# Happy bedtime stories



## Alxmrphi

Nah, lol, title _may_ be a little bit misleading,

Yeah anyway, my point, I study Italian and Icelandic (just started) and what I wanted to suggest was something to help people on here, by writing stories, I will explain.

I have no limit to the Italian texts I can find on the net, Icelandic however, couldn't be further from that.

So as a beginner I thought the best way was to try and find simple stories, like ones that are aimed at kids that have simple grammar and are not phrased in any difficult way, but it's something that beginners at a new language can start themselves off on, like seeing what typical sentences look like and how words relate in a context, etc.

So, I suggest for the Nordic languages forum, or actually, it could work in any forum that has a language that isn't common and literary texts to study are, well, sparse and sporadic, or non-existant.

So if we could have a sticky on the boards labelled "texts" or something and invite anyone that wants to, to write stories ranged from beginner/advanced (easy/intermediate/hard) and then they are available for people to study, and best of all might be able to ask the author what was intended in certain passages later on.

So like for every post it might be something like this: (I'll try and write in Italian cos my Icelandic is crap)

*Language*: Icelandic
*Level*:       Easy

_
 Una volta c'era una principessa e suo padre era il re di uno dei regni migliori ma anche c'era una strega che voleva rapire la princepessa ma la strega, che si chiamava Jana337 aveva rapito anche qualche bambino del regno, e il re ha provato molte volte a smettere Jana, ma, perché lei poteva parlare molte lingue ha sempre trovato un modo di introfularsi nel regno e rapire qualche bambino di più........_

Ok I got a bit carried away while writing that, well anyway thats my point.
So basically I just want a sticky thread in the Nordic languages forum where natives can write stories if they want to and they can be studied by learners of the language, due to the immense void of literary texts on the internet.

Anyone agree?


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## Lello4ever

I didn't understand your point. Whatever.
Your story is a bit "confused", not only because of italian, but mostly because I can't think of Jana being a witch!!! Sure you didn't confuse the princess and the witch?


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## Alxmrphi

Positive


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## Trisia

I think I might agree with you on that, Alex. I went to take a look on the Nordic languages forum, and you really don't have any Icelandic literature. That's sad, given the closest I ever got to Icelandic was in some Jules Verne novel and an adventure video game.

Maybe someone else knows more about this, and could make some suggestions for the Resources.


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## Alxmrphi

Can someone please give me an answer to if we can do this or not?
Suggestions shouldn't be ignored


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## jonquiliser

Seems not a bad idea to me, but if this silence means there's little enthusiasm among others, I'd do as with everything: go to wiki. Obviously, there's no level indication and texts are what they are - but they can still be tremendoulsy useful for a learner (at least they've been to me!). And there's even a little course there.


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## Alxmrphi

jonquiliser said:


> Seems not a bad idea to me, but if this silence means there's little enthusiasm among others, I'd do as with everything: go to wiki. Obviously, there's no level indication and texts are what they are - but they can still be tremendoulsy useful for a learner (at least they've been to me!). And there's even a little course there.



I have been, with Italian also but I've found some examples where I have asked in the forums and been told that what is written in wiki is blatantly gramatically wrong, so it kinda dented my trust in it a little.


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## jonquiliser

Alex_Murphy said:


> I have been, with Italian also but I've found some examples where I have asked in the forums and been told that what is written in wiki is blatantly gramatically wrong, so it kinda dented my trust in it a little.


 
Huh   Noooo!!! - don't tell me this, I don't wanna hear it!!


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## Lemminkäinen

Alex_Murphy said:


> I have no limit to the Italian texts I can find on the net, Icelandic however, couldn't be further from that.



In the Icelandic resources post there now are links to a wide selection of sagas.

WRF is a language, not literature forum, and this suggestion is beyond the mission statement.

If there are existing internet resources, then these can be reported to the appropriate moderator, who can then make the decision of whether or not to include it in the forum's resources thread (copyright often being the deciding factor). Maintaining a sticky where people can post their own stories is, however, beyond the scope of the forums.


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## Alxmrphi

Sagas are some of the most advanced writing and I was told by many Icelandic natives to not go anywhere near them for a while.

As for your statement about literature being beyond WR I couldn't disagree more, reading text is how one gains a grasp of a language and what I am asking for is not literature, but core examples of how a language is written in story form, it couldn't be further from "literature" in the sense of the literature that is beyond the mission statment.

If my idea can be done we can 100% avoid the whole issue of copyright and make language learning more easy, not rule obiding, as is the theme these days.


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## Saoul

Alex_Murphy said:


> If my idea can be done we can 100% avoid the whole issue of copyright and make language learning more easy, not rule obiding, as is the theme these days.



Avoid the issue of copyright... meaning?  We don't avoid laws, here, Alex. We comply with them. 

Don't you think that searching Icelandic Sites would be a good way to practice your new Icelandic skills. 

I mean, I wouldn't dream to face authors, sagas, novels in a language that I'm not confortable with, yet. Let alone invented stories, or poetries that I can't find no information about anywhere.

I'm sure the Internet can offer you lots of resources, though... or maybe you are just to lazy to look for them, and you want good ol' Wordreference to do the job for you? 

Just kidding mate, you know that. It's just that I honestly think that you can find a lot of interesting things, if you only search the web.


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## Alxmrphi

I've even asked an Icelander to go and look for some and she didn't find anything suitable, I can't believe you didn't think I'd already looked.

If you can find me any simple Icelandic text within 10 mins of looking, then, well, you get one month without me teasing you (Children standard)

Also, I know there are no laws here, just ones you comply with, what I said was there would be no worry about any copyright issues because the copyright law everyone abides with would be irrelevant.


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## Saoul

1
2
3

I can't say, if they are easy or not, Alex, since I don't speak a word of Icelandic... but I found three texts in 8 minutes.
And yes, I really can't believe, that you can't believe I didn't think you'd already looked... I mean, I know you! 

Anyway, this is not a contest. It's just that I'm sure you can improve a lot more if you visit blogs, if you read wikipedia articles, or if you - tadadadadaaam... buy a book!


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## TrentinaNE

Less than 5 minutes. 

Here are my thoughts: WRF is *one* of many tools for language-learners. It cannot and is not intended to cover every base that every language learner might find useful. People _encounter_ language in other venues; they come to WRF for assistance in_ understanding_ what they've encountered. It is in that sense that the proposal in this thread is outside the site's scope and mission.

Elisabetta


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## Alxmrphi

You think they don't have any computers there, still wasn't what I was looking for, what I mean is something like the Icelandic equivilant to this:

http://www.see.it/fiabe/ugo1.html

I've seen most of those links already....... toooooo difficult, especially the Icleandic dictionary literature!


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