Showing Visitor Messages 1 to 5 of 5
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That's the idea - you basically learn backwards. That's what I do; say, for example, that we understood no Latin at all. I would probably learn its most modern incarnations (Italian/Romanian/Spanish) and listen to various dialects near where Latin was a strong language (say, Rome). Based on how common certain sounds and phrases are (say, if Sicily says nuevo and Rome nuovo, and Florence neuava, I know that the letter 'a' is not in the Latin word because Florence is far from the source and Sicily and Rome, which are closer, are way closer together).
If it works in reverse, it can work the other way, too. I can take my Latin language skills, sample audio of Italian, and understand modern Italian that way. It's an awkward process, but absolutely awesome.
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What sort of Latin? There is a connection between Latin and Italian (although it doesn't make much sense to learn it - it's kind of like learning French as a way to better one's English), but Latin's a really broken language.
It's probably High Latin that you learned. Still, that's rather unusual - thanks for sharing! Personally, I didn't much like Latin, either - it's wickedly complicated and the vocalizations (the syllables) are hard. It's still important, though.
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Heh - true enough. I'm working on a pile of languages (I'm a linguhistorian by profession - that means I research old languages and try to preserve them): Mayan, Buryat, Khalkha, Navajo, and, believe it or not, Klingon. Yep - Star Trek's Klingon. It's a linguist's nightmare, which means that we want to try to figure it out.
Trouble is, nobody writes in my 'in-training' languages. Parlez-vous francais? Kannen U sprechen Vlaams?...Those are my only European languages. I intend to pick up German, Italian and Danish at some point, but, with the way research is going, that'll be when I'm retired...
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Thanks, man! Now that I see it, it makes a lot of sense.
That's actually a really good idea - my family's from Belgium, and we all speak Flemish to some degree. Thing is, my Flemish is really weak, and I'm always having trouble understanding things on the phone or in letters or whatever. I never thought to use forums - good call! Your command of English is impeccable in writing - is English common in Italy? I'd imagine not so much as in Belgium (almost everyone speaks it to some degree).
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Yo man! I have a comment and a question for you:
First, since it says you're from Italy (and thus, I assume you speak some form of Italian), how do you say happy birthday in Italian? A friend of mine in Italy is having his birthday there, so I thought it would be good fun.
Also, I was reading your post about the 3DS - the past tense of the word 'buy' is 'bought'. It's a stupid irregular verb, like 'see' (which becomes 'saw') and feel (which becomes 'felt'). I don't mean to sound arrogant - your English is amazing for it being a second (or third, or fourth, or whatever) language - but I just thought I'd let you know for the future.
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