Josquin's Classical Log - Graeca non leguntur

[Josquin]

SATURDAY, 20 JANUARY 2017

So, this will be a rather comprehensive update, but there's just so much to report. First of all, I'm still doing well and I hope for some major improvement in my personal life in February. It's still a little bit early, so I won't tell you more right now, but anyway: Good news is on its way (at least, I hope so...).

Otherwise, there hasn't been much interesting. I'm still working on my dissertation and for my part-time job, sing a lot at home and in my choir, and I enjoy reading, cooking, and studying languages a lot. It has been a very cozy winter up to now, and I hope things will continue this way or even rather improve.

But now for languages:

Gaeilge

I'm not studying Irish right now, but I'm getting withdrawal symptoms. I really need to squeeze some Irish into my routine, otherwise it will only get worse. I've never thought I could miss a language like that, but I actually do. Irish has become a major part of my identity and my life and there's really something missing when I don't deal with it.

Also, I'm planning on going to Ireland in May, but I don't know if I'll be able to visit the Gaeltacht. I'll stay with a good friend in Cork and we'll probably do some road trips. I don't know yet where to, but there was talk of Galway, which wouldn't be far away from the Cois Fharraige Gaeltacht. Well, we'll see or as the Gaeilgeoirí say: Feicfidh muid!

Português

I'm still preparing for my trip to Portugal in July. I'm on lesson 6 in Portugiesisch mit System now and I can really feel the language coming back to me. I've never reached a very high level in Portuguese, but I start remembering words and expressions and I'm still completely aware of the grammar. Well, irregular verbs are a bit of a chore, but otherwise I can really fly through the course repeating everything quite quickly. After completing PmS, I'll go on with Lehrbuch der portugiesischen Sprache, which is more comprehensive and thorough.

Ἑλληνική

I'm currently working on lesson 26 in Kairós. The main topic of the lesson is strong aorists. Basically, strong aorists are the same as irregular (or "strong") verbs in other languages. Instead of adding the aorist tense sign -σ-, strong aorist verbs form the aorist tense based on a different stem than the present tense. The real trouble is that strong aorists don't use the aorist personal endings, but those of the imperfect. This can be a bit confusing and make it difficult to recognize the correct tense at first glance, but it's manageable. The grammar in Kairós is still pretty basic, while the vocabulary is already quite fancy, so translating is getting more and more challenging.

עברית

I've finally finished lesson 35 in Lehrbuch Bibel-Hebräisch. I thought it was quite superfluous enumerating all the different translations for wə-sentences (consecutive, adversative, etc.), so I didn't bother with the grammar much and I also skipped most of the translation exercises. I only went through the reading section, which was once more about Joseph and his adventures in Egypt.

Hebrew is still fun, but I don't really see myself continuing with it once I've finished the Lambdin textbook. Maybe, I'll try reading some passages in the Tanakh, but for that purpose I'd need a dictionary. The most popular one for Hebrew-German is the Gesenius, which costs about € 80. That's a little bit expensive for my taste, so I'll have to see whether I really want to invest so much money. Well, "I'll cross that bridge when I come to it", as they always say on Downton Abbey.

संस्कृतम्

Finally Sanskrit: I've almost finished lesson 6 of The Cambridge Introduction to Sanskrit. I've completed all the translation exercises and now all I still have to do is going through the reading section with an excerpt of "real" Sanskrit literature as opposed to the made-up mock sentences for translation. I've finally internalized the complete paradigm of a-stem nouns and after going through the reading, I'll finally be able to move on to lesson 7.

With things as they are, I'm a little bit behind the CIS online course though. Dr Ruppel sent us the instructions for this week yesterday and we're supposed to move on to lesson 7. However, I still haven't done the exam paper. Maybe, I'll just skip it. I'm studying for my own pleasure and enjoyment, so why burden myself with tests and exams? For what it's worth, I'm not learning Sanskrit for academic purposes, but rather to broaden my picture of classical Indo-European languages.

Same as with Hebrew, I probably won't go on with Sanskrit after completing this couse. This is also what separates these languages from Ancient Greek. I really want to learn Greek and read literature in it, which isn't really true for Hebrew or Sanskrit. So, yeah, we'll see how things develop. My plate is quite full at the moment anyway, so reducing my workload might not be the worst idea in the long run. Well, as I always say, we'll see!

[Josquin]

WEDNESDAY, 24 JANUARY 2018

Not much to report. Everything is going smoothly at the moment. I'm looking forward to February, but I won't tell why (yet)...

So, let's focus on languages instead!

Gaeilge

I couldn't stand the withdrawal from Irish. I just had to listen to a little bit of Ardtrathnóna on Raidió na Gaeltachta and read a few more pages in Dúil. While LWT is a nifty tool for reading texts in your L2, nothing beats the feeling of reading a "real" paper book without a dictionary. I don't know why, maybe I just don't like the optics of LWT, but I actually enjoy reading a paper book more. That's also the reason why I don't own a Kindle or similar e-reader.

Português

I'm on lesson 7 in Portugiesisch mit System now. I slackened off a bit during the last days, because I came to the conclusion that six months of serious studying might be a little bit too much for less than a week in Portugal. Well, I'll continue studying Portuguese anyway, of course, but I'll focus a little bit more on my classical languages again.

Ἑλληνική

I've reached lesson 27 in Kairós. More strong aorists, now also in the middle voice. There isn't much to do besides rote memorization of aorist stems. Easy peasy!

עברית

I finished lesson 36 in Lehrbuch Bibel-Hebräisch today. The main topic of the lesson was the particle הִנֵּה (hinnēh), which can denote a variety of things. More common translations are exclamations like "look", "lo", or "behold", but it can also have demonstrative or explanatory meaning. It can also be combined with the imperative particle נָא (nā') in order to convey logical preconditions of an imperative. The whole matter is quite complex, as is Hebrew syntax in general, but one won't go wrong assuming the הִנֵּה to indicate or emphasize an element in the following clause.

संस्कृतम्

I'm now on lesson 7 in The Cambridge Introduction to Sanskrit. Learning Sanskrit is quite different from any other language I've studied up to now. While other languages usually cite their nouns in the nominative singular and verbs in the infinitive or another characteristic form, Sanskrit nouns are cited by their stems and verbs by their roots. This is pretty abstract, especially in the early stages of learning the language. And when using the nominative, grammars differ between using the sandhied ending -ḥ and the un-sandhied ending -s, which is the historically correct one.

In any case, dealing with all those stems and roots you have to remember a lot of other information, such as the gender of nouns or the verb class of a root. Additional complication arises from the fact that Sanskrit has a complex system of vowel gradation that can put a verbal root into three different grades: zero, full (guṇa), and lengthened (vṛddhi). All of this exists in other Indo-European languages as well, but not as systematic as in Sanskrit.

Well, to my total confusion, verb roots can exist in all three grades and you have to know what grade they are in in order to form e.g. the present tense. The most common scenario would be a root in zero grade that needs to be altered to full grade for the present tense endings to be added, but this depends on the verbal class, of which there are ten, and the kind of verb that is formed (e.g. normal or causative).

All of this is pretty complex and theoretical, especially right in the beginner stage of learning Sanskrit, but I hope once this is out of the way, things will become clearer.

[Systematiker]

The most popular one for Hebrew-German is the Gesenius, which costs about € 80. That's a little bit expensive for my taste, so I'll have to see whether I really want to invest so much money.

Pick up a previous edition. The 17th edition is a reprint of the 1915 print anyway. I think there's an 18th now, but even when I got my 17th there was basically little difference to previous ones, it was just for exam purposes that I had to have a 17th. Lots of used ones around, too, I'm sure.

Or, if you don't require a paper copy, it's not like it is in copyright, it just gets reprinted.
https://archive.org/details/hebrischesunda00geseuoft

[Josquin]

The most popular one for Hebrew-German is the Gesenius, which costs about € 80. That's a little bit expensive for my taste, so I'll have to see whether I really want to invest so much money.

Pick up a previous edition. The 17th edition is a reprint of the 1915 print anyway. I think there's an 18th now, but even when I got my 17th there was basically little difference to previous ones, it was just for exam purposes that I had to have a 17th. Lots of used ones around, too, I'm sure.

Or, if you don't require a paper copy, it's not like it is in copyright, it just gets reprinted.
https://archive.org/details/hebrischesunda00geseuoft

תודה רבה!

[aravinda]

Are you taking the course as well? Maybe, we should finally start the LLorg Sanskrit Study Group?

I was planning to start studying Sanskrit again with the CIS course but was not able to do so. Yes, we should definitely start a Study Group. However, I would like someone who is more consistent and regular (like you . You saw it coming, didn't you? ) to start the Group so that it will not be left unattended in the future when I am distracted by something else.
As an afterthought, if you need extra practice in Sanskrit you might want to try out this textbook by late Prof Walter Maurer. My link is to a forthcoming revised edition (hopefully with an answer key) not the current edition. Fortunately, there's a website by a Sanskrit teacher named Nikhil Gandhi with answers, explanations (including typos in the book), audio and charts. I have found both the book (previous edition) and the website to be excellent. He also runs an online course but I don't know much about it.
(Disclaimer: I have exchanged emails with Nikhil, other than that I have no connection with the website or the course).

[Josquin]

TUESDAY, 30 JANUARY 2018

Thanks for your input, aravinda! Yes, I can start and captain the Sanskrit Study Group, if you'd like me to. Maybe, we can open it to other Indic languages as well, as Sanskrit is very rarely studied on this forum. I'll definitely check out the Maurer textbook and the website you posted.

So, language-wise the last few days haven't been that productive. I've mainly been "busy" re-watching Mad Men, cleaning the flat, cooking a scrumptious meal every evening, and singing. Oh yes, and there also was my part-time job that I needed to attend to.

I'm glad January is almost over as I have been in some kind of financial slump for the last few weeks. I have good reason to hope that this will change in February, but more on this later. In any case, I got paid for my job today and the worst seems to be over for the time being.

Gaeilge

I haven't been doing anything in Irish. Gabhaigí mo leithscéal!

Português

Haven't been doing a lot in Portuguese either. I moved on to lesson 7 in Portugiesisch mit System, which mainly deals with the imperative mood and some irregular verbs in the present tense. I have read the text and listened to the recordings, but that's about it. I should have been more consistent.

Ἑλληνική

I finished lesson 29 in Kairós and moved on to the repetition unit. Not much to report here either. No interesting new concepts or anything else, only repetition of well-known stuff.

עברית

I moved on to lesson 37 in Lehrbuch Bibel-Hebräisch, which introduced me to the N-stem, also called nif'al in traditional terminology. The nif'al basically is the medio-passive stem in the system of Hebrew verbal stems (binyanim), so if you take a verbal root and put it into nif'al you get a verb with passive or reflexive meaning, while you get a verb with active meaning if you put it into qal, the basic stem.

So, qal כָּתַ‏‏‏ב (kāṯaḇ; he wrote) becomes nif'al נִכְתַּב (niḵtaḇ; it was written), with the root consonants k-t-b complemented by the prefix n- and a different vocalization pattern. While the perfect is quite easy, the imperfect requires a little bit more attention, but I won't go into that right now. However, Lambdin introduces all nif'al forms of three different root types in this unit, so there's quite a lot to memorize.

संस्कृतम्

I haven't made much progress in Sanskrit either. I'm still chewing on the system of vowel gradation, which may be quite elegant, but is super theoretical at the moment. The Cambridge Introduction to Sanskrit tends to explain all the theory right from the beginning, which is a little bit frustrating. I rather like rote memorization in the beginning and being told the reasons for pecularities later on in my studies. I don't know if this approach simply doesn't work for Sanskrit, because there is just so much to explain, or if it's just the general approach towards this language. In any case, it's just not fun this way!

I think I've told you several times now that I prefer to have texts that I can work with instead of lengthy explanations. I just need to see words in context, how they work together and how they combine. I can't learn vocabulary from a list and I can't learn grammar only from explanations. Well, the CIS does offer practice sentences and passages of "real" Sanskrit, but it's very little at the moment, even less than in Lehrbuch Bibel-Hebräisch. Well, I'll plough through the exercises and the practice sentences tomorrow, so I hope things will become clearer and more practical then.

[Josquin]

FRIDAY, 9 FEBRUARY 2018

I'm on a short holiday right now, visiting my family in my hometown, because it will be my sister's 50th birthday tomorrow. I've taken my books with me and I even got to study a bit yesterday and today. However, it may not have escaped your notice that I decided to re-name the log again. I'm taking a break from Portuguese, because although it might come in handy to know the language when I go to Portugal in July, I'm not that motivated to really study it. I'm much more into classical languages right now. I might take up Portuguese again shortly before my trip, but I will only need a touristy command of the language anyway.

Ἑλληνική

I'm on lesson 33 in Kairós now. After covering the aorist, the main topic of the last lessons was pronouns. Ancient Greek has a baffling amount of corresponding interrogative, demonstrative, and indefinite pronouns that all need to be learned. At any rate, I'm totally mindstruck by all the "small" words in Greek that make it nearly intranslatable. There are so many particles, adverbs, and pronouns that add a certain nuance to what's being said, so they can really confuse you. These words don't really exist in Latin, so there's a notable difference between these two languages.

Well, be that as it may, lesson 33 deals with the third declension, to which I'm already accustomed through Reading Greek. However, Kairós gives a little bit more detailed information on how the different stems vary in the declension paradigms and it also gives the vocative, which may or may not be different from the nominative.

עברית

I've moved on to lesson 38 in Lehrbuch Bibel-Hebräisch, which deals with the nif'al of another three root types and also of "mixed" types, i.e. roots that combine features of two different verb types. The nif'al isn't difficult to grasp in itself, but there's a lot of memorization required for all the different forms. The problem is that the n-prefix can be assimilated to the first root consonant (especially in the imperfect), so it virtually gets lost. Then you really have to know how roots behave under certain circumstances and what vocalization pattern distinguishes qal from nif'al. So, Hebrew verbs keep confusing me.

संस्कृतम्

This week, I've been dealing with unit 8 in The Cambridge Introduction to Sanskrit. It covers absolutives, the ta-participle, and the infinitive. Finally, all the root grades make more sense, as the formation of absolutives, participles, and the infinitive relies on the laws of vowel gradation (aka "Ablaut"), so there's finally some application material for all the theory. In fact, now everything makes perfect sense. Thus far, I've worked through the grammar part of the lesson. The next steps will be doing the exercises and going through the reading section.

[SophiaMerlin_II]

I just finished reading the log from start to finish, and what a ride. I’m super impressed how you don’t let the setbacks and poor situations you’ve had keep you from doing what you want to be doing!

Major props, honestly.

[Josquin]

I just finished reading the log from start to finish, and what a ride. I’m super impressed how you don’t let the setbacks and poor situations you’ve had keep you from doing what you want to be doing!

Major props, honestly.

Thank you very much! I just keep following my goals whatever may happen. You can't let setbacks keep you from doing what you want, otherwise you won't be doing it at all. But, yeah, I've had my fights and I'm happy I'm in a much better place right now.

Anyway, I'm glad you liked my log!

[Josquin]

WEDNESDAY, 14 FEBRUARY 2018

I'm back from my holiday and back at work. Instead of reporting my regular activities, I will post a polyglot mash-up today. I was a little bit bored, so I tried to put my languages to use. Corrections are more than welcome!

RU: Сегодня я напишу немножко на русском языке. Мне очень нравится этот язык, но я употребляю его слишком редко. Вообще, я никогда не говорю на русском и мне не с кем говорить. У меня была киргизкая подруга, которая была носителем русского языка, но она переехала. Раньше, я смотрел русские сериалы, как Кухню, и читал русские книги, даже Достоевского и Тургенева. Но теперь, к сожалению, у меня нет времени, так как изучаю другие языки. Мне хочется опять делать что-нибудь на русском, но мне просто не хватает время.

GA: Beidh mé ag scriobh rud éigin as Gaeilge freisin. Ní dhearna mé tada le mo chuid Gaeilge an am seo chaite, ach tá fonn orm ag labhairt, ag léamh agus ag éisteacht leis an nGaeilge arís. Le cúnamh Dé, beidh mé ag goil go hÉirinn faoi Bhealtaine. Níl a fhios agam an mbeidh mé ag tabhairt cuairt ar an nGaeltacht an uair sin, ach tá súil agam go mbeidh. Ba mhaith liom an teanga a fhoghlaim san áit a bhfuil daoine á labhairt. Tá fonn orm ag éisteacht leis na Gaeilgeoirí agus b’fhéidir go mbeidh mé in ann ag labhairt leo freisin.

PT: Queria escrever um pouco em português tambem, mas não falo bastante por fazê-lo. Espero que posso ir a Portugal em Julho, mas ainda não sei. Pois, veremos! A propósito, acho que o meu português é muito italiano.

IT: Sì, il mio portoghese suona molto italiano, ma è una cosa naturale. Ho imparato l’italiano come lingua prima quando avevo solo quindici anni e adesso sono imparando il portoghese quando ho trentatré anni. Mi mancano molte parole quando provo parlare in portoghese e posso solo pensare delle parole italiane. Allora, perché non vado in Italia? Bah, perché il mio amico non si sposerà in Italia, ma nel Portogallo.

GR: Χαίρετε, ὦ φίλοι. Τήμερον Ἑλληνικῂ γλώττῃ γράψαι βούλομαι. Ἑλληνικὴ μὲν καλλιστὴ γλῶττά ἐστιν, πάνυ δὲ χαλεπή ἐστιν. Ἥδομαι τῇ τε γλώττῃ, τῇ τε φιλοσοφίᾳ, τοῖς τε καὶ γραμμάτοις. Οὐκ δύναμαι πολλὰ γραφεῖν, ἀλλὰ μανθάνω πολλά.

HE:

ערב טוב. היום אכתב מעט בעברית. אני לא מדבר עברית. שלום עליכם.