Josquin's Classical Log - Graeca non leguntur

[Random Review]

THURSDAY, 19 APRIL 2018

Maybe, I was a little bit hasty to proclaim Japanese as my new language yesterday. In fact, I'm still thinking what to do and I might end up studying only Sanskrit and Ancient Greek for the time being. I do love Japanese, but I don't know if I have the time and energy to actively study three languages at the moment.

Instead, I might start dabbling on the side a little bit. After all, there's still Irish and I also might get back to Hebrew again after some time and then I've always wanted to take a look at Persian. But, honestly, I don't know if now is the right time for that. As I said, I might just as well concentrate on Greek and Sanskrit.

Also, I won't quit the Cambridge Introduction to Sanskrit. Maybe that was given to misunderstanding in my last post. I will use Assimil as a complement, but my main resource will still be the CIS and the accompanying online course. However, the Assimil recordings are an invaluable resource, which I will use very thoroughly.

Other than that, I have read a little bit about the Bhagavad-Gita and I'm very taken by its thoughts and teachings. It will be interesting to deal closer with that and compare it to Western thought, especially Ancient Greek philosophy, so I ordered a translation of the Bhagavad-Gita and of the Upanishads and I will closely deal with Sargeant's interlinear translation of the BG once my Sanskrit is good enough.

To be honest, I have enough on my plate with two languages, a dissertation, a part-time job, my music, and other intellectual interests at the moment, so I might give myself a break for some time and just take it easy.

Ha ha, only uni, work, music and two classical languages. Slacker.

[Josquin]

Ha ha, only uni, work, music and two classical languages. Slacker.

To be honest, I never saw it like that. I always thought I should be doing more... But you're right, of course. Thank you!

[Josquin]

SATURDAY, 28 APRIL 2018

Okay, so maybe I don't conform to the standard definition of a slacker, but nevertheless, the last two weeks I have been slacking off a little bit, at least language-wise. I was mainly busy with completing another chapter of my dissertation and then I read the whole Bhagavad-Gītā within a few days, which I found to be more than interesting. After that, I tried to read the Upanishads in the same fashion, but found them a lot less accessible, so I'll save them for another day.

Anyway, my interest for Indian literature, culture, and philosophy has been kindled and I will continue dealing with it. I have bought a lot of books about Indian history and literature during the last few days, among them translations of the Mahābhārata, the Rig Veda, the Kāmasūtra (which is a lot less scandalous than popular belief has it), and - total contrast - the Dhammapada.

Now, I'm not going to read all of them at once, but I'll eventually tackle one after the other. If my Sanskrit studies come on, I might even give the original texts a try. I already got Lanman's Sanskrit Reader and Sargeant's interlinear version of the Bhagavad-Gītā at home.

Other than that, I haven't made a lot of progress. I'm still on lesson 42 in Kairós and my Hebrew is still on hold. All I've done has been for Sanskrit.

संस्कृतम्

Besides my studies in Indian philosophy and literature, I'm preparing for the final exam of this term of the CIS online course. I've already taken three revision tests, which were all either A or B, so I think I'm quite well-prepared. After the exam, which will take place next week, there will be a six-week break for the course, so I'll be on my own again for quite some time. However, I won't stop studying Sanskrit. I'll just go on doing what I've been doing for the last few months. This way, I'll be ahead of the course at the beginning of next term, but that can't be bad. Anyway, it will give me some space to focus on my thesis again, which I'd really like to finish this year.

[Josquin]

SATURDAY, 5 MAY 2018

Very short update for today. I haven't been doing much with my languages. In Greek, I'm still wrestling with the strong aorist passive, which interestingly only occurs for verbs that don't have a strong aorist active or middle. On top of that, I'm revelling in vocalic stems of the consonantic declension (the irony...) and have moved on to lesson 43 in Kairós.

Concerning Sanskrit, I took and passed the final exam of this term of the CIS online course with a B! Yeah me! I should have learned more vocab and my grammar is still a bit shaky, but nevertheless! I'd never thought I'd get a B.

Other than that, I'm noticing I know too many languages. Subconsciously, my brain is interpreting the particle vā ("or") in constructions like: ग्रामे वा नगरे वा वससि (grāme vā nagare vā vasasi; Do you live in a village or a town?), as the Japanese topic marker は, which makes me subconsciously use even more Japanese particles in my Sanskrit. The other day, I even thought things like: ग्रामे に वसमि । ग्रामे には... So, I was combining the Sanskrit locative case with the Japanese locative particle. And I'm not even studying Japanese right now!

Well, typical case of polyglot problems, I guess!

[Josquin]

SUNDAY, 20 MAY 2018

Hey guys,

I just wanted to let you know that I'm taking a break from my language studies and that there won't be any updates for the time being. I haven't done anything in any language since I passed the final exam of the CIS online course, so there's nothing to report anyway.

In fact, my life has taken a new turn (for the better), and I'm far too busy with living life to the fullest that I could spare any time on languages right now. First of all, the good news I have been waiting for since January have finally come. I used to have some financial problems which finally got solved and this is a perfect reason to be happy.

Other than that, I have found new fields of interest and personal growth that are taking up all my time now and language learning just isn't a priority any more. I'm not saying I'm never going to deal with languages again, but for the time being I'm just not interested in language studies.

I wish all of you lots of success with whatever you're doing. My life has taken a new turn now, so I won't be visiting the forum that often any more, but maybe we'll see each other again in the future. I don't know if I'll participate in the CIS online course next term, but if I do I'll keep you updated here.

Thanks for all your help and support and hope to see you soon!

Josquin

[Ogrim]

Josquin, I am happy for you if your life is taking a turn for the better, but I will miss your contributions to the forum, so hope to see you back some day, sooner rather than later. Anyway I wish you all the best and good luck with your new fields of interest.

[iguanamon]

Though I will very much miss your contributions, Josquin, I wish you all the best in pursuing life beyond language-learning- of which there is so much to enjoy. I'll look forward to your return someday.

[Josquin]

Thanks, iguanamon and Ogrim! I guess I will miss this forum, too, but I'm just too busy with other things than languages right now. I will visit from time to time, but not as frequently as I used to.

The third term of the CIS online course starts on June 22, i.e. in exactly two weeks. I thought about continuing the course, but I don't know how high my motivation for Sanskrit really is. I guess I'll participate in the course as I used to, not too diligently, but studying nevertheless.

I don't really know what to do about Greek. I feel the urge to do a little bit now and then, but I wouldn't call that studying. As I said, it's not that I'm not dealing with languages at all, but rather that they are very low priority right now.

In case you're wondering what I'm doing other than studying right now, I'm just having a good time with family and friends. My roommate moved out, so I had to furnish the apartment (which is now mine, yay! ). I'm trying to make music and work on my thesis as much as I can (which is too seldom), and I found a new interest in cooking and baking.

All of this is to say my life is a lot less centred around books, languages, studying, and other "serious" occupations than it used to be and I don't know, but it seems to be a good thing for me. I'm more relaxed and content than I used to be and even, I dare not say it, kind of happy, floating with life instead of fighting against it.

Okay, I will keep you informed about my Sanskrit studies now and then, that is if and when I participate in the CIS online course again.

Hope to see all of you soon!

नमस्ते ।

[Josquin]

Hey guys,

I had a look at the books today after a loooong time and I'm definitely going back into languages. As soon as the CIS online course starts, I'll take up Sanskrit again. I just can't miss out on this beautiful language! I had a sneak peek into the next chapter and it was really fun. I can hardly believe it myself, because during the break I had no interest at all, but now I'm back on track...

I might even get back into Biblical Hebrew, but more on that later. I read through the last text I had dealt with before quitting Hebrew and I still understood quite a lot. Somehow, my enthusiasm has grown back, don't know why.

Don't know what to do with Ancient Greek though. I'm not very thrilled about it right now, but I might give it another try. Because, hey, who can resist a language that has a strong aorist passive?

All this is to say, I'm sorry for causing you grief! I will be back in languages soon. I just have to balance them with the other aspects of my life now.

See you!

[Systematiker]

I was sad you were going (and didn’t comment), now I’m glad your back, all the feels, man...