Ezrae Via Linguarum Classicarum

[Ezra]

Another month has passed. What are results?

Latin ‐ 27 ½ hours. I've read several chapters of Lingua Latina up to XX-th and continue to plough through George Adler's grammar. Ah, grammar! "The impersonal verbs of this class differ from those of B by sometimes admitting a subject nominative, although never a personal one". As you say, George, as you say.

Hebrew ‐ 17 ½ hours. I finished reading Numbers and continued to the last book of Torah — Deuteronomy.

Japanese - 14 ½ hours. Not much, comparing to previous month, and not enough. I need at least 20 hours a month to keep this Japanese thing going, so I am going to try to devote at least half an hour on work days and a couple of hours on week-ends. It would be great to be able to devote two-three hours every day but alas. I had this opportunity in the past and I used it to establish my kanji foundation, without which I would hardly advanced that far. But these days I opt to spend a big chunk of my time visiting a workplace, at least for the time being, so for that time I will have to juggle my free time trying to fit all my languages and other projects .

Italian - 3 ¼ hours of Assimil. It is going fine considering meager time I have for this undertaking. I do not need much from Italian at this point — just to be able to understand explanations in Italian "Athenazde" (the best textbook of Ancient Greek) and some Latin readers where Italian is also used.

Spanish - 25 hours. Certainly, an unexpected development! Well, it was not as much Spanish as playing Borderlands 2 in Spanish. And Borderlands 2 is not really language heavy as some RPGs, so it does not really count. No more wasting my precious free time on mindless killing! For now I made a rule to play games only in Japanese, if it is available, and in French, if it is not.

[indeclinable]

Glad to hear you're going to use the Italian Athenaze for Greek, a very wise choice.

May I ask why do you keep at it with Adler? On good faith I've taken a look at it and tried to figure out a way in which it may be useful but really can't figure it. If you like memorizing abstract rules there's dozens of Renaissance Grammars in Latin that are far more interesting, and they are in Latin so at least you're using the target language all the time. I once even saw a Latin Grammar in Spanish written in verse, so at least there was some sense of accomplishment and a logic behind the memorisation.

Also, if you're into Italian, might I suggest L’italiano secondo il «metodo natura» (Is the Familia Romana's younger brother for Italian)?

[Ezra]

Glad to hear you're going to use the Italian Athenaze for Greek, a very wise choice.

May I ask why do you keep at it with Adler? On good faith I've taken a look at it and tried to figure out a way in which it may be useful but really can't figure it.

He illustrates every grammar point with dozens of simple examples especially if one treats his exercises and answer key as a kind of parallel text reader. His «Remarks» sections are also quite interesting. I am not sure, would I recommend myself to go through his grammar if I were to start over, but overall I find it pretty useful. So, after some contemplating, I decided to continue. After all, it does not make much difference from where input sentences come as long as they are to the (grammar) point.

Also, if you're into Italian, might I suggest L’italiano secondo il «metodo natura» (Is the Familia Romana's younger brother for Italian)?

Ah, thanks! It looks great, I will definitively use it along with Assimil and «Grammatica in contesto». I also downloaded «Erstes Deutsches Buch» and «Zweites Deutsches Buch» in case I will decide to take a stab at German.

[indeclinable]

He illustrates every grammar point with dozens of simple examples [...] After all, it does not make much difference from where input sentences come as long as they are to the (grammar) point.

Depending on what you're going to read I would warn against some of Adler's vocabulary choice, it's not classical Latin at all. Some of his phraseology and his grammar statements are controversial at best. In a couple of instances I have found that he makes up his own sentence to illustrate a grammar point that's also made up (or not attested in classical Latin).

However I may dislike the Grammar-translation and the dryness of a Zumpt, a Bennett or an Allen, they do have the scholarship behind them, you can trust what they say.

Since you're already reading Familia Romana why don't you try reading the Latine disco or the college companion? Both of them have passed the most severe examinations regarding the accuracy of their statements. The Italian edition happens to be relatively prolific in its examples, specially in the syntax sections and is tiered to the Familia Romana and the Roma Aeterna as well as classical authors. And there's no end to the exercise books (Exercitia Latina, Nova Exercitia Latina, Cuaderno di esercizi I & II) that illustrate everything you find in Familia Romana and is explained either in the Latine disco or with more detail in the Companion.

Another excellent alternative would be Minkova's Readings and Exercises in Latin Prose Composition that illustrate a selected passage with the most respectable grammars and give composition exercises. Nutting's Reader is not as didactic but its contents are very interesting.

To be completely honest, other than Evan's YouTube channel, I have never met anyone who would recommend Adler, in fact is only because of Evan that that book was rescued from the oblivion it deserved.

[Ezra]

Depending on what you're going to read I would warn against some of Adler's vocabulary choice, it's not classical Latin at all. Some of his phraseology and his grammar statements are controversial at best. In a couple of instances I have found that he makes up his own sentence to illustrate a grammar point that's also made up (or not attested in classical Latin).

I think the problem here is that Adler was writing an Ollendorfian textbook and this genre dictates certain constrains, leading to such issues (ollendorrfs were based on similar set of sentences which were roughly the same in all Ollendorff-based textbooks). But you are right. Language learning-wise and time-wise it would be better for me to concentrate on reading «Lingua Lating per se Illustrata» and companion materials. So, from now on this is what I am going to do . And if I need an urgent grammar fix and «College companion» will not be able to satisfy this urge, I will use grammar of one of those heavy hitters you mentioned above.

[Ezra]

Latin - 7 ½ hours. Per Indeclinable's advice, I've concentrated on «Lingua Latina per se Illustrata». I've re-read chapters XVII-XX. The plan is to read XX-XXV, next switch to «Colloquia Personarum», which has a colloquium for every chapter of LLpsI up to XXIV-th, and then read «Fabulae Latinae», which contains 25 stories corresponding to first XXV chapters of LLpsI.

Hebrew - 7 ½ hours. I continue to read Deuteronomy. This book is quite different: while first four are written from an impersonal narrator's point of view, in this one the narrator is Moses himself. The style and wording are somewhat different as well.

Japanese - 3 hours. Danganronpa as usual.

[Ezra]

I had to take an IELTS Academic exam some time ago, and its results are out. They are good enough to boast about in a futile attempt to satisfy my vanity:

Listening: 8.0
Reading: 8.5
Writing: 7.5
Speaking: 7.0

Total: 8.0

I liked the exam overall and even had an idea to start taking CEFR exams for my French and Spanish in succession from A2 to B2 . But after some time I calmed down and decided to put this idea on an indefinite hold until either I have much more time to devote to languages, or the necessity arises.

[Ezra]

This week was very productive.

Latin - 10 ½ hours. Following the recommendation to stop using Adler's grammar, I fully concentrated on «Lingua Latina per se Illustrata: Familia Romana». I have finished XXVth chapter today; next week I intend to start reading the same series' «Colloquia Personarum», which has 24 chapters, corresponding to chapters of «Familia Romana», and «Fabellae Latinae», whose 25 chapters also correspond to «Familia Romana»'s chapters.

Hebrew - 4 ½ hours. I read about one chapter a day, so my progress somewhat slow but steady, and I've finished 20th chapter of Deuteronomy today.

Japanese - 3 hours. Same old good Danganronpa.

Italian - 5 ¼ hours. I've read 6 chapters of «L'italiano secondo il metodo natura». This textbook is great; very similar to «Lingua Latina per se Illustrata: Familia Romana» in approach. I am not sure how well it would work for someone who learns Italian as a second language, but if one already knows some Romance language, it should work great. I also downloaded a bunch of readers from archive.org.

[Ezra]

Another week has passed.

Latin - 9 ½ hours. It seems the decision to abandon reading Adler's grammar and to concentrate on reading LLpsI was a correct one. During this week I've read «Colloquia Personarum» and «Fabellae Latinae» and, to be honest, it is much more engaging than reading Adler's explanations. I also find grammar explanations in «College Companion» to be good enough, though I consulted once out of interest with Allen and Greenough's Latin Grammar on dative use of gerund. Next week I want to continue reading «Familia Romana».

Hebrew - 4 ¾ hours. I am nearing the end of the last Torah's book - Deuteronomy.

Italian - 8 hours. «L'italiano secondo il metodo natura» is great! For now I move through it quite fast (12 chapters have been read, so it takes me 45 minutes to read one chapter on average).

Japanese - 4 hours. Well, if you guess I played Danganronpa, you would be... correct!

Just as previous week, this one was quite productive. Let's hope next one will be productive as well .

[Ezra]

Hebrew (7 ¼ h)

I've reached an important milestone this week: I have finished reading the Torah! The best book I've read in a while. Last chapters (specifically, 32 and 33) were superhard as they contain two songs sung by Moses to his people. And these song have everything poetry has to offer: a lot of unknown words, bended this and that way grammar constructions, allusions, implicitly implied meanings etc. While now I can often read several verses without consulting dictionary or translation, this two songs I had to check translation almost word by word. It was like starting anew. Someday, I hope, I will be able to read Hebrew poetry without such difficulties.

After finished the Torah, I pondered some time what I should do next. I've decided to start reading Paul Joüon's «Grammaire de l'hébreu biblique». A chapter on phonetics was very interesting as I learned quite a lot about consonants in order to separate in my head sounds that are similar in modern Hebrew pronunciation, but system of vowel (marked by special signs) did not make much sense to me. Paul Jouon specifically discourage using a system, proposed by David Kimhi, which has five vowels (a, o, e, u, i) in two varieties each: long and short. Well, Jouon, sure, has his reasons, but Kimhi's system makes to me much more sense. I should check what this mediaeval scholar has to offer.

I also have other thoughts on Hebrew but I will put them in separate post devoted to recapitulation of my Hebrew learning so far.

Latin (7 h)

Latin is progressing quite well. I've three chapters of «Familia Romana» this week and only six are left to go. After that I intend to start reading readers I downloaded from Google Books and Archive.org.

Italian (5 ½ h)

While Latin is progressing relatively fast for the language of this complexity, Italian is progressing even faster. I actually can go and read Italian Wikipedia's pages (on non-special topics or topics I have some knowledge on) without much problems after just 23 hours invested in this language. I can not read Japanese Wikipedia nearly as fast or as good after spending much, much, much more time. Of course, my previous knowledge of Spanish, French and Latin helped a great deal. The method on which my textbook is based also contributes to such fast gains.

Japanese (½ h)

Well, seems like Japanese was not in focus this week. It only got a meager half an hour of Danganronpa playing. I would like to spend much more time on Japanese but classical languages have now top priority.