this study investigated the psychometric properties of an icelandic translation of the basic personality inventory (bpi), using a sample of 609 icelandic teenagers. the translation procedure is described thoroughly in order to provide the reader with a basis with which to assess its impact on establishing an equivalent version. the icelandic bpi item and scale characteristics are compared with available north america results. with only one exception a comparison of the scale means between iceland and canada, revealed between-country differences with the same magnitude as between provinces within canada. the results from inter-item consistency measures, correlation matrices, and test-retest reliabilities are similar in both countries. the factor structure of both the icelandic and the original version of the bpi is identical. the results from this initial study are promising in revealing a high degree of correspondence between psychometric properties of the icelandic bpi and the english bpi. this is a promising initial indication that the existing empirical/clinical results with the english version of the bpi will be relevant to the icelandic version.