So, I am taking Ancient Greek @ UF right now, which is gorgeous btw, but I miss Latin. I never thought I would say this but it's easier. The class I am taking is accelerated and they were not joking. It's day 3 and we have: learned a new alphabet and its pronunciation, learned the 1st and 2nd declensions of nouns, and learned the present, imperfect, future, and aorist tenses in the indicative active. whoa. Oh, Latin! How I miss thee! Let me count the ways...
I miss that you only have 4 principle parts as opposed to 6!
I miss that your perfect tense is not split into 2 tenses!
I miss that you only have 2 moods!
And most of all, I miss your alphabet!
; P
-Anne
P.S. I almost forgot! I miss the ablative case too! And even though the alphabet is foreign when I look at the page and actually understand it, it is extremely satisfying. Almost as satisfying as translating De Brevitate Vitae...but not quite!
3 comments:
Hey girl!
Wonderful to hear from you---how is Gainesville? Do you like it better than Tampa? (You better NOT!). I hear you with the whole ancient Greek thing; and I started learning ancient Greek in the 7th grade! I mean, it's wonderful and everything, but there is a music and a peace and a regularity in Latin that I find so soothing...oh, and you are totally right about the alphabet too---nothing like the Latin alphabet (don't you just hate it when people call it the "English alphabet"??!!!). I am speaking at a conference at the University of Crete (my alma mater) next week, and I wrote my entire talk phonetically in modern Greek but using the Latin alphabet simply because it soothes my eyes...ok, I know I am a weird Greek! Anyway Anne, come back soon, keep posting on your summer adventures, and think of Catullus in the fall! And so check out the website for the conference in Crete and see if you can read the Greek words:
http://www.philology.uoc.gr/conferences/tropheia/
More soon!
Dr. M,
Gainesville is not better than Tampa! Although, UF is definitely a more beautiful campus than USF. : ( That's crazy and really cool that you wrote your speech phonetically! I totally know what you mean though because there were some words in Anc. Greek that just kept confusing me so I did that. Words that begin with psi and chi are weird to me. I think its the trident shape! and chi I want to pronounce like x. So like pseukay=soul or kora=land. There is just a simplicity about Latin that I never realized or appreciated.
Anne
PS. If you read this, how does anc. Greek differ from Modern?
I miss Latin too, Anne, though I'm not taking another language now. I've been translated a little, but it's not the same as going to class... I hope you're all having fun on your summer adventures!
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