Ég hlusta oft á þetta lag á leiðinni í vinnu, og mig langar að heyra það á sviðinu.

Because langa is usually used as an impersonal verb in Icelandic when it means to want / to feel like.

So instead of saying something like I want, Icelandic often says something closer to:

• Mig langar = Me wants / I feel like

That sounds strange in English, but it is normal in Icelandic.

Here:

• mig = me in the accusative case
• langar = want / feel like

So:

• Mig langar að heyra það = I want to hear it / I’d like to hear it

This is one of the most common patterns learners need to get used to:

• Mig langar ...
• Þig langar ...
• Hann langar is wrong
• Hann langar should be Hann langar? No — the correct form is Honum langar

Actually, the pattern is:

• Mig langar = I want
• Þig langar = you want
• Hana/Hann/Hana? No — for 3rd person it is usually:
  • Hana langar = she wants
  • Hann? For masculine it is Hann langar? No, because masculine accusative is hann, so Hann langar can occur, but learners often meet examples like:
  • Mig langar
  • Þig langar
  • Hana langar
  • Hann langar
  • Okkur langar

The key point is: the person who experiences the desire is not in the nominative.

They are related, but they are not the same.

• hlusta á = to listen to
• heyra = to hear

So in the sentence:

• Ég hlusta oft á þetta lag = I often listen to this song
• mig langar að heyra það = I want to hear it

In English, the difference is:

• listen = active, intentional
• hear = perceive sound

Icelandic works the same way here.

Examples:

• Ég hlusta á tónlist. = I listen to music.
• Ég heyri tónlist. = I hear music.

In your sentence, that makes good sense:

• the speaker actively listens to the song often
• then says they would like to hear it on stage / live

Because hlusta is normally used as hlusta á eitthvað — literally listen to something.

So:

• hlusta á lag = listen to a song
• hlusta á tónlist = listen to music
• hlusta á mig = listen to me

You usually have to learn this together as a unit:

• hlusta á

Just like in English we learn listen to, Icelandic learners should memorize:

• hlusta á

That is why the sentence says:

• Ég hlusta oft á þetta lag

and not just Ég hlusta þetta lag.

Because lag means song, and it is a neuter noun.

• lag = a song
• þetta lag = this song

The demonstrative þetta is the neuter form of this.

So the phrase agrees in gender with lag:

• masculine: þessi
• feminine: þessi
• neuter: þetta

Since lag is neuter, you get:

• þetta lag

Also, in this sentence lag is the object of hlusta á, so it is in the accusative, but for many neuter nouns the nominative and accusative look the same. So you still see lag.

Because það refers back to þetta lag.

Since lag is neuter, the pronoun used for it is also neuter:

• það = it

So:

• mig langar að heyra það = I want to hear it

This is normal pronoun agreement:

• masculine noun → masculine pronoun
• feminine noun → feminine pronoun
• neuter noun → neuter pronoun

Here:

• lag is neuter
• so the pronoun is það

Literally, it means something like:

• on the way into work
• or more naturally: on the way to work

Breakdown:

• á = on
• leiðinni = the way / the route / the journey
• í vinnu = to work

So the whole phrase means:

• on the way to work

This is a very natural Icelandic expression.

You will often see:

• á leiðinni heim = on the way home
• á leiðinni í skólann = on the way to school
• á leiðinni í vinnu = on the way to work

In the expression á leiðinni, Icelandic uses the dative singular definite form:

• leið = way, route
• leiðinni = the way / on the way

This is because the preposition á can govern different cases depending on meaning, and in this set expression it takes the dative.

So:

• á leiðinni = on the way

This is best learned as a chunk:

• vera á leiðinni = to be on the way
• á leiðinni í vinnu = on the way to work

It is a very common idiomatic phrase, so learners usually just memorize it as a fixed expression.

Because Icelandic often says í vinnu in a more general, idiomatic sense meaning to work / to one’s workplace.

So:

• á leiðinni í vinnu = on the way to work

This is similar to how English often says go to work, not necessarily go to the workplace.

You may sometimes see more specific versions in other contexts, but í vinnu is very common and natural as an idiomatic expression.

Compare:

• fara í vinnu = go to work
• vera í vinnu = be at work / be working

Because á sviðinu describes location, not movement.

With prepositions like á, Icelandic often uses:

• accusative for motion toward something
• dative for being in/on/at a place

So:

• á sviðið = onto the stage
• á sviðinu = on the stage

In your sentence, the speaker wants to hear the song on stage / performed live on stage, so it is about location:

• á sviðinu

That is why the dative form is used.

Here it most naturally means:

• on stage
• performed live
• in a live performance setting

So:

• mig langar að heyra það á sviðinu

does not just mean hearing the sound somewhere near a stage. It strongly suggests:

• hearing the song performed on stage
• probably by musicians or singers in front of an audience

So a natural English translation might be:

• I’d like to hear it live
• I’d like to hear it performed on stage

Oft means often, and it usually appears after the verb in a simple sentence like this:

• Ég hlusta oft á þetta lag

That word order is very natural:

• Ég = subject
• hlusta = verb
• oft = adverb
• á þetta lag = prepositional phrase/object

So the pattern is:

• subject + verb + adverb + rest

You can sometimes move adverbs around for emphasis, but the version in the sentence is the most normal one for a learner to use.

Here að is the infinitive marker, like English to in to hear.

So:

• heyra = hear
• að heyra = to hear

After mig langar, Icelandic commonly uses:

• mig langar að + infinitive

Examples:

• Mig langar að sofa. = I want to sleep.
• Mig langar að fara. = I want to go.
• Mig langar að heyra það. = I want to hear it.

So að is not a preposition here; it is introducing the infinitive verb.

They are similar, but not exactly identical in tone.

• Mig langar að heyra það = I’d like to hear it / I feel like hearing it
• Ég vil heyra það = I want to hear it

In many situations, both can work, but mig langar að often sounds:

• softer
• more personal
• less direct

For learners, mig langar að is extremely useful because it is very common in everyday Icelandic when talking about wishes or desires.

So in this sentence, mig langar að heyra það á sviðinu sounds very natural and idiomatic.

Because they belong to two different expressions:

1. hlusta á þetta lag

   • here á belongs to the verb phrase hlusta á
   • meaning: listen to

2. á leiðinni

   • here á is part of the expression meaning on the way

3. á sviðinu

   • here á means on
   • meaning: on the stage

So even though the same preposition appears several times, it is doing different jobs in different parts of the sentence.

This is very normal in Icelandic, just as English can repeat words like to, on, or in for different reasons in the same sentence.

It has two main parts joined by og (and):

1. Ég hlusta oft á þetta lag á leiðinni í vinnu

   • Ég = I
   • hlusta = listen
   • oft = often
   • á þetta lag = to this song
   • á leiðinni í vinnu = on the way to work

2. og mig langar að heyra það á sviðinu

   • og = and
   • mig langar = I want / I’d like
   • að heyra það = to hear it
   • á sviðinu = on stage

So the sentence is basically:

• I often listen to this song on the way to work, and I’d like to hear it on stage.

Yes, very natural.

It uses several common everyday patterns:

• Ég hlusta oft á ...
• á leiðinni í vinnu
• mig langar að ...
• heyra það á sviðinu

These are all useful expressions for real conversation. A learner could model many other sentences on this one, for example:

• Ég hlusta oft á þetta podcast á leiðinni í skólann.
• Mig langar að sjá hana á sviðinu.
• Ég hlusta oft á þessa plötu heima.

So this sentence is a good example of normal spoken and written Icelandic.