Stone Circle Can we learn the tongue?

@Gunnar, thread for Gunnar to teach Ethan and @Ike some icelandic as we spoke abt on disc

Ethan padded up to the stone circle with Ike at his heels. Gunnar had said he would teach them some icelandic so they could better communicate with sanjas young and those who spoke it.

Ike followed his dad to where they would meet Gunnar to learn the language his friend Skald spoke. Ike loved hanging with Skald but he struggled to communicate with the boy due to the language barrier.

Gunnar had been gnawing at a small bone, when the two younger wolves came upon them. He shifted, one paw over the other, looking for a moment like a grizzled King surveying his land, but he offered them both a smile.

Halló Ethan, Ike.

He knew why they were here and he was glad to help them. So he started with an simple greeting of Hello. It was close enough to the actual word, they'd be able to puzzle this one out.

Gunnar started off right away. With a simple word that Ethan knew. He'd heard it when he first met Sanja, and then with Bjarna in their encounter in the woods not too long ago. It was very similar to the word he knew of that meeting. The greeting Hello was Hallo in Icelandic. "Hallo Gunnar". Ethan returned the greeting in Gunnar's language. He nodded at Ike, urging his son to do the same

At his father's press, Ike too returned the word he had heard before. Unlike his father, he hadn't heard it from Bjarna as he hadn't met her yet, but he'd heard it from Skald and Sanja. "Yes, Hallo Gunnar". Ike said

Gunnar stood and stretched. Old body groaning in protest, but he moved none the less.

I think simple things should be easy today. We'll do some polite things, like how are you, and maybe some prey animals. Does that sound okay?

He didn't wait for them to agree. He just began the lesson. He knew he would need to try and make it as easy as possible.

How are you, in Icelandic it is 'Hvernig hefurðu það?

Those words were simple in english but sounded foriegn in icelandic. Ethan gave it a try though. "Hvernig... hefurðu... það...?" He said, hoping he got it right.

Ike tried the words too, a little more confidently than his father but probably butchering them, especially the accent. "Huverning hefurðu þaðþ" He said, in sounds close to those Gunnar said but adding some that weren't meant to be there.

Gunnar smiled, but inside he was wincing. They had a basic grasp, but their accents were terrible. So he repeated it, putting emphasis on the way he rolled some of the letters, the guttural viscosity of some of them too.

Rabbit, Squirrel, Deer they are. Kanína, Íkorna, Dádýr

Then he waited blinking steel grays, ears forward. Hoping he was helping, because he wasn't sure. He was trying, but his language was not an easy one. He was born to it, as was Bjarna, and Skald, and the other littlelings.

Ethan knew he was butchering the accents horribly but hearing his son do worse made him chuckle a bit. 

After the basic greeting, Gunnar moved on to animals. Deer sounded a bit similar, the others he could not say the same for. He tried them out though "Kanína, Íkorna, Dádýr."

Ike too tried the words of the prey, managing to get the sounds right but not the accents. "Kanína, Íkorna, Dádýr"

Gunnar chuckled, though it was not in a cruel way. Very close, but not quite.

He pronounced the words slower and more drawn out this time, paying particularly attention to the accent on the words. Without the accent on some of them, they became different meanings, and different words. This caused confusion.

He would have them repeat. Then he would move on.

Bird and fish are fugl, and Fiskur .

"FUgl, FISkur." Ike said trying to get the accents right but not sure if he was.

"fuGL. fisKUR" Ethan said, accenting the opposite part of the words that Ike was, thinking his son was wrong but genuinely not being sure. "Sorry I sound so bad." Ethan said to Gunnar.

Gunnar lifted a broad shoulder. You're fine. You all did well. But that concludes what i have to teach you today. Learn those ones, come find me for others. I can teach you all i know. Bjarna can as well. You point something out, seh may not know what you mean, but she can tell you.

Gunnar nodded.

Ethan nodded. He had conversed with the girl before and though conversation was hard, they made it through. "Thank you, Gunnar." Ethan said, dipping his head. "lets go Ike. Perhaps we can hunt. Maybe we will find some Kanína, Íkorna, Dádýr." Ethan said, trying out his newly learned Icelandic prey words. He flicked his tail and padded off, Ike at his heels.

last for me, won't post w/ Ike. Will archive this now