How easy is it for an English only speaker to navigate Iceland [duplicate]

How easy is it for an English only speaker to navigate Iceland [duplicate] - White lighthouse tower in front of waving sea against cloudy sky

I am visiting Iceland in July and am interested in knowing how difficult it will be for an English and Spanish speaker to navigate the country?



Best Answer

Depends on what you mean by "navigate." To get from place to place, a map or GPS should be sufficient.  For anything else, Spanish will be of little value (although I did manage to communicate with an Italian restaurant owner).  However, English and Danish are required subjects in the Icelandic schools.

Road signs will not be in English, but the meaning of "80" is pretty obvious, and many of the symbols, shapes, and colors you are used to are international. Destinations will be their local name on signs at exits, but if you are looking for a particular place you already know its name.

If you already know some of the places you'll be, use Google Streetview to simulate going down the street and looking at the signs. Or http://walkscore.com to see what sorts of businesses are nearby

Lots of touristy marketing brochures will be available in several languages.

It's not hard to identify a restaurant, even if you can't read the menu. Or hotel.




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Can English speakers go to Iceland?

There is virtually no language barrier for English-speaking visitors to Iceland. Icelandic business executives and government officials are fluent in English and almost all Icelanders speak English to some degree.

Can you live in Iceland only speaking English?

While Icelandic is the official language, appr. 98% of Icelanders speak English fluently, so the latter is enough to start a new life in Iceland. If you are not a native speaker, note that fluency is absolutely required if you want to do anything other than housekeeping or dishwashing.

How similar is Icelandic to English?

Icelandic is closely related to Faroese; the written forms of the two languages are very similar, but their spoken forms are not mutually intelligible....Cognates with English.English wordIcelandic wordSpoken comparisonwordor\xf0listen (help\xb7info)8 more rows

Do people in Iceland speak good English?

English is almost universally spoken in Iceland, with many people very fluent as well. Icelanders learn English from a very early age and are exposed to English language film and TV a lot and so are very proficient at English. Almost the entire population can speak it to some degree.



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More answers regarding how easy is it for an English only speaker to navigate Iceland [duplicate]

Answer 2

In Iceland, everyone speaks English (except maybe an old man in a village far far away). For the rest see the WGroleau's answer.

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