Lögberg-Heimskringla - 26.10.1990, Blaðsíða 2

2 • Lögberg-Heimskringla • Föstudagur 26. október 1990
lcelandic
language classes
ícelandic language classes have
resumed in full force at the
Scandinavian Centre in Winnipeg.
As in previous years, the group of
students is divided into beginners,
intermediate and advanced classes.
Svava Engilbertsdóttir, Árný
Hjaltadóttir and Hulda Karen
Daníelsdóttir, all native speakers
of Icelandic, will be the instructors
this year.
The students take the courses
for a number of reasons.
Some in the advanced
group spoke Icelandic as
children and now wish to
be able to converse in Ice-
landic with visiting rela-
tives from Iceland or when
they themselves visit the
land of their forebears; still
others want to learn as well
as socialize with new and
old friends. There are also
some university students,
taking Icelandic at the U
of M, who would like to
Nationa/ embiem rejected
Plans to attach Iceland’s national
emblem to the balcony ofAlthingHouse
— home of parliament — in the old
Reykjavík city centre have been
shelved, following the National
Committee of Architectural Heritage’s
decision to turn down a request by
parliament’s speakers to that effect.
Althing House has been protected
by law since 1973, with the committee
resolving that changes to it could not
be made except under extraordinary
circumstances, and then only if
required for the building to maintain
its proper function. The national
emblem does not meet these condi-
tions, according to the committee, and
its design would not serve to enhance
the stone building’s exterior appear-
ance.
The committee maintained that
there is no tradition for attaching the
Althing House,
prominently
featuring King
Christian IX of
Denmark’s royal
insignia at
centre. Iceland’s
guardian spirits
can be seen
above the first-
floor windows.
national emblem to official buildings,
although Iceland’s past national em-
blems — displaying a cod until 1904
and a falcon in the fourteen years that
followed—had been affixed to Althing
House from its construction in 1881 to
1918.
Now to be found a place in the
chambers within the building’s walls,
Iceland’s present national emblem
consists of a shield and the nation’s
four guardian spirits — a giant, bird,
bull, and dragon — and dates back to
the founding of the Republic in 1944.
While the national emblem will thus
not adorn Althing House in future, the
same can notbe said of King Christian
IX of Denmark’s royal insignia, which
was prominently — and permanently
— placed on the building’s roof when
Althing House was constructed. Sym-
bolizing an age when Iceland bowed to
Danish authority, the insignia is natu-
rally protected along with the rest of
the building.
Courtesy ofNews from Iceland
supplement their studies in
speaking and comprehension.
This interest in learning Icelan-
dic is present throughout the west.
People in Vancouver, Calgary,
Gimli and other areas are also
learning how to speak, read and
write Icelandic. Lögberg-
Heimskringla is interested in re-
ceiving articles about their activi-
ties and progress.
The Frón classes at the
Scandinavian Centre are charac-
terized by an easy-going, friendly
yet fun-filled atmosphere, a setting
universally recognized by modern
language teachers as being condu-
cive to language learning. This was
demonstrated in the advanced
class’ fírst meeting. The two hour
lesson was conducted in Icelandic
alone; the students played a game
which is called Frúin í Hamborg
(the lady in Hamburg), the rules of
which state that participants can-
not say já, nei, svart nor hvítt (yes,
no, black nor white). Needless to
say, everyone had a lot of fun and
uncontrollable bursts of laughter
could be heard from their class-
room. Even duringbreak, the group
continued speaking Icelandic and
one student got so caught up that
she was about to fill out her course
payment cheque with the Icelandic
þrjátíu instead of the English
thirty.
Those who do not want to miss
out on the fun should register as
soon as possible by simply coming
down to the Centre on a Thursday
night at 7 p.m. or by contacting
Frón members who are in charge of
the classes.
H.K.D.
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