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Comment by cal5k | Hacker News Reader

Just got back from Iceland! (I'm Canadian) Outside of the touristy parts of Reykjavik, everybody will assume you speak Icelandic until you respond in English. Then they'll switch to almost perfect English, with remarkably few exceptions. It was pretty amazing.

In small towns like Akureryi, there's a lot of local pressure to keep signs mostly in Icelandic. I was actually surprised by this since there were a lot of English-speaking tourists in the area, but I respect it thoroughly. It's their country, I should learn how to get around.

Oh, as an aside - as someone who is single and still uses the various datings apps, I was also impressed by how idiomatically correct their english was even down to slang and figures of speech. There's clearly a large influence from American media.

If you're travelling to Iceland, take the time to learn a few basic Icelandic phrases - the locals have a lot of pride in their culture and will love you for it.

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Akureyri isn't really a "small town" by Icelandic standards though. Once you get into the actual small towns over on the eastern side of the country for example, English proficiency is much, much lower.

But yeah, certainly the more populated areas are extremely English-friendly. My folks in Arkansas probably see more non-English speakers in the average month than I did in Reykjavik.

That was not my experience. I spent 3 weeks in Iceland, and only met one person who was not fluent in English (even they were plenty conversational).

You're right that Akureyri is not a small town for Iceland, though.

Mind you as a tourist you’re going to be bumping into far more fluent locals than you might in day to day life otherwise. I’ve lived here for seven years and whilst I work in English and live in downtown Reykjavík I still meet a not unsubstantial number of Icelanders who are not comfortable with English. Mostly those 50+ but still some a generation younger. English speaking is definitely nearly ubiquitous in younger generations though.

On the flip side, trying to learn the language of the country you’re in when everyone speaks fluent English kind of sucks exactly because everyone will just switch to English instead of let you practice. I suppose that’s the rub: to a local, when they notice you speaking (or, rather, trying to speak) a foreign language in a their country, are you struggling or trying to practice?

I’ve often heard this, it’s never been my practical experience. If after the other party switches to English you either persist in their language, or ask politely if you can continue in their language, everyone I’ve ever encountered has been happy to help me stumble on

I'll admit that I've had very few opportunities to travel abroad thus far, but, for what it's worth, my experience has been the same. In fact, most people seem to be a bit gladdened to find that a foreigner (perhaps especially an English-speaking tourist) is making an effort to learn their native tongue. And also, likely, a bit amused by my shortcomings—but that's no big deal: it's how you learn.

There are countries where either persisting in the local language or asking nicely, will meet with a negative response. Take the Netherlands, for example, where 90% of the population is said to speak English now. A foreign novice–intermediate learner trying to practice Dutch in everyday situations is likely to be told “Let’s just speak English and not waste time.” Your attempting to persist with your less-than-fluent command of the local language is interpreted by your interlocutor as disrespect for his time. If you want to learn the local language, you are expected to place the burden on your language teacher, not random shopkeepers etc.

Agreed, it’s definitely context dependent. There’s a world of difference between holding up a line in a store and having a conversation, however limited, with a taxi driver.

The shop could be completely empty, no queue, and the shopkeeper might be free and even bored, but chances are he still won't want to listen to a novice-intermediate foreigner practicing Dutch. Listening to halting speech can feel like a waste of your time even if you have nothing better to do.

In that aspect it is slightly annoying, still, there's a lot of written information that you don't have people translating for you, and you then can use it when referencing something written

(But then again Google Translate now has World Lens built in - so that helps)

I went to Iceland 2 years ago, and visited both Reykjavik as well as the entire country. As an Asian person, no one assumed I speak any Icelandic and spoke perfect English to me. :) But I did learn to pronounce Icelandic names; by the end of the trip, words like Eyjafjallajokull was not an issue.

> Outside of the touristy parts of Reykjavik, everybody will assume you speak Icelandic until you respond in English.

I am curious, does this apply to everyone or only European-looking people?

What do you think?

I imagine it would be latter, but I am not sure, hence my question. I have little knowledge about Iceland. I know for example in Quebec outside of Montreal, everyone assumes you speak French, regardless of your ethnicity.

I think most Icelanders, including myself, would start off conversing in English as a matter of courtesy; it would be rude to assume that a person of an ethnic minority isn't Icelandic based on their looks. A lot of times they are indeed Icelanders of ethnic minorities, and you avoid a situation embarrassing for both parties, and perhaps make them feel more welcome in the country they were born in.

When I went to Iceland, I was expecting to see close to zero immigrants and their descendants among the Icelandic population. I was surprised to see quite a few people of African and Asian descent working in Icelandic stores and speaking fluent Icelandic with the customers.

I found that the children in Iceland know English surprisingly well. My children were playing with an 8-year-old Icelandic girl who spoke nearly flawless English. I was impressed.

This isn't very obvious, and I certainly wouldn't expect it to be obvious to those who haven't traveled internationally as much.

To the point, I'm neither European nor white and was almost always spoken to in Spanish when in Spain. That may be because of the lower level of English proficiency in Spain, however.

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