Josquin's Classical Log - Graeca non leguntur

[Josquin]

THURSDAY, 5 OCTOBER 2017

Français

Bonjour, mes amis ! Comme je m'ennuie un peu, je vais écrire cette entrée en français. Ouais, vous m'avez compris correctement : en français. Je sais que je n'ai pas écrit dans cette langue pour longtemps, mais c'est la raison pour laquelle il faut changer ça. Alors, qu'est-ce qu'il y a de nouveau ? Pas beaucoup. J'ai lit un peu d'irlandais et j'ai fait un peu d'hébreu, mais c'est tout. Aujourd'hui, je vais avoir beaucoup de temps, alors j'espère que je pourrai étudier un peu. Dans une semaine, je vais avoir un concert et c'est pourquoi il me faut pratiquer ma musique au lieu des langues. J'aurai beaucoup de répétitions de chœur, alors je n'aurai pas beaucoup de temps pour mes langues jusqu'au concert.

Italiano

Allora, come ho già scritto in francese, vado anche scrivere in italiano. Il tempo fa bello ed il sembra d'essere un bel giorno d'autunno. Non so che farò oggi, ma spero che potrò studiare le mie lingue un po'. Non ho fatto niente in italiano da molto, ma spero che potrò cangiarlo. Il problema è che non ho assai di tempo per praticare tutte le mie lingue. Vorrei leggere o scrivere in italiano perché è una tanto bellissima lingua ed io amo la cultura italiana!

Svenska

För jag har nu skrivit i två romanska språk, vill jag också skriva på svenska. Jag har inte skrivit på svenska i flera år, tycker jag, så är det ganska svårt för mig. Svenska är ett mycket vackert språk, men jag har inte tillräckligt tid för att öva mig i detta språket. Det är ganska lätt för mig att förstå språket - jag kan t.ex. titta på svenska filmer - men jag kan inte prata bra. Sverige är ett väldigt vackert land och jag skulle vilja åka till Stockholm. Då skulle jag snacka på svenska, fika en kopp kaffe och äta kanelbullar. Det vore roligt!

[Josquin]

THURSDAY, 5 OCTOBER 2017, PART 2

Okay, after the little writing exercise this morning, I used my time productively, namely studying languages!

Gaeilge

I started reading Dúil by Liam Ó Flaithearta. It's a collection of twelve short stories, which is probably the best thing for me to read at the moment. I'm bored by the fairy tales from Éigse Chonamara and the children's story from An Leon, an Bandraoi agus an Prios Éadaigh. On the other hand, a full-blown novel like Dé Luain is still way over my head. The short stories from Dúil seem to be manageable though, so I read the first page of the first story, which is also called Dúil, and wrote out the vocabulary. So far, so good!

Ἑλληνική

I started working on section 7 in Reading Greek. The main grammar points are the genitive case and the optative mood and the text is taken from Aristophanes' Birds. Quite interesting!

עברית

Hebrew is getting more difficult, but it's still a lot of fun! I started working on lesson 24 in Lehrbuch Bibel-Hebräisch, which deals with narrative constructions. Interestingly, the meaning of a tense can be inverted by a so-called waw consecutivum, so the perfect takes the meaning of the imperfect and vice versa. This is a very common phenomenon in the narrative style of the Tanakh, so it's important to know. Also, the lesson deals with segolate nouns and offers a reading about Abraham. As I said, very interesting and fun!

Wanderlust

Okay, I know I bragged with Russian and Japanese last time, but I simply cannot fit them into my routine. Three languages are more than enough and while the annotated version of Игрок isn't too difficult to read, it's just too much at the moment. I guess I will have more time after completing my Hebrew textbook, although I might really try to read a bit of the Bible in Hebrew then (and maybe also in Greek).

Well, we'll see, but for the moment I have to cancel Russian and Japanese. As I said above, I just don't have enough time for all my languages. If I had, I wouldn't let my Portuguese rot like that, but I simply haven't.

[galaxyrocker]

I always found short stories great, for the reason you mentioned. When I first really started reading Irish, I used Scothscéalta by Pádraic Ó Conaire for my start. It was a slog at times, but man did it help a lot. They were short enough to keep me motivated since I could easily finish one, but enough new vocab and reading practice to really boost my reading abilities.

As for Deoraíocht your best bet would likely be a site like Abebooks. I found mine on some auction site, but it had been marked in a little by someone studying to be a teacher (same with my copy of Mo Bhealach Féin, sadly. Abebooks, though, had a fairly cheap copy of it last time I checked; sadly it's out of print and difficult to find. Shame for such a seminal book!

[Josquin]

THURSDAY, 19 OCTOBER 2017

Wow, no entry in this log for two weeks! Things have got really quiet, but as I told you there was a good reason for that. I had a concert last Sunday for which I had to practise a lot. There was little to no time for language studies, because there were so many rehearsals, voice lessons, and practice units. So, sorry I haven't much to report, but at least I did something.

Gaeilge

Finished the first story in Dúil. It's about a baby that starts to perceive his environment and tries to catch a ray of light. Quite interesting! I still have to copy out the vocabulary though. There were quite a lot of unknown words in there.

Also, I read some pages in An Leon, an Bandraoi agus an Prios Éadaigh. The language is much easier than in Dúil, probably because it's a) a children's book and b) a translation from English. I also read some pages in An Prionsa Beag, which is somewhere inbetween the two as far as difficulty is concerned.

I have to work on my active skills and my grammar though! I especially need to do something about the modh coinníollach and the autonomous forms of verbs. I suck at both!

Ἑλληνική

I proceded to dialogue 7B. It's getting harder to understand the texts at first glance. There's a lot of new vocabulary and the constructions are getting more complex. Introducing the optative mood doesn't make things easier exactly, but I'm still moving on.

עברית

Hebrew is getting more complex as well. Those inverted tenses are really mind-boggling and Hebrew morphology is so weird! I can hardly memorize any verbs, because they all sound the same and all those stem modifications and possessive suffixes are really giving me a hard time with nouns, too.

In order to translate a sentence I need to look up almost every word, because I can't memorize the vocabulary, but at least I've become really good at looking up words according to roots. I think Hebrew might be the most difficult language I've ever studied, way more difficult than Latin, Russian, or even Japanese!

Normally, I can pick up the basics of a language en passant, but for Hebrew that just doesn't work. In order to get better, I need to really study, drill the grammar, and memorize the vocabulary. It's a real challenge! I can hardly imagine what it must be like to learn Modern Hebrew to a high level, although I understand the grammar has been simplified over the centuries and e.g. possessive suffixes aren't really used any more. Anyway, the verbal system must still be a tough nut to crack!

[Josquin]

FRIDAY, 20 OCTOBER 2017

עברית

I decided to do something about my Hebrew. While the Lambdin textbook is good, I'm not completely happy with it. As I said, I have a hard time retaining vocabulary and I constantly have to look up grammar points that I'm still not completely comfortable with. Translating a Hebrew sentence is more a like a puzzle, parsing every word and construction and trying to make sense out of them.

While this may not be entirely Lambdin's fault -- in fact, I haven't been studying very eagerly, but rather loosely --, I blame the Lehrbuch nevertheless. It teaches vocabulary out of context and doesn't provide enough exercises in order to practise the grammar. The vocabulary that is taught might be useful for Biblical studies, but it's mostly pretty abstract nevertheless. I know the words for desert, camel, holiness, and sin, while I have no idea of basic vocabulary. The problem is that Hebrew is really taught like a dead language for the one and only purpose of reading the Tanakh and this in a not very engaging fashion.

So, in order to do something about my Hebrew, I bought a basic vocabulary, the additional volume of the Lehrbuch, and a student's edition of the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia. So you can see I'm getting more serious about Hebrew and I really want to do something with it. I'm also reconsidering the idea of studying Modern Hebrew after finishing the Lehrbuch.

Wanderlust

The recent events in Catalonia have rekindled my interest in Catalan. Maybe, this will be one of my future projects if I don't decide to improve my Portuguese instead. Veremos!

[elco2]

I feel you on the Hebrew. Everything looks like something else. I wonder if the same problem happens in Arabic. The greatest help was getting the BHB with morphology on something like Olive Tree & just reading stuff multiple times and looking up everything at the touch of a finger. I didn't like the reader's Bible I got because there was just too much vocab to reference at the bottom of the pages, and mine didn't provide any parsing. I still don't think I could make a verb chart for the life of me, but I can usually tell you what I'm looking at, or get close.

[Josquin]

SATURDAY, 21 OCTOBER 2017

Thanks for commenting, elco2! Yeah, Hebrew is really giving me a hard time. The verbal system is absolutely crazy! It will take me like forever to get really used to it. I can usually parse a verbal form, but I could never reproduce them actively! If Arabic is anything like Hebrew, the Semitic languages really might be among the most difficult languages I've encountered. Even Japanese wasn't as hard! Sure, it had weird grammar and all the kanji, but at least words were words instead of morphing things you can't recognize as soon as they change their form. Well, that's what Hebrew words look to me right now.

Gaeilge

I went through the first story from Dúil again. I want to make sure I really understand the words and constructions. I will probably be able to start on the second story tomorrow.

Ἑλληνική

I moved on to dialogue 7C. Section 7 is surprisingly easy on grammar, but the vocabulary is pretty difficult. Also, the Greek is getting more idiomatic, which makes it difficult to understand certain expressions at first glance. You really have to think a sentence through before understanding it.

עברית

I continued with lesson 25 in the Lehrbuch, which mainly deals with the imperative mood, verba I-gutturalis, and some more segolate nouns. The reading section is about Sarah and Hagar, which makes for quite an interesting reading. I also got the BHS (Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia) in the mail today and I tried reading some passages. It went surprisingly well although I couldn't translate everything, of course. In addition, I got a basic vocabulary and the additional volume of the Lehrbuch with answer key, some more exercises, and a grammar overview.

Latina

I have been captivated by this rendition of Handel's Dixit Dominus lately. I just can't stop watching and listening to it over and over again. If you like classical music, you're in for half an hour of excellently executed, absolutely beautiful music. Enjoy!

[Josquin]

SUNDAY, 22 OCTOBER 2017

A short report for today.

Gaeilge

I went through another page of vocabulary from Dúil. I copy out unknown words and expressions by hand and look them up in a paper dictionary. This takes some time, so I haven't managed to start reading the second story yet.

Ἑλληνική

I finished section 7 in Reading Greek. The optative mood isn't that difficult, so I was able to move on quickly. Section 8 is based on Aristophanes' Wasps and will deal with the dative case, more optative conjugations, and the aorist infinitives.

עברית

I started working on lesson 26 in Lehrbuch Bibel-Hebräisch. It mainly deals with the jussive and cohortative, as well as I-Aleph verbs in the imperfect. I already did the translation exercises, so I will be able to move on to the next unit soon.

By the way, here's my profile on Goodreads, if anybody would like to connect. See you soon!

[Josquin]

FRIDAY, 27 OCTOBER 2017

This has been another bad week for language learning. I was mainly taken up by having a blocked kitchen pipe repaired, which took longer and was more difficult than anticipated. Also, our gas heating is leaking water, so I will have to take care of that as my next project. There seems to be next to no time for important things like music or languages.

Gaeilge

I finished Dúil. I installed LWT (Learning with Texts) on my laptop and imported the text of Dúil into the software. Then I looked up all unknown words in teanglann.ie and imported them into LWT as well. While the tool seems handy, I'm still not totally convinced by it, but maybe that's just me. In any case, I opened a thread concerning LWT, so if anyone would like to give me some advice, it would be more than appreciated! The next story is called An Seabhac. I hope I'll be able to tackle it this weekend.

Ἑλληνική

No progress in Ancient Greek, unfortunately!

עברית

I moved on to the next lesson in Lehrbuch Bibel-Hebräisch, which deals with some minor topics like temporal clauses and some irregular nouns. Not very exciting! I tried to read a little bit in the BHS again, which went quite well. It's really more interesting than I imagined. Also, I have been reading a little bit about Judaism, especially the history and meaning of Hanukkah. On YouTube, I came across this awesome medley of traditional Hanukkah songs. I know it's a little bit early for that maybe, but I enjoyed it nevertheless.

[galaxyrocker]

If you're reading An Seabhac you might like this adaptation of it, produced by TG4. It was part of a series of short films -- 30 minutes -- they did in 2011 based on various famous short stories. One that really stuck with me was Seacht gCéad Uaireadóir, based on the Ó Conghaile story. It seems that four of them have been uploaded here. and I know i saw An t-Ádh on there under gearrscanáin, so that makes 5 of the 6. Seacht gCéad Uaireadóir is the one I couldn't found, but a Google search gives a Vimeo link, if you're interested.

Now, fair warning that it's an adaptation and not a direct short film of the story, but you still might be interested, especially after you finish reading it.