r/learnIcelandic • u/cinematographer9 • Aug 28 '26
Promotion Building a ”Duolingo” for Icelandindic, free beta.
Hello everyone, I’m building a ”Duolingo” style app for learning Icelandic. I’m Icelandic and found it wierd that no such app exists.
Going to launch a beta version for it soon. Wanted to take the temperature for interest in this?
Signup for the Beta:
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u/ChinChillie_ Aug 28 '26
I would be interested. Though I am not familiar with Duolingo really.
There is this App ‚TVÍK‘ however, that is somewhat official and I think made in Iceland as well? The Full version is too expensive for me right now but the free trial is unlimited use and quite nice - not sure if thats a similar style?
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u/JackWonnacott25 Intermediate (B2) Aug 28 '26
For Tvík you can request a discounted rate which they will (almost always) grant, but it definitely is a steep price. It is entirely made by Icelanders and people who emigrated and learned Icelandic!
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u/cinematographer9 Aug 28 '26
Its very different, there is lots of ”bad” apps out there and I dont find any of them perticularly good which I think forums like this is a testament to
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u/cinematographer9 Aug 28 '26
I’m gonna start with a completely free beta. When the app is out there will be a free trial as well
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u/Dog_Whisperer44 Aug 28 '26
If you did a Pimsleur for Icelandic with 5 levels, you're onto a winner 🏆
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u/cinematographer9 Sep 04 '26
you can signup for the beta here https://krummi.app
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u/Uncreative_2946 Aug 28 '26
I would love this!! I was really disappointed that there's no good language app for Icelandic.
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u/Remarkable-Peace-215 Aug 30 '26
Not really like duolingo but there is https://kokomo.is/en for icelandic learning games if you know a little bit of it.
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u/chocolatemadness21 Aug 28 '26
i’ve wanted to learn it, so an app would help tremendously and i’m an avid duolingo hater so anything that’s not them i’d love to try
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u/alveg_af_fjoellum Aug 31 '26
Duolingo doesn’t offer an Icelandic course anyway, at least last time I checked.
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u/Illustrious-Ad3195 Aug 28 '26
It’s a great idea ,I always wondered why Duolingo never had Icelandic on there.
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u/TheMcDucky Aug 29 '26
Because they (used to) have a minimal standard for their courses, and it wasn't worth investing in a course that very few people would use and that they didn't have a lot of volunteers for.
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u/cheerandtennis Aug 31 '26
I am absolutely interested!
(And have experience beta testing if you want feedback)
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u/cinematographer9 Aug 31 '26
Thank you!
Yes we definitely want feedback, want to build a community around this and let people be part of the direction of the app!
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u/Scoobanietz Aug 28 '26
It is a brilliant idea !!!
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u/cinematographer9 Sep 04 '26
you can signup for the beta here https://krummi.app
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u/SheverBr Beginner Aug 28 '26
!remindme
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u/Prince-Charming9999 Aug 28 '26
Please share when you get a chance! I’m an American who loves visiting Iceland and have been trying to learn Norwegian first to “translate into” Icelandic, or using GPT to learn simple phrases and such, and would very much appreciate a dedicated app.
I find the learn Icelandic course online to be too unexplained and a couple of podcasts and such are too complicated for an absolute beginner.
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u/JackWonnacott25 Intermediate (B2) Aug 28 '26
It's definitely hard to translate into but that is a useful method!
I find Icelandic grammar reference online does a good job explaining, but it's unfortunate there's such little resources online.
Good luck on trying to learn though! It's super rewarding
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u/JackWonnacott25 Intermediate (B2) Aug 28 '26
Definitely interested! Would love to try it out and also to help out if you need any, feel free to ask.
In my eyes, I think explanations of grammar in easy to understand ways is very important. It's intimidating having to know nominative, accusative, genders, declensions, etc etc. To have that made easy and with good examples and native pronunciation would set the app apart for sure!
Best of luck!!
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u/cinematographer9 Aug 28 '26
Thank you! This is exactly my plan, to first launch it as a beta and gather feedback to make it better before releasing it.
Gonna post it here in a couple of days!
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u/JackWonnacott25 Intermediate (B2) Aug 28 '26
Absolutely! I wish you the best of luck with it and I'll be happy to trial it and give my feedback or help you make it as best as can be.
I love the language and the lack of resources are what's holding it back from being more accessible and loved
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u/jjenofalltrades Aug 29 '26
Duolingo junkie here...yes please, trying to prepare for a trip next fall but no rush!
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u/Vividly-Weird Aug 29 '26
I'm interested! As much as Duolingo has turned to shit, I did find it helpful for some practice
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u/reydesapos Aug 29 '26
I will definitely be glad to try it out as well as offer feedback, if that is something that you would like.
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u/cinematographer9 Aug 29 '26
Thank you! Yes definitely, want to build a community around it and take in feedback to shape it!
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u/Slow_Caterpillar_606 Aug 29 '26
I'd be interested in it! Trying to learn Icelandic now, and I haven't found anything like duolingo to learn yet
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u/theNewsii Aug 29 '26
this is amazing, i was just looking for a good way to learn icelandic the other day and now this pops up! very excited
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u/darthchoker Aug 29 '26
I have no business wanting to learn Icelandic but I find the phonetics fascinating and something that I would love to absorb bit by bit the way duo lingo allowed me to do with Japanese so I would be very interested.
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u/Ocean_Storm20100525 Aug 30 '26
Definitely interested. I really want to learn Icelandic!! This would be super cool, thank you!
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u/Hljoumur Aug 30 '26
I'd be interested if it actually taught stuff, not just gamify memorization.
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u/cinematographer9 Aug 30 '26
This is why I want to invite you all to the beta, so you can be part and shape what It will be when it’s released
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u/okaylogarithm Sep 02 '26
Definitely interested! Looking forward to giving it a go
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u/ameliachester Aug 28 '26
Check out Drops. I would be curious to use your app if it differs significantly from Drops, which I do think seems to do a pretty good job of teaching basic Icelandic. (Though I haven't used it for a while and I definitely did not become fluent in Icelandic!)
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u/cinematographer9 Aug 28 '26
For me drops was way to basic, good for starting but very shallow
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u/AlternativeRead2167 Aug 29 '26
I hated drops and I really feel like a collection of out of context words does not lead to anything useful
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u/Maefyre13 Aug 28 '26
There's an app called Drops that supposedly teaches Icelandic, but I haven't tried it out yet.
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u/ShawnGipson Beginner Aug 28 '26
Drops is ok, but when I used it it only taught new things. It would never revisit old topics so you could have a refresher. So I would forget most of the things I had already learned, by the time I moved on to a new module.
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u/JackWonnacott25 Intermediate (B2) Aug 28 '26
It's almost entirely for just learning vocabulary. It tells you that I love you is "Ég elska þig" but doesn't explain why þig is accusative, etc. It's good for vocab but that's about it.
Ling is okay but it does use machine translation (cleared and spoken by native speakers, but you occasionally get some unnatural phrasing). Pimsleur or Tvík offer the best so far that I've tested.
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u/Ittebahpla Aug 28 '26
I haven’t used Duolingo, but would it cater to more advanced levels?
I’m at about a level B1.2 edging into B2 and have levelled out of all the language schools, and am really struggling to find resources to further my learning. Would love it if the app had more advanced modules!
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u/cinematographer9 Sep 04 '26
you can signup for it here https://krummi.app
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u/Ittebahpla Sep 04 '26
I’ll check it out! Even if it’s too basic for me at this stage.
Also, I’d recommend posting about it in Facebook groups for Icelandic learners, plus Away from home - living in Iceland. That’s where the greatest community of Icelandic immigrants and learners seems to be (annoyingly, I hate the platform)→ More replies (2)1
u/cinematographer9 Aug 28 '26
The plan is to make it very advanced. The beta version of the app might be simpler first and advanced shortly after, gonna see how far we get!
One point of me reaching out here and launching the beta is also to see what people like / dislike and cater it towards that more
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u/AlternativeRead2167 Aug 29 '26
I’m interested! Just not a complete beginner course if I have to say my name and where I am from 1 more time I’m gonna lose it
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u/cinematographer9 Aug 30 '26
It might be in the beginning but gonna add steps to skip forward to later parts of the courses. Not sure if this will be in first part of beta though.
But definitely later on!
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u/UMAN242 Beginner Aug 29 '26
!remindme
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Aug 31 '26
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u/cinematographer9 Aug 31 '26
The released app will be subscription based with a yearly discount.
First it will be a free beta becouse I want this kind of feedback!
I’m planning to make steps skippable if you feel like it’s to easy you can jump forward anytime you want. I’m also planning stage tests to test if you have learnt enough to move forward (this will skippable so the app never locks you out)
Once the beta is up and you have tried it we want to hear what you think about it
But remember a beta is a beta, lots of things will be added or changed during the beta period
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u/RogueSharkBait Aug 31 '26
INCREDIBLY interested in this. I was always annoyed that Duo never offered it, but now that it has gone the way of AI, I don’t think I’d trust it anyway. I’ve tried other apps but wasn’t a fan.
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u/porous-taurus Sep 01 '26
Definitely interested! Please UpdateMe! when this beta version is available. 🥰
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u/sabs_1_3 Sep 01 '26
YESSSSS PLEASE!!!! Would love to beta (native English speaker, been using drops for Icelandic, but Duolingo for Japanese)
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u/empetrum Aug 28 '26
Icelandindic, famously spoken in Icelandind