Talk:Iceland

Archived discussions Talk:Iceland/Archive 2006-2012

Formatting and language conventions For articles about Iceland, please use the 24-hour clock to show times, e.g. 09:00-12:00 and 18:00-00:00. Please show prices in this format: 100 kr and not kr. 100, kr 100, or 100 ISK. Please use British spelling (colour, travelled, centre, realise, analogue, programme, defence).

Areas

I would say that the Interior area should be called Highlands, as it is known in Icelandic(Hálendið) Einsiol (talk) 23:51, 24 January 2013 (UTC)

If that's local usage then that would make sense. The country map would need to be updated before we could rename any articles or begin updating links, provided of course no one voices an objection to the change. -- Ryan • (talk) • 00:04, 25 January 2013 (UTC)

Travel by bus.

The entire chapter on travel by bus is very out of date and almost completely worthless as it stands. --Bjarki S (talk) 11:09, 1 November 2013 (UTC)

Can you do anything to update and improve it? Ikan Kekek (talk) 11:16, 1 November 2013 (UTC)

Travel by Carpooling

couchsearfing link is dead —The preceding comment was added by 46.189.45.234 (talk • contribs)

Removed. Though there wouldn't have been any problems with yourself removing it. ϒpsilon (talk) 12:23, 19 February 2015 (UTC)

Iceland has no history

There is no history section. Anyone want to tell Iceland's story? --Andrewssi2 (talk) 01:44, 8 April 2015 (UTC)

Well, someone who reads Icelandic could start here. :-) Ikan Kekek (talk) 02:19, 8 April 2015 (UTC)

I allready added the gist of it.--Snaevar (talk) 21:20, 18 September 2016 (UTC)

Irish on Iceland

these IP edits (from an IP who has "a history", but it may well be someone else using the IP address) remove the previous mention of Irish settlers. I have really no bone in this fight, but I think I've read that Iro-Scots (or whatever) monks actually came to Iceland slightly before Nordic people and a significant portion of modern Icelandic DNA is from - I think predominantly Irish - slaves that the Nordic settlers took with them. Apparently there is even some Native American in there... Hobbitschuster (talk) 15:01, 18 November 2017 (UTC)

The Irish monks are still mentioned, but the wording states they were temporary residents, not permanent settlers. Powers ^(talk) 18:54, 19 November 2017 (UTC)

Golden Circle, ring road, etc..

I read online of some tours that include Golden Circle, Ring Road, etc.. Though I'm not sure what the difference is, are there more types of "circle" tours? Marathonian (talk) 20:32, 26 December 2018 (UTC)

The "Golden Circle" is a type of tour (operated by tens of different tour companies) that starts in Reykjavik, and usually includes at least Geysir, Gullfoss and the Thingvellir site (depending on the tour, some other site might also be included); they're around 50-100 km east of the capital so doable even as a half-day trip.

The Ring Road is the highway that goes around the country like a huge beltway (but not as long as the one in Australia) that will take several days to drive (one week for serious sightseeing).

In 2014 when I visited there were a lot of different tours from Reykjavik, and I think quite many were "circular" ones, ie. bringing you to several sights. ϒψιλον (talk) 20:58, 26 December 2018 (UTC)

Even one week is pretty rushed for the Ring Road. There are lots of tside trips off the ring that are really worthwhile. I spent two weeks that included the West Fjords. That was not too much time, and there were a couple of long driving days (I was the only driver).

There is lots to see on the Golden Circle near Reykjavik. A full day is good. Ground Zero (talk) 21:09, 26 December 2018 (UTC)

Shouldn't we include that information in the article? Seems like pretty useful information for me. Marathonian (talk) 21:22, 26 December 2018 (UTC)

The Iceland article says:

"Golden Circle day tours are available from Reykjavík from many tour operators which will take you round the Gulfoss waterfall, geysers, the crater and the Mid-Atlantic rift/place of Iceland's first Parliament."

Route 1-Ring Road says:

"Most tourists complete the loop in 1 or 2 weeks, which varies depending on time spent at attractions and how far they drive every day."

Ground Zero (talk) 21:28, 26 December 2018 (UTC)

Thanks got it. Are there other standard "circles" that people can do? and out of curiosity (since I might go there this year), did you guys enjoy the ring road or golden circle more? —The preceding comment was added by Marathonian (talk • contribs)

Using American spelling

Given the large US presence Iceland has historically had and the many flights to/from the US, should we change the default spelling for Icelandic destinations to American? Hobbitschuster (talk) 12:18, 7 June 2020 (UTC)

I did searches on the government.is website to see what is most common. "Labour" 274 results, "labor" 21 results. "Favour" 70, "favor" 10. "Modernise" 6, "modernize" 3. "Subsidise" 3, "subsidise" 0. Usage is not consistent (it's not the Icelanders' fault that the Anglosphere can't get its act together), but it seems to lean heavily toward UK spelling. Ground Zero (talk) 15:42, 7 June 2020 (UTC)

Governments don't decide spelling. People do. Hobbitschuster (talk) 16:41, 7 June 2020 (UTC)

And wasn't the historic US connection based on the military, which is government? If you have evidence of how the people spell, please share it. Otherwise, it's your opinion against that of the Government of Iceland. When I was in Iceland for a couple of weeks, I didn't notice how English words were spelled, but I did hear of connections to the UK: students talk about going to Denmark or the UK for university, and the UK seems to be a place to go for city break weekends. Ground Zero (talk) 17:02, 7 June 2020 (UTC)

US travellers are the most prominent travelers to Iceland (see https://px.hagstofa.is/pxis/pxweb/en/Atvinnuvegir/Atvinnuvegir__ferdathjonusta__farthegar/SAM02006.px ), true, but in schools both British and American English is tought (that can be seen in the national curriculum). There is no preference of one over the other.--Snaevar (talk) 22:13, 14 August 2020 (UTC)

In that case we might as well maintain British English within this article. --Comment by Selfie City (talk | contributions) 22:16, 14 August 2020 (UTC)

Why? Policy is to use American English when there is no clear preference for either variant... Hobbitschuster (talk) 10:57, 15 August 2020 (UTC)

Policy is also not to change English versions unnecessarily. Ikan Kekek (talk) 17:10, 15 August 2020 (UTC)

Volcano emergency info

@Snaevar: Is there some official place to look for warnings related to volcanism? I think it gives a rather bad image to just point to "media sources". Few of our readers speak Icelandic and foreign media may not be that alert or careful with the details. –LPfi (talk) 15:35, 4 August 2022 (UTC)

@Snævar: –LPfi (talk) 15:41, 4 August 2022 (UTC)

Yes, en.vedur.is/alerts , which is the Icelandic weather instutation (Met office). Most of the alerts on there are on winds over 20m/s though. Safetravel.is also has alerts, if you do not mind giving them your phonenumber, it is run by the Icelandic Search and Rescue, those alerts are more narrowed down. Also, if an person gets close to an national disaster, he will get an SMS from the civil services. Snævar (talk) 21:59, 4 August 2022 (UTC)

Names / Patronymic

I added quite a bit of detail in the "understand" section related to how Icelandic last names work, expanding on a brief sentence there. Then I discovered that in the "Respect" section later on in the page, a lot of the info I provided is already there in a call out box. Is there a way to refer back to this call out box in the "Respect" section? Marvin The Paranoid (talk) 10:44, 22 September 2023 (UTC)

Proposed currency format change

Current currency format recommends "kr 100". It doesn't appear to be how it is written by the public. All of them list in "100 kr" format: Coffee shop, supermarket, Costco, soup stall, Taco restaurant and on their coins. I would propose changing the currency format to "100 kr" style. OhanaUnited^{Talk page} 17:43, 13 October 2023 (UTC)

Support, per OhanaUnited's evidence. Ground Zero (talk) 18:48, 13 October 2023 (UTC)

"kr" is an Icelandic abbrivation for "króna". Other countries have the same name for their currency, mainly the other nordic countries. Norway, Denmark and Sweden use the word "krone" for their own currencies, which is the same word as in Icelandic. ISK leaves nothing up for guessing, while "kr" does, it can be any of those nordic currencies. Also weird to use an Icelandic abbrivation in english text. As for why shops do it, it became customary before Iceland advertised itself heavily for tourism, so it made sence in Icelandic and English was never taken into account. Snævar (talk) 03:53, 28 October 2023 (UTC)

That's a problem will all our articles, but in articles about a country or places or concepts in that country, an unqualified "kr" will unambiguously refer to that country. We use the international codes (such as ISK) only where they are needed for clarity or there is some other special reason to. We use the local practice as our guides are for travellers, who will see – and should recognise – the locally used way.

The question here is whether to write "100 kr" or "kr 100". How do you write prices in Iceland? I think that changing usage to make the country more conformant to tourists is a disservice both to the country and to the tourists. Keep to your customs and tourists will appreciate that additional "exotic" flavour.

(In Finland we write "100,–" or rarely "100 euro" while Wikivoyage writes €100, but if Icelandic usage conforms to Wikivoyage practice, we should use it. By the way, Swedish "kr" is "krona", plural "kronor", not "krone".)

–LPfi (talk) 09:22, 28 October 2023 (UTC)

Writing 100 kr would be correct, as we say 100 krónur (plural of króna), krónur 100 is not valid at all and that is with consideration of all of the different ways Icelandic is spoken. (I have been busy). Snævar (talk) 06:58, 4 April 2024 (UTC)

Why would anyone think that "kr" in an Iceland article in English Wikivoyage mean Swedish krona?

Do we need to specify that a shop in Rekyavik opens at 09:00 Greenwich Mean Time and not 09:00 Eastern European Time like in Helsinki? I don't think so. Ground Zero (talk) 09:37, 28 October 2023 (UTC)

• Support I was surprised about the formatting when I found we used "kr 100" as opposed to "100 kr" a while back but wasn't motivated to do anything about it. Thanks for starting this discussion, OhanaUnited. --SHB2000 (talk | contribs | meta) 09:45, 28 October 2023 (UTC)

Done. Ground Zero (talk) 11:45, 15 December 2023 (UTC)