ἀρχή = beginning

Homeric Greek here I come. I was so excited to hear the long-awaited Greek course would soon begin on May 23rd (Shavuos, as it turns out - I started early). There are about a dozen of us at the moment, but it's early yet (I hope enough people stick it out to keep the group going).

We're using A Reading Course in Homeric Greek (book 1), and I've heard such good things about it. It contains 120 chapters, which sounds intimidating, but the chapters are very short (meant to be covered in a 50-minute class at a university). The first 60 chapters cover basic grammar and vocabulary while the final 60 have passages from The Odyssey, introducing more grammar and vocabulary as they come up. Although there is a second book, this one is self-contained,

"providing a solid foundation for further reading in Homer or in other Greek authors. Nevertheless, the student who cannot go on in Greek beyond the present course will find satisfaction in having repeatedly seen and used within the course itself every principle that he has learned. The book, then, forms a unit in itself, offering material of intrinsic worth and interest; it is not merely a preparation for something else."

Lesson 4 was due today, and I just completed lesson 5 (due Saturday). Although all lessons are relatively short (compared to the monsters in Wheelock's Latin especially), the first five go especially quickly. (Once we get to lesson 6, when the grammar instruction starts, it goes to two lessons per week.) What? No grammar yet?

Here's what we've covered so far:

• alphabet
• sounds
• pitch & syllable length
• marks (pitch, breathing, & punctuation)

The theme of lessons 6-15 is the noun. Thanks to Latin*, I'll have an easier time with lesson 6. Greek has four cases - everything Latin does except for the ablative. I wonder if the Greek dative absorbs what would be expressed with the ablative in Latin. Surely I'll find out soon.

* As for Latin, I'm still behind Themis. I'm matching their pace but not catching up. Although I can do it on my own, it's nice to be able to compare answers and the accountability of due dates.

racing

Spending Chol HaMoed studying Latin - isn't that what everyone does? I thought so.

I've now finished chapter 9 of Wheelock's Latin - that's two chapters in the last week. For next week, Themis has all of chapter 11, while Prometheus is doing the first half of chapter 13. If I stay focused, I can catch up to Themis in a week. I'm so close I can taste it.

Once I catch up to Themis, I'll keep pace, doing one chapter a week. What will I do with the extra time? Stay tuned.

Latin update

A week and a half ago I started Latin. Now on the sixth chapter, I find it's not as difficult as I originally suspected. And so the Latin proverb I read this morning seemed appropriate:

"Non quia difficilia sunt, non audemus; sed quid non audemus, difficilia sunt." ~~ Seneca

(Translation: "It is not because things are difficult that we do not dare; but it is because we do not dare that things are difficult.") "Audemus" must be related to the word "audacious." Latin as an audacious undertaking - I like that.

After that first crack at Wheelock's Latin, I found I was going through it too quickly. I added in a couple supplementary resources: the workbook and Grote's A Comprehensive Guide to Wheelock's Latin. Grote's guide isn't necessary, and I'm occasionally turned off by his flippant style, but it has helped each chapter's grammar to stick in my brain. After going through a chapter of Grote, I don't have to refer back to the grammar while working through exercises - I have it down cold. The workbook I use for extra practice, especially with vocabulary since somehow my flash cards went missing for almost a week (they turned up, crumpled and stained, under the sofa cushions - mea culpa for leaving them within reach of a 38" tall mischief maker). I fell into a rhythm after a few chapters:

1) study grammar/vocabulary in Wheelock's
2) read the corresponding chapter in Grote
3) work through the sentences/translations in Wheelock's *
4) do the workbook for extra practice

* Once I realized I could easily get through 2+ chapters per week, even slowing myself down with the extra resources, I went to buy a little notebook in which to write my answers because the random loose leaf sheets I had been using had already begun to grow feet and walk off.

I'll be in Mazatlán for eight days starting this Saturday. When I come back, 38 Latin Stories by Anne H. Groton should be waiting for me - it's designed to be used concurrently with Wheelock's Latin (unlike Wheelock's Reader, a sort of sequel). This sounds exactly like what I'm looking for - more depth, not just busywork.

No Yes?

I once caught a show-off student of Chinese trying to intimidate new students by warning them that Chinese had a different word for "yes" and "no" for each question! That's largely true, but not the slightest bit difficult. [. . .] When you pose a question in Chinese you present both alternatives. Thus, "Are you going?" becomes "You go not go?" or "Are you going or not?" If you are going, the word for "yes" to that question is "go." If you're not going, you say, "Not go" (Barry Farber, How to Learn Any Language 160).

When I asked C (who had 3 years of Latin at his Jesuit high school) if "sī" meant "yes" as well as "if," he told me there's no word for "yes." I recalled the above passage: "Just like Chinese!" I don't know any Chinese outside "mother scolds the horse," but good ol' Barry comes through again. I can almost forgive him for dissing Latin.

Latin: The New Knitting

I've been cautious about when and to whom I mention this endeavor. The last time I told C that I was going to teach myself something - knitting for my 2004 New Year's resolution - he couldn't stop laughing. Then when he realized it wasn't a joke, he attempted to talk me out of it, saying I would just frustrate myself for nothing. You see, I had a reputation for being the least domestic woman alive. Fortunately, I'm also among the most stubborn determined people alive.

The first day, the cat's foam bed was repeatedly stabbed with knitting needles after being able to produce not a single stitch after hours and hours. I took a day off to regroup. I began to collect knitting books, hoping other books would offer better illustrations. By the end of the month, I had knitted my first square, but not just any square - yes, after more than 80 hours of knitting self-instruction, I had my very own square, complete with superglue where I didn't understand how to join in new yarn. I baby stepped my way to improving my knitting - each project was a little more difficult than the last. By autumn, I was knitting sweaters, lace, and cables, and they were beautiful. Two years later, most non-knitters are in awe of what I knit, and they have a hard time believing I ever struggled with it.

I hate to sound cocky, but if a domestically-disinclined person can teach herself to knit, surely a linguistically-inclined person can teach herself Latin, eh?

LINGVA LATINA

My original plan was to start Classical Greek in November when I get back from Mazatlán. I thought it best to wait to commit so I wouldn't be sidetracked by vacation after just two weeks. I would start Latin in 2007. In all honesty, if I could only learn one, Greek would win hands down. But as it happens, I discovered Atrium Latin through the website for Wheelock's Latin, and when I saw that a class started a couple weeks earlier, I asked the moderator if it would be possible to join the fall/winter class, but I fully expected to be told it was too late, so I asked to be put on the late January waiting list. To my surprise, I was told I was more than welcome if I could catch up quickly. Having studied seven languages in college, three being Romance languages, I chose to catch up with the fall class.

C thought I could use some time to myself this weekend since E (our daughter) had skipped her nap three days straight. Now, a sane person might choose to take a bubble bath, meditate, or putz around in the garden. Me? I couldn't wait to dig into Latin. (It's a sickness, I know.) When C and E returned an hour later, I was just finishing up chapter 1, including making flash cards à la How to Learn Any Language (ironically, its author knows a billion languages - everything but Latin, against which he still holds a 9th-grade grudge). I submitted my responses to be collated, and with that, I have officially caught up with two weeks after an hour's work. I expect the following chapters to take more time and effort; nevertheless, I'm encouraged. At the leisurely pace of a chapter every two weeks, I can do this - I can fit this into my life, even being a SAHM to a pint-sized tornado.