There is no official state language in Iceland in the generally accepted sense, although 98, 99% of its inhabitants speak Icelandic. The descendants of the Vikings make up the absolute majority of the country's population, and only 1% with a little are Danes, Swedes, Norwegians and immigrants from other countries.
Some statistics and facts
- There is no influx of large numbers of immigrants to Iceland due to a very strict migration policy. It is based on the law on the preservation of the nation, and according to it, it is almost impossible for a foreigner to become a citizen of Iceland.
- The number of Icelandic speakers is just over 300 thousand.
- In 2011, the Icelandic parliament passed a law that granted the local sign language for the deaf and dumb the status of the official language of Iceland. This is the only precedent in world practice and it is surprising that ordinary spoken Icelandic does not have such a status.
- Students in Icelandic schools are required to study one of the Scandinavian languages. The most popular in this sense is Danish.
Some isolation of the country of ice from neighboring states is a deliberate policy, the result of which is the preservation of a unique folk culture. The official language of Iceland is not the only part of the life of Icelanders, which the local migration policy is called upon to preserve and protect from the invasion of outsiders.
History and modernity
Icelandic belongs to the group of Scandinavian languages and its ancient variant was formed on the basis of one of the Viking dialects. The minimal interlanguage contacts of the inhabitants of the country made it possible to preserve the purity of the language and did not allow borrowings to penetrate it.
There is the so-called high Icelandic, in which words of foreign origin are completely excluded, but, basically, modern life takes its toll and more and more often English words or expressions from Danish, German or French slip between people.
Tourist notes
Much attention is paid to education in Iceland, and in addition to any Scandinavian, all children in the local schools will certainly study another foreign language. Most often, young people choose English lessons, and therefore tourists in the land of ice may not be afraid to be misunderstood. The hotels, restaurants and shops are fluent in English, and the island's national parks offer guides offering information in the world's most popular languages.
