Meet your teacher!

Hi!

My name is Flemming and I’m just some guy. But I’ve been working as a freelance language coach / teacher for a bit now. You may have seen my work on apps like Italki or Memrise, or you may even have bumped into my podcast, Icelandic Immersion: Comprehensive Icelandic.

I’m originally from Reykjavík, Iceland, but currently I’m living in Copenhagen, Denmark. I’ve dabbled in other languages, reaching fluency in Icelandic (duh), English, and Danish. Then I’ve also tried my hand at German, Spanish, French, Russian, with varying success haha.

I’m also a musician and a music teacher, where I’ve picked up a bunch of random skills that I use in my teaching all the time, proving to myself that language is music and music is language.

But all of this boils down to the fact that I’m a guy who likes to help others figure the things out that they need help with figuring out, and building bridges between what people do know to what they are trying to learn.

 FAQs

  • I’ve taken on students who are virtual masters of the language already, as well as those who have never uttered a single word. Regardless of their level, all of them had it in common that they felt that it helped them, but in different ways for every individual. Most of them say that they that find it helpful to have this kind of commitment, of booking a lesson with a teacher, to help them stick to their goals, which levels up their curiosity into a passion!

  • So when it’s time for your lesson, you’ll enter a my waiting room on Zoom via the link you received when you booked the lesson. From there you’ll be let into the meeting and therein we’ll be hanging out, just like on any video call you’ve had.

    In our session, I will be sharing my screen, which will contain a type of a whiteboard whereon we can document everything that has taken place in our lesson(s).

    In short, this is just like a one-on-one tutoring session, except all the communication and media we work with are digital.

  • No, but yes. A really good answer I know haha.

    I encourage my students to nurture their own curiosity, as they are most likely to effectively learn what they’re genuinely interested in.

    But I generally take my beginners through a certain path that opens the most doors for them, so they can both see the vast scope of the language they are about to learn while also managing to show how they can get through it without drowning in word lists and grammar rules along the way.

    That path usually looks like: Pronunciation focus → Grammar phenomena introduced → Grinding vocabulary and creating output.

  • I think you can unlock the language very quickly. It does not take long to figure out the pronunciation and how to make the sounds of the language, and pairing the spoken phonetics to the written word. I tell my trial lesson students that that might take 30-90 minutes in total to review effectively.

    But once you’ve unlocked it, now you need to “learn” it, and that might take a lifetime! There’s always more to learn and to experience, I myself learn something new about the language every week!

    It is completely up to you and your definitions of what having ‘learned’ a language is, how long it does take. I’d be happy to help you on your journey and to get you there!

  • I’d argue that it’s just as hard as learning any other language. Every language has its complexity, even languages people might consider as being simple, e.g. English which has very simple grammar compared to many languages of the world, but try and look up how many English words there are in the dictionary…

    In short, it all depends on your point of reference and your background. It might take you a shorter or longer time than others do, but what all those students have in common is that they’re growing and learning all the time they spend learning! And that’s the fun part! You keep getting better the more you do it :D

  • Nothing special, no.

    All you’ll need is a screen device that connects to the internet (e.g. computer, tablet, phone) that can make use of Zoom.* The device you have should have a microphone and preferably a camera as well. Optimizing from there, of course it would be smart to have any notetaking tools (like pen and paper or any variation of that combination you like haha).

    And finally, we’ll need to have you yourself! And bring the good vibes as well :D


    * Zoom has a very useful in-browser tool, so on a computer it should be no issue at all to just enter the meeting via the link. BUT I’m quite sure that on mobile devices, you’ll need to have installed the app if you want to join meetings.
    To make sure everything is working before the lesson, you can enter the meeting room well in advance just to see if your microphone and camera (and for that matter, Zoom) are all functioning as they should.

  • If you’re late for a lesson, I’ll simply wait for you! Don’t worry about me, I can make myself busy somehow haha

    But if you know that you’re going to be late, or can’t attend, with some hours/days notice, you could write to me and let me know you’ll be late or that you’ll unfortunately be unable to attend the lesson. Then I’ll be very grateful for you letting me know and I can adjust my schedule accordingly.

And for full discretion, some complete quotes and testimonials.

  • “Flemming is definitely an interesting teacher.”

    “Flemming is a good, casual teacher.”

    “Flemming is a good guy, great vibes”. “He lets you struggle but not so long that it becomes awkward. He has struck a great balance in this.”

    “Flemming is definitely able to carry a conversation on his own; this is great for speakers with social anxiety, I’d say.”

    “Flemming can honestly just be described as good vibes.” “All that is left for me to say is; I thank God everyday Flemming became a teacher about the same time as I started [online] lessons!”

  • “A really great and fun guy, giving off amazing energy. The lesson felt much more like a hangout session between friends than a class at school. Loved it!”

  • “Excellent first lesson! Flemming is super energetic, and has a way of explaining concepts in a way that is very easy to understand and remember. I look forward to our next lesson!”

  • “I booked Flemming to help my daughter, who is born in Denmark and speaks Danish, understands a lot of Icelandic but is hesitant to speak. Flemming was super patient and encouraging in engaging with her (she is 13 and was about to die from shyness and embarrassment), and actually got her to speak more Icelandic than I ever heard before. Will definitely be booking him again!”

  • “He was really competent and has some really interesting thoughts on how he related music to language and also generally seemed to be a really cool guy!”

    “He is overwhelmingly witty in his way of describing things and making connections between music and language. As well as this, he also is very good at explaining how to precisely place your sounds to get the pronounciation right. Very professional!!”

  • “A great lesson. Flemming is supportive for a beginner’s level.”

  • “Excellent! I am so excited for the next lesson! Thank you very much Flemming [for showing] me that [it] will be possible to learn Icelandic.”

  • “A knowledgable, fast-paced teacher. Interesting historical context and inter-language links make learning interesting and therefore more memorable.  I'm looking forward to knowing more.”

    “A super interesting way of starting to understand Icelandic.  Flemming has a deep interest and understanding [of] languages.  His style really helps my brain stay interested.  The overwhelming is broken down and made attainable.  Super enjoyable.”

  • “Flemming is a great tutor, committed to understanding student needs and making a plan that fits them.  He's also very knowledge about language learning in general which helps identifying the 'why' of student confusion in the process.”

  • “Flemming Valmundsson is an extremely engaging teacher and does a really good job in setting expectations.”

  • “My first lesson was a trial balloon, and Flemming was great with figuring out exactly where I was at, and tailoring even the introductory material to my abilities and needs exactly. He was patient with me but also quick to figure out where my rough spots were.”

    “This was our pronunciation class, so we delved deeply into the sounds of the language. Fleming has a native's knowledge, and also the teaching experience to communicate it clearly and effectively.”

  • “Very dynamic and sympathetic”

  • “Flemming is a talented teacher and a genuinely engaging person to work with. I look forward to continuing my Icelandic studies with him.”

  • “Really fun and nice guy that takes time to explain the small but important details. I felt like I learned a lot although it was only a 30 min introduction and I feel I could learn a lot more talking to Flemming.”

  • “It was a very dynamic class, Flemming is a great teacher and seems very passionate about teaching, I felt comfortable participating and I think they can be very fun classes and a good challenge.”

    “It was a very good class, it helped me practice and improve my pronunciation and I'm gaining confidence.”

    “Classes with Flemming are always great, they are very dynamic and the time flies. Flemming focuses not only on teaching correct pronunciation, but also on understanding the meaning and origin of words.”

  • “With this being the first language I am learning it is certainly daunting initially but on meeting Flemming he was nice and had a perfect vibe about how he interacts. I highly recommend taking an introduction lesson with him and learning all he has to teach (which is a lot). I greatly enjoyed diving into the differences in the sounding of letters of the Icelandic alphabet and how they originated which greatly helped with the learning and I'm sure will help with the retention of it. I will be following up with another lesson with Flemming in the future to further grow my understanding of this language. Thank you Flemming for making this initially daunting adventure into an enjoyable one that I am looking forward to continuing!”

  • “Flemming is an enthousiastic, competent and kind teacher.”

  • “Just finished my intro with Flemming, great energy from him! He has a fun and engaging approach. Looking forward to continuing my learning journey under his guidance.”

  • “Flemming is fantastic and always is basing his lesson on where I am with the language.”

  • “Flemming was very helpful with the travel phrases I wanted to learn for my upcoming trip.”

  • “Wonderful teacher. Lovely personality. Very intelligent and clear. Thank you so much!”


  • “I really enjoyed my lesson with Flemming. He creates a great atmosphere for the class and is attentive to every little thing. I like the thorough grammar, vocabulary and pronunciation corrections he provided, often letting me the chance to correct them myself. I was preparing for a B1 oral test and he greatly helped boosting my confidence. Takk fyrir Flemming !”