First Lady publishes old letter to her husband the President on Icelandic Language Day
ÍPresident of Iceland, Guðni Th.Jóhannesson and his wife, Canadian born Eliza Reid. Photo/ Kongehuset.no
First Lady of Iceland, Eliza Reid, who is Canadian, has published a beautiful letter to her husband Guðni Th. Jóhannesson which she wrote in Icelandic in 1999. She had recently met him and wanted to charm him with her language skills.
In Icelandic, Eliza writes, " Dear countrymen! Congratulations on the day of the Icelandic language, dedicated to the language and its importance within Icelandic society. On this good occasion I thought I'd share the first letter I wrote in Icelandic with you. I was young when I wrote it, 23 years old, when I had met Guðni and wanted to charm him with my language skills. I didn't quite know what I put together but I had an old book of sayings, both Icelandic and English (this was before the days of Google translate) and somehow managed to get the letter written. He was in Iceland, I was working in England, and with the letter I sent a few photos from our trip to Snæfellsnes the summer before."
The letter in Icelandic can be seen below and it's quite obvious that Reid has vastly improved her Icelandic. The letter translates to: Dear friend Guðni. These are the photos. In my opinion this is good. My Icelandic is not good, but practice makes art. Nevertheless, I am very fond of English. Bring your family my greeting. Respectfully and with love.
