Herodotean's log (Latin, Greek, German, Spanish, etc.)

Continue or start your personal language log here, including logs for challenge participants
User avatar
Herodotean
Orange Belt
Posts: 217
Joined: Sat Oct 23, 2021 3:55 am
Languages: English (N)
x 905

Herodotean's log (Latin, Greek, German, Spanish, etc.)

Postby Herodotean » Sun Oct 24, 2021 7:11 pm

I’m new here, and I’d like to be able to view “New Posts” and “Active Posts,” which apparently I can’t do because I haven’t participated enough. So I suppose I’ll keep a log for a while and consider the reflection on my language learning methods and progress as an added bonus.

I’ll introduce my languages in order of their present importance to me.

Latin – I teach Latin during the academic year. I’d like to do more with it, but usually after prepping classes I want to use other languages. I also speak Latin regularly both inside and outside the classroom. I really should develop a plan for making consistent progress, but again, after teaching it every day I just want to do other things. Lately, outside of teaching, I’ve been reading more about Latin than in Latin (e.g. Woodcock’s A New Latin Syntax, Sihler’s flawed but still interesting Comparative Grammar of Greek and Latin, the Italic section of Fortson’s Indo-European Language and Culture).

Ancient Greek – my first love. Since Latin takes up so much of my time, I can’t do as much with Greek as I’d like. Currently I’m working very slowly through North & Hillard’s Greek Prose Composition, mostly just to keep my active morphology and syntax fresh, and reading Euripides’ Hercules Furens. I used to speak Greek regularly with friends online, but recently I’ve been too busy for that too.

German – I’ve studied German off and on since 2013 or so. If I’d studied it properly and consistently, my German would be much better than it is now. But I’ve never been able to devote my full attention to it, and so I still read very slowly with excessive dictionary use. Even though my day job doesn’t involve any German whatsoever, I try to do the following each day:

    Review 5–10 Anki cards (very few, I know, but better than nothing)

    Watch at least one short YouTube video in German

    Read DW’s Langsam Gesprochene Nachrichten (these are probably too easy now) or some other news article of interest.
If time permits, I read 2–5 pages of academic prose, which is why I’m studying German at all.
I recently found a 19th-century retelling of classical myths that has been both easy and rewarding, partly due to my familiarity with the content.

Spanish – I started studying Spanish in high school and minored in it in college. At one point I read the first half of Don Quijote. But, like German, I’ve gone for months or even years at a time without using Spanish at all. About a year and a half ago, I decided to revive my dormant Spanish and watched every episode of La Usurpadora with subtitles on Amazon Prime. That was fantastic. Since then, I’ve used Spanish almost every day, even if only to read the news. If I’m in the mood to concentrate, I can watch DW documentaries in Spanish without subtitles; if I’m not, then I use the subtitles. I’d like to dramatically improve my listening proficiency and then, one day, work on my production skills. Recently I read the first fifth of García Márquez’ El amor en los tiempos del cólera before losing interest.

French – I don’t have much time for French these days. When I need to read scholarly articles, I can do it without much trouble. Every now and then I read a bit of 19th-century literature.

Italian – I don’t have much time for Italian either, unfortunately. I find it a little bit harder than French, but since I’ve neglected it for years I suppose I can’t complain too much. I would love to spend time listening to opera with libretto in hand. For a while I was reading Dante with a parallel English translation; I should pick that up again.

Hebrew – I used to know a bit of ancient Hebrew, but now I’ve forgotten just about everything: I don’t even remember the entire alphabet. Perhaps one day I will become trium linguarum peritus.

Ambitions – aside from Hebrew, I’d like someday to learn Old French, medieval Spanish, Old English, a Slavic language (perhaps Russian or Polish), and maybe Japanese. “Had we but world enough and time . . .”
15 x

User avatar
Xenops
Brown Belt
Posts: 1444
Joined: Mon Nov 30, 2015 10:33 pm
Location: Boston
Languages: English (N), Danish (A2), Japanese (rusty), Nansha (constructing)
On break: Japanese (approx. N4), Norwegian (A2)
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... 15&t=16797
x 3559
Contact:

Re: Herodotean's log (Latin, Greek, German, Spanish, etc.)

Postby Xenops » Sun Oct 24, 2021 9:40 pm

Welcome to the forum! :) What setting do you teach Latin at? College, high school?
2 x
Check out my comic at: https://atannan.com/

User avatar
Herodotean
Orange Belt
Posts: 217
Joined: Sat Oct 23, 2021 3:55 am
Languages: English (N)
x 905

Re: Herodotean's log (Latin, Greek, German, Spanish, etc.)

Postby Herodotean » Sun Oct 24, 2021 9:46 pm

Xenops wrote:Welcome to the forum! :) What setting do you teach Latin at? College, high school?


Thanks, Xenops! I remember the old HTLAL forum, but I never participated there or even lurked much. I'm glad to see there's an active community here.

I teach Latin at the college level.
4 x

User avatar
Herodotean
Orange Belt
Posts: 217
Joined: Sat Oct 23, 2021 3:55 am
Languages: English (N)
x 905

Re: Herodotean's log (Latin, Greek, German, Spanish, etc.)

Postby Herodotean » Sun Oct 24, 2021 9:49 pm

To establish a baseline for myself, I’ll record what I’m reading (or otherwise consuming) in each language:

Latin
Terence, Andria, currently at l. 685 (stalled)

Greek
Xenophon’s Hellenica, currently at 5.4.19
Euripides’ Bacchae, currently at l. 843

German
Auerbach, “Die Narbe des Odysseus,” currently at p. 12 (of 27)
various YouTube videos

Spanish
García Márquez’ El amor en los tiempos del cólera, currently at p. 110 (of 512) (stalled)
various YouTube videos

French
nothing

Italian
Dante, Inferno, currently at Canto 10 (stalled)
Ferrante, L’amica geniale (currently stalled at 88% done)
4 x

User avatar
MorkTheFiddle
Black Belt - 2nd Dan
Posts: 2113
Joined: Sat Jul 18, 2015 8:59 pm
Location: North Texas USA
Languages: English (N). Read (only) French and Spanish. Studying Ancient Greek. Studying a bit of Latin. Once studied Old Norse. Dabbled in Catalan, Provençal and Italian.
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... 11#p133911
x 4823

Re: Herodotean's log (Latin, Greek, German, Spanish, etc.)

Postby MorkTheFiddle » Wed Oct 27, 2021 5:31 pm

Your user name attracted my attention.
You've scheduled yourself an ambitious and commendable reading agenda.

My game tends toward French, Spanish and Ancient Greek. Currently in French I am working on Jules Michelet's Histoire de France. In Spanish, Cien Años de Soledad is one of my all-time favorite novels, that I've read two or three times. In Ancient Greek, I just finished the account of the battles of Plataea and Mycale by Herodotus (Book 9).

I look forward to reading more about your progress and how you mesh your academic career with your "pleasure" reading.
3 x
Many things which are false are transmitted from book to book, and gain credit in the world. -- attributed to Samuel Johnson

User avatar
Herodotean
Orange Belt
Posts: 217
Joined: Sat Oct 23, 2021 3:55 am
Languages: English (N)
x 905

Re: Herodotean's log (Latin, Greek, German, Spanish, etc.)

Postby Herodotean » Sun Oct 31, 2021 4:25 am

October 24-30

Latin
Horace, Satires 1.1
Terence, Andria 684-end (finally!)
a few pages of Erasmus
multiple chapters of the Vulgate
teaching and teaching prep . . .

Ancient Greek
a few hundred lines of Euripides
a few pages of Lucian

German
Auerbach, "Die Narbe des Odysseus" 13-18
some YouTube browsing
some Assimil (audio only)

Spanish
some YouTube browsing
some online news

MorkTheFiddle, it seems our interests do substantially overlap. Herodotus 9 is fantastic; I expect to be teaching Herodotus and Thucydides in the spring (alas, in translation). I'll keep an eye out for new posts to your log.
4 x

User avatar
MorkTheFiddle
Black Belt - 2nd Dan
Posts: 2113
Joined: Sat Jul 18, 2015 8:59 pm
Location: North Texas USA
Languages: English (N). Read (only) French and Spanish. Studying Ancient Greek. Studying a bit of Latin. Once studied Old Norse. Dabbled in Catalan, Provençal and Italian.
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... 11#p133911
x 4823

Re: Herodotean's log (Latin, Greek, German, Spanish, etc.)

Postby MorkTheFiddle » Sun Oct 31, 2021 5:04 pm

Herodotean wrote:October 24-30
MorkTheFiddle, it seems our interests do substantially overlap. Herodotus 9 is fantastic; I expect to be teaching Herodotus and Thucydides in the spring (alas, in translation). I'll keep an eye out for new posts to your log.

Will you teach selections or all of H. and T.?
Currently I shifted to selections from T, firstly the siege of Plataea in the 2nd Book.
0 x
Many things which are false are transmitted from book to book, and gain credit in the world. -- attributed to Samuel Johnson

User avatar
Herodotean
Orange Belt
Posts: 217
Joined: Sat Oct 23, 2021 3:55 am
Languages: English (N)
x 905

Re: Herodotean's log (Latin, Greek, German, Spanish, etc.)

Postby Herodotean » Mon Nov 01, 2021 5:13 am

Greek
Today I read Polycarp's Letter to the Philippians (only a few pages long). I might have read it before; if so, it's been years. A few sections have been preserved only in Latin and are accompanied with a katharevousa translation in the edition I'm using. Polycarp's Greek strikes me as rather more literary than most or all of the New Testament, but still quite easy in terms of syntax and vocabulary for a non-native speaker. He frequently quotes from the New Testament epistles, seeing himself as writing exhortatory letters in the tradition of Paul and Ignatius. Though Polycarp's lexicon is limited, I did come across a word I can't recall ever having seen before: ὁ γρόνθος, "fist" (in context, however, "punch" seems better).

Spanish
I've started watching post-game highlights on the NFL's Spanish YouTube channel. It's something I might do anyway in English, so it doesn't necessarily take extra time and it provides useful listening practice. The vocabulary is fairly limited -- e.g. partido, corredor, engaño, romper tacleo, primera/segunda/tercera oportunidad -- which makes it easier. My Spanish listening ability is still far from where I'd like it to be.
4 x

User avatar
Herodotean
Orange Belt
Posts: 217
Joined: Sat Oct 23, 2021 3:55 am
Languages: English (N)
x 905

Re: Herodotean's log (Latin, Greek, German, Spanish, etc.)

Postby Herodotean » Mon Nov 01, 2021 5:18 am

MorkTheFiddle wrote: Will you teach selections or all of H. and T.? Currently I shifted to selections from T, firstly the siege of Plataea in the 2nd Book.


All or almost all. I've read bits and pieces of Thucydides in Greek -- Pericles' funeral oration, the Melian dialogue, etc. -- but I've spent less time with him than I'd like. Jowett supposedly once said that a scholar is "a man who read[s] Thucydides with his feet on the mantlepiece"; that is not a test I can pass! The narrative sections, however, do tend to be much easier going than the speeches.
4 x

User avatar
MorkTheFiddle
Black Belt - 2nd Dan
Posts: 2113
Joined: Sat Jul 18, 2015 8:59 pm
Location: North Texas USA
Languages: English (N). Read (only) French and Spanish. Studying Ancient Greek. Studying a bit of Latin. Once studied Old Norse. Dabbled in Catalan, Provençal and Italian.
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... 11#p133911
x 4823

Re: Herodotean's log (Latin, Greek, German, Spanish, etc.)

Postby MorkTheFiddle » Mon Nov 01, 2021 5:27 pm

Herodotean wrote:
MorkTheFiddle wrote: Will you teach selections or all of H. and T.? Currently I shifted to selections from T, firstly the siege of Plataea in the 2nd Book.


All or almost all. I've read bits and pieces of Thucydides in Greek -- Pericles' funeral oration, the Melian dialogue, etc. -- but I've spent less time with him than I'd like. Jowett supposedly once said that a scholar is "a man who read[s] Thucydides with his feet on the mantlepiece"; that is not a test I can pass! The narrative sections, however, do tend to be much easier going than the speeches.
So, Thucydides would be a lot easier to read if I had a fireplace! :)
I am reading the "highlights" of Thucydides in Greek and using all the help I can find. Just now I'm reading the bit about the Spartans' attempting to build a mound of dirt against the wall at Plataea. With the actual text, two commentaries, two English translations and one French translation, I'm still not 100% clear what the Spartans did and what the Plataeans did as a countermeasure. This is Book 2, chapters 75 and 76. The translations are Rex Warner (Penguin), Crawley (Free Press) and de Romilly (Belles Lettres 2014). The Fall of Plataea and the Plague at Athens by Sutthery and Graves (Macmillan 1894) and the Cambridge Green and Yellow for Book 2 by Rusten are my "commentaries," though Rusten's is practically useless and the other of minimal help.
In that quote you cite, Cicero was quite right. :)
Though still limping along, I can brag that I am beginning to be able to appreciate Thycidides' sentence construction. But that's for a different day.
4 x
Many things which are false are transmitted from book to book, and gain credit in the world. -- attributed to Samuel Johnson


Return to “Language logs”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: Google [Bot] and 2 guests