"We have to be on guard, because if Icelandic disappears we cease to be a nation. Our literature and our attitude to the language through the centuries is the cornerstone of our existence. An international language centre here could be part of this. There was a time when people were very concerned about Danish borrowings in Icelandic and today the fears likely concern English loan words. I am not too concerned at loan words, since we do not use many foreign words when you compare this to how many of them we know. On the other hand, the structure and syntax of the language is changing, and that does give me considerable concern."Islands förre president Vigdís Finnbogadóttir i en intervju i Morgunblaðið 2005.
