To sum up the Eurovision Song Contest, it’s an annual competition that sees participants from every country on the European continent plus Israel, Cyprus and Morocco. There are even more countries outside of the continent that are eligible to enter, but they’ve never sent a representative to the actual competition.

The competition itself has two semifinals, where ten winners are selected from each batch of countries for the finals. This system does not include “The Big Five”, UK, Germany, France, Spain and most recently Italy, who get their representatives to the finals without having to battle in the semifinals first. The host country, being the country that won the previous year, is also automatically in the finals.

Iceland has never won the Eurovision, yet it’s come second twice (1999: Selma/All Out of Luck and 2009: Yohanna/Is It True). It debuted in the competition in 1986 with a song called Gleðibankinn (an excellent mullet ahoy). The song Iceland sends has most often been sung in Icelandic, but there was a long period after Páll Óskar’s Minn hinsti dans in 1997 when the language was changed to English – the songs were sung in Icelandic while in Iceland and then translated into English for the competition. The opinion on how good idea this was varies, but personally I find that the translations leave off so much of the original songs that keeping them in Icelandic shows them more respect. Thankfully this year’s entry Ég á líf was sung again in Icelandic, for the first time since 1997!

Páll Óskar himself. I’m a big fan!

The winner is chosen by both a jury and public vote, 50% each. Unsurprisingly this means that neighbour countries vote each other a lot, one example being the Nordic countries whose habit of hanging together is nothing short of legendary. Looking at Iceland’s points alone makes this strikingly clear: during the whole history of Eurovision Iceland has given the most points to Denmark, followed by Sweden, Norway, France and – Finland. On the other hand Iceland has received the most points from Sweden, followed closely by Norway and Denmark. That’s why it came as a huge shock to Icelanders that Denmark only gave them one point this year. What on earth does this betrayal mean, we thought we had a deal!

However, one’s own country winning is not the main thing about Eurovision celebrations. More importantly it’s a time to spend in good company with good food and -

- drinking games. The rules for a typical drinking game usually state that you have to choose a country or two countries you’re rooting for and whenever they get points, you take a sip. During the performances there are certain Eurovision cliches that mean the whole group has to drink. In the above photo the game is divided into three categories: first the announcers, then rating and thirdly the performers.

The list above goes as follows.

Kynning (= presenting, the announcer/s): skiptir um föt (= changes clothes), segir “Malmö” (= says Malmö), nefnir að hún sé ein (= mentions that she seems to be alone), Segway (hahaha I have no idea why this one is on the list – Eurovision is a strange competition indeed!), þakkar Baku/Azerbaijan (= thanks Baku/Azerbaijan, the place where the last year’s Eurovision was held at), quote-ar (= quotes something: the word ‘quote’ is used here as an English word with an Icelandic verb ending), Eurovision-appið (= Eurovision application gets mentioned), auglýsir DVD/CD (= advertises DVD/CD).

Atriði (= “items”; performers): vindvél (= wind machine), props (= props – an English word), eldur (= fire), reykur (= smoke), Ruslönu trommur (= I’m not entirely certain of what this one means – Ruslana drumming?), fatafokk (= doing something showy with clothes; fokk is yet another English loan word, but it holds a lot less weight than the original, English curse; fokk is often used to describe some kind of unnecessary messing about).

Hálftónshækkun (= semitone higher), augabrúnir (= eyebrows: here used to mean notably large and bushy ones), koss (= kiss), áhorfendasnerting (= contact with the audience, in other words shaking hands with the front line). The next one I’m afraid I cannot really make out… something about the background vocals of Netherlands? Nýr gaur means a new guy, a performer that suddenly appears on stage in the middle of the song, which is a very popular trick in Eurovision. Handafokk, despite of how it sounds like, actually means unnecessarily dramatic gesturing with hands here.

Stigagjöf (= “points giving”; rating): töf á stigagjöf (= delay during the rating), spilling Norðurlanda (= Nordic corruption: when a Nordic country gives points to more than one other Nordic country) and tungumálafokk, which means any clumsy attempt at using a language the announcer does not know.

I’m just happy I stood for Finland and Iceland – Iceland of course got lots of points but my homeland’s failure probably saved me from alcohol poisoning!

To end with, here’s a quick translation of what I still think of as the best song of this year Ég á líf, sung by Eyþór Ingi Gunnlaugsson (you can also listen to the song here with Icelandic subtitles)(there’s also a small interview on him here – he’s mostly talking about his clothes and jewellery, but at the end he also sings for us – also… is it just me or does he look quite a lot like Thor?):

I’m alive

I left for that long journey
I went forward, lost and restless
I thought of nothing, not further than the next day
Loneliness and tranquility I chose

I’m alive, I’m alive, I glide over hardships
I’m alive, I’m alive because of you
When the winds turn at me I climb over the high mountains
I’m alive, I’m alive, I’m alive

I did not understand the love that moves everything
I did not dare to embrace and stay
I felt I didn’t deserve to open my mind
And let the brightness of love enter

I’m alive…

And I believe, yes I believe
Maybe the beautiful gates of the sky will open
The beauty of love will flood out and over me alone

I’m alive…

To begin with Icelandic has roughly speaking three different levels of formality in greetings. These overlap generously and often the level you should be using may be difficult to figure out, so let’s look at them and the pitfalls you may encounter. Well, this being Iceland those pitfalls are more like tiny bumps in the road, nothing to worry too much about.

Formal

Góðan dag/góðan daginn (= good day), gott kvöld (= good evening)

These ones are handy to learn because they fit many situations and many people: the bus driver, your teacher, a person who passes you by on the street in the area where you live, Björk, the president. In fact the only people you might not use these with are your close friends and your family, but they’re not completely out of place there either; the reason you would choose some other form of greeting is that there is a wide variety of less formal greetings as well.

The time of the day when these greetings are used is divided around five or six p.m. Góðan daginn goes before (Icelandic does not have a greeting for good morning) and gott kvöld after. You won’t have to check the time before greeting though, no one will care if you’re an hour early or late with either of them. If you want to be absolutely sure, wait for your opponent to greet you first and then reply with the same greeting.

Komdu sæl/l

Here’s where the greetings get one step more difficult. Icelandic, as you know, has three genders – masculine, feminine and neuter – and some greetings follow gender rules. You will greet a man differently than a woman and a group of men differently from a group of women or a mixed group of people.

Komdu sæll (og blessaður): greeting a singular male person.

Komdu sæl (og blessuð): greeting a singular female person.

Komið þið sælir (og blessaðir): for a group of men.

Komið þið sælar (og blessaðar): for a group of women.

Komið þið sæl (og blessuð): for a mixed group.

The level of formality depends on whether or not you use the longer version that includes the blessing. These will be important for you to master if you’re planning to get a job at customer service. It may not always go well to greet someone with the wrong gender because it strongly hints that that’s the gender you’re taking them to be. Still, Icelanders are quite understanding when it comes to foreigners using the language and in a tight spot if you can’t remember the correct form of greeting you can just say góðan dag/gott kvöld and be automatically safe.

Note that although Christian in origin the word blessaður (= blessed) has no religious meaning when used in a greeting. It can be used by anyone regardless of faith or lack thereof.

“Komið þið sæl” says the neighbour’s cat. She really, really seems to want to move in to our place sometimes!

Less formal

All of the above greetings can be shortened, which makes them less formal. They can still be used to greet both complete strangers, employees, one’s own authorities etc. with the only real difference being that they may sound a little bit friendlier than the most formal version. Remember how I told you that Icelanders find it massively rude to even hint at differences in social standing? When in Iceland, don’t just trust your dictionary when it tells you some word is “formal” or “polite”, using it may have the exact opposite effect than what you were hoping for. Friendly is safer than formal.

The shortened versions are:

Daginn!/Kvöldið!

Sæll (M S)/ Sæl (F S)/ Sælir (M P)/ Sælar (F P)/ Sæl (N P).

Blessaður! (M S) Blessuð! (F S)

Informal

The above less formal ones can sometimes count as informal as well, for example sæll is a very typical way of greeting a good friend. There is only one greeting that I can think of that is always only informal and never, ever even the least bit formal:

Hæ. It’s a loan word of the English “hi”, just spelled in the Icelandic way.

Goodbye

With parting words Icelanders are even less fussy about formality. A typical all-time goodbye that goes for any situation at all is

Bless / bless bless! 

You can both use and hear both versions, one bless or two bless. They have no particular difference in meaning and can be used for anyone. They are also not tied to gender.

Vertu sæll (M S)/ vertu sæl (F S)/ verið þið sælir (M P)/ verið þið sælar (F P)/ verið þið sæl (N P)!

These goodbyes are similar to the sæll og blessaður -greeting in that they use both gender and singular vs. plural in form. Same rules therefore apply. You can also switch the words around a bit for a more poetic effect: sæl vertu, sælar verið þið etc.

Góða nótt (= good night)

Good night is a parting phrase in Icelandic in the same way as in English: it hints that the both of you are retiring for the night.

Sjáumst! (= see you)

Even though it may sound a very informal way of parting, Icelanders use sjáumst for almost anyone at all granted that they’re actually expecting to see them again. Leaving class is a typical moment for saying sjáumst to both your professor and your fellow students. In fact, since it may take you a week to see your professor again but only a day to see your friends in another class you may say sjáumst to the professor but sjáumst á morgun (= see you tomorrow) to your friends.

And of course there is also bæ. Same thing as with hæ, bæ is a loan word and stems from bye.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Here you can listen to how these greetings are pronounced.

Takk fyrir mig og verið þið sæl öll! Sjáumst í næstu víku!

Personally, I’m staying optimistic. One misconception that I’ve read a lot about is that the right wing were somehow “not socialist” but this is not true – the whole country of Iceland is socialist, just like all the other Nordics. This means that Iceland is not going to suddenly throw away all the things that come with a left-side influence such as free/cheap health care and education, minimum wages and unemployment benefits that are survivable-on etc. Besides after making a rather embarrassingly large, world-famous mistake I’m ready to stake some money on that the right wing will be wanting to avoid similar mistakes in the future. And if they don’t, well, Icelanders have forced them out once before with the power of pots and pans and vats of skyr, they can no doubt do it again if needed.

What could have steered the vote this way is the question I hear all around me. Are people so quick to forget?

Back when the right wing was last in power Icelanders certainly felt good about life. Everyone had money and jobs, getting a loan was easy (oh boy how easy indeed!) and by every look of it the paradise was here, except of course that is not how economy works. There can exist no infinite growth but waves, and causing a wave as high as the bubble was inevitably ends up in a huge crash. Fixing that was a lot of work and suddenly no one was happy any longer. Sad as it is, no one ever likes the politicians who have to patch up the economy after it’s collapsed.

But is it really this simple? I don’t think it is. First of all, when a country is saving money the cuts hurt the ones that are the most helpless: the children, students, the ill, unemployed and the elderly. Yet when the economy is on an upward curve again no one somehow thinks of returning them what they lost. When counted together these groups have a rather large number of people in them and the ones old enough to vote may be easily swayed by the most recent treatment that they’ve been receiving.

This is not the only reason to vote for the right, of course. Some of the voters are simply loyal – I for example always vote for a certain party even if I actually prefer a politician that’s from another one. This is due to the voting system that yields the more seats the bigger the percentage of the votes is, so no matter how much I agreed with, say, a politician of the Central party I would never vote for them; chances are they won’t get selected and my vote only goes to give more seats to this a party whose ideas I’m against.

But besides these two – the loyal voters base and the forgetful nostalgists – there is still at least one huge issue that may have turned the tide for the right, and that’s the question about joining the EU. As the national votes proved a majority of Icelanders are not happy about joining. There are numerous reasons to this, tied to the fishing industry, farming, entrepreneurs and just the thought of losing independence that weigh in people’s minds. Do not overlook that last part, Icelanders get pretty fierce at the thought of becoming somebody else’s property again and many view EU to do just that. They fought long and hard for independence and now it looks like the government is considering handing it all away, just like that.

The truth of the matter is far more complicated than this but for most of the time the topic of joining the EU is simplified to this thought. Now let’s see how the parties view this:

Samfylkingin (= Social Democratic Alliance) (XS - this is a “code” for the whole party. I like to think of them as smileys.): strongly for joining the EU.

Vinstri-Græn (= Leftist-Greens)(XV): undecided, somewhat against joining the EU but I haven’t seen them being very vocal about it.

These are the two parties that were hitherto in power. Then for the others:

Sjálfsstæðisflokkurinn (= Independence Party)(XD): strongly against the EU.

Framsókn (= Progressives)(XB): I… have no idea! They aren’t very vocal about the EU but then again this is possibly one of the most misleading names for a party I’ve ever seen, since they rarely seem to actually do very much.

The above ones are the ones that are now with the most seats. Then there are the newcomer parties:

Píratapartýið (= Pirate Party)(XÞ): they’re more interested in internet freedom and have declared that it’s not the job of a political party to state their opinion on whether or not Iceland should join the EU.

Björt Framtið (= Bright Future)(XA): they’re for joining the EU.

Moon over the Pearl.

All this is but speculation of course, and since every election is a fight for the voters that are undecided the answer will likely differ a lot. The uncertain voters are the ones whole votes matter the most (the loyal ones will be loyal after all) and they’re a largely varied group, and therefore their motivations are impossible to point at, even those few ones’ who chose to take a photo of their ballot, upload it on Facebook and act all surprised when told it was illegal… I would be interested in hearing other people’s theories as well on this matter, if you’re knowledgeable on the subject of Icelandic politics!

Click here to view the embedded video.

Here’s some relevant vocabulary on the subject plus the names of all of the parties that are now in power. Trying to pronounce them correctly takes a bit of work.

Thank you all for April, see you in May!

Aðblástur (= pre-aspiration)

Certain double consonants and combinations are pronounced with an extra h-sound between them and the vowels that come right before them. The h is audible and clearly pronounced, and with a couple of exceptions you cannot leave it out, else no one is going to understand what word you’re trying to say. The double consonants that do this are:

kk, pp and tt

For example when reading out aloud the following sentence

“Ekki meira, takk.” (= No more [for me], thank you)

and extra h-sound is added before both double k clusters:

“EHkki meira, taHkk.”

Or:

“Ég er svo heppinn að vera hér.” (= I’m so happy to be here.”

“Ég er svo heHppinn að vera hér.”

“Erum við eHkki á jeHppa?”

Kl, pl, tl, kn, pn, tn

are the consonant combinations that do the same.

“Íslenskt vatn er best í heimi.” (= Icelandic water is the best in the world.)

“Íslenskt vaHtn er best í heimi.”

Sometimes when Icelanders speak quickly they leave some sounds only half pronounced, so it’s not unusual to hear the word vatn (= water, lake) pronounced both vaHtn and vaHn. In compound words where vatn is in the genitive form vatns, it turns into vaHS!

“Hekla er um 1500 metra hátt.” (= Hekla is about 1500 metres tall.”

“HeHkla er um 1500 metra háHtt.”

“Opnaðu augun þín.” (= Open your eyes.)

“OHpnaðu augun þín.”

It’s important to not confuse the aðblástur with önghljóð, a voiceless fricative sound that Icelandic also has. Aðblástur is a clear h-sound, not formed in the back of one’s mouth but in the center. If pronouncing it feels difficult at first, try to make a small pause between the consonant clusters that demand it – f.ex. instead of saying “teHppi” you can say “te-ppi” – the end result sounds very nearly the same.

Photo taken late in the evening last Saturday – Icelandic spring is full of surprises. At least it’s also very light!

Exceptions:

Compound words are naturally an exception. For example any word that begins with út- will rarely get a pre-aspiration between ú and t. Útlendingur (= a foreigner) gets no aðblástur, and neither does útlit (= appearance).

Consonant clusters at the beginning of a word will naturally not get an aðblástur, because it can only happen between vowels and consonants. Klaustur (= monastery, cloister) is not Hklaustur.

If the word has a -lega or a -leysi ending with a k in front of it it will not get an aðblástur. Mjúklega (= gently) and sakleysi (= innocence) neither get an aðblástur.

There’s also one curious exception that may or may not come into action if the vowel before the consonants is either í, ý, ei, ey or æ. Sometimes instead of a h-sound you’ll hear a y-/j-sound instead. Don’t worry too much about which way you pronounce this one, these are the words that Icelanders will easily understand in both forms of pronunciation.

As a common example: ætla (= to plan, to intend) can be pronounced both æHtla and æYtla/æJtla. Technically speaking æHtla is the correct form, but it sounds a little more natural to pronounce it as æYtla/æJtla when talking normally. For example, when Icelanders order food at a restaurant they commonly say “Ég æJtla að fá…” (= I’m going to have/I’d like to have…)

Click here to view the embedded video.

A small audio sample of how aðblástur, or pre-aspiration, sounds like.

Previous pronunciation posts:

Part 1: sharp consonants.

Part 2: vowels. 

Part 3: rhythm.

Hávamál can be divided into sections based on their content, of which the first one called Gestaþáttr includes guidance in poetic form for living a successful and happy life. It is still often quoted, and no wonder since the advice within has not been affected by the hundreds of years that have passed since it was penned down.

A virtuous person, Hávamál stresses, is one who is moderate in everything. A happy one is never too much of this or that because extremes bring about them much unhappiness, and at times the stanzas in it seem to carry a double meaning, so it’s best to meditate on each one of the little poems rather than just take them at face value. Much importance lies in how something is said – which happens to be one of the key advice Hávamál offers as well!

Óðinn disguised as a traveler. I just keep seeing Tolkien’s Gandalf though…

Poems 1-11: advice for someone who’s travelling and does not know whether they’re among friends or foes. In Medieval times this could have been a matter of life and death, but the advice can be applied to the present day as well even if we’re no longer risking an ax to the head.

6.
Að hyggjandi sinni
skylit maður hræsinn vera
heldur gætinn að geði.
Þá er horskur og þögull
kemur heimsgarða til
sjaldan verður víti vörum
því að óbrigðra vin
fær maður aldregi
en manvit mikið.

“Of one’s own knowledge/shouldn’t a man shout about/rather keep his thoughts to himself. /When a wise and quiet one/comes to a new village/he makes few mistakes/for more trustful friend/a man shall never have/than his own wit.”

Silence is golden. Boasting about one’s own skills/knowledge/opinions to people one doesn’t know is rarely a good idea. What’s more, there’s a chance to goof up so badly that it will bring about enemies with sharp blades – just read any old Icelandic saga to find an example of what happens next.

Óðinn and Gunnlöð

The parts 12-14 address drinking. It’s important to note, though, that the advice is not to avoid drinking but to do it in moderation, and using himself as an example Óðinn tells how he once drank himself under the table at the giantess Gunnlöð’s place, losing most of his memory of the night, and how the best parties in his opinion are the ones you can remember afterwards.

From part 15 to 18 the text warns against being cowardly or making a fool out of one’s self.

16.
Ósnjallur maður
hyggst munu ey lifa
ef hann við víg varast.
En elli gefur
honum engi frið
þótt honum geirar gefi.

“A stupid man/thinks he might life forever/if he in battle falls back. /But old age gives/him no peace/although spears gave it.”

In confrontation one should stand one’s ground. Trying to save one’s self will only result in bad reputation.

In our time this could mean for example that if you end up in an open confrontation you should stand behind your own words. Don’t try to make excuses for your deeds but face them: apologize where you’ve done wrong instead of trying to explain yourself away. Accept the possible outcome that you may be proven wrong – it will hurt your pride but such “battle wounds” will heal well and leave no lingering regrets in the back of your mind.

Stanzas from 19-23 stress the importance of moderation and power over one’s self. The Medieval Icelanders viewed self control so important that it’s the basis of the whole Gestaþáttr. The reader is advised to hold their tongue, to listen rather than to speak, avoid picking fights and to drink, eat and worry only in moderation. While the others are easily understandable that last part may sound weird. How can one worry in moderation?

The way this was seen in the Viking era was that worrying in itself was not a bad thing because it was vital to be ready to face difficulties. However, worrying endlessly over problems that could not be solved was seen as self indulgence and therefore bad. As Hávamál puts it:

23.
Ósvinnur maður
vakir um allar nætur
og hyggur að hvívetna.
Þá er móður
er að morgni kemur,
allt er víl sem var.

“Stupid man/stays awake all night/and worries about everything. /Then is tired/when the morning comes/everything is as it was before.”

This should not be taken as some kind of jab at people who actually have anxiety or are suffering from depression. I would rather think of it as a general warning against negative thought processes that we all have. Did you make some embarrassing mistake while trying to speak Icelandic to an Icelander? Forgive yourself the mistake, don’t fret over it endlessly or you’ll risk jeopardizing your own learning process if you become too shy to use the language. Most likely you’re the only person that even remembers that mistake anyway.

From 24 to 32 Gestaþáttur considers when one should talk and how, and when being quiet might be the better option. Yet, like mentioned before, these stanzas can actually address the matter deeper than the first look would have it.

28
Fróður sá þykist
er fregna kann
og segja ið sama.
Eyvitu leyna
megu ýta synir
því er gengur um guma.

“Wise seems that man/who knows how to ask/and how to answer. /No secret/can stay among men/of the things that happen between them.”

The one who asks the right questions and answers truthfully, but carefully, will seem like a wise person. Trying to keep secrets that will come out sooner or later anyway is unwise. In short, this poem tells you to be honest and sincere about the things that have been done, but also to watch how you speak and of what.

Perhaps you had a disagreement with someone and have to explain yourself to a third person. If you yourself did or said things that added up to the fight it’s best to come clean about them in as non-aggravating manner as possible. There’s a huge difference between saying “Yes, I called her a XXXXX because she really is one!” and “Yes, I called her a XXXXX and I wish I hadn’t, it was horrible of me.”

Does it matter whether you actually are feeling sorry about the name calling? Gestaþáttr says – no! In poems 33-35 and 41-46  it’s often stressed that you should be courteous even to the people you don’t trust, and that your outcome will almost certainly be better with friendliness than aggression.

36-40 and 47-49 are general advice of self sufficiency and the handling of one’s properties. Owning even a little is a blessing and outward appearances can deceive: no man is worse for not being rich.

The importance of friendship appears in 50-52. Here is where a very popular saying comes from: Maður er manns gaman. It’s a bit tricky to translate but the general gist of it is that no man is an island; a human finds happiness in another human’s company.

Poems 53-60 are my own personal favourite – they suggest moderation is equally important in braininess! Or perhaps, rather, that common sense is worth much more than endless wisdom, for it’s common sense that’ll keep you alive and able to not worry beyond that which is necessary.

56.
Meðalsnotur
skyli manna hver,
æva til snotur sé.
Því að snoturs manns hjarta
verður sjaldan glatt
ef sá er alsnotur er á.

“Middle-wise/should every man be/and never too wise. /For a wise man’s heart/becomes rarely happy/if he is too wise.”

Too much knowledge can cause much unhappiness.

61-77  deal with a variety of subjects such as reputation and necessity: what one really needs and how much of it. There’s also a strong message of the importance of being alive and how no one is useless, no matter how “faulty” they may seem:

71.
Haltur ríður hrossi,
hjörð rekur handar vanur,
daufur vegur og dugir.
Blindur er betri
en brenndur sé,
nýtur manngi nás.

“The lame can ride a horse,/a flock of cattle can be driven by a handless,/the deaf can fight a battle bravely. /It’s better to be blind/than to be burned/the dead are no use to anyone.”

Don’t judge a book by its cover. There’s a talent within everyone, so don’t scorn a person based on appearances. You can trust Óðinn’s word on this, after all he’s only got one eye and that’s never stopped him from being the king of æsir.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Here are a couple of proverbs read out – some that are in this entry and others that aren’t, but which nevertheless give an interesting look into the moral code of the Medieval era.