Learning Faroese in Holland

[Catharina]

Heilsa everyone,

So here's another Týr fan..in the Netherlands this time! I've been trying to learn some Faroese for a few months now and only just found this forum!

So far I'm studying out of Lockwood, as I haven't ordered the Faroese Rerefence Grammar yet (will do, will do). I'm planning to do the language course at the Fróðskaparsetur Føroya in the summer of 2009, as this year is just not a possibility.

At the moment I have found just one Føroyingur living in the Netherlands and I'm meeting him next week and hope he can help me with some pronounciation. I try to watch Dagur og Vika online (www.svf.fo) as often as possible, as it really helps to understand the written words as well!

Hope to learn more from you all in the future,
Cat.

[Mulder-21]

Wow, this is great. And I do admire your ambition, Catharina.

One more thing you could do, is to read news. http://www.portalurin.fo and http://www.uf.fo are best for free news. www.uf.fo even has an English version, so you can compare and see if you understood the stories correctly. Both website also have links, which allow you to hear streamed radio (the station broadcasting is the national station ÚF (Útvarp Føroya)).

Men herja á, og so lærir tú skjótt føroyskt.

[Hunef]

What's "heilsa" (other than a noun meaning 'health', cf. Swe. hälsa)?

[Mulder-21]

What's "heilsa" (other than a noun meaning 'health', cf. Swe. hälsa)?

The singular imperative of 'at heilsa' (to greet).

[Hunef]

What's "heilsa" (other than a noun meaning 'health', cf. Swe. hälsa)?

The singular imperative of 'at heilsa' (to greet).

Yeah, in Swedish too (ei > ä), but can it be used like that, i.e. the way Catharina uses it as a greeting?

[Mulder-21]

Oh, I didn't notice that until now. No, it can't.

I can't think of any cognate of 'vär hilset' in Faroese. The Danish-Faroese dictionary when asked to translate 'vær hilset' gives 'heilur og sælur' (pl. would be heilir og sælir).

The best thing, however, would just be a simple 'hey' or 'góðan dag'

[Hunef]

Oh, I didn't notice that until now. No, it can't.

I can't think of any cognate of 'vär hilset' in Faroese. The Danish-Faroese dictionary when asked to translate 'vær hilset' gives 'heilur og sælur' (pl. would be heilir og sælir).

The best thing, however, would just be a simple 'hey' or 'góðan dag'

Swedish "Var hälsad!" sounds pretty awkward too. Swedish would use the same phrases as Faroese, i.e., Hej or God dag (afton etc.).

[Catharina]

Thanks for the welcome:-)
ella: Takk fyri!

I picked up the "heilsa" somewhere and never realized that it wouldn't be a correct use of the word. Maybe because I'm also on a lot of metal fora and there "hails" and "heilsa" are used interchangedly as a greeting.

Another forum I try to keep up with is Kjak.fo, but I simply don't understand 80% of what's going on there, so I'm happy to find the lingua franca (no pun intended) here is English.

Another question: what is the meaning of the phrase "og har?" It seems like a simple enough phrase, but I can't figure out if it actually means something, or if it's just a way of saying "and you?" or "what's up?" or something like that.

This is the sentence that phrase came from, written by a Føroyingur:


>Her gongur fint, bara slappi av til vit fara avstad aftur! Og har?<

[Mulder-21]

Indeed. 'Og har?' simply means 'And there?' (which in English usually'd be 'and you?')

Hehe, metal forums. You must like Týr then, right? But if 'hails' should be used, then 'heilsur' would be better, however it still doesn't sound that good.

[Catharina]

Hey Mulder,

takk fyri [explanation?] [seinast?]

Yup, I absolutely love Týr Is it true that folk-metal or Viking metal as we say, is called kvæðamálmur in the Faeroes?

I'll refrain from using any form of heilsur in the future then and just stick with "hey"

Cat.

[Aleco]

Oh, I didn't notice that until now. No, it can't.

I can't think of any cognate of 'vär hilset' in Faroese. The Danish-Faroese dictionary when asked to translate 'vær hilset' gives 'heilur og sælur' (pl. would be heilir og sælir).

The best thing, however, would just be a simple 'hey' or 'góðan dag'

Jeg regner med at det betyr det samme som norsk "Heil og sæl"?

Good luck Catharina Is really an interesting language

[Mulder-21]

Hey Mulder,

takk fyri [explanation?] [seinast?]

Well, 'takk fyri frágreiðingina' is good

Yup, I absolutely love Týr Is it true that folk-metal or Viking metal as we say, is called kvæðamálmur in the Faeroes?

Well, almost. It's referred to as kvæðarokkur, heavy metal though is referred to as tungmálmsrokkur (Heavy ore rock). But now I think about it, I vaguely remember having heard the term 'kvæðamálmur' so it's not totally impossible.

And Aleco, yes, those two are the same.

[Hunef]

He he, "tungmalmsrock" in Swedish would sound cool. But one says "tungmetall" (or simply "heavy metal" as in English - but "hard rock" is always "hårdrock" in Swedish).

[Hunef]

I picked up the "heilsa" somewhere and never realized that it wouldn't be a correct use of the word. Maybe because I'm also on a lot of metal fora and there "hails" and "heilsa" are used interchangedly as a greeting.

I know that there's a wide-spread myth circulating out there that Old Norse had a greeting heilsa, but it never had. Read here: Frequently Asked Questions (Old Norse Course). Quoting:

What? I thought 'heilsa' was the Old Norse greeting!

I'm afraid that's some sort of misunderstanding.

I wonder how this false Old Norse greeting heilsa was invented. The fact that the verb at heilsa means 'to greet', and that the noun heilsa means 'health' (the latter meaning the original) may be the ultimate reason, of course. Someone has used an analogy from some other language, or something.

[Catharina]

Takk fyri Hunef - that's a great course by the way, I'm really glad you posted that link.

I'll probably post some more questions later, as most of today will be spent studying Faroese - I'm meeting with the one Føroyingur in Holland tomorrow and will try not to make a fool out of myself

[Hunef]

Takk fyri Hunef - that's a great course by the way, I'm really glad you posted that link.

I'll probably post some more questions later, as most of today will be spent studying Faroese - I'm meeting with the one Føroyingur in Holland tomorrow and will try not to make a fool out of myself

I hope your date will be nice!

[Mulder-21]

So, Catharina, how did it go?

Nú, Catharina, hvussu gekst?

[Catharina]

It was amazing!

Petur was great and very flattered that I was so interested, although he did of course ask the million dollar question: "why?!", which I can only answer with: "because it's there".

I have 11 pages in my notebook looking like this:



We spoke mostly English, since my Faeroese still really sucks. But within 30 minutes we had the notebook ímillum on the table, and were exchanging the pen all the time to write down spelling, pronounciation etc. He explained so much stuff to me, not just about the language but about the daily life on the Faeroes, culture, politics, schooling etc etc.

Also he brought me a Faeroese krimi to read!! "Blíð er summarnátt á Føroyalandi" by Jógvan Isaksen. I've tried reading it and I think I understand most of it, but it's going very very veeeeeeery slowly.

He laughed at some of the words I used and said: "you got those from a ballad, didn't you?" Apparently I use words that really mean "battle-din" for modern things like "noise from cars". Woops. That's the risk of learning Faeroese from Týr's ballads...

He also corrected my pronounciation a LOT, which shows that it's not a good idea to learn a language from a book, even with watching Dagur og Vika.

So now I need some help writing a thank you-note, since he made me promise that we'll speak only Faeroese next time!

[Hunef]

So, Catharina, any romance with the guy?

[Catharina]

LOL nope

He already has a girlfriend plus he's not really my type, nor I his, I'm sure. But if you happen to know a large Viking with enormous hands with nothing to do, let me know