Pronunciation and dialects

How some languages can help pronouncing English Icelandic Swedish English

Icelandic Letters that are of excellent help regarding English Þ [θ], [ð] ð [ ɛ θ], θ æ [ai]

Þ Thorn or þorn (Þ, þ) is a letter in the Old English, Gothic, Old Norse, and Icelandic alphabets, as well as some dialects of Middle English. It was also used in medieval Scandinavia, but was later replaced with the digraph th, except in Iceland where it survives. It has the sound of either a voiceless dental fricative [θ], like th as in the English word thick, or a voiced dental fricative [ð], like th as in the English word the. Þ in modern Icelandic also has a voiceless allophone [θ], which occurs in certain positions within a phrase.

ð Eth (Ð, ð; also spelled edh or eð) is a letter used in Old English, Icelandic, Faroese (in which it is called edd), and Elfdalian. It was also used in Scandinavia during the Middle Ages, but was subsequently replaced with dh and later d. Its use has survived in Iceland and the Faroe Islands. In Icelandic, ð represents a voiced dental fricative like th in English "them", but it never appears as the first letter of a word. The name of the letter is pronounced [ ɛ θ]; i.e., voiceless, unless followed by a vowel. It has also been labeled an "interdental fricative".

æ Æ (minuscule: æ) is a grapheme formed from the letters a and e. Originally a ligature representing a Latin diphthong, it has been promoted to the full status of a letter in the alphabets of some languages, including Danish, Norwegian, Icelandic and Faroese. As a letter of the Old English Latin alphabet, it was called æsc ("ash tree") after the Anglo-Saxon futhorc rune (), which it transliterated; its traditional name in English is still ash /æ ʃ /. In Icelandic, æ signifies the diphthong [ai].

Why is this important when speaking English? I was born in Iceland and raised there until I was 5 years old. Which means I got the basics in my mother tongue. When I was 5 years old we moved to Sweden and we lived there for 11 years which gave me the opportunity to go to school there from 1 st -9 th grade. We moved back to Iceland and I lived there for 24 years before moving back to Sweden again where I now live. This gave me the opportunity to regain my mother tongue and still keep my Swedish I then realized that I had the gift of being really good at pronouncing English words much easier than my schoolmates in Iceland. Why?

The pronunciation When you here someone speak Icelandic it will sound harsh or like we are arguing or are mad. There is no softness. For example: Ég ætla fara út í göngutúr. = I’m going out for a walk. When you here someone speak Swedish it is often said that it sounds like they are singing. I personally find that rather cute and friendly. For example: Jag tänker gå ut och ta en promenad.

The letters I mentioned earlier, þ,ð and æ. Are very important when pronouncing words in English like The, that, them, this. Find, grind, brother, mother. Because I use these letters when pronouncing. But since Icelandic has a very harsh sound it becomes difficult for the Icelanders to have that softness that should follow in pronouncing a word. So because I have the Swedish language too, were you find the softness I find myself very fortunate to be able to mix this all together and having a opportunity to pronounce it right without sound harsh or too soft. It is a shame that these letters have disappeared and I am glad that Iceland is such a isolated island that we can keep our special language.

Thank you!