Hello from old lurker, recent member, finally new poster

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lindylars
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Hello from old lurker, recent member, finally new poster

Post by lindylars »

Hello folks. In response to this thread (which I have given a personal nickname of "The Lamentations of Jeff") :) I am taking the time to make a hopefully brief introduction. My name is Ron, historically a software engineer by trade although I have been unemployed for several months now. I am one class shy of finishing a Master's in Software Engineering, which I have put on hold because of the necessity/craziness of paying the bills, etc. In case you are asking "So what does an unemployed software engineer do exactly?" the answer is a simple "whatever it takes" with the expected restrictions of course! :wink: Anyway during this hiatus from daily technical pursuits I decided, among other activities, to pick back up on my language studies.

I grew up "sort of" bilingual overseas (English and Filipino) and in college (here in the States) completed a year of Japanese and Russian. I also studied Mandarin for a couple of terms at a local Chinese school (class was primarily for prospective adoptive parents of Chinese orphans so I was one of the few "learning-only for self-enrichment" types). Previously, my closest exposure to Latin was (some of you will love this) all-male Catholic high school overseas although by the time I went through (let's just say Reagan was still president and leave it at that) organized Latin classes were no longer in vogue so what little you got was mostly through involvement in Church matters. So between other classes and pool, err, study hall you basically got nil.

I came across Textkit when I first had a leaning towards learning New Testament Greek in particular, but as I began searching for locally obtainable resources all of these previously unnoticed/abandoned Latin texts started popping out of the woodwork so I have decided to pursue Latin for the time being (Episcopus will probably rejoice in my acquisition of several D'ooge works). I was starting out with his "Latin for Beginners" but then came across his later (1921) "Elements of Latin" so now I've decided to do an odd "parallel study" of both works. I also have some of his composition texts enroute for further study down the road. As far as Greek goes, when the time comes, I'll probably pursue a mix of Pharr's Homeric Greek and use Mounce specifically for Koine Greek.

As far as the lack of "active" participation, I have found everything that I've needed thus far by doing a search over the forum archives. I also spent the first couple of weeks on the site going through the old posts in most of the forums just to get a feel for things in general. Most of the intial "gosh gee, how do I start..." stuff has been thoroughly covered and rehashed several times (which btw only speaks well of the participants in general -- so much rudeness and impatience on other sites) so I haven't felt a need to add to the bandwidth. Once I'm up to speed or if a real stumper comes up, I promise to put in at least my two cents worth in. Otherwise make the odd post in the Open and general "learning" forums from time to time.

I'll cut this off here for now. Thank you for all of the good work and hard effort you are putting through this site! See y'all around.

Regards,
Ron Larson

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benissimus
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Post by benissimus »

Salve
flebile nescio quid queritur lyra, flebile lingua murmurat exanimis, respondent flebile ripae

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klewlis
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Post by klewlis »

Welcome here!

It's good to know that even those who lurk are learning lots and benefiting from the site.

Good luck in your studies and be sure to let us know if you need any help.
First say to yourself what you would be; then do what you need to do. ~Epictetus

MDS
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Post by MDS »

Enjoy textkit and we all hope you will continue to find everything your looking for. Obviously, if not just ask and we'll all scramble to answer you!

:idea: Off topic: I do love reading detailed and entertaining introduction threads so thanks!

Episcopus
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Post by Episcopus »

Well done for a nice introduction! Welcome! I especially liked the part about D'Ooge. I have but his Latin For Beginners and Viri Romae, the latter being an odd reader/composition/vocabulary hybrid which I must say does not please me greatly. How is his Elements of Latin?

mariek
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Post by mariek »


Hi Ron!

Welcome to Textkit! Glad you decided to come out of lurking.

Tell us more about Elements of Latin...

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Jeff Tirey
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Post by Jeff Tirey »

Hi Ron,

a most excellent introduction! thanks for making post numero uno :-)

And do tell - how is Elements different from Beginner's? What's the first copyright date on Elements?

jeff
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lindylars
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Post by lindylars »

I've posted an extended reply to inquiries on D'ooge's "Elements of Latin" on a separate thread here. But basically in a nutshell:

1. My copy has a 1921 copyright with no other impression dates so it should be Textkit-able. This has green boards like some of the copies of D'ooge's Cæsar and Cicero composition works that I've come across. My Beginners book has red boards (1909 and 1911 copyrights).
2. In the preface, D'ooge states that Elements is not a revision of the earlier Beginners book but "an entirely new book" that retains "all features of the earlier book that have been highly commended and have proved their value."
3. Text is divided into two parts: 56 lessons for the first half year, 54 for the second for a total of 110. There are also two optional lessons.
4. Vocabulary is about 500 words (Beginners claims 600ish if I recall correctly), ninety percent of these are used in Cæsar five or more times (I believe Beginners makes the same claim). Most are also supposed to be found in Cicero and Vergil.
5. Supplementary material is different than what is found in Beginners:
a. Greek myths and Roman legends "to arouse and hold the interest of the young"
b. Selections for sight translation
c. A Latin play - "Perseus and Andromeda"
d. An intro to Cæsar type story - "Baculus the Centurion"
e. A Latin songs section with piano arrangements (4 or 5 if I'm not mistaken)
f. An "Original Stories" section where 9 pictures are given with a supporting/suggested vocabulary given underneath each picture. The student is supposed to create short story based on what the viewer sees in the picture.

The lessons "seem" to be shorter on average than what I've noticed in the Beginners book (many seem to just fill a single leaf i.e. front and back). So this might be a viable option for folks with shorter attention spans, less time on a daily basis, etc. The above mentioned thread in the Learning Latin forum has more info lifted verbatim from the preface. I also have some of his composition works enroute so if anyone is interested I can go over those as well since they could be an appropriate follow up for folks just finishing the Beginners book (or Elements for that matter).

If anyone has more specific questions, just ask and I'll post what I can.

Regards,
Ron

[edited for typos]
Last edited by lindylars on Fri Jun 04, 2004 5:06 pm, edited 2 times in total.

Kopio
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Post by Kopio »

Xairein,

Welcome aboard. I am a Koine Greek major myself, and I have a few suggestions about learning that might be helpful....let me know when you're ready to start and we can chat.

Emma_85
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Post by Emma_85 »

Welcome to textkit! :D
It's good to see that some of the lurkers are 'surfacing' :lol: .
I like reading long introductions too...

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