Carry On Icelandic

The Sigurdur Nordal Institute at the University of Iceland is responsible, among other things, for tuition in Icelandic at foreign universities. Student exchanges have increased greatly in recent years, not least due to the affiliation of Icelandic university-level institutions to the Nordplus and Socrates programs. Many foreign students come to Iceland to learn not Icelandic but other subjects, but unfortunately they have had little opportunity to learn Icelandic in preparation for their stay in Iceland, since they are often from colleges that do not offer Icelandic tuition. In 1997, the Institute was offered the opportunity to take part in a three-year project with fifteen university-level institutions in the Nordic countries, Britain, the Netherlands, Belgium, Greece, Italy and Portugal, the objective of which was to create multimedia material for beginners in the Nordic languages, Dutch, Greek, Italian and Portuguese. The project, called "Small is Beautiful - Language Mobility: A Pilot for Multimedia Package for Academic Purpose," enjoyed the support of the EU Lingua program, and received grants three times. In addition to the European Union, the Ministry of Education and Culture in Iceland, the University of Iceland, and many cultural foundations in Iceland have contributed grants for the preparation of multimedia material in Icelandic for foreigners. This is the first time that multimedia material in Icelandic is prepared for foreign students. It is tailor-made for the needs of those who visit Iceland to study, whether short- or long-term, so that they can prepare themselves in advance by learning the basics of everyday speech and about the country and its people. It should alsobe useful, however, to other students.