquí, está en inglés, necesitas saber esta otra lengua para poder sacarle todo el partido.

Well structurede

nice book with plenty of exercices to learn it as well as possible

I found this book incredibly easy to use, it made an unknown and exotic language look so comfortable to approach and so it was thanks to the many exercises and readings the book offers. Apart from very few missing info, I was utterly satisfied: although I had never studied any Scandinavian nor Germania language (except English ofc) I found not difficulty in jumping into this involving adventure

Livro indispensável para quem deseja estudar a sério a língua nórdica antiga e para os aficionados na cultura nórdica, no geral. O mais interessante é que o estudo da língua é voltado para a leitura das sagas Vikings, contendo vocabulários dos trechos das sagas e suas notas gramaticais, além de uma gama de exercícios. Ou seja, o estudo da gramática é totalmente atrelado à literatura e à cultura viking. Simplesmente maravilhoso! Além do estudo da língua, há diversos textos sobre cultura e literatura, de modo a fazer o estudante imergir cada vez mais nos estudos linguísticos e culturais escandinavos. Além disso, há no ITunes e na Amazon Music americana os álbuns com os áudios referentes às lições. Como o nórdico antigo não encontra registros sonoros, a fonética da língua é reconstruída a partir do islandês moderno - descendente direto do nórdico antigo - com pequenas mudanças supostamente peculiares ao nórdico antigo. A narradora dos textos é islandesa nativa, juntamente ao autor do livro que é um renomado professor e pesquisador de estudos escandinavos. Trabalho primoroso realizado de uma forma bastante didática e rica. Não há necessidade de saber previamente o islandês ou qualquer língua escandinava moderna para aprender nórdico antigo! O autor é extremamente didático nas explicações, desde a gramática básica até a mais complexa. Além do mais, como o islandês moderno sofreu poucas alterações na evolução do nórdico antigo, o estudante estará a poucos passos de também aprender o islandês, se assim desejar.