Latin

pinguino79 · Post by **pinguino79** » Wed Oct 09, 2002 9:53 pm

Back to the topic: I've studied latin for 5 (five!) years, but 5 more years have passed, so I can't write anything now without a dictionary, that I don't have now

But I promise: when I'll get my dictionary back I'll post something in Latin (BTW, Antti had a great idea

)

Tiger · Post by **Tiger** » Wed Oct 09, 2002 10:26 pm

Isn't Latin very easy for Italian people ?

I studied it for 4 years, but quit it...
I like Maths and Science more

Donald · Post by **Donald** » Wed Oct 09, 2002 10:44 pm

Tiger wrote:Isn't Latin very easy for Italian people ?

I studied Latin 7 years. It helps to read Italian or French. However, I think your Dutch knowledge serves you better in understanding German than my Latin does help me understanding Italian.

Tiger · Post by **Tiger** » Wed Oct 09, 2002 11:00 pm

Maybe it sounds weird, but I learn French a lot easier than German

If I have to speak German, I mostly speak Dutch with a German accent

Or just translate Dutch sentences litterally.

In French you have to follow a completely other way of thinking, it doesn't resemble so much to Dutch, but you can easily recognize words.

Antti · Post by **Antti** » Thu Oct 10, 2002 7:04 pm

Finally we are gettingto the subject after some talks about globalisation etc.(off-topic in an off-topic discussion

) I was sure there must be some others here as well who study or have studied latin. I'm not an expert in latin, because I've studied it only for less than three years, though it feels much longer.
And when I wrote my opening comment in both languages I had to change the english version all the time to make it match the latin text, just in case someone could understand it. And I had to use my dictionary quite a lot, that's why the text was so short. And I also had to think how to bend EuroBillTracker and other words that haven't been used in latin texts. (if some of our latinist have better ideas for those bendings, I'd love to hear them, I just tried to make it as simple as possible)

And I can "understand" some kind of italian text, so I also think it should be quite easy for italians to study latin. It also helps me with many french words, but somewhy it doesn't really help me in understanding entire sentences. And german again is close to swedish and that way I can also understand some german, at least some words. And again knowing german and french leads to dutch, right? So I could say I understand almost all EU languages except Greek(spanish and portuguese go with latin) Not so bad for anyone who is fifteen.

pinguino79 · Post by **pinguino79** » Fri Oct 11, 2002 10:13 pm

Well, yes, Latin is probably easier for Italian students, just because lots of words are very similar (actually, most Italian/French/Spanish/Portoguese words are derived from Latin).
Grammar and syntax are instead another planet; what may sound weird is that Latin grammar is more similar to German

Funny note: my teachers at school often complained that we didn't know the meaning of some Latin words, so she usually said: "Shame on you! Latin is so similar to Italian! What would you do if you were German?"

Donald · Post by **Donald** » Fri Oct 11, 2002 10:45 pm

pinguino79 wrote:...what may sound weird is that Latin grammar is more similar to German

I think it has to do with the translation of the Holy Bible by Martin Luther. Luther sort of created the actual standard version of the German language. I believe he made it as complicate as Latin, so it made a well educated impression. A less structured language would have seemed less competent.

pinguino79 wrote:What would you do if you were German?"

If you are a native German speaker, you have an advantage if you know lots of foreign and borrowed words. Or, vice versa, if you know some Latin, you understand many foreign and borrowed words.

Olivier · Post by **Olivier** » Sat Oct 12, 2002 1:32 am

Antti wrote:
Olivier wrote:Actually , could globalization just mean americanisation ?
That's what it mostly means anyway. EBTF is a good example, we write english here, though it's not anyones "own" language, and I don't think this has much to do with England.

Definitly not... I have writen a lots of messages in the french area, but most of us come in the "thematic areas" in english.

Basic English is just the easiest language to learn... I admit I still have some problems to understand some native english speakers, sometimes.

Olivier · Post by **Olivier** » Sat Oct 12, 2002 1:37 am

Tiger wrote: Maybe it's just that the American (and other native English people) are too lazy to learn another language

That could be a problem for them one day, if another language gets more popular...

I wonder which language was spoken by the merchants, in the XIV - XVIIIth centuries... They bought and sold goods from Brugge to Firenze, from Paris to Venezia... Did they speak latin?

Maybe in a few decades, the common language will be... chinese?

Olivier · Post by **Olivier** » Sat Oct 12, 2002 1:39 am

pinguino79 wrote:Back to the topic: I've studied latin for 5 (five!) years, but 5 more years have passed, so I can't write anything now without a dictionary, that I don't have now
But I promise: when I'll get my dictionary back I'll post something in Latin (BTW, Antti had a great idea )

Where is the latin part of the forum

Olivier · Post by **Olivier** » Sat Oct 12, 2002 1:46 am

Donald wrote:
pinguino79 wrote:...what may sound weird is that Latin grammar is more similar to German
I think it has to do with the translation of the Holy Bible by Martin Luther. Luther sort of created the actual standard version of the German language. I believe he made it as complicate as Latin, so it made a well educated impression. A less structured language would have seemed less competent.

I am not sure of that... I have read that people of the Roman Empire spoke latin, but also their local languages. At the end of the empire, the "Barbarians" imported and mixed their languages with latin.

My brother (french teacher) told me that french is the perfect mix of latin and german. Our grammar is germanic, even if the roots are latin and greek! After all, France is the little sister of the Francs (Carolus Magnus), as Germany is.

Our languages are cousins. Hungarian and Finnish are very different from german/italian/french/english/dutch...

Luther came later after the end of the roman empire...

Antti · Post by **Antti** » Sun Oct 13, 2002 4:33 pm

Olivier wrote: Where is the latin part of the forum

Founding it was the real reason for posting this topic in the first place.

Olivier wrote:Hungarian and Finnish are very different from german/italian/french/english/dutch...

But still Hungarian and Finnish are so different from each other that I can't understand any Hungarian. The relativity between these languages was only discovered by linguists. They say that from a long distance you can't tell the difference between Finnish and Hungarian

Skylimit · Post by **Skylimit** » Sun Oct 13, 2002 7:11 pm

Olivier wrote: Where is the latin part of the forum

Does the Vatican issue notes then... ? I heard somewhere that even the pope himself does not speak correct Latin ...

What does the forum think about staying in power until you die ... Isn't that something left over from the Dark Ages ?

Olivier · Post by **Olivier** » Sun Oct 13, 2002 10:35 pm

Antti wrote:
Olivier wrote: Where is the latin part of the forum

Founding it was the real reason for posting this topic in the first place.

Well why not... Let's open a poll!

Olivier · Post by **Olivier** » Sun Oct 13, 2002 10:38 pm

Skylimit wrote:
What does the forum think about staying in power until you die ... Isn't that something left over from the Dark Ages ?

The last absolute monarchy in Europe...