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 Iceland. A small country in the N-Atlantic where roughly 330000 people (No, you read that right) cling to the coast of one of the more volcanically active islands in the world. The weather system is insane. Biggest desert in Europe, as well as having the largest glacier. Home to one of the hardest and most obscure of the Germanic languages, of which its inhabitants are immensely proud and work hard to keep relevant. A country that in the early 20th century was one of the poorest of Europe and in the latter part one of the richest. A country settled by pagan outlaws, pioneers, idealists and tax-evaders 1100 years ago and governed by a unique form of democracy until its death due to political maneuvering and bloodshed, then returned to democracy thanks to the Nazis. A country which 50 years ago was one of the most backwards in matters of gender and now scores among the highest in rankings of equality and justice for women (and men). The land that gave you Björk, Sigurrós, Of Monsters and Men (I know them dudes) and many other, more obscure bands. Smallest independent currency in the world. We also eat sheeps heads, compressed puffin testicles and fermented shark, to name a few local delicacies. And we're apparently very pretty (no I won't post a picture). And the Gyrfalcon, that lil' dude in the post icon is our national symbol. Just thought that was amusing. Now, I'm not sure what people might ask here but the post that made me do this thread had a few: Bloodnose posted:You should start an Ask Me About Iceland thread. I find Iceland really interesting for a lot of reasons. I'm from Reno, Nevada. It's a small gambling town in the high desert mountains of one of America's least populous states. And yet, there are more people in the Reno-Sparks Metro Area than in Iceland. Who decided you people get to be a country? Also I studied linguistics in college and I think Icelandic is a fun language. So yeah, do that. So we're a fairly unhappy colonial possession for a couple hundred years. Nothing too much to write about, I feel. Norway joins in political union with Denmark, the two states are later broken up after some war or another that the Danes lost but they do end up with us. A bit after this, Romanticism and Nationalism start taking root in the country. We start making up a bunch of national traditions, try to find whatever traditions are left and being petitioning the king for independence. We badger him for a while and eventually he becomes sick and tired of our whining and sick burns and signs a treaty that makes us de facto our own country, in personal union with Denmark. Some people wanted true independence though, so when the Nazis invaded and took over Denmark we declared independence unilaterally. Then the British invaded. And then the Americans. Yeah. Thanks for that. Only country to attack us since the Ottoman empires Barbary Pirates. hitension posted:Deceitful Penguin This is really out of the scope of the thread, but I'm still not clear on Icelandic naming conventions after reading Wikipedia. The proper way to refer to the PM of Iceland is just "Jóhanna" with no title? Are there many unique given names in Iceland? It seems like it could get very confusing using only first names. Between the fact that you have occupation (like Teddybear mentions), middle names and increasingly the name committee is allowing more, unorthodox names, it's not been a big problem, at least thus far. The thing being of course that unless your dads also have the same name the names are different and even then most peeps have middle names. Mine is "Bearlike", btw. We also have a word for people with the same name to refer to one another, that being "Nafni", which I often use with my friends that share my name or "Ská-Nafni" or step-nafni for those that share one with the same linguistic root. I forget if I got that approved by the word committee though, it might not be kosher. Jóhanna would then just be Jóhanna. Or some derogatory nickname the right has for her. The only one that you're "supposed" to use the near-extinct honorific for is the president, you could call him "Mr President" but I know him and he's a poo poo so I call him Óli. If you wanted to be formal you'd call her Prime Minister Jóhanna or her full name. The fact she is the daughter of Sigurđur doesn't really factor into her name except for if you wanna count back to see who your closest shared ancestor is but that's old fashioned as gently caress and you can just Use the app for that anyway. Teddybear posted:The way I understand it, Iceland is primarily a given-name country. The phone book is sorted by first name, with patronymic and occupation to differentiate. It would in fact be Jóhanna, or Prime Minister Jóhanna. Calling her Ms. Sigurdardóttir would be wrong-- both because the first "d" should be a character I think is called a thorn? and because that's like calling the leader of North Korea Mr. Jong-Un. And yeah, they both frequently gently caress up the spelling of names and the name order. Ya just learn to deal wit it. Thorn, Ţorn, is Ţ.  If you have any questions, I'll answer them to the best of my ability (and those I'm willing to pester) and encourage any Icelandic posters to jump in if they want. (I know there are a few, like Freudian Slippers around). Edit: I just noticed the gently caress-up with the thread title. Genius. Go over the post 3 times, miss the goddamn title. Bloody possessive comma!  Edit 2: The thread is a bit long now, so a few things: A lot of cool stuff can be found in the Grapevine, an English language paper we got here. They have an online edition too, where you can also search for good eatings. And we also have http://statice.is/ where you can get all sorts of statistics about Iceland. It has answers to practically every statistics related question you might have. I would write about how things have changed in the OP but it's too depressing. At least the right-wing parties are having a bad turn too. Deceitful Penguin fucked around with this message at 16:00 on May 4, 2015 |
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Apr 26, 2013 00:50
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So I've heard that a lot of the traditional Icelandic dishes aren't that appetizing and in many cases based around trying to make what food is around last the longest, which you kind of alluded to. As a result now that other ingredients and cooking styles are readily available traditional Icelandic cuisine is pretty much dead. Is that really the case or are the dishes actually tasty despite their slightly weird nature? It always seemed strange to me because I really like sampling food from other cultures and the getting to know the histories of each dish and outside of what I've been told about Iceland I've never encountered a culture that was willing to give up its cuisine in that way. Stuff like easy and cheap or high profile foreign food will displace native cuisine, but not just the quality of the food. On a completely different note, is Iceland very involved, or looking to be very involved in the rush to claim previously international areas that are now free of polar ice? If so is it just about the resources or is there a nationalist bent to it?
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Apr 26, 2013 01:08
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Is hooking up with a relative really a concern?
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Apr 26, 2013 01:20
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Hey, thanks for the detailed response!  Pretty cool that you guys are OK with calling your elected officials by first names even in the media. Somehow this just led me to have more questions about Iceland... quote:the name committee is allowing more, unorthodox names Name committee? Does this mean in the past only certain names were allowed? What about immigrants? In general how are immigrants treated, it seems like with a population that small things could get cliquish real fast. Also, do you guys (normally I wouldn't feel comfortable referring to the entire population of a country as "you guys", but it seems OK in this scenario) know Michael Corgan? One of my old professors, the only American specialist on Iceland to the best of my knowledge. The answer to every bonus question was Iceland
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Apr 26, 2013 01:22
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Why is Iceland trying to ban pornography? That seems oddly out of place for it.
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Apr 26, 2013 01:32
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cafel posted:So I've heard that a lot of the traditional Icelandic dishes aren't that appetizing and in many cases based around trying to make what food is around last the longest, which you kind of alluded to. As a result now that other ingredients and cooking styles are readily available traditional Icelandic cuisine is pretty much dead. Is that really the case or are the dishes actually tasty despite their slightly weird nature? It always seemed strange to me because I really like sampling food from other cultures and the histories of each dish and outside of what I've been told about Iceland I've never encountered a culture that was willing to give up its cuisine in that way. Stuff like easy and cheap or high profile foreign food will displace native cuisine, but not just the quality of the food. So while the younger generation might not care too much for compressed puffin testicles, or be able to afford the sour whale, it's not dying out by a long shot. The subject of evolving Icelandic cuisine is another topic, and one I'm frankly not that much involved with. I know its there and there's plenty of people involved with it but I prefer Asian food myself. (Indonesian is my favourite) cafel posted:On a completely different note, is Iceland very involved, or looking to be very involved in the rush to claim previously international areas that are now free of polar ice? If so is it just about the resources or is there a nationalist bent to it? dongsweep posted:Is hooking up with a relative really a concern?
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Apr 26, 2013 01:36
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What holidays do you observe and how do you celebrate them? Also, did the the whole bankruptcy thing that happened a few years ago affect you or anyone you know personally?
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Apr 26, 2013 01:49
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Is your country worth taking a vacation in? If so what do you suggest people check out? Also, since it always comes up in the "ask me about my country threads", what do the people think of Americans?
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Apr 26, 2013 01:56
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hitension posted:Hey, thanks for the detailed response! hitension posted:Name committee? Does this mean in the past only certain names were allowed? What about immigrants? In general how are immigrants treated, it seems like with a population that small things could get cliquish real fast. Immigrants used to have to take up an Icelandic name (My old french instructor Cherard had to take the Icelandic version "Geirharđur", for instance) but nowadays they're allowed to keep them and they can even keep using their family names. I like them being able to keep their first names but wonder if there might not be problems about the family names later, but I'm sure we'll deal with that when it becomes an issue. Foreigners is a big issue to discuss though. On the whole, you have the pre-crash and post-crash view to consider, as well as the different types of immigrants (W-European proffesionals and spouses being one, refugees (First mostly Vietnamese but later more varied, with Palestinians being prominent), Asian immigration and finally mostly recently E-European pre-boom workers. Iceland does have a problem with immigrants, but it's definitely one that's being tackled very hard. Before, the problem was mostly that people assumed things were fine, while reality was different (I can bring up a few stories of racists both making GBS threads on me as well as some foreign friends of mine) but with immigrants getting a stronger voice and becoming a larger part of society, there has been a move towards improved integration and acceptance of different cultures and poo poo. The problem of it being ignored was pre-crash, but post-crash it first got a hell of a lot worse, but that also meant people couldn't ignore it as much. Tied into this is the problem of class, most of the Asian and W-Europeans had a far easier time because they weren't in much competition with the existing structure while the E-Europeans especially had a hard time with some workers and post collapse there were a few tricky spots. Things are getting better now, but I still think there is a drat long way to go yet. (I may be painting a bit too dark a picture here, but I'd rather be too negative than too positive, yanno.  )hitension posted:Also, do you guys (normally I wouldn't feel comfortable referring to the entire population of a country as "you guys", but it seems OK in this scenario) know Michael Corgan? One of my old professors, the only American specialist on Iceland to the best of my knowledge. The answer to every bonus question was Iceland And you should use a gender-neutral one rather than just guys.  Amused to Death posted:Why is Iceland trying to ban pornography? That seems oddly out of place for it. The more recent thing was forbidding online violent pornography, which was both just a suggestion, although one that was being considered seriously, but also pretty much in line with already existing legislation. I don't see why it seems out of place to try and ban the consumption of a product that is pretty drat exploitative in the best of cases and in the worst is down-right abusive and vile. Not to say there isn't good porn between two consenting adults with no coercion, just that it's very much the exception.
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Apr 26, 2013 02:00
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What are your thoughts on the huldufólk? Are they a menace, or merely a nuisance?
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Apr 26, 2013 02:19
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Thanks for the thread! I hope I get around to visiting Iceland sometime. You guys are pretty far north, but are you north enough to have a weird day/night cycle with a midnight sun and all that? North enough for northern lights? I've never seen those. Can I ask about your occupation? Are you a longboat oarsman or a farmer or a vice minister of geothermal energy? I actually don't understand how Iceland became such a rich society. I can't think of any Icelandic products I've ever bought, or Icelandic resources used in products I buy. I've never heard of having a secret Icelandic bank account for offshoring my precious Jew gold. Are you guys one of those European societies where you work like ten hours a week and then the government forces helpless job creators to pay you US$70,000 a year? Your English seems pretty close to native level, at least in writing. Do most Icelanders speak perfect English? Do you have English medium instruction in public schools? Do you have any Jews? Wikipedia says there's like ten of us in Iceland. I wonder why a Jewish community was never successfully established there. What's the general opinion of Icelanders toward Europeanism? I was surprised to hear you're still printing your own money. I would've thought you'd jumped into the Euro a long time ago. I've got too many questions about Iceland. I'll leave it at that for now.
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Apr 26, 2013 02:29
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Kung Food posted:What holidays do you observe and how do you celebrate them? Also, did the the whole bankruptcy thing that happened a few years ago affect you or anyone you know personally? We have all the Christian holidays, like Christmas and Easter, but we put our own flair on them. There was a drat fine thread in GBS around Christmas by Rulebook Heavily about that, it was Goldmined and Here's the Link to it, there's more to it but this is honestly a pretty big question so I'm trying to cut down my work, ne? Continuing on that theme, the Grapevine is an English language publication which also has this article on Bolludaginn, Sprengidaginn and Öskudaginn. Those are Childrens festivals, purely so, unlike some of the others. Easter is mostly similar to European tradition, with the hiding of large chocolate eggs maybe being somewhat different? Called "Páskaegg", they come in sized from "Rather small" to "This will kill your child if it eats all of it". I heard some people go to church then, but I've never met any of them. What else. There's May Day, celebrated on the first of May with parades and poo poo? A bit like the national day of independence, which is the 17th of June, just not as fancy. That one is a lot of parades, balloons, candyfloss, the whole shebang. Not a lot of fireworks though. Those are saved for the last day of the year. There's Verslunarmannahelgin, which is the weekend before the Free Day of Traders, which is the first Monday of August, which is when the whole country holds music festivals and gets drunk. A special mention to the last day of the year, uhh, New years Eve, when we blow up enough fireworks to make it possible to sit outside and read for 5 minutes (I tested this out the once, for a lark.) There might be more but if I'm forgetting them they aren't too important. I can give more detail about each of them, if you want. As for the financial collapse, ooh, boy. I don't think there was anyone who was completely untouched by it. My family was lucky in that we'd just finished paying up our last loan before it all happened but a few others weren't so lucky and had a rough time before the current left-wing government managed to fix a lot of that but, ooof. Liar posted:Is your country worth taking a vacation in? If so what do you suggest people check out? Liar posted:Also, since it always comes up in the "ask me about my country threads", what do the people think of Americans? Some along the right are hard in love with the whole shebang and a lot of people (including me ma) were educated in the States, which gives a general positive view, with the Chicago school leaving a pretty infamous legacy due to the fact that a lot of the guys involved with the crisis were educated there. You did invade us in WW2 but you gave us money (Marshal aid, yo) and bubblegum so we were OK, then you refused to leave but you did pay for the airport, our idiot prime minister joined the coalition of the willing but then Dubya recalled all the soldiers so the army base was abandoned, eh. There's a lot of recent history, some bad, some good. Mostly it depends on how much they've interacted with yanks and their political leanings. Generally we're ok with you in person but don't like the country much. gggiiimmmppp posted:What are your thoughts on the huldufólk? Are they a menace, or merely a nuisance?
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Apr 26, 2013 02:36
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Deceitful Penguin posted:our idiot prime minister joined the coalition of the willing Wait how did this work? I thought Iceland had not standing military besides a few coast guard ships?
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Apr 26, 2013 02:53
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Bloodnose posted:Thanks for the thread! I hope I get around to visiting Iceland sometime. You guys are pretty far north, but are you north enough to have a weird day/night cycle with a midnight sun and all that? North enough for northern lights? I've never seen those. They only found him four hours before the concert was supposed to begin, completely and utterly blitzed to hell. It wouldn't be dark until a month after he left. Bloodnose posted:Can I ask about your occupation? Are you a longboat oarsman or a farmer or a vice minister of geothermal energy?  Bloodnose posted:I actually don't understand how Iceland became such a rich society. I can't think of any Icelandic products I've ever bought, or Icelandic resources used in products I buy. I've never heard of having a secret Icelandic bank account for offshoring my precious Jew gold. Are you guys one of those European societies where you work like ten hours a week and then the government forces helpless job creators to pay you US$70,000 a year?  So we have the money from fishing, but the reason we were able to fish a lot were numerous: Firstly, we were white and European so no-one wanted to oppress us too much, second, we were able to join in on the oppressing of the rest of the world, thirdly, and this is important, we kept the the Danish constitution and copied the nordic social welfare system and democracy pretty much wholesale. This didn't make us rich, but meant that we wouldn't end up poor. As for work, well. We work fairly hard and long hours, but we also get good vacations and a lot of people work more flexible hours. How we became rich, at least in the current state, has a lot do to with financial wizardry and neoliberalism, but I hate dem dudes and they also made us bankrupt now. The main modern money is in tourism, which brings in big bux, but the core remains fish. Bloodnose posted:Your English seems pretty close to native level, at least in writing. Do most Icelanders speak perfect English? Do you have English medium instruction in public schools?  . We learn it from an early age and more importantly, we don't dub our television except for only the youngest. So we watch English television, American television, Danish television, French, whatever, in the original language. This helps a lot. You can be pretty sure every person you meet in Iceland can speak English. My maternal grandad grew up in a house with no running water or electricity and still could speak a bit of English, bless him. Everyone is at least capable of some conversation and most are fluent, if somewhat accented, with a lot of people being quite good. I'm a bit better than most though. Bloodnose posted:Do you have any Jews? Wikipedia says there's like ten of us in Iceland. I wonder why a Jewish community was never successfully established there. Serious though, Iceland was just to small for there ever to be a Jewish community and the one time, during WW2 when we mighta have been able to host Jewish refugees, the dude in charge of immigration just happened to be fascist. So to our shame, we turned them away. There's actually a few amusing things about Jews and Iceland though, in that one of the big companies in Iceland, Eimskip, used to have their logo as a Swastika. It adorned their main building near the centre of town and was the source of a few amusing misunderstandings. That and the fact that due to a bit of a mix up and several sold menorahs back in the day they're now a traditional Yule ornament. So we'd have people who'd come around Yule, see a huge swastika adorning a building, a bunch of menorahs around and they'd draw their own conclusions. They've taken it down now, I think. Oh, and there was a great article in the Grapevine about Jews in Iceland, [urlhttp://www.grapevine.is/Features/ReadArticle/On-The-Frontier]Here it is.[/url] Bloodnose posted:What's the general opinion of Icelanders toward Europeanism? I was surprised to hear you're still printing your own money. I would've thought you'd jumped into the Euro a long time ago. As for the EU membership, people are divided. There is a strong push by the largest left wing party to join, with some support from factions of the Right and centre. This is being opposed by both the Right parties (sadly the largest in Iceland) and the Leftist Greens, for actually noble reasons. On the whole though, Iceland is waiting for the negotiations with the EU to conclude so we can see what conditions they'll offer us on the deal. The Euro is obviously attractive for the financial stability it would gain us, but there is some nationalistic sentiment behind the whole "Smallest independent currency in the world" thing. Our Republicans have talked about suspending negotiations and they're so stupid they might if the get elected next Saturday but most have adopted a "Wait and See" approach. I have, especially after seeing how the EU has handled their crisis. Bloodnose posted:I've got too many questions about Iceland. I'll leave it at that for now. Amused to Death posted:Wait how did this work? I thought Iceland had not standing military besides a few coast guard ships? Let me just fetch this fine clip from Americas Finest Journalistic Show to show you how wrong you are: http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/tue-january-22-2008/operation-deserter-storm-pt--1 EDit: Haha, part 2 here: http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/wed-january-23-2008/operation-deserter-storm-pt--2 Jokes aside, yea, Iceland, in declaring everlasting Neutrality, also said that it will never have a standing army. We do have a SWAT team, which has some guns, but they were the pet project of an idiot minister with a hard-on for guns and the only people are supposed to have guns in Iceland are the coast guard. Our neutrality is somewhat undermined by our NATO membership though.  A lot of people were very angry when we joined them and still are. Personally, I'm against it, as are a lot of people but most don't think about it too much. Does mean that most Icelanders only understand the army as something from movies or games though. Deceitful Penguin fucked around with this message at 04:38 on Apr 26, 2013 |
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Apr 26, 2013 03:26
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How do Icelanders see Greenlanders? I believe Greenlanders tend to be more of the North American Native stock versus Icelanders being mostly Nordic immigrants. You both were (effectively still are, in the case of Greenland) part of Denmark/in union with the Danes for a long time - is there any sense of shared history with the Greenlanders, and if so, what's it like? Also how are your views on the Swedes/Norwegians, and also the Sami and Finns? I guess the Finns and Sami being not-totally-Nordic culturally but still part of the Nordic Union muddies things a bit, but it's all terribly interesting. How about the Faroese? Since you're part of the Nordic Union, have you noticed any sort of increase in emigration from Iceland to Scandinavia recently? I'm curious as it how much the financial issues might have encouraged people to head abroad, expensive though that can be, or if there might have been some kind of stronger feelings towards staying put. And last question, how does the average Icelander feel about the Danes in general, and the prior union with Denmark? You mentioned yourself that you were part of the last generation to be raised on Danish, which suggests that there may be a move towards strengthening feelings of independence, but that kind of runs counter to EU integration as I understand it. Edit: I lied, two more questions: what sector seems to be the new up and coming thing for Iceland? Technology? Was (is?) geothermal power ever considered as a major export possibility? You mentioned refined aluminum exporting, which I had no clue about. Any other major things like that Iceland is involved in or has future plans to promote? And last, how do immigrants seem to be taking to Icelandic? It seems like lots of the Germanic countries suffer from the problem that the natives are all pretty drat good English speakers, especially the younger generation, which would seem to be such an easy crutch to fall upon that it might hamper a lot of first generation immigrants picking up the language. Sheep fucked around with this message at 03:58 on Apr 26, 2013 |
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Apr 26, 2013 03:52
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Deceitful Penguin posted:Let me just fetch this fine clip from Americas Finest Journalistic Show to show you how wrong you are: http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/tue-january-22-2008/operation-deserter-storm-pt--1 I love that you linked this as I'm watching tonight's episode of The Daily Show  , and tonight's show also had an Iraq mention since the George W Bush presidential library was dedicated today.
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Apr 26, 2013 04:22
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Sheep posted:How do Icelanders see Greenlanders? I believe Greenlanders tend to be more of the North American Native stock versus Icelanders being mostly Nordic immigrants. You both were (effectively still are, in the case of Greenland) part of Denmark/in union with the Danes for a long time - is there any sense of shared history with the Greenlanders, and if so, what's it like? Sheep posted:Also how are your views on the Swedes/Norwegians, and also the Sami and Finns? I guess the Finns and Sami being not-totally-Nordic culturally but still part of the Nordic Union muddies things a bit, but it's all terribly interesting. How about the Faroese? We also share a lot of history with the Faroe Islands, as another Danish colony and we kinda look at like our younger, bit backwards brother we still love. We have some very strong bonds with them and our languages are almost mutually intelligible, while Norwegian is just a bit too far away, even though they stole a bunch of Icelandic when recreating nynorsk. Sweden, eh. Ikea, good people, someone to look up to and compare yourself to. They're a successful, multicultural society and we wanna emulate that. At least those of us on the left~ The Finns, well, they're also a bit on the outside like us. The buggers don't like us calling ourselves Scandinavians ('cause o' geography) but we're still all Nordics and they make good vodka. I've only met a lot of the Finlendings, or the Swedish speaking Finns in the North, so I don't know enough about them as a whole to make any sweeping judgements. As someone who has actually traveled and stayed in all of Scandinavia thanks to our friend towns many times, my ideas of what the people are like is usually just grounded in the people I met rather than any stereotypes though, so I'm giving maybe more of a personal opinion. I might ask around tomorrow though. Sheep posted:Since you're part of the Nordic Union, have you noticed any sort of increase in emigration from Iceland to Scandinavia recently? I'm curious as it how much the financial issues might have encouraged people to head abroad, expensive though that can be, or if there might have been some kind of stronger feelings towards staying put. Hell, as a matter of fact I'll be working over the summer in Norway, as a painter. Got the job through my uncle. I'll be coming back when school starts. This is not that unusual, because Icelanders have always been travelers. Sheep posted:And last question, how does the average Icelander feel about the Danes in general, and the prior union with Denmark? You mentioned yourself that you were part of the last generation to be raised on Danish, which suggests that there may be a move towards strengthening feelings of independence, but that kind of runs counter to EU integration as I understand it. Most young people don't like the Danish because first we learn about in history class how they were total dickbags, then we have to learn Danish which is way harder than English and a lot less useless (Them and their drat dialects! I was in Jutland and I couldn't understand a drat word!) but most of our educated elite back in the day studied in Denmark and we got a lot of good out of it too. Adults usually think kindly towards Denmark and people still go there to study (like my cousin) or to live (like a friend of me ma). Sorry if I ain't givin', like, amusing stereotypes and whatnot. I know a few general ones but I'm not sure if they're specifically Icelandic or not. Sheep posted:Edit: I lied, one more question: what sector seems to be the new up and coming thing for Iceland? Technology? Was (is?) geothermal power ever considered as a major export possibility? You mentioned refined aluminum exporting, which I had no clue about. Any other major things like that Iceland is involved in or has future plans to promote? Geothermal is actually somewhat dwarfed by Hydroelectricity when it comes to power generation, we have considered trying to export the "clean" energy to Europe but with current methods it just wouldn't be cost effective. So we've made ourselves attractive to energy intensive industries like aluminium smelting to export it indirectly. Too attractive really, we got a raw deal and a lot of people are unhappy with it, including me. We shouldn't damage our nature just for a bit of transient blood money from some of the worst companies in the world. Oh, and we may have oil. May. We're still looking into it. And if the Arctic opens up we're in a fairly good position for increasing our freight business. It helps we have a free trade agreement with the Chinese, unlike some other nations~ Sheep posted:And last, how do immigrants seem to be taking to Icelandic? It seems like lots of the Germanic countries suffer from the problem that the natives are all pretty drat good English speakers, especially the younger generation, which would seem to be such an easy crutch to fall upon that it might hamper a lot of first generation immigrants picking up the language. English is often an unfortunate crutch yea, but one thing is that a lot of the time, they aren't that great at English anyway. A lot of the E-European immigrants, for instance or the Asian ones didn't speak such great English and for them, learning Icelandic wasn't that different from having to learn more English. Amused to Death posted:I love that you linked this as I'm watching tonight's episode of The Daily Show Maybe I should send them a book. Something anti-war, that they wouldn't understand anyway. Eugh, why do I never notice it's 4 in the morning until it's too late? drat Deceitful Penguin fucked around with this message at 05:02 on Apr 26, 2013 |
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Apr 26, 2013 04:38
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Deceitful Penguin posted:That mighta not come out right bro, I was the last to learn Danish before English as a second language, I learned Icelandic before that. Danish was my second language and English my third. Nah, I understood what you meant perfectly, it's just that my English is terrible. I think it's super cool that you guys kept (and are keeping) Icelandic alive. Are the differences with Faroese mostly spelling/pronunciation or are there any significant points where the grammar differs? Since the Faroes are kind of right in between Iceland and Norway I'd have expected Faroese to have become much closer to Norwegian (or whatever they did before the bokmal/nynorsk thing). Kind of surprising that Icelandic and Faroese are almost mutually intelligible. Thanks for all the great answers to my questions, I'm sure I'll be back with more later.
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Apr 26, 2013 05:31
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I would be interested to hear your opinion on this article: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/apr/26/iceland-elections-voters-fear-eu Specifically, how do you feel about the fact that it looks like the political party that got you into this economic mess is about to be voted into power? And do you agree with the points raised in the article about the hostility to your current ruling party? Also, I was wondering how Iceland developed under Norwegian and later Danish rule - so could you expand on what you were mentioning earlier with the whole 'being a colony of Norway' thing? I've always wanted to visit Iceland and I'm trying to save up a bit of money over time to go there one day hopefully.
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Apr 26, 2013 13:34
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Sheep posted:Nah, I understood what you meant perfectly, it's just that my English is terrible.
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Apr 26, 2013 16:13
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What months would be the best to visit if I want to do more backpacking/nature type of stuff?
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Apr 26, 2013 17:02
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I heard talk of Iceland wanting to ditch its currency and switch over to the Canadian Dollar around the time of the financial collapse. Is this still being talked about and what kind of effect do you think it might have on the Canadian and Icelandic economies?
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Apr 26, 2013 18:19
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Averrences posted:I would be interested to hear your opinion on this article: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/apr/26/iceland-elections-voters-fear-eu The old chestnut just goes that Icelanders are loving stupid. You just vote "What dad did" and don't think too much about it. The article hit all the main points, especially with the media pandering to the right but a lot of it just that there hasn't been a viable alternative for right wing people to choose from, aside from the Pirates or "Right Greens" and haha, what a loving joke they are. So you have the polls shifting away from the Old ruling party, The Independence Party to the formerly agrarian socialist party, Framsókn, now Neoliberal shitbags indistinguishable from all of their ilk the world over and these dumb motherfuckers decide that "Hey, these guys will solve our problems!". I'm not even gonna list how all their campaign promises gently caress over the poor and help the rich, that's just obvious, par for the course. I'm hoping the polls are wrong. I'm hoping that people aren't massive retards. But political literacy in Iceland is sadly pretty poo poo and it's gonna stay that way if a Left government can't stay in charge long enough to reform the education system. Or I suppose they could help themselves and actually remember further back than 2 weeks but, hah! Fat chance of that happening. Averrences posted:Also, I was wondering how Iceland developed under Norwegian and later Danish rule - so could you expand on what you were mentioning earlier with the whole 'being a colony of Norway' thing? I mean, we weren't originally a "colony" in the traditional sense that we were founded as an extension of an existing country, so much as we were free Norsemen fleeing political repression or just wanting a change of scenery or a better life. We were our own complex little society until we were vassalized under, Harold the Fair-Haired if I remember right, and after that we were mostly just quiet. There was some internal poo poo, at one point we were banned from having weapons, probably after a couple of massacres or battles but I'm just not an expert on this period so I'd have to look it up and for that it's good to have more specific questions. This is probably the area I'm worst at actually, 'cause I'm fairly good at modern and founding history, just not the parts inbetween. I hope you manage to come! It's a very unique country, albeit somewhat expensive. Not many people regret coming. Alterian posted:What months would be the best to visit if I want to do more backpacking/nature type of stuff?  I have some weather stories from when it first started getting more extreme but eh. Rockzilla posted:I heard talk of Iceland wanting to ditch its currency and switch over to the Canadian Dollar around the time of the financial collapse. Is this still being talked about and what kind of effect do you think it might have on the Canadian and Icelandic economies? Canada and Iceland have some informal connections, due to the relatively large amount of Icelandic immigrants in a few places with Gimli and Iceland has hoped to foster stronger relations with Canada, with many going there for work as the bubble collapsed. It's not a strong bond, like with the Nordics however. Economics wise, little connection, we're both export nations but not to each other. Politically we're turned towards Europe while they're turned towards the US, especially after Harper got his claws in. Yeah.
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Apr 26, 2013 18:35
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What happened to the bankers there after the economic meltdown?
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Apr 26, 2013 18:49
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Byde posted:What happened to the bankers there after the economic meltdown? Sadly, the status quo wasn't shaken up as much in the economic realm as the political one. We were working on getting through legislation to finally gently caress them over and some better regulatory framework was put into law but not enough, in my mind. Still, just the fact that we're charging them is a hell of a lot better than most.
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Apr 26, 2013 18:55
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Are Icelandic children taught Norse mythology as kids? Is Viking history a big part of Icelandic identity? Also, do you have a state church that everyone pays for via taxes?
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Apr 26, 2013 23:12
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Deceitful Penguin posted:I'm hoping that people aren't massive retards. But political literacy in Iceland is sadly pretty poo poo and it's gonna stay that way if a Left government can't stay in charge long enough to reform the education system. Or I suppose they could help themselves and actually remember further back than 2 weeks but, hah! Fat chance of that happening. How do they teach politics in Iceland that make its people so dumb about it? About the crowdsourced constitution that was ultimately pushed aside, where's the official text for it and what was it like? How bad, specifically, is the Pirate Party in Iceland? Is it just like any general internet-based libertarian party, or is this incarnation special? The reason I brought them up is because of this article I found a while ago where a Pirate Party suddenly formed after the constitution was removed from the political agenda (which is weird since I though they already have a branch there).
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Apr 26, 2013 23:43
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Radio Talmudist posted:Are Icelandic children taught Norse mythology as kids? Is Viking history a big part of Icelandic identity? Radio Talmudist posted:Also, do you have a state church that everyone pays for via taxes?
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Apr 27, 2013 01:12
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Byde posted:How do they teach politics in Iceland that make its people so dumb about it? Byde posted:About the crowdsourced constitution that was ultimately pushed aside, where's the official text for it and what was it like? Byde posted:How bad, specifically, is the Pirate Party in Iceland? Is it just like any general internet-based libertarian party, or is this incarnation special? They're too far to the left on environmental matters and social justice poo poo to be real libertarians, but there are turds like that skulking in their ranks. They're obviously mostly a party of nerds focused on internet poo poo but they certainly aren't the German Pirate party, with their MRA forum or solving their differences by watching My Little Pony. Byde posted:The reason I brought them up is because of this article I found a while ago where a Pirate Party suddenly formed after the constitution was removed from the political agenda (which is weird since I though they already have a branch there). She, alongside Smára McCarthy (no relations to the senator, I think) founded the Pirate party. All in all, they stole a bit of votes from the left but I'm hoping they also stole from the right. As is, the lack of a reputable alternative for sane right wing Icelanders means that most returned either to the bosom of the bankrupting parties or just switched from one neoliberal to another. And tomorrow we vote. May the Gods have mercy on our pathetic souls.
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Apr 27, 2013 01:30
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Deceitful Penguin posted:They teach civics far too late and without enough emphasis. Maybe the lack of understanding for the basics of governance is a universal plague, but a lot of people quite simply don't know how the government work nor what are the exact powers it holds. Hell, the study of Icelandic political history was part of an elective class in my high school for petes sake. I don't think that's acceptable at all, especially considering how only recently the Womens Party showed how important the parties can be for Icelands politics. Deceitful Penguin posted:Uhh, I'm gonna assume you mean the suggestions for the amendment of the Icelandic constitution, which is here, albeit in Icelandic so of dubious use to you. Deceitful Penguin posted:Hooo boy. Well. They have a surprising amount of good people. This is the only thing stopping me from calling them utter poo poo. They promise a lot about "direct democracy" and voting online for policy but I question how that's gonna work when they're in parliament. Will they have a poll on facebook? Eh. Deceitful Penguin posted:And tomorrow we vote. May the Gods have mercy on our pathetic souls.
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Apr 27, 2013 03:07
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I visited Iceland with a friend in the summer of 2007, right before the banks went belly-up. Hotels and guesthouses were quite expensive so we mostly stayed in hostels (which were really nice, actually). We ate in 9 out of the 10 nights. I think our simple restaurant dinner cost just over 100 USD. So - since you live there and have worked the hotel industry - has the price of hotels and food and commodities risen or fallen since then? I think we paid about ~150 USD for a night in a guesthouse that had a kitchen and three rooms. I'd love to go back but I have no idea what things cost now. Hostels varied from 25-65 USD a night.
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Apr 27, 2013 03:17
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What American writers, if any, are popular in Iceland? Or that you like? Have you seen the movie "Cold Fever"? How much of a problem is there with neo-Nazis in Iceland, or others of their ilk? Can I come to your apartment and hang out drinking until about midnight, and then we could head out to a bar?
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Apr 27, 2013 03:24
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Deceitful Penguin posted:The only one that you're "supposed" to use the near-extinct honorific for is the president, you could call him "Mr President" but I know him and he's a poo poo so I call him Óli. I just wanted to say that if that were my country, I would want these words in the national anthem because they made me feel so  .How did you meet the president, and how specifically is he a poo poo? (knocks when he already know's somebody's in the bathroom, etc.) Seeing as Iceland is such a small country, what other famous Icelanders have you met? I guess what I'm trying to ask is, what is Bjork like?
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Apr 27, 2013 05:47
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How many times have you been to the world's largest dick museum? Do you believe in elves and if so what are they like? If not, why have you forsaken your heritage?
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Apr 27, 2013 06:28
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Voted today, then had to rep the post-election party places and enjoy the free waffles and talk politics. Byde posted:So basically like the American education system? I'm only just now learning the specifics of how the U.S. government works from school and I'm a sophomore in college for Christ's sake. By the way, can you give me a rundown on the Womens Party a bit? The Women Party (or list) [Icelandic: Kvennalistinn] is one of the most resounding victories for women in Icelandic politics. The year is 1983. While women have had suffrage for a while and sometimes been included on lists of political parties, they've always been placed too low to get in. (In general. There were a few notable exceptions like our current PM Jóhanna) The Red Socks have mostly disbanded following their creation of a firm policy. Women have been shown to have power, with the Womens Strike in 1975 and the the election of Vigdís Finnbogadóttur as president in 1980 being prominent examples. In 1982 there had been a smaller, regional elections womens candidacy in the both the north and south but this year there are parliamentary elections. So they found the Womens List (or party). This was a cross-political non-hierarchical organization of women for women, firmly based on second wave feminist ideas and intent on getting womens matters to be an active part of politics and to get more women into parliament. Aside from obviously fighting for more political representation of women in politics, they also fought for issues that had been overlooked by the male dominated political apparatus, like increased access to kindergarden and increased wages for lower class women. They won 5.5 of the national vote and gained 3 senators. While their ideas nowadays are somewhat problematic (they had that strong second wave idea of the genders being intrinsically different and essentialized them) they are the main reason why Iceland is now among the top of charts related to womens freedoms and rights in the world. It makes me proud to say my ma was a member and that I was taken to their meetings as a kid. Byde posted:I do remember something about property within the amendment that people found wonderful, and as an ameteur socialist I want to know if it's anywhere near what I hope it is. After my semester ends I have the summer off, so is there any sources for teaching Icelandic? I'm going to spend the time reading stuff like Marx and doing some carefree programming, and, considering how boring I am, learning Icelandic just to read a document isn't the worst thing I'll ever do. Good on reading Marx! I did so as a teen and while I've forgotten some of the details, the analytical framework and critical way of thinking has been useful ever since. Byde posted:That's the deal with libertarians in general. They generally have some good things going for them, but they are usually more reprehensible than anything. They seem to have this whole "The Internet will fix everything" attitude and that annoys me, even if many left-wing news outlets now are online-only. Byde posted:I wish mercy on your country as well. Good luck. Don't turn into our mess of a country. artichoke posted:I visited Iceland with a friend in the summer of 2007, right before the banks went belly-up. Hotels and guesthouses were quite expensive so we mostly stayed in hostels (which were really nice, actually). We ate in 9 out of the 10 nights. I think our simple restaurant dinner cost just over 100 USD. Overall, the prices for staying aren't that much improved, due to vastly increased demand (One of my jobs was organizing our guests into rooms and there were not many empty days), but hostels remain a cheap choice and if you check around you can often find cheap hotels. To be honest, you missed the cheapest time, which was a year or so after you left, but things will probably never become as expensive as they were when you were here again. Obdicut posted:What American writers, if any, are popular in Iceland? Or that you like? But yea, we read a drat lot of American books, watch American movies and consume american cultural products like vidcons or pornographic pogs. Obdicut posted:Have you seen the movie "Cold Fever"? Obdicut posted:How much of a problem is there with neo-Nazis in Iceland, or others of their ilk? Obdicut posted:Can I come to your apartment and hang out drinking until about midnight, and then we could head out to a bar? RapturesoftheDeep posted:I just wanted to say that if that were my country, I would want these words in the national anthem because they made me feel so RapturesoftheDeep posted:How did you meet the president, and how specifically is he a poo poo? (knocks when he already know's somebody's in the bathroom, etc.) Seeing as Iceland is such a small country, what other famous Icelanders have you met? I've met plenty of famous people, not just Icelanders. But if there's one thing Iceland does, is make you somewhat uncaring for celebrity or obsessed with it and I'm in the former group. The only one I'd care to mention offhand is some of the peeps in "Of Monsters and Men" 'cause Kristján was a classmate and friend and worked with Arnar (we didn't get along) and talked into some of Árnas cartoons as well as use his studio for something or the other. RapturesoftheDeep posted:I guess what I'm trying to ask is, what is Bjork like? I have no idea, never really talked to her. MassaShowtime posted:How many times have you been to the world's largest dick museum? MassaShowtime posted:Do you believe in elves and if so what are they like? If not, why have you forsaken your heritage? As for what they're like, they mostly keep to themselves and so do we. I suppose they might watch television a lot or play games, if they never leave them hills. Deceitful Penguin fucked around with this message at 20:43 on Apr 27, 2013 |
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Apr 27, 2013 20:38
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Cool about the neo-nazis being so heavily sidelined, along with racists in general. I've been to Iceland two times and had a loving amazing time each time. I want to create a country that's Iceland on one side and Costa Rica on the other. It would rule. Tropical vikings, man. It'll be where it's at. A friend of mine was staying at a hotel-- this was eighteen or so years ago-- and thumbing through his Icelandic phrasebook at the front desk every day, trying to ask about taxis and exchange rate and suchlike. The guy would patiently wait for him to ask the question, and then slowly tell him the reply so my friend could figure it out, or he'd just point on a map or give him a phone number. After a week of this, my friend accidentally spoke to him in English, and the guy responded in perfect English. He had just assumed my friend wanted to practice his Icelandic and let him flounder through it. And yes, watch Cold Fever. Excellent movie.
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Apr 27, 2013 20:58
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Obdicut posted:Cool about the neo-nazis being so heavily sidelined, along with racists in general. I've been to Iceland two times and had a loving amazing time each time. I want to create a country that's Iceland on one side and Costa Rica on the other. It would rule. Tropical vikings, man. It'll be where it's at. *During one of Costa Ricas colder winters. Obdicut posted:A friend of mine was staying at a hotel-- this was eighteen or so years ago-- and thumbing through his Icelandic phrasebook at the front desk every day, trying to ask about taxis and exchange rate and suchlike. The guy would patiently wait for him to ask the question, and then slowly tell him the reply so my friend could figure it out, or he'd just point on a map or give him a phone number. Obdicut posted:And yes, watch Cold Fever. Excellent movie.
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Apr 27, 2013 21:19
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Deceitful Penguin posted:
It's about a Japanese guy who has to go to Iceland to perform the Shinto rituals for his parents death. He speaks no Icelandic and almost no English. He nearly dies a few times. It's great! Á Köldum Klaka is the original name of it.
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Apr 27, 2013 21:24
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Reykjavik elected a joke mayor last election, how's he doing?
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Apr 27, 2013 21:57
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Obdicut posted:It's about a Japanese guy who has to go to Iceland to perform the Shinto rituals for his parents death. He speaks no Icelandic and almost no English. He nearly dies a few times. It's great! Griz posted:Reykjavik elected a joke mayor last election, how's he doing?
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Apr 28, 2013 04:14
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