Audio clip from an interview with Julianna Hill, 1989

Bio: Julianna Hill was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba on December 10, 1917. Her parents were Antony Natsuk, who had Ukrainian heritage, and Guðrún Guðmundsdóttir from Iceland. Julianna died on November 30, 2002.

Duration of Audio Clip: 2:18 

Transcription of Audio:

Laurence Gillespie, interviewer: So, your mother taught you how to read Icelandic. Can you remember any of the details about how she did it? 

Julianna Hill: My brother was always better. My brother got it fell swoop without even trying. I had to work. Well, she just simply sat us down with a book and told us. And then we had slates. In those days, I’ve got one downstairs, a little square slate. And we wrote things down with chalk. And then we erased it. Much cheaper than buying paper. 

Laurence Gillespie: What books did you use to learn to read? 

Julianna Hill: Mom always had the books. She used to relate to the, there was a bookstore on Sargent Avenue where you could get all the different kinds of children’s books and things that helped. And we had them. 

Laurence Gillespie: About how old were you when you started to learn how to read Icelandic? 

Julianna Hill: I can’t remember when it was just always there type of thing? Like it was something we did without even sit down for a minute and look at a book and read. I mean, it was never laid on type of thing? 

Laurence Gillespie: What did you think about it? Did you like learning how to read? 

Julianna Hill: Anything Mom wanted us to do was fine with us. You know that? But I had such a bugaboo with my brother because he was always so much quicker than I. He got things very quickly. 

Laurence Gillespie: Well, your brother was your same age as you? 

Julianna Hill: My twin brother, yes. So, that I had continual, I had somebody there at all times. But as I say to you, it was all just very usual. 

Laurence Gillespie: Can you remember the names of any of the books you used at that point? Were there any children’s books in Icelandic that you had? 

Julianna Hill: Oh, yes. That was what mom brought home, and the alphabet and all the different letters and everything that you learned with the I’s and the S. 

Laurence Gillespie: What about Baldurs Brá? Does that name mean anything to you? 

Julianna Hill: Very familiar. Very familiar. 

Laurence Gillespie: I believe it’s a magazine for children to learn to read Icelandic. 

Julianna Hill: The word is very familiar.