{"id":176605791,"date":"2026-09-25T12:06:30","date_gmt":"2026-09-25T19:06:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lingq.com\/blog\/?p=176605791"},"modified":"2026-09-25T15:05:27","modified_gmt":"2026-09-25T22:05:27","slug":"scandinavian-languages","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lingq.com\/blog\/scandinavian-languages\/","title":{"rendered":"Norwegian, Icelandic, and Faroese: One Learner’s Take on the Scandinavian Languages"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

TL;DR<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

A few years ago, Icelandic tour guide R\u00f6kkvi V\u00e9steinsson wrote a forum post about hitting 100,000 known words on LingQ in his first year. We caught up with him to see where he’s landed since, including a close-up look at three of the Scandinavian languages: Norwegian (fluent), Icelandic (his mother tongue), and Faroese (his newest project). Along the way he added Spanish, Italian, and Polish too. His answers are full of the kind of honest, funny detail you don’t get from a polished success story, including his family’s running commentary on his habit of ambushing strangers for language practice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Few people get a genuinely inside look at how the Scandinavian languages relate to each other, but R\u00f6kkvi V\u00e9steinsson<\/a> is in a rare position to offer one. Some years back, this Icelandic tour guide posted on the LingQ forum about reaching 100,000 known words in his first year on the platform, working on French, Dutch, and Norwegian.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What follows is R\u00f6kkvi in his own words, on where those three languages stand today, the Spanish challenge a friend talked him into, three more languages he’s picked up since, and the ongoing, mostly good-natured argument with his wife about exactly how much of his life LingQ is allowed to take over.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Where He’s At Now<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"R\u00f6kkvi's<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

R\u00f6kkvi’s numbers have kept climbing since 2020: a bit over 70,000 known words each in French and Dutch, 60,000 in Norwegian. But the real story isn’t the count, it’s what he can actually do with it. He now works as a professional tour guide across all three languages, including regularly filling in on French bus tours when companies can’t find enough native French-speaking guides, and occasionally guiding Dutch, Norwegian, or French groups through the Eimverk whisky distillery in Iceland.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He’s fluent in Norwegian, and near-fluent in Dutch and French. But he’s careful about the distinction between “fluent” and “fluent enough to advertise as a professional guide,” a distinction most learners never have to make, and one that says a lot about how seriously he takes the actual, practical use of a language over the score.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He’s also got a genuinely charming take on the idea of a “small language”:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

Since Dutch is spoken by about the same number of people as all the Norse languages combined, I myself do not consider Dutch to be a small language at all.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

The Spanish Challenge<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

That “Spanish challenge” he mentioned in his original post? It happened. A friend from Brazil (whose native language, as it turns out, is Spanish rather than Portuguese) talked him into it in 2021, despite R\u00f6kkvi’s instinct that he should focus on strengthening French and Dutch first.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since then: over 50,000 known words, 100 hours of listening, and a full paperback novel read in Spanish. He’s been back to the Canary Islands three times, using each trip to find locals to talk to. He can hold a fairly nuanced conversation, by his own honest admission, he still doesn’t have a solid grasp on Spanish tenses, not even the simple past. His plan now is to finally dig into the grammar he’s been comfortably ignoring.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Speaking Practice, and the Family Fallout<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

R\u00f6kkvi’s spoken fluency has come a long way since his early, reading-heavy approach, and mostly through sheer persistence. He’ll strike up conversations with strangers in Iceland or abroad the moment he hears a language he’s working on. This habit has become something of a family legend:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

“Argh! Mom! Dad found Dutch people again! Now we’re gonna be stuck here forever!”<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

His daughters, understandably, have their own opinions about it too. It hasn’t been painless, either. Dutch speakers told him early on that he wasn’t really speaking Dutch, he was speaking German with Dutch words mixed in, until enough practice weeded the German out. His first time guiding a bus tour entirely in French, a passenger walked up to him on the very first stop and told him, unimpressed: “Ton fran\u00e7ais est p\u00e9nible” (roughly, “your French is painful”).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It isn’t anymore, or at least not as much.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How His Approach to LingQ Has Changed<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

R\u00f6kkvi’s relationship with the platform has shifted as his levels have risen. His rule of thumb now: once you’re past roughly 60-70K known words in most Western European languages, you don’t need to keep reading on LingQ specifically, though he notes languages like Icelandic or Polish need a higher bar before that shift makes sense.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For French, he built up over 500 listening hours on LingQ over the years, after barely listening at all in his first year. His read on it: reading with LingQ’s automatic translations is excellent for building vocabulary, but at some point you need to shift hard toward listening, and his spoken French visibly improved once he did. His reading in French, Dutch, and to some extent Spanish has since moved to actual paperback books, and his listening now happens mostly through watching foreign news and documentaries outside the app.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"French<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

But he hasn’t left LingQ behind. He still uses it heavily for the languages he’s less advanced in, and says without hesitation that any new language he picks up, he’ll start on LingQ.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Three Scandinavian Languages, Three Different Experiences<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

R\u00f6kkvi’s story touches on three of the Scandinavian\/Nordic languages specifically, and his experience with each one is genuinely different, which says something real about how varied this language family actually is under one label.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since 2020, R\u00f6kkvi has added Italian, Polish, and Faroese, and the story behind each is worth knowing:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Faroese<\/strong> is spoken by only around 70,000 people, making it one of the rarest living languages in the world. It isn’t on LingQ yet, so he learned largely by watching the Faroese national broadcaster and reading novels, working through a pronunciation that took real time to adjust to given how different it sounds from Icelandic despite the two languages’ shared roots. He made a trip to the Faroe Islands in 2022 specifically to practice speaking, and says the real challenge now is keeping Icelandic from creeping back in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Italian<\/strong> came through LingQ starting in mid-2022, enough to pass Advanced 2 on the platform. He can understand it well when reading or listening, but runs into the same problem he once had with Norwegian: French and Spanish words crowd out the Italian ones the moment he tries to speak or write it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Polish<\/strong> started in 2023, for two real reasons. First, Poles are the largest immigrant community in Iceland. Second, R\u00f6kkvi had already been collaborating with LingQ, not just to add Icelandic to the platform, but to make it free there for non-native learners, and he’d been actively encouraging Iceland’s Polish community to use it to learn Icelandic. Learning Polish himself, he felt, would make him both a better example and a better judge of what that experience is actually like. His verdict: Polish has been several levels harder than anything else he’s tried.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"R\u00f6kkvi's<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What He’d Do Differently<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Given the choice, R\u00f6kkvi says he’d have lived in each country and been fully immersed, though he’s quick to admit that’s not realistic for “a family man with a job.” Within realistic limits, his honest answer is that he’d have started listening earlier and more, rather than chasing high known-word counts the way gamification tends to encourage. He doesn’t call it a regret, just a clearer sense, in hindsight, of what actually moved the needle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The LingQ\/Marriage Balance<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

R\u00f6kkvi’s wife was never fully on board with how much screen time LingQ was taking, and that’s only intensified since he stopped just learning languages and started building them into the platform himself, unpaid, largely on his own initiative. He’s currently most of the way through adding Faroese to LingQ, on top of his earlier work bringing Icelandic to the platform.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His reasoning to her: Faroese is under real threat of extinction, and the Faroese are, in his words, “our little cousins” with an even smaller language than Icelandic. She’s not entirely convinced by the logic, but as he puts it, they’re two grown adults in a happy marriage who respect each other’s right to do what they want within reasonable limits. (When his wife read a draft of this answer, she clarified that her actual complaint isn’t the time spent, it’s the loud complaining about self-imposed tasks like transcribing children’s programming for LingQ content, a fair point, R\u00f6kkvi concedes.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His Advice for Anyone Trying to Replicate This<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

R\u00f6kkvi’s core method, reading heavily in LingQ to build vocabulary first, then shifting toward listening, then speaking and writing, worked well for him and should generalize to most learners willing to put in real hours. But he doesn’t think it’s the only path: he suspects mixing in other media earlier, like cartoons, then gradually more complex content, could work just as well or better. His advice is less “copy exactly what I did” and more “don’t be afraid to experiment.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For learners working with languages close to ones they already know, he’s emphatic that output matters more than it might seem: you still need massive input, ideally comprehensible and genuinely compelling, but separating closely related languages properly usually only happens once you’re forced to speak or write and correct your own mistakes. That’s how he eventually untangled Norwegian from Swedish, and Dutch from German. His inability to do the same yet with Italian, he says, is exactly\u00a0because\u00a0<\/strong>French and Spanish still crowd it out in his head.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Fuller Picture<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

R\u00f6kkvi is a professional tour guide who already knew Icelandic, English, German, Swedish, and Danish before ever opening LingQ. Since then, he’s guided tours in English, German, Icelandic, Danish, Swedish, Norwegian, Dutch, and French. He used to perform stand-up comedy in Icelandic, English, German, Danish, and Swedish, and his stated goal now is to add Faroese and Spanish to his guiding work, bringing his total to ten languages, and, if he returns to comedy, to perform in all ten before, in his own words, he “kicks the bucket.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How LingQ Fits Into This<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

R\u00f6kkvi’s story is a genuine, unfiltered look at what long-term LingQ use actually looks like: not a straight line, but a real evolution from heavy reading, to heavy listening, to real-world speaking practice. Faroese specifically isn’t on LingQ yet, that’s still a work in progress R\u00f6kkvi is doing largely on his own, but every other language in his story, Norwegian, French, Dutch, Spanish, and Italian, is.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you’re curious what building real fluency across multiple languages over several years actually looks like in practice, LingQ’s library<\/a> is the same place R\u00f6kkvi started, and the same place he says he’d start again with any new language.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"LingQ<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

FAQs<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
How many languages does R\u00f6kkvi speak now?<\/strong><\/strong>

He knew Icelandic, English, German, Swedish, and Danish before starting LingQ. Since then he’s added functional fluency in Norwegian, French, Dutch, Spanish, and Italian, and is currently learning Polish and Faroese, ten languages in total once his current goals are reached.<\/p> <\/div>

What’s his known-word count in each language?<\/strong><\/strong>

Roughly 70,000 in both French and Dutch, 60,000 in Norwegian, and just over 50,000 in Spanish, built up gradually over several years of consistent reading and listening.<\/p> <\/div>

Did he actually do the Spanish challenge he mentioned in his original post?<\/strong><\/strong>

Yes. A friend from Brazil challenged him to learn Spanish in 2021. He’s since read a full novel in Spanish, logged 100 hours of listening, and made three trips to the Canary Islands to practice speaking with locals.<\/p> <\/div>

What is the Faroese language, and why is it rare?<\/strong><\/strong>

Faroese is spoken by roughly 70,000 people, almost entirely in the Faroe Islands, a self-governing territory between Iceland and Norway. It shares roots with Icelandic and Old Norse but has developed distinctly enough that native Icelandic speakers, like R\u00f6kkvi, need real dedicated study to learn it. It isn’t currently available on LingQ, R\u00f6kkvi is doing most of the work himself to change that, but in the meantime, LingQ supports the other nine languages in his story.<\/p> <\/div>

Has he changed how he uses LingQ over time?<\/strong><\/strong>

Yes, significantly. Early on he focused heavily on reading to build vocabulary. Once he passed roughly 60-70K known words in a language, he shifted toward heavy listening, and eventually toward real-world speaking practice, while still using LingQ as his starting point for any new language.<\/p> <\/div>

Is he involved with LingQ beyond being a learner?<\/strong><\/strong>

Yes. He collaborated directly with LingQ to bring Icelandic onto the platform and to make it free there for non-native learners. He has since done most of the work to bring Faroese onto LingQ as well, entirely as an unpaid personal project.<\/p> <\/div>

Are Norwegian, Icelandic, and Faroese all mutually understandable?<\/strong>

Not really, despite sharing Nordic roots. Norwegian is closely related to Danish and Swedish and mutual comprehension is common. Icelandic and Faroese are more conservative, having changed less over the centuries, and R\u00f6kkvi himself describes needing real, dedicated study to learn Faroese despite being a native Icelandic speaker.
<\/p> <\/div> <\/div>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

TL;DR A few years ago, Icelandic tour guide R\u00f6kkvi V\u00e9steinsson wrote a forum post about hitting 100,000 known words on LingQ in his first year. We caught up with him …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":176605792,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[52],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-176605791","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lingq-user-stories"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nNorwegian, Icelandic, and Faroese: One Learner's Take on the Scandinavian Languages – LingQ Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Norwegian, Icelandic, and Faroese, an Icelandic tour guide's real experience learning three Scandinavian languages, plus Spanish, Italian, and Polish along the way.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Norwegian, Icelandic, and Faroese: One Learner's Take on the Scandinavian Languages – LingQ Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Norwegian, Icelandic, and Faroese, an Icelandic tour guide's real experience learning three Scandinavian languages, plus Spanish, Italian, and Polish along the way.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.lingq.com\/blog\/scandinavian-languages\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"LingQ Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/lingqcom\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-09-25T19:06:30+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-09-25T22:05:27+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.lingq.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/ChatGPT-Image-Sep-24-2026-10_54_52-AM-1024x576.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"576\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Elle\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@lingq_central\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@lingq_central\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Elle\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"11 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":[\"Article\",\"BlogPosting\"],\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.lingq.com\\\/blog\\\/scandinavian-languages\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.lingq.com\\\/blog\\\/scandinavian-languages\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Elle\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.lingq.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/b3a39f78fe4ad6fef6f73a0a9b4d4098\"},\"headline\":\"Norwegian, Icelandic, and Faroese: One Learner’s Take on the Scandinavian Languages\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-09-25T19:06:30+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-09-25T22:05:27+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.lingq.com\\\/blog\\\/scandinavian-languages\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":2235,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.lingq.com\\\/blog\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.lingq.com\\\/blog\\\/scandinavian-languages\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.lingq.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/09\\\/ChatGPT-Image-Sep-24-2026-10_54_52-AM.png\",\"articleSection\":[\"LingQ User Stories\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.lingq.com\\\/blog\\\/scandinavian-languages\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":[\"WebPage\",\"FAQPage\"],\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.lingq.com\\\/blog\\\/scandinavian-languages\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.lingq.com\\\/blog\\\/scandinavian-languages\\\/\",\"name\":\"Norwegian, Icelandic, and Faroese: One Learner's Take on the Scandinavian Languages – LingQ Blog\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.lingq.com\\\/blog\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.lingq.com\\\/blog\\\/scandinavian-languages\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.lingq.com\\\/blog\\\/scandinavian-languages\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.lingq.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/09\\\/ChatGPT-Image-Sep-24-2026-10_54_52-AM.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-09-25T19:06:30+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-09-25T22:05:27+00:00\",\"description\":\"Norwegian, Icelandic, and Faroese, an Icelandic tour guide's real experience learning three Scandinavian languages, plus Spanish, Italian, and Polish along the way.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.lingq.com\\\/blog\\\/scandinavian-languages\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"mainEntity\":[{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.lingq.com\\\/blog\\\/scandinavian-languages\\\/#faq-question-1790272100125\"},{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.lingq.com\\\/blog\\\/scandinavian-languages\\\/#faq-question-1790272113575\"},{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.lingq.com\\\/blog\\\/scandinavian-languages\\\/#faq-question-1790272126292\"},{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.lingq.com\\\/blog\\\/scandinavian-languages\\\/#faq-question-1790277795777\"},{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.lingq.com\\\/blog\\\/scandinavian-languages\\\/#faq-question-1790272138875\"},{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.lingq.com\\\/blog\\\/scandinavian-languages\\\/#faq-question-1790272152575\"},{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.lingq.com\\\/blog\\\/scandinavian-languages\\\/#faq-question-1790362935095\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.lingq.com\\\/blog\\\/scandinavian-languages\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.lingq.com\\\/blog\\\/scandinavian-languages\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.lingq.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/09\\\/ChatGPT-Image-Sep-24-2026-10_54_52-AM.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.lingq.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/09\\\/ChatGPT-Image-Sep-24-2026-10_54_52-AM.png\",\"width\":1672,\"height\":941,\"caption\":\"R\u00f6kkvi V\u00e9steinsson\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.lingq.com\\\/blog\\\/scandinavian-languages\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Blog\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.lingq.com\\\/blog\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"LingQ User Stories\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.lingq.com\\\/blog\\\/category\\\/lingq-user-stories\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Norwegian, Icelandic, and Faroese: One Learner’s Take on the Scandinavian Languages\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.lingq.com\\\/blog\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.lingq.com\\\/blog\\\/\",\"name\":\"LingQ Blog\",\"description\":\"A Blog for Language Learners\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.lingq.com\\\/blog\\\/#organization\"},\"alternateName\":\"LingQ\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.lingq.com\\\/blog\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.lingq.com\\\/blog\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"LingQ Languages Ltd.\",\"alternateName\":\"LingQ\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.lingq.com\\\/blog\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.lingq.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.lingq.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2024\\\/02\\\/logo_696x696.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.lingq.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2024\\\/02\\\/logo_696x696.png\",\"width\":696,\"height\":696,\"caption\":\"LingQ Languages Ltd.\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.lingq.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.facebook.com\\\/lingqcom\",\"https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/lingq_central\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.youtube.com\\\/@LingQCentral\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.instagram.com\\\/lingq_central\\\/\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.lingq.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/b3a39f78fe4ad6fef6f73a0a9b4d4098\",\"name\":\"Elle\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/1abaa58ca218090989c6f1a6348c1b88feced01fe0e95bcdaa28dc6320f2b3ac?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/1abaa58ca218090989c6f1a6348c1b88feced01fe0e95bcdaa28dc6320f2b3ac?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/1abaa58ca218090989c6f1a6348c1b88feced01fe0e95bcdaa28dc6320f2b3ac?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Elle\"},\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.lingq.com\\\/blog\\\/author\\\/jahrine\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"Question\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.lingq.com\\\/blog\\\/scandinavian-languages\\\/#faq-question-1790272100125\",\"position\":1,\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.lingq.com\\\/blog\\\/scandinavian-languages\\\/#faq-question-1790272100125\",\"name\":\"How many languages does R\u00f6kkvi speak now?\",\"answerCount\":1,\"acceptedAnswer\":{\"@type\":\"Answer\",\"text\":\"He knew Icelandic, English, German, Swedish, and Danish before starting LingQ. Since then he's added functional fluency in Norwegian, French, Dutch, Spanish, and Italian, and is currently learning Polish and Faroese, ten languages in total once his current goals are reached.\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Question\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.lingq.com\\\/blog\\\/scandinavian-languages\\\/#faq-question-1790272113575\",\"position\":2,\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.lingq.com\\\/blog\\\/scandinavian-languages\\\/#faq-question-1790272113575\",\"name\":\"What's his known-word count in each language?\",\"answerCount\":1,\"acceptedAnswer\":{\"@type\":\"Answer\",\"text\":\"Roughly 70,000 in both French and Dutch, 60,000 in Norwegian, and just over 50,000 in Spanish, built up gradually over several years of consistent reading and listening.\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Question\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.lingq.com\\\/blog\\\/scandinavian-languages\\\/#faq-question-1790272126292\",\"position\":3,\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.lingq.com\\\/blog\\\/scandinavian-languages\\\/#faq-question-1790272126292\",\"name\":\"Did he actually do the Spanish challenge he mentioned in his original post?\",\"answerCount\":1,\"acceptedAnswer\":{\"@type\":\"Answer\",\"text\":\"Yes. A friend from Brazil challenged him to learn Spanish in 2021. He's since read a full novel in Spanish, logged 100 hours of listening, and made three trips to the Canary Islands to practice speaking with locals.\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Question\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.lingq.com\\\/blog\\\/scandinavian-languages\\\/#faq-question-1790277795777\",\"position\":4,\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.lingq.com\\\/blog\\\/scandinavian-languages\\\/#faq-question-1790277795777\",\"name\":\"What is the Faroese language, and why is it rare?\",\"answerCount\":1,\"acceptedAnswer\":{\"@type\":\"Answer\",\"text\":\"Faroese is spoken by roughly 70,000 people, almost entirely in the Faroe Islands, a self-governing territory between Iceland and Norway. It shares roots with Icelandic and Old Norse but has developed distinctly enough that native Icelandic speakers, like R\u00f6kkvi, need real dedicated study to learn it. It isn't currently available on LingQ, R\u00f6kkvi is doing most of the work himself to change that, but in the meantime, LingQ supports the other nine languages in his story.\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Question\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.lingq.com\\\/blog\\\/scandinavian-languages\\\/#faq-question-1790272138875\",\"position\":5,\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.lingq.com\\\/blog\\\/scandinavian-languages\\\/#faq-question-1790272138875\",\"name\":\"Has he changed how he uses LingQ over time?\",\"answerCount\":1,\"acceptedAnswer\":{\"@type\":\"Answer\",\"text\":\"Yes, significantly. Early on he focused heavily on reading to build vocabulary. Once he passed roughly 60-70K known words in a language, he shifted toward heavy listening, and eventually toward real-world speaking practice, while still using LingQ as his starting point for any new language.\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Question\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.lingq.com\\\/blog\\\/scandinavian-languages\\\/#faq-question-1790272152575\",\"position\":6,\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.lingq.com\\\/blog\\\/scandinavian-languages\\\/#faq-question-1790272152575\",\"name\":\"Is he involved with LingQ beyond being a learner?\",\"answerCount\":1,\"acceptedAnswer\":{\"@type\":\"Answer\",\"text\":\"Yes. He collaborated directly with LingQ to bring Icelandic onto the platform and to make it free there for non-native learners. He has since done most of the work to bring Faroese onto LingQ as well, entirely as an unpaid personal project.\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Question\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.lingq.com\\\/blog\\\/scandinavian-languages\\\/#faq-question-1790362935095\",\"position\":7,\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.lingq.com\\\/blog\\\/scandinavian-languages\\\/#faq-question-1790362935095\",\"name\":\"Are Norwegian, Icelandic, and Faroese all mutually understandable?\",\"answerCount\":1,\"acceptedAnswer\":{\"@type\":\"Answer\",\"text\":\"Not really, despite sharing Nordic roots. Norwegian is closely related to Danish and Swedish and mutual comprehension is common. Icelandic and Faroese are more conservative, having changed less over the centuries, and R\u00f6kkvi himself describes needing real, dedicated study to learn Faroese despite being a native Icelandic speaker.<br>\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Norwegian, Icelandic, and Faroese: One Learner's Take on the Scandinavian Languages – LingQ Blog","description":"Norwegian, Icelandic, and Faroese, an Icelandic tour guide's real experience learning three Scandinavian languages, plus Spanish, Italian, and Polish along the way.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Norwegian, Icelandic, and Faroese: One Learner's Take on the Scandinavian Languages – LingQ Blog","og_description":"Norwegian, Icelandic, and Faroese, an Icelandic tour guide's real experience learning three Scandinavian languages, plus Spanish, Italian, and Polish along the way.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.lingq.com\/blog\/scandinavian-languages\/","og_site_name":"LingQ Blog","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/lingqcom","article_published_time":"2026-09-25T19:06:30+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-09-25T22:05:27+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1024,"height":576,"url":"https:\/\/www.lingq.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/ChatGPT-Image-Sep-24-2026-10_54_52-AM-1024x576.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"Elle","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@lingq_central","twitter_site":"@lingq_central","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Elle","Est. reading time":"11 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":["Article","BlogPosting"],"@id":"https:\/\/www.lingq.com\/blog\/scandinavian-languages\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.lingq.com\/blog\/scandinavian-languages\/"},"author":{"name":"Elle","@id":"https:\/\/www.lingq.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/b3a39f78fe4ad6fef6f73a0a9b4d4098"},"headline":"Norwegian, Icelandic, and Faroese: One Learner’s Take on the Scandinavian Languages","datePublished":"2026-09-25T19:06:30+00:00","dateModified":"2026-09-25T22:05:27+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.lingq.com\/blog\/scandinavian-languages\/"},"wordCount":2235,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.lingq.com\/blog\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.lingq.com\/blog\/scandinavian-languages\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.lingq.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/ChatGPT-Image-Sep-24-2026-10_54_52-AM.png","articleSection":["LingQ User Stories"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.lingq.com\/blog\/scandinavian-languages\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":["WebPage","FAQPage"],"@id":"https:\/\/www.lingq.com\/blog\/scandinavian-languages\/","url":"https:\/\/www.lingq.com\/blog\/scandinavian-languages\/","name":"Norwegian, Icelandic, and Faroese: One Learner's Take on the Scandinavian Languages – LingQ Blog","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.lingq.com\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.lingq.com\/blog\/scandinavian-languages\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.lingq.com\/blog\/scandinavian-languages\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.lingq.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/ChatGPT-Image-Sep-24-2026-10_54_52-AM.png","datePublished":"2026-09-25T19:06:30+00:00","dateModified":"2026-09-25T22:05:27+00:00","description":"Norwegian, Icelandic, and Faroese, an Icelandic tour guide's real experience learning three Scandinavian languages, plus Spanish, Italian, and Polish along the way.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.lingq.com\/blog\/scandinavian-languages\/#breadcrumb"},"mainEntity":[{"@id":"https:\/\/www.lingq.com\/blog\/scandinavian-languages\/#faq-question-1790272100125"},{"@id":"https:\/\/www.lingq.com\/blog\/scandinavian-languages\/#faq-question-1790272113575"},{"@id":"https:\/\/www.lingq.com\/blog\/scandinavian-languages\/#faq-question-1790272126292"},{"@id":"https:\/\/www.lingq.com\/blog\/scandinavian-languages\/#faq-question-1790277795777"},{"@id":"https:\/\/www.lingq.com\/blog\/scandinavian-languages\/#faq-question-1790272138875"},{"@id":"https:\/\/www.lingq.com\/blog\/scandinavian-languages\/#faq-question-1790272152575"},{"@id":"https:\/\/www.lingq.com\/blog\/scandinavian-languages\/#faq-question-1790362935095"}],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.lingq.com\/blog\/scandinavian-languages\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.lingq.com\/blog\/scandinavian-languages\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.lingq.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/ChatGPT-Image-Sep-24-2026-10_54_52-AM.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.lingq.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/ChatGPT-Image-Sep-24-2026-10_54_52-AM.png","width":1672,"height":941,"caption":"R\u00f6kkvi V\u00e9steinsson"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.lingq.com\/blog\/scandinavian-languages\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Blog","item":"https:\/\/www.lingq.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"LingQ User Stories","item":"https:\/\/www.lingq.com\/blog\/category\/lingq-user-stories\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Norwegian, Icelandic, and Faroese: One Learner’s Take on the Scandinavian Languages"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.lingq.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.lingq.com\/blog\/","name":"LingQ Blog","description":"A Blog for Language Learners","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.lingq.com\/blog\/#organization"},"alternateName":"LingQ","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.lingq.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.lingq.com\/blog\/#organization","name":"LingQ Languages Ltd.","alternateName":"LingQ","url":"https:\/\/www.lingq.com\/blog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.lingq.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.lingq.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/logo_696x696.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.lingq.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/logo_696x696.png","width":696,"height":696,"caption":"LingQ Languages Ltd."},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.lingq.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/lingqcom","https:\/\/x.com\/lingq_central","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/@LingQCentral","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/lingq_central\/"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.lingq.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/b3a39f78fe4ad6fef6f73a0a9b4d4098","name":"Elle","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1abaa58ca218090989c6f1a6348c1b88feced01fe0e95bcdaa28dc6320f2b3ac?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1abaa58ca218090989c6f1a6348c1b88feced01fe0e95bcdaa28dc6320f2b3ac?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1abaa58ca218090989c6f1a6348c1b88feced01fe0e95bcdaa28dc6320f2b3ac?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Elle"},"url":"https:\/\/www.lingq.com\/blog\/author\/jahrine\/"},{"@type":"Question","@id":"https:\/\/www.lingq.com\/blog\/scandinavian-languages\/#faq-question-1790272100125","position":1,"url":"https:\/\/www.lingq.com\/blog\/scandinavian-languages\/#faq-question-1790272100125","name":"How many languages does R\u00f6kkvi speak now?","answerCount":1,"acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"He knew Icelandic, English, German, Swedish, and Danish before starting LingQ. Since then he's added functional fluency in Norwegian, French, Dutch, Spanish, and Italian, and is currently learning Polish and Faroese, ten languages in total once his current goals are reached.","inLanguage":"en-US"},"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Question","@id":"https:\/\/www.lingq.com\/blog\/scandinavian-languages\/#faq-question-1790272113575","position":2,"url":"https:\/\/www.lingq.com\/blog\/scandinavian-languages\/#faq-question-1790272113575","name":"What's his known-word count in each language?","answerCount":1,"acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"Roughly 70,000 in both French and Dutch, 60,000 in Norwegian, and just over 50,000 in Spanish, built up gradually over several years of consistent reading and listening.","inLanguage":"en-US"},"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Question","@id":"https:\/\/www.lingq.com\/blog\/scandinavian-languages\/#faq-question-1790272126292","position":3,"url":"https:\/\/www.lingq.com\/blog\/scandinavian-languages\/#faq-question-1790272126292","name":"Did he actually do the Spanish challenge he mentioned in his original post?","answerCount":1,"acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"Yes. A friend from Brazil challenged him to learn Spanish in 2021. He's since read a full novel in Spanish, logged 100 hours of listening, and made three trips to the Canary Islands to practice speaking with locals.","inLanguage":"en-US"},"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Question","@id":"https:\/\/www.lingq.com\/blog\/scandinavian-languages\/#faq-question-1790277795777","position":4,"url":"https:\/\/www.lingq.com\/blog\/scandinavian-languages\/#faq-question-1790277795777","name":"What is the Faroese language, and why is it rare?","answerCount":1,"acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"Faroese is spoken by roughly 70,000 people, almost entirely in the Faroe Islands, a self-governing territory between Iceland and Norway. It shares roots with Icelandic and Old Norse but has developed distinctly enough that native Icelandic speakers, like R\u00f6kkvi, need real dedicated study to learn it. It isn't currently available on LingQ, R\u00f6kkvi is doing most of the work himself to change that, but in the meantime, LingQ supports the other nine languages in his story.","inLanguage":"en-US"},"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Question","@id":"https:\/\/www.lingq.com\/blog\/scandinavian-languages\/#faq-question-1790272138875","position":5,"url":"https:\/\/www.lingq.com\/blog\/scandinavian-languages\/#faq-question-1790272138875","name":"Has he changed how he uses LingQ over time?","answerCount":1,"acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"Yes, significantly. Early on he focused heavily on reading to build vocabulary. Once he passed roughly 60-70K known words in a language, he shifted toward heavy listening, and eventually toward real-world speaking practice, while still using LingQ as his starting point for any new language.","inLanguage":"en-US"},"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Question","@id":"https:\/\/www.lingq.com\/blog\/scandinavian-languages\/#faq-question-1790272152575","position":6,"url":"https:\/\/www.lingq.com\/blog\/scandinavian-languages\/#faq-question-1790272152575","name":"Is he involved with LingQ beyond being a learner?","answerCount":1,"acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"Yes. He collaborated directly with LingQ to bring Icelandic onto the platform and to make it free there for non-native learners. He has since done most of the work to bring Faroese onto LingQ as well, entirely as an unpaid personal project.","inLanguage":"en-US"},"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Question","@id":"https:\/\/www.lingq.com\/blog\/scandinavian-languages\/#faq-question-1790362935095","position":7,"url":"https:\/\/www.lingq.com\/blog\/scandinavian-languages\/#faq-question-1790362935095","name":"Are Norwegian, Icelandic, and Faroese all mutually understandable?","answerCount":1,"acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"Not really, despite sharing Nordic roots. Norwegian is closely related to Danish and Swedish and mutual comprehension is common. Icelandic and Faroese are more conservative, having changed less over the centuries, and R\u00f6kkvi himself describes needing real, dedicated study to learn Faroese despite being a native Icelandic speaker.<br>","inLanguage":"en-US"},"inLanguage":"en-US"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lingq.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/176605791","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lingq.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lingq.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lingq.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lingq.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=176605791"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.lingq.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/176605791\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":176605809,"href":"https:\/\/www.lingq.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/176605791\/revisions\/176605809"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lingq.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/176605792"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lingq.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=176605791"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lingq.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=176605791"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lingq.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=176605791"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}