Free eBooks Viking Language 1: Learn Old Norse, Runes, And Icelandic Sagas (Viking Language Series) Available To Downloads
"Viking Language 1 - Learn Old Norse, Runes, and Icelandic Sagas" provides everything necessary to learn Old Norse, runes, and tackle Icelandic sagas. Graded lessons, saga readings, runic inscriptions, grammar exercises, pronunciation, maps, cultural sections, student guide, and vocabulary teach about Vikings, Iceland, old Scandinavia, myths and legends. ----- DOWNLOAD FREE ASWER KEY on vikinglanguage.com ----- Now available, two audio MP3 download Old Norse pronunciation albums "Viking Language 1: Audio Lessons 1-8: (Pronounce Old Norse, Runes, and Icelandic Sagas)" and "Viking Language 1: Audio Lessons 9-15." To find search "Viking Language audio lessons" under "all departments" and "MP3 music." ----- Visit vikinglanguage.com for information about the "Viking Language Series" and for samples of the audio readings ---- Forthcoming soon "Viking Language 2 The Old Norse Reader" including, prose selections, complete sagas, poems of the Scandinavian gods and heroes, Old Norse runes, reference grammar, and vocabulary.
Series: Viking Language Series
Paperback: 384 pages
Publisher: Jules William Press; 1 edition (March 18, 2013)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1480216445
ISBN-13: 978-1480216440
Product Dimensions: 8 x 0.9 x 10 inches
Shipping Weight: 2.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (37 customer reviews)
Best Sellers Rank: #140,830 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) #128 in Books > Literature & Fiction > History & Criticism > Movements & Periods > Medieval #288 in Books > Reference > Foreign Language Study & Reference > Instruction #404 in Books > Textbooks > Humanities > History > Europe
At long last, we have a respectable modern textbook on the Old Norse Language. All previous resources were either out of print and prohibitively expensive used, or reprints of archaic grammars with outdated instruction methods. As an experienced language learner in general, I see everything here that I look for in a textbook. It reminds me a great deal of Wheelock's renowned textbook for Latin in both it's structure and teaching strategies. For those not in the know, that is a very good thing. Some will likely whine that the answer key (unreleased at time of writing) is sold separately, and I'm sure I'll find a flaw or two as I work through the book, but pickings are slim for Old Norse and such a giant leap forward in the field, by one of the world's most respected translators of Old Norse literature no less, deserves all the approbation it can get. I will likely replace this with a more thorough review once I have finished the course.
My 'husbondi" gave me this book last Yule; I am crawling through the book at a snail's pace, but enjoying every minute I spend on it. I am an enthusiastic student of languages; but I am a dilettante, not a linguist, and I just LOVE this book. A better, more serious student of language would probably like it even more than I do. Because both Old Norse and Anglo-Saxon were FULL of noun cases and adjective declensions, the bane of anyone who has struggled through German or Latin classes, it was exciting for me to realize that modern English is mostly free of of these horrors because Anglo-Saxon and Norse "knocked the edges off each other" in the Danelaw (that's not in this book, but it is a conclusion I have tentatively made after getting through the first third of this book). I think the "Most common words used in the sagas" method of teaching vocabulary is flat-out brilliant. Just to whet your appetite: land=land; egg=egg; bro(eth)r=brother; systir=sister; dottir=daughter; sonr= son; samr=same; at sja=to see; viss=wise; at hafa= to have, at lata= to let, skip=ship. Of course there are false cognates, too, and semi-cognates .... but learning a semi-cognate like "skip" is of course very cool because then you know where the word "skipper" came from.I thought of giving it a "4" because there is no answer key, but I just enjoy the book too much. For folks like me, the fact that most of the text is in modern English is a blessing, not a problem!I started an on-line basic Modern Icelandic course two months ago; what I had learnt from this book made it more fun rather than confusing, but many people might feel differently. I don't mind diving in and making a fool of myself in a new language, as long as the people I am trying to communicate with are good-natured.
Edit: The answer key has now been made available on the publisher's website, so I have adjusted my rating accordingly and the review below should be considered in that light. Thank you Professor Byock!I have been reading Professor Byock's work on the Vikings since college, so needless to say, I was delighted to see this course made available, in my case for self study. I am now two chapters into the book, and I think it incorporates a wonderful strategy and method and has tremendous potential. However, I have two criticisms that prevent this from being a 5 star purchase: the first is that the answer key really needs to be made available *now.* I understand that perhaps the book is intended for college courses and oftentimes the answer key is presented in a "teacher's only" reader, but for those of us doing self-study, it is absolutely crippling and seriously hampers the ability to use the book effectively. It's boggling to my mind that they would release this book at all without making the key available as a download on the website. I believe the intention is to have the key in Viking Reader 2, which I would be happy to buy, but it is not available and may not be for quite some time. The two books should have been published simultaneously. My advice if your are considering purchasing this book is to wait until the Viking Language 2 book comes out. My second criticism of this course is that the audio accompaniment, which you will have to pay for separately, is very fast and not terribly user friendly. It is not read in such a way that it is useful for a student unfamiliar with Icelandic and very difficult to emulate or to parse in accompaniment with the reading. All in all, this is still however the best option on the market for learning Old Norse!
You could a teach a class how to speak Viking with this book. It has worksheets, and a very thorough overview of the Viking language, including runes, Futhark, (sort of the same thing) and translations from the Icelandic sagas. It includes a "dictonary" of word for word translations alphabetically, including sections on the most frequently used words.We are Viking history buffs at our house, and while I knew certain word in the English language came directly from the Vikings, I was still surprised at how many I didn't know. And some were not the same, but have a similar meaning - like in Viking, "sofa" is "sleep". I praise the author for writing a very user friendly book. You will get as much out of it as you put into it.
Viking Language 1: Learn Old Norse, Runes, and Icelandic Sagas (Viking Language Series) The Viking Anthology: Norse Myths, Icelandic Sagas and Viking Chronicles Norse Mythology: The Norse Gods And The Nine Worlds (Norse Mythology, Nine Worlds, Norse Gods) Runes: Learn Everything about: Runes, Celtic Religions and Celtic History - 2nd Edition (Free Bonus Included!) (Viking History, Norse Mythology, Celtic, ... Fortune Telling, Celtic Religions) Runes: Nordic Runes - Viking Divination Stones' Demystified, Complete Handbook - Learn to Read and Interpret the Runes Magic - 2nd Edition Runes: Nordic Runes - Viking Divination Stones' Demystified, Complete Handbook - Learn to Read and Interpret the Runes Magic Norse Mythology: The Norse Gods: Thor, Odin and Loki, the Nine Worlds and the Old Norse Myths - 3rd Edition Norse Mythology: The Norse Gods: Thor, Odin and Loki, the Nine Worlds and the Old Norse Myths Norse Mythology: A Concise Guide to Gods, Heroes, Sagas and Beliefs of Norse Mythology Old Norse-Icelandic Literature: A Short Introduction Icelandic Magic: Aims, tools and techniques of the Icelandic sorcerers The Book of Runes: A Handbook for the Use of an Ancient Oracle: The Viking Runes with Stones: 10th Anniversary Edition The Book of Runes : A Handbook for the Use of an Anceint Oracle: The Viking Runes with Stones Eirik The Red and Other Icelandic Sagas (Oxford World's Classics) Learn German Step by Step: German Language Practical Guide for Beginners (Learn German, Learn Spanish, Learn French, Learn Italian) The Vinland Sagas. The Norse Discovery of America. Heimskringla: the Norse King sagas The Vinland Sagas: The Norse Discovery of America (Penguin Classics) Nordic Cuisine: Modern Scandinavian Cookbook Viking Diet Recipes for Appetizer, Main Course and Desserts - Norwegian, Danish, Swedish, Icelandic and Finnish Kitchen Discover Runes: Understanding and Using the Power of Runes
