Audio?

Thank you both for your kind words! :smiley: But surely there’s always room for improvements. For example, I missed some long vowels, particularly at the end of adverbs, and there’s also some instances of aspiration (damn germanism!). I also struggle with such things as nasalization and peculiarities like “thick L”, neither of witch exists in my native language (Swedish).

Oh, and I would like to ask about my phrase intonation. Does it seem foreign, strange to you? (I.e. in a bad way.) It seems to be the general impression that Swedish sounds a bit like “singing” (see e.g. the Swedish Chef from the Muppets), and I fear that I carry over some of that to my Latin. It is of course, as noted, difficult to know with certainty how the Romans spoke, but I would guess at least that Italian is a better model than Swedish in this regard. :wink: Problem is, I don’t really know Italian…

Of those sound files that have been posted in this thread, I very much like those of Lucus Eques, not the least because of the Italianate accent.

As for the elisions, I was actually worried that there were too few of them! In some cases I find they come very naturally, e.g. “ses(e)”, and particularly “atqu(e)” and “nequ(e)”, while in other cases I had to force myself to make them (e.g. “quar(um) ex vestigiis”). In some cases I didn’t elide, even though I’m in retrospect wish I had (“pondere affligunt”), while in some cases I deliberately avoided it (read “couldn’t force myself to it”), as in “una ipsae”. I generally feel a bit uneasy about eliding long vowels, particularly in stressed words, but maybe I should do it more? I don’t know.

It is made with a Samson C10U USB mic. It’s a pretty convenient design, with mic, amplifier and D/A-converter in one package (the USB cable transmits digital data), which means that you don’t even need a sound card to record (though it of course will come in handy if you want to actually hear what you have recorded :wink:). The drawback is of course that it is as good as it gets, and if you want to upgrade to even better quality, more mics (e.g. for stereo), mixing capabilities, etc., you will basically have to replace it altogether, I think.

I’m generally fairly pleased with it, though it has a bit more static than I had expected, which means that I have to hold it pretty close to my mouth while recording, so as to make the recorded sound louder (i.e. making the volume difference between the desired sound and the static as big as possible).

Salve, Alati!

Yes, there is always room for improvement. But my philosophy is “as long as everyone can understand you.”

I’m not too crazy about elisions in prose, as people tend to make them systematic as in verse, and it doesn’t sound natural. For example, in English one could say: “this man’s a Roman,” but you would not say that all the time, sometimes you would say: “this man is a Roman.” So, elisions should be, IMO, sporadic, not systematic.

But, anyway, great job! :wink:

Oh, and you definitely do not sound Swedish!

Cantator, Amadeus, LucusEques,

I would like to show some contemporary Latin to my children. Would one of you be interested in recording Cattus Petasitus or Winnie Ille Pu Semper Ludet?

Gratias, Vale,
Rusticus

I’m planning to record some new readings Real Soon Now, I’ll be happy to add some passages from Winnie Ille Pu.

You’re sure the kids wouldn’t like to hear Rimbaud’s Jugurtha ? :wink:

Best,

dp

I’m just reading Sallustii Bella Jugurthina, actually!

I’ll take the Cattus — where do I find the text?

Actually, do you know Ferdinandus Taurus? It’s one I have and very good.

Me paenitet, sed hunc non scio. But I could buy it. It’s only about $14. Maybe I could scan the pages of Cattus Petasatus and PDF them to you. It would be about 30 pages. Whatever.

Horace Odes Book One have now been posted to the Latinum Podcast.

http://latinum.mypodcast.com

The site had 47 000 file downloads last month.

New material has arrived from Dr. Matt Dillon, only one example posted so far, a Catullus poem, more to come…

Bennett’s list of words with hidden long vowels before two consonants has been posted…

All the Adler material has been reformatted, to follow the lessons of the textbook more closely:
The structure of all the Adler lessons is now as follows:

Part A - Grammar with some illustrations

Part B - Expanded illustrations, no grammar unless specified, English and Latin ( lesson one also has English-German, and another English-French)

Part C - As above, but the Latin only, read slowly, then at a faster pace.

Part D - Questions in Latin for you make up answers to.

Part E - - (yet to be added) - answers, you provide the possible question that lead to the answer.

http://latinum.mypodcast.com


Alder’s textbook is freely available through Google Books, and may be downloaded. Search for it using the terms “Adler Latin Perpetual”. I have written to Google about the poor quality of the scan, and they have replied, saying they will do something about it.

-Evan.

Well, after several tries (ad nauseam) I recorded a short part (the beginning actually) of C. Marius’ speech to the Romans when he was about to wage war against Iugurtha. It is a courageous speech of one who does not possess any military medals to show off now that he has been made a noble, yet is more knowledgeable in matters of war than many of his peers.

Disclaimers:

-This text is the one you’ll find in Lingua Latina, cap. LII.
-I do not yet know how to italianize (?) Latin; the accent you’ll hear is Mexican Spanish.
-There are a few long vowels which I pronounced short, this is due to clumsiness on my part. :blush:
-I’m still working on the pronunciation of the semi-consontant U.
-I do not like the sound of my voice on recordings, so I edited it to make it sound “thicker” (plus I added some echo). :stuck_out_tongue:

Click here to listen!

«Quirites! Bellum me gerere cum Iugurtha iussistis, quam rem nobilitas aegerrime tulit. Quaeso, reputate cum animis vestris, num id mutare melius sit, si quem ex illo globo nobilitatis ad hoc aut aliud tale negotium mittatis, hominem multarum imaginum --et nullius stipendi. Ita plerumque evenit, ut, quem vos imperare iussistis, is sibi imperatorem alium quaerat. Atque ego scio, Quirites, qui postquam consules facti sunt, et acta maiorum et Graecorum militaria praecepta legere coeperint. Comparate nunc, Quirites, cum illorum superbia me hominem novum! Quae illi audire aut legere solent, eorum partem vidi, alia egomet gessi; quae illi litteris, ea ego militando didici.»

This is Caius Marius again! :stuck_out_tongue:

Click here to listen!

Non possum fidei causa imagines neque triumphos aut consulatus maiorum meorum ostentare, at, si res postulet, hastas, uexillum, phaleras, alia militaria dona, praeterea cicatrices aduerso corpore. Hae sunt meae imagines, haec nobilitas, non hereditate relicta, ut illa illis, sed quae ego meis plurimis laboribus et periculis quaesiui.

Now for something easier: Ritchie’s Fabulae Faciles. These are the first three “chapters” of Perseus.

Click here to listen!

Haec narrantur a poetis de Perseo. Perseus filius erat Iovis, maximi deorum; avus eius Acrisius appellabatur. Acrisius volebat Perseum nepotem suum necare; nam propter oraculum puerum timebat. Comprehendit igitur Perseum adhuc infantem, et cum matre in arca lignea inclusit. Tum arcam ipsam in mare coniecit. Danae, Persei mater, magnopere territa est; tempestas enim magna mare turbabat. Perseus autem in sinu matris dormiebat.

Iuppiter tamen haec omnia vidit, et filium suum servare constituit. Tranquillum igitur fecit mare, et arcam ad insulam Seriphum perduxit. Huius insulae Polydectes tum rex erat. Postquam arca ad litus appulsa est, Danae in harena quietem capiebat. Post breve tempus a piscatore quodam reperta est, et ad domum regis Polydectis adducta est. Ille matrem et puerum benigne excepit, et iis sedem tutam in finibus suis dedit. Danae hoc donum libenter accepit, et pro tanto beneficio regi gratias egit.

Perseus igitur multos annos ibi habitabat, et cum matre sua vitam beatam agebat. At Polydectes Danaen magnopere amabat, atque eam in matrimonium ducere volebat. Hoc tamen consilium Perseo minime gratum erat. Polydectes igitur Perseum dimittere constituit. Tum iuvenem ad se vocavit et haec dixit: “Turpe est hanc ignavam vitam agere; iam dudum tu adulescens es. Quo usque hic manebis? Tempus est arma capere et virtutem praestare. Hinc abi, et caput Medusae mihi refer.”

(As you can hear, I’ve removed the echo in consideration for those with hearing disabilities [that means you, Luke! :laughing: ] )

Hi, Amadeus,
I have heard it very good, it is not recited with the English accent in Latin, which is the most usual when I hear Latin from Internet. I have specially enjoyed the h pronunciation.
Thanks your your recordings.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=sUV2YWxmexc (It is the recording of a Latin teacher from Spain.)

By the way, I have listened to a certain recording of Lucus Eques at his Web Page. Brilliant!

Heh, quid juvat obscurare vocem tuam praeclaram inutili resonantia, amice? :slight_smile: Optime vero fecisti! mihi perplacet valde, atque exspecto multas novas incisiones tuas!

Ac Gonzalo, nimis es benignus!

Thanks for those recordings Amadeus! :smiley: Always a pleasure to hear good readings. The only thing, really, that I wanted to change when I heard it was your final -m, which I would try to reduce a bit more to nasalized vowels.

As for “italianizing”, I think I know what you mean, but I don’t know if it is necessary. As I said, while we have a fair idea about how to pronounce the individual letters, it is of course very difficult, if not impossible, to know about the accent of the Romans. To then adapt an italianate touch seems like a logical solution – and is surely a good idea if your native language is not a Romance one – but surely Spanish would be just as good a model? I mean, isn’t it entirely possible that the characterstics of Italian are a later development, and that Spanish retains more of the original accent?

Anyhow, subjective as it is, I think your accent was fully agreeable. Oh, and it sounded much better, I think, without the echo.

It depends what you mean by Italianizing.

Well, it’s of course a bit difficult to discuss without defining the concept… What I had in mind were mainly suprasegmental features, like intonation. Maybe Amadeus meant something different.

Anyhow, when you say it depends, do you have any special features of Italian in mind, which you think would be superior when applied to Latin compared to the corresponding Spanish features?

i want to play this game too! however the mic i have is very low quality. it is not though that it is impossible to hear, but headphones might be needed. [weirdly the sheesh sound desappears] does this circuntances qualifies to submission? :smiley:

Tag, you’re it Robert! :laughing: Of course, you can submit your recordings, we need more people to revive this thread. It is very important to hear Latin, not just read it, if we ever want to be fluent in that language.

¿Y tu nieve? :laughing: Just kidding, I’ll consider that next time I record myself.

To then adapt an italianate touch seems like a logical solution – and is surely a good idea if your native language is not a Romance one – but surely Spanish would be just as good a model? I mean, isn’t it entirely possible that the characterstics of Italian are a later development, and that Spanish retains more of the original accent?

You know, I hadn’t thought of that. Many Romans did in fact come from Spain… I wonder if I should stick with my plain (literally plain) accent, or switch to the more colorful Italian accent. :bulb:

Vale!

P.S.: Please don’t ask me too much about phonetics or phonology or other really advanced stuff. I confess to being pretty much ignorant of such things. :stuck_out_tongue:

Edit: Oooh, 500 posts, I like that.

I liked the accent of that Spaniard, when he announced the election of the new pope. It was very lively and I felt, as though I had travelled a few hundred years back in time.