Icelandic

So a few thoughts on the Icelandic language, which has proved incredibly entertaining to try and understand

Erik, explaining how to pronounce some of the harder parts of Icelandic.

1. There's some interesting letters in there that make it hard to look stuff up, see the second line on Eric's sheet.
2. The letters don't sound the way you'd think. An 'á' is pronounced like 'ow' in 'how.' A double letter often implies a pause between the two letters ('Hlemmmur' is pronounced 'helem-mur' with a short pause between the two syllables). That's except for a double 'L', which is so guttural it almost sounds like there's a 'k' at the end of it (so 'Gullfoss' is pronouced somewhere between 'gool-foss' and 'goolk-foss').
3. Some of the words are REALLY overloaded, resulting in some amusing sentences. "Már á Á á á" is pronounced "Mow ow ow ow ow" and means "A man named Már from Á has a sheep." 
4. Rather than even attempt to spell things out for us, Eric just pronounced it once, then said "It's the beach that starts with a 'V'" or "It's the church that starts with an 'H'"
5. Some of the names are amusingly straightforward thanks to them adopting the German habit of just cramming words together. 'Kaffivagninn' where I had lunch was just is the words for 'coffee' and 'truck' crammed together (I think it got started as a coffee cart; there was a fried fish food truck down the street called 'Fiskurvagninn'). Kirkjastraite is just 'church' and 'street,' and is the street where the church is. A placed down the street is called 'Kaffite,' which is 'coffee' and 'tea.' Guess what they serve.
6. Icelandic menus are very descriptive. Lunch yesterday was listed as 'Pan fried plaice in a leek and wine sauce served with potatoes and salad.' Dinner was 'Lamb tenderloin in orange demi glace with waffle potatoes, mashed potatoes, carrots, and salad.' Nice to know exactly what you're getting, but how much of that do I read off when ordering?