Languages - Reviews of Haskoli Islands | Iceland

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Francisco M

Universidad Alfonso X El Sabio, Madrid, Spain
Telecommunications, Undergraduate, Erasmus

Languages

Language of instruction: English

Local language was: Different than language of instruction

Was learning English a key decision factor?

Yes, I wanted to improve my English

Was learning the local language a key decision factor?

Yes, I wanted to improve my the local language

How much did you improve your English?

My level before: Everyday knowledge (shopping, directions, etc.)
My level after: At ease in most situations

How much did you improve your the local language?

My level before: Did not speak it
My level after: Basic phrases

Language difficulties

Social

Educational

Administrative / Institutional

Overall

Personal comments

At the beggining it´s quite difficult to express yourself in english. But in a few weeks you can talk fluent english with no problem. The Icelandic it´s different because for people that talk a latin languaje (like me) it´s very difficult to talk fluent Icelandic. But I think that, in one year I would start to talk without feeling shy.

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Veronica M

Università di Bologna, Bologna, Italy
Engineering, Graduate, Erasmus

Languages

Language of instruction: English

Local language was: Different than language of instruction

Was learning English a key decision factor?

Yes, I wanted to improve my English

Was learning the local language a key decision factor?

Yes, I wanted to improve my the local language

How much did you improve your English?

My level before: Everyday knowledge (shopping, directions, etc.)
My level after: No problems in any areas (including slang)

How much did you improve your the local language?

My level before: Did not speak it
My level after: Did not speak it

Language difficulties

Social

Educational

Administrative / Institutional

Overall

Personal comments

At the begging was a little bit hard communicate with other people, because i wasn't able to let the other understand me. Anyway after the period that i spent there, in Reykjavik, i've improved a lot my english, and now i'm able to understand everybody speaking english, and i can speak very fluently, also the technical english.

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rune

Norwegian School of Management BI, Oslo, Norway
Business Studies, Graduate, University Agreement

Languages

Language of instruction: English

Local language was: Different than language of instruction

Was learning English a key decision factor?

Yes, I wanted to improve my English

Was learning the local language a key decision factor?

Yes, I wanted to improve my the local language

How much did you improve your English?

My level before: Did not speak it
My level after: Everyday knowledge (shopping, directions, etc.)

How much did you improve your the local language?

My level before: Did not speak it
My level after: Everyday knowledge (shopping, directions, etc.)

Language difficulties

Social

Educational

Administrative / Institutional

Overall

Personal comments

In Iceland, almost everyone understands English. But Norwegian and Icelandic is not so different, so I could make myself understood and understand them if we could not reach eachother through english.

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Lukas S

Wirtschaftsuniversität Wien, Vienna, Austria
Business Studies, Undergraduate, Erasmus

Languages

Language of instruction: English

Local language was: Different than language of instruction

Was learning English a key decision factor?

Yes, I wanted to improve my English

Was learning the local language a key decision factor?

Yes, I wanted to improve my the local language

How much did you improve your English?

My level before: No problems in any areas (including slang)
My level after: No problems in any areas (including slang)

How much did you improve your the local language?

My level before: Basic phrases
My level after: Everyday knowledge (shopping, directions, etc.)

Language difficulties

Social

Educational

Administrative / Institutional

Overall

Personal comments

Everybody in Reykjavík speaks fluent English so knowing Icelandic is not necessary. However, knowing the local language is never a mistake so I can recommend learning some Icelandic, either through ERASMUS language courses or through the online course from HI icelandic.hi.is

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reneb

Università di Pisa, Pisa, Italy
History, Graduate, Erasmus

Languages

Language of instruction: English

Local language was: Different than language of instruction

Was learning English a key decision factor?

No, it wasn't.

Was learning the local language a key decision factor?

Yes, I wanted to improve my the local language

How much did you improve your the local language?

My level before: Did not speak it
My level after: At ease in most situations

Language difficulties

Social

Educational

Administrative / Institutional

Overall

Personal comments

Icelandic language is not the easiest in the world, but after a while I got a good knowledge. But if my pronounciation is very good, my vocabolary still needs to be improved.

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veerle v

Universiteit Antwerpen, Antwerp, Belgium
Literature, Graduate, Erasmus

Languages

Language of instruction: English

Local language was: Different than language of instruction

Was learning English a key decision factor?

Yes, I wanted to improve my English

Was learning the local language a key decision factor?

Yes, I wanted to improve my the local language

How much did you improve your English?

My level before: No problems in any areas (including slang)
My level after: No problems in any areas (including slang)

How much did you improve your the local language?

My level before: Did not speak it
My level after: Basic phrases

Language difficulties

Social

Educational

Administrative / Institutional

Overall

Personal comments

since i didnt speak icelandic, it was sometimes hard to communicate with friendly old people in the street, but usually i was talking to other non-natives in english

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