føroyskt mál
Language Facts:
Speakers: 69,000
Family: North Germanic
Status: Official on Faroe Islands. Minority status in Denmark
Family: North Germanic
Status: Official on Faroe Islands. Minority status in Denmark
Script: Latin
- The Faroese alphabet containers the letters Ð/ð, Æ/æ, and Ø/ø , but does not container the letters C, Q, W, X, or Z.
- Faroese has 26 vowel sounds!
- Grammar in Faroese can be somewhat complex. There are 3 grammatical genders, and four cases (Nominative, Accusative, Dative, and Genitive).
- Although related and very similar in the written language, spoken Faroese is not mutually intelligible with Icelandic.
- Being a smaller language, resources to learn Faroese are somewhat scarce, and most Faroe Islanders also speak Danish and English.
Learn Faroese:
Books:
Faroese: A Language Course for Beginners: Seemingly out of print beginner textbook. Unofficial PDF’s can be found online. Audio files here.
Youtube:
Faroese Learning Playlist– a short playlist with some example sentences and overviews.
Online:
r/Faroese – small Reddit community of Faroese speakers and learners.
Sprotin.fo – Online dictionary with translations for a few different languages.
Podcasts:
Courses:
University of the Faroe Islands – in person course to learn Faroese, details in the link.