Elizabeth I, linguist.

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DaveBee
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Elizabeth I, linguist.

Postby DaveBee » Thu Jun 22, 2017 7:52 pm

I was watching a programme about Elizabeth I earlier. They mentioned she spoke 6 languages! So I did a little internet exploring, and it turns out some of her translations have been published.
This two-volume set is the first complete collection of Elizabeth’s translations from and into Latin, French, and Italian.
Her language education was under at least one tutor by translating and then re-translating
Ascham helped Elizabeth to perfect her classical languages through his famed method of “double translation.” For instance, he would present her with the original texts of Demosthenes or Cicero, having her turn them into English, and then translating them back into their original languages (Plowden, 93).
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Re: Elizabeth I, linguist.

Postby BOLIO » Fri Jun 23, 2017 1:14 am

Luca's Assimil process is based off this same concept. I guess double translating text is one of the older forms of study.

Thanks for posting this. I get a kick out of reading about people's processes regardless if it is now or from centuries in the past.
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Re: Elizabeth I, linguist.

Postby DaveBee » Fri Jun 23, 2017 10:15 am

I looked up Elizabeth's tutor on the interwebs. He published a book on tutoring:
Not a general treatise on educational method, the book concentrates on the teaching of Latin; and it was not intended for schools, but "specially prepared for the private brynging up of youth in gentlemen and noblemens houses.” It advocated "the double translation of a model book", the book recommended being Sturmius's Select Letters of Cicero;
The full text of his book is available from Archive.org.

EDIT
The collection of Cicero's texts, chosen for children, mentioned in the book refers to Johannes Sturm. The german version of his wikipedia page lists his published works.

Cicero's De Officiis seems to have been a popular choice too.

EDIT2
Some of the latin in the book is translated on another thread.
Last edited by DaveBee on Mon Jun 26, 2017 6:09 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Elizabeth I, linguist.

Postby William Camden » Sat Jun 24, 2017 6:58 am

Apparently one of the languages she knew was Dutch, a common second language for maritime nations at the time.
She had a rather bitter exchange with the Polish ambassador to England on one occasion - the discussion took place in Latin.
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Re: Elizabeth I, linguist.

Postby DaveBee » Sat Jun 24, 2017 7:30 am

DaveBee wrote:I looked up Elizabeth's tutor on the interwebs. He published a book on tutoring:
Not a general treatise on educational method, the book concentrates on the teaching of Latin; and it was not intended for schools, but "specially prepared for the private brynging up of youth in gentlemen and noblemens houses.” It advocated "the double translation of a model book", the book recommended being Sturmius's Select Letters of Cicero;
The full text of his book is available from Archive.org.

The Archive.org text is a 1909 edition, of a 1570 text, there are some lovely phrases.

from p.16: "in very deed", "right choice is smally regarded", "with much ado" (ado is not a word you see in current use). "we agree in desire", "speak at all adventures", "reason leadeth forth the talk". :-)
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Re: Elizabeth I, linguist.

Postby DaveBee » Tue Jun 27, 2017 12:06 am

David Starkey's (UK historian) Elizabeth programmes have been put on YouTube. He mentions that her language education began when she was 4, and that she continued with translation throughout her life.

10m50s into the video: Elizabeth I: From Prison to Palace
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Re: Elizabeth I, linguist.

Postby DaveBee » Wed Jul 05, 2017 8:43 am

In "Perfit Readiness": Elizabeth Learning and Using Italian, Alessandra Petrina says the double translation method of language learning described in Ascham's book was used for contemporary languages as well as latin and greek. (see p.106 of PDF linked to above, or see via Springer link)
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Re: Elizabeth I, linguist.

Postby T.C. Seiko » Sat Jan 13, 2018 7:30 am

DaveBee wrote:I looked up Elizabeth's tutor on the interwebs. He published a book on tutoring:
Not a general treatise on educational method, the book concentrates on the teaching of Latin; and it was not intended for schools, but "specially prepared for the private brynging up of youth in gentlemen and noblemens houses.” It advocated "the double translation of a model book", the book recommended being Sturmius's Select Letters of Cicero;
The full text of his book is available from Archive.org.

EDIT
The collection of Cicero's texts, chosen for children, mentioned in the book refers to Johannes Sturm. The german version of his wikipedia page lists his published works.

Cicero's De Officiis seems to have been a popular choice too.

EDIT2
Some of the latin in the book is translated on another thread.


Johannes Sturm's selected letters of Cicero are available here: https://books.google.co.jp/books?id=dhVSAAAAcAAJ&sitesec=reviews&redir_esc=y
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Re: Elizabeth I, linguist.

Postby SGP » Tue Jan 01, 2019 8:01 am

The royal family of Great Britain has some polyglot tendencies up to now even, it seems.
Norman French still plays a role there.
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Re: Elizabeth I, linguist.

Postby dampingwire » Tue Jan 01, 2019 12:40 pm

DaveBee wrote:from p.16: "in very deed",


Sounds like Catherine Tate to me :-)
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