Language/Icelandic/Pronunciation/Alphabet-and-Pronunciation

Pronunciation Guide in Icelandic

When trying to pronounce words in Icelandic, some knowledge of a Scandinavian language is useful. Compared to English, the vowels are different, however, most consonants are pronounced similar to English. 

The Icelandic alphabet has kept two old letters which no longer exist in the English alphabet: Þ, þ (þorn, modern English "thorn") and Ð, ð (eð, anglicised as "eth" or "edh"), representing the voiceless and voiced "th" sounds (as in English "thin" and "this"), respectively. Below is a guide to pronunciation.  

Letter	Pronunciation in English
A	"a" sound in father
E	"e" sound in bed
I, Y	"i" sound in little
U	"u" sound in German höher or "eu" sound in French neuf
Æ	"æ" sound in eye
ö	"ö" sound in German höher or "eu" sound in French neuf
ð	"th" sound in weather (voiced th)
þ	"th" sound in thord (unvoiced th)

 

Icelandic is a North Germanic language spoken in Iceland where it is the national language.

Here are the letters and how to pronounce them:

Letter	A a	B b	D d	E e	F f	G g	H h	I i	J j	K k	L l	M m	N n	O o	P p	R r	S s	T t	U u	V v	X x	Y y	Á á	Æ æ	É é	Í í	Ð ð	Ó ó	Ö ö	Ú ú	Ý ý	Þ þ
Name	a	bé	dé	e	eff	ge	há	i	joð	ká	ell	emm	enn	o	pé	err	ess	té	u	vaff	ex	ufsilon y	á	æ	é	í	eð	ó	ö	ú	ufsilon ý	þorn
IPA	[aː]	[pjeɛ̯]	[tjeɛ̯]	[eɛ̯]	[ɛfː]	[cjeɛ̯]	[häu̯]	[ɪː]	[joɔ̯ð̠]	[kʰäu̯]	[ɛtːl̥]	[ɛmː]	[ɛnː]	[oɔ̯]	[pʰjeɛ̯]	[ɛrː]	[ɛsː]	[tʰjeɛ̯]	[ʏː]	[vafː]	[ɛxs]	[ˈʏfsɪlɔn ɪː]	[äu̯]	[ai̯]	[jeɛ̯]	[iː]	[eɛ̯ð̠]	[ou̯]	[œː]	[uː]	[ˈʏfsɪlɔn iː]	[θ̠ɔrːtn̥]
Audio Add Audio

Sources

Book: Learn to Speak Icelandic: without even trying, Stephen Hernandez