Faroese is a small language.

With only about 50,000 to 75,000 speakers worldwide, you aren’t going to find Faroese on Duolingo or Babbel. You can’t just walk into a generic bookstore and expect to find Faroese grammar guides.

When I first started teaching Faroese, the biggest complaint I heard was, “I want to learn, but I can’t find resources.”

The good news? Some resources do exist.

And because the pool of resources is small, the ones that exist are generally very high quality. You don’t have to sift through hundreds of bad apps to find the good ones.

I’ve rounded them all up for you here.

Here’s my guide to the absolute best resources for learning Faroese.

Courses

Talk In Faroese

I’m definitely biased on this one, but Talk In Faroese is the best course for learning Faroese, no question.

Inside you’ll find hundreds of high quality audio lessons designed to take you from zero knowledge of the language through to intermediate fluency.

The course isn’t free, but it’s inexpensive and there’s no subscription necessary.

Faroese Online

This is a fantastic free resource. Originally developed by the University of Iceland and the University of the Faroe Islands (now independently owned).

It takes you through the basics of the language. It’s a great place to start if you aren’t ready to buy a course like Talk In Faroese or a book yet.

Textbooks

Since you can’t rely on gamified apps for the heavy lifting, you will need a structured course or textbook.

Faroese: A Language Course (Adams & Patterson)

This is widely considered the “Gold Standard” for English speakers. It’s a comprehensive textbook that covers grammar, vocabulary, and culture.

It moves quite fast, so it can be a little intimidating for a complete beginner, but if you are serious about fluency, this is the book you need. It usually comes with audio files, which are crucial.

The best online dictionary

If you only bookmark one website from this entire article, make it this one.

Sprotin.fo

Sprotin is not just a dictionary; It’s a lifeline for Faroese learners. It’s the most comprehensive Faroese-English-Faroese dictionary available.

Why is it so good?

1. It has audio.

Faroese is not phonetic. If you read the word veðrið (the weather) without hearing it, you will likely pronounce it wrong. Sprotin allows you to click on Faroese words and hear a native recording.

2. It shows inflections.

Faroese grammar is heavy on declensions (cases). Sprotin shows you exactly how a noun changes from nominative to accusative, dative, and genitive.

3. It’s free.

While they sell physical books, the online version is currently free to use (though sometimes requires a subscription for the full app, the web version is very accessible).

Listening and immersion

You can’t really learn Faroese with your eyes alone. The gap between the written language and the spoken language is too big.

For example, look at this common greeting:

To an English speaker, Góðan dag looks like it should be pronounced “Go-than dag”. But in reality, the ‘ð’ is silent, and the ending sounds different.

To get used to these sounds, you need immersion.

Kringvarp Føroya (KvF)

This is the national broadcasting company of the Faroe Islands.

• For beginners: Listen to the news. Even if you don’t understand it, having it in the background helps your brain map the rhythm of the language.
• For advanced learners: Watch their TV shows online. Many are available for free on their website.

Music

The Faroe Islands produces an incredible amount of music for such a small place. Listening to music is a low-stress way to learn vocab.

Artists to check out:

• Eivør: She sings in both English and Faroese. Her enunciation is very clear.
• Týr: If you like heavy metal/folk metal. They use a lot of old ballads and poetic language.
• Teitur: Mostly English, but has some Faroese tracks.

Apps and vocabulary tools

While the big giants like Duolingo haven’t added Faroese, there are a few app-based alternatives.

uTalk

uTalk is one of the few major language apps that actually offers Faroese. It’s not a grammar course; it focuses entirely on vocabulary and phrases.

It uses a memory game style to help you learn words for food, travel, and social situations. It features native speaker audio, which is great for mimicking pronunciation.

Memrise

Memrise is a flashcard app. While there is no “official” Memrise Faroese course, the community has created several high-quality decks. Look for courses titled “Basic Faroese” or “Faroese 101”.

Here is a quick comparison of the learning tools:

A note on Faroese dialects

When you are using these resources, you might notice something confusing. The person on the radio might say a word differently than the audio in your textbook.

Faroese has distinct dialects.

The main distinction is often between the “Northern” fjords and the Southern island of Suðuroy, but there are variations even between villages.

• Tórshavn dialect: This is what you will hear in most textbooks and on Sprotin. It’s the “standard” prestige dialect.
• Suðuroy dialect: This is quite distinct and easy to spot. For example, they pronounce the letter ‘á’ differently than in Tórshavn.

As a beginner, stick to the standard resources (Tórshavn dialect). Everyone in the Faroe Islands will understand you. Once you get more advanced, you can start exploring the beautiful variations of the villages.

My advice?

Start with Talk In Faroese.

Use Sprotin every time you see a new word. And keep KvF radio playing while you cook dinner or commute.

Góða eydnu! (Good luck!)