Icelandic is one of the Nordic languages, which are a subgroup of the Germanic languages. Germanic languages are traditionally divided into North Germanic, i.e. the Nordic languages, West Germanic, i.e. High and Low German including Dutch-Flemish, English and Frisian, and East Germanic, i.e. Gothic, which is now dead. The Germanic languages are in the family of Indo-European languages together with the Celtic, Slavonic, Baltic, Romance, Greek, Albanian, Armenian and Indo-Iranian languages, in addition to several language groups, which are now dead. Accordingly, Icelandic is more or less related to all these languages. Linguistically it is most closely related to Faeroese and Norwegian.

The origin of the Icelandic language
Iceland was settled in the period A.D. 870-930. Most of the settlers came from Norway, especially Western Norway, a few of them from Sweden and some from the British Isles, including Ireland. The language, which came to prevail in Iceland, was that of the people of Western Norway. It is commonly agreed that a considerable part of the immigrants was of Celtic stock (estimates, based partly on physical-anthropological studies, vary from 10 to 30 percent). However, the Icelandic language shows only insignificant traces of Celtic influence. The only evidence is a few Celtic loan words and a few personal names and place-names. Icelandic and Norwegian did not become markedly different until the fourteenth century. From then onwards the two languages became increasingly different. This was for the most part due to changes in the Norwegian language, which had in some cases begun earlier in Danish and Swedish, while Icelandic resisted change, no doubt thanks in part to the rich Icelandic literature of the 12th and following centuries. Resistance to change is one of the characteristics of the Icelandic language, which explains the fact that a twelfth-century text is still easy to read for a modern Icelander. However, Icelandic has undergone considerable change in its phonetics. Another characteristic of the language is its uniformity, i.e. absence of dialects.

Yes	Já
No	Nei
Welcome	Velkomin
Pleased to meet you.	Gaman að hitta þig
Goodbye.	Bless
Thank you.	Takk fyrir
My name is ...	Ég heiti ...
What is your name?	Hvað heitir þú?
Do you speak English?	Talar þú ensku?
I'm sorry, I don't speak Icelandic.	Því miður, ég tala ekki íslensku
I need help.	Ég þarf hjálp
Where is the toilet, please?	Fyrirgefðu, hvar er klósettið?
How are you	Hvernig hefur þú það
Good Day Good Morning	Góðan daginn
Good Evening	Gott kvöld
Good Night	Góða nótt
Nice to meet you	Gleður mig að kynnast þér
See you later!	Sjáumst
I don't know	Ég veit ekki
How are you?	Hvernig gengur?
You're welcome	Gjörðu svo vel
Please	Vinsamlegast, takk
I don't understand	Ég skil ekki
Do you speak...	Talar þú...
English	Ensku
French	Frönsku
German	Þýsku
Spanish	Spænsku
Chinese	Kínversku