Hello! Firstly, I’d like to say that if you were waiting on the February short stories review post, it’s coming! I have it in a word document as a draft but things are pretty frantic right now and I’m going to carve up some time this weekend to post it! Am examining an MA dissertation, a PhD dissertation, and checking the dissertation of my own PhD student, plus supervision (I have 8 PhD supervisees, 1 MA, 2 final year), plus a mountain of grading, plus articles to submit, plus a research grant proposal to correct, plus redtape for two events I am chairing. Phew. Okay. How can one NOT have a panic attack, given all of the above and the messed up state of our planet? ANYWAY:
My language learning notes for right now are short and sweet:
- Since March and April are going to be intense, and since I’d really like to get my Duolingo French from Unit 4 to Unit 5, I’m going to be only doing French and Latin till May. I already miss learning the other languages but I think twice a year I should do this so I don’t neglect French which is the language I’m the most proficient in but which has been going really slowly since I added more languages.
- Latin! I finally figured out the indicative and subjunctive moods in essence, although it will take some time for me to memorise and internalise a lot of the personal endings. I already have internalised that indicative has six tenses, and subjunctive has four, and for some reason subjunctive (according to Moreland and Fleischer) has no future tenses. Anyway, the other main Latin news is that I have a new tutor. Sooner than next year! I’m so glad I decided not to wait because this whole subjunctive/indicative thing has been driving me nuts for weeks. Okay, grammar nerd dw i. Anyway, I worked through some Latin during my lunch hour and a bit more during the evening, having read Unit Two twice. I think March is basically going to be all about Unit Two!
Everything needs very careful juggling since I am so not willing to give up on Latin. I feel very relieved that I am back to learning Latin with a tutor. I do have regrets ending it with previous tutor because of how bonkers my schedule was and ensuing panic attack but — sometimes things cannot be helped and fatalistic as I am, I just think that lessons were supposed to end. So far, I am quite optimistic with this new beginning! Onwards and upwards. Learning Latin has been a lifelong dream.
cheeky postscript: Working on the drills for the subjunctive mode had me thinking of Janet Jackson’s “If” (video removed because it’s a little racy and I try to keep my sites family — and student — friendly).
May wind up translating said song into Latin at some point because that is how I roll 😉
It amuses me when people assume I want to learn Latin for ecclesiastical reasons. No, I want to read Horace and Homer, and Catullus and if I find racy tracts in the classics, I shall read/translate them with absolute relish. Plus, I’ll always be part-Stoic, and to be able to read my dear Marcus Aurelius in Latin would be ace.
Anyway, it’s a no-brainer that a literature doctorate possessing a medieval/Renaissance obsession with one foot in philosophy would want to learn the languages of the Classics, no? And working with Latin really helps further understanding of all of the Romance languages, which is why the language acquisition part of my brain is far more efficient these days.
Now, if only I could memorize perfectly all of the declensions and conjugations. At least I can now tell ablative, accusative and genitive cases apart. A bit iffy on the dative.