Reading in Faroese

It was only a few weeks after purchasing our tickets to Iceland sometime in June that we decided to add flights to Faroe. We couldn't resist, and thought, how could we be so close and not go? And, if life treats us well, we are hoping to visit the islands again next summer.

With school and life, it's been difficult to find the time to pick up the language, but the return to my favourite island nation this past summer rekindled that interest. I purchased a few books and an audio book during our visit to help me get in the spirit. I'm moving away from learning conversational Faroese and am focusing on reading literature. There is something about attempting to translate a short story. You learn so much about syntax, word usage and you get to see first hand how the language abounds with idiomatic expressions. It does take time, but I do it in the evenings now and I actually find it relaxing after a long day. I like learning conversational Faroese, but when I'm already studying for school, I need something a little more, well, like a puzzle and less like a lesson.

For those who enjoy this method of learning the language, Sprotin publishes the Faroese version of the "Old Man and His Sons", by Heðin Brú. Both paper, cd and electronic versions are available and the English version is readily available from Amazon or Book Depository. It is the only Faroese book that has all English, Faroese and audio versions available that I am aware of, but it is a little daunting due to its length, despite being a short novel. Other English translations of literature written in the Faroese language are not easily available, but you may be able to locate the rare "Faroese Short Stories" from the Library of Scandinavian Literature, published by Twayne Pub. and The American-Scandinavian Foundation. Even if you are not learning the language this way, it's a great book to bring you back to a favourite place that also gives you a peek into the development of earlier Faroese literature.

The Faroese short stories are filled with the landscape that I enjoy so much. Heðin Brú delivers some of the best and are among my personal favourites. From reading the handful of his stories available to me, I couldn't resist purchasing the newly published collection of his stories, despite being illiterate in Faroese. The collection of short stories stands as a monument to my time in Faroe this past summer, spending time on Sandoy, the island of his birth, and the long discussions of language, politics and literature with our bus driver who also happened to be a descendent from the poet Janus Djuurhus!

For now, I use a story written by Heðin Brú that I found in Lockwood's "Introduction to Modern Faroese". "Krossvatn" has no English translation, but that almost works to an advantage. It takes time, but the slow process allows you to soak in the grammar naturally. I'm still trying to make sense of the first paragraph, but I know the story is about a lake which is more of a pond, but despite its small stature, has something about it that's bigger than life -- or maybe it's deathly still but something is alive. Lockwood's text does a good job of providing some of the idiomatic expressions in the glossary.