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Chesterton
Textkit Neophyte
Posts: 12
Joined: Tue Jul 08, 2014 8:37 pm

Hello

Post by Chesterton »

Hello everyone,

I just joined and would like to introduce myself. I have been learning Latin through self-study, on and off, for about four years now. My studying has been much more “off” than “on”, and I estimate I have spent only about six or seven months actually learning. I am currently working through the first volume of Lingua Latina again and will read chapter XXXV today.

My most consistent and intensive period of study was from the beginning of January 2013 to the second week of April 2013, when I studied for at least two hours a day. At that point, I had gone through the first five chapters of Roma Aeterna and had worked with portions of various other books. From the middle of April 2013 until the beginning of June 2014, I did not study, except for occasional reviews of the declensions and conjugations. For the past month I have been going back through Familia Romana along with Colloquia Personarum. After today, I plan to go back through cap. XXV-XXXV of Familia Romana while reading the corresponding chapter of Fabulae Syrae.

I would like to learn Greek as well, but I have not yet begun studying it. I would first like to solidify my knowledge of Latin and French (which I have been studying longer than Latin).

Phil-
Textkit Neophyte
Posts: 85
Joined: Tue May 27, 2014 12:44 am
Location: USA

Re: Hello

Post by Phil- »

Welcome! I'm new here too. Lingua Latina has helped me more than anything to start reading instead of translating Latin, though I'm I'm still far from fluent. Your plan to solidify your Latin before tackling Greek sounds good. I took Greek at school on a whim before I knew any Latin, and it was really difficult because I was clueless about the grammar of inflected languages, even though I am a native speaker of Portuguese. Shortly afterwards I started studying Latin, and the Latin courses I used gave a much better introduction to inflections. But if you have a handle on the concept of inflections, you can jump into Greek anytime. (Though that's easier said than done, in my experience...)

I'm curious about your username. Are you a fan of G.K. Chesterton? I really got into his books a couple years ago. Really good stuff, and always entertaining :mrgreen:

Chesterton
Textkit Neophyte
Posts: 12
Joined: Tue Jul 08, 2014 8:37 pm

Re: Hello

Post by Chesterton »

Thanks for the welcome! I have been starting to change my mind about beginning Greek. Latin is coming along better than I expected, and I learned all of the declensions, conjugations, and basic grammatical concepts before beginning Lingua Latina. I would like to begin with Homer, and I have both Pharr's Homeric Greek and Schoder and Horrigan's Reading Course in Homeric Greek, along with Cunliffe's Lexicon and the Oxford Classical Text of the Iliad, so I am well stocked with resources.

Yes, my name is a reference to G. K. Chesterton. He is probably my favourite author. I am glad to know there are other people reading him!

Phil-
Textkit Neophyte
Posts: 85
Joined: Tue May 27, 2014 12:44 am
Location: USA

Re: Hello

Post by Phil- »

It sounds like you're well equipped for the Iliad. I dipped into the first book once, with Pharr, and I hope to return to it sometime when my Greek is better. I also used this handy website: http://www.ancientgreekonline.com/Iliad/IliadBook1.htm.

Here's some Latin from Chesterton:

'"Omnibus" may seem at first sight a more difficult thing to swallow--if I may be allowed a somewhat gigantesque figure of speech. This, it may be said, is a Cockney and ungainly modern word, as it is certainly a Cockney and ungainly modern thing. But even this is not true. The word "omnibus" is a very noble word with a very noble meaning and even tradition. It is derived from an ancient and adamantine tongue which has rolled it with very authoritative thunders: quod ubique, quod semper, quod ab omnibus. It is a word really more human and universal than republic or democracy. A man might very consistently build a temple for all the tribes of men, a temple of the largest pattern and the loveliest design, and then call it an omnibus.' -- from "Lamp-Posts" in The Uses of Diversity

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