REBILII CRUSONIS ANNALIUM

REBILII CRUSONIS ANNALIUM
La primera, Robinson Crusoe, de Daniel DEFOE, la encontramos en la traducción de F.W. Newman.
Rebilii Crusonis Annalium. Id est liber cui titulus Robinson Crusoe a F.W. Newman in Latinum sermonem translatus,
y en la versión de F.J. Goffaux.
Latine scripsit F. J. GOFFAUX, Humaniorum Litterarum Professor in Lycoeo Imperiali. Editio nova, cui accedunt annotationes.
Podemos leer información en latín sobre la novela en este artículo de wikipedia.

ALICIA IN TERRA MIRABILI
Alice in Wonderland ('Alicia en el País de las Maravillas'), de Louis CARROLL, en la traducción de Clive Harcourt Carruthers.
Alicia in terra mirabili, ab auctore Ludovico Carroll. Latine redditus ab eius fautore vetere gratoque Clive Harcourt Carruthers.
Artículo en wikipedia latina.




INSULA THESAURARIA
Treasure Island ('La Isla del Tesoro'), de Robert L. STEVENSON, traducida por Arcadius Avellanus.
Insula Thesauraria, ab auctore Roberto Ludovico Stevenson. Latine interpretatus est Arcadius Avellanus, New York 1922.
Artículo sobre Stevenson en wikipedia latina.





Las cuatro siguientes obras han sido traducidas por Thomas Cotton, y están alojadas en la web http://www.phaselus.org.uk/

CARMEN AD FESTUM NATIVITATIS LIBER
A Christmas Carol ('Cuento de Navidad'), de Charles DICKENS, en la versión latina de Thomas Cotton.
Carmen ad Festum Nativitatis. Liber pernotus Carolo Dickens clarissimo primum A.D. MDCCCXLIII editus; persaepe scrinio vel cinematico vel televisorio visus, scaena quoque; radiophonice auditus; nunc in linguam Latinam conversus auctore Thomas Cotton.
En wikipedia latina.


CAPTIVUS ZENDAE
The Prisoner of Zenda ('El prisionero de Zenda'), de Anthony HOPE, traducida por Thomas Cotton.
Captivus Zendae. Liber inlustris Antonio Hope primum A.D. MCMVII editus; scrinio vel cinematico vel televisorio visus; nunc de Anglico sermone in Latinum conversus auctore Thomaso Cotton.





FUNDUS ANIMALIUM
Animal Farm ('Rebelión en la granja'), de George ORWELL, por Thomas Cotton.
Fundus Animalium. Liber celeberrimus Georgii Orwell primum A.D. MCMXLV editus; ubique per mundo notus; nunc de Anglico sermone in Latinum conversus auctore Thomaso Cotton.
En wikipedia latina.




AURAE INTER SALICES
The Wind In The Willows ('El viento en los sauces'), de Kenneth GRAHAME, por Thomas Cotton.
Aurae Inter Salices. Liber celeberrimus Kennethi Grahame primum A.D. MCMVII editus; ubique pernotus; nunc de Anglico sermone in Latinum conversus auctore Thomaso Cotton.

Brisbane on his Manesca Lessons

….Albert Brisbane pg 60

regarding what to bring, he mentioned only copybook and pencil. I asked if I should bring my grammar. "No!" said he, "you want no grammars. They are made by grown men who know nothing of the requirements of a child. Why, they are almost too complex for me" , he added.

On commencing my studies with Mr Manseca, I was at once impressed by the naturalness of his method, and I felt a thrill of pleasure at the idea of being able to comprehend what I had hitherto considered beyond my capacity. Seating me at a table, with a blank sheet of paper before me:” Draw a line through the middle” he said, On the left put the English and on the right the French. How write, “Have you?” The French, that is, avez vous? Below it put ‘I have’, in French J’ai. Now pronounce avez vous. I repeated it after him. J’ai, he continued. I followed him again. Avez-vous? He asked. J’ai, I answered. Now, he said, put down The bread – Le Pain. He spelled it for me, and said: the last consonant in French is not pronounced when not followed by a vowel. Then he asked, avez vous le pain. I answered, j’ai le pain. To this was added the salt, the wine, the butter, the sugar, and so forth, with the negative form of the verb and some adjectives, and we entered into at once quite a conversation of questions and answers on the common necessaries of life. After an hour of such exercise I had fifteen or twenty words at my tongue’s end. I remember that on returning to the French Boarding house, to dinner, I rather astonished the persons present by asking in a very confident manner, Avez vous le vin? Avez vous le bon vin?

This first lesson was a revelation to me. I was overjoyed to find a method that I could understand, something at which I could work intelligently; and in my joyous energy I wrote out four foolscap pages of composition. When I returned to Manesca the next day, he was astonished at my voluminous exercises, for he rarely got over half a page from his pupils, he told me. The French lessons, thus started, went on very rapidly. He explained to me afterwards that the secret was in the quantity of compositions that I wrote. “Writing” he said, is the most important part of study. With me you have verbal instruction, with yourself, you have sight and touch.

I gave so much diligence to the subject, and mastered so perfectly all he gave me to do, that finally he said: There is no use in my looking over your compositions, I find no faults.” Set up by this flattering appreciation, and desirous of knowing many things at once, I suggested one day that such and such words should be given me, offering my advice with the characteristic freedom of an American boy accustomed to rely a good deal on his own judgment, and with a strong tendency to follow out his own will. Manesca looked at me with astonishment at first, then came an expression of indignation, that a pupil should presume to dictate to him the course he should follow. What! You wish to direct your won course? Then go and do it! I will not give you any more lessons, young man; you can find another teacher.” With this, he turned away from me. I sat a while confused, and considering what was to be done. Presently, he turned around and said “Why don’t you go?” I replied, “Mr Manesca, I am not going. I know your method is the only one by which I can learn French, and I am going to stay with you.” “I won’t teach you! I would not be troubled with your suggestions and dictations for any consideration” He resumed his position, waiting for me to leave. I, however, stuck to my seat, thinking and pondering how I could mend matters. Soon, he turned again and repeated, “Why don’t you go?” I repeated in turn, “I am not going I am going to stay here and study French with you”. Another pause, when to my great relief he wheeled suddenly round, and, facing me, exclaimed: Well! Well! Go on” That was the end of suggestions on the part of the pupil. I 120 lessons I had acquired such knowledge of French that I was able to carry on a free conversation on any ordinary subject, and to write a letter with ease and fluency.

After I had completed my French, I studied Spanish and Latin on the same system. At the schools in Batavia I had studied Latin some three or four years with very little result. By the new method, I saw my way clear. As it was the difficulty of the verbs that bothered me, I traced out in big characters on a large sheet of paper the conjugations of the different classes of verbs, and pinned them up on my bedroom wall. They were constantly before my eyes, and when not engaged in other studies I would look at them. Usually in the morning, before getting up, I would run over my Latin verbs.

An encounter with the Ollendorff Method

Adler's Practical grammar is an Ollendorff.

This means, it follows exactly the methodology for aquiring a language developed by Henri Ollendorff. In the following excerpt, basil Hall describes his experience of studying German using this method. Once can satisfactorily substitute Latin for German in what follows, as Adler's textbook is in effect a Latin translation of his own English-German edition of Ollendorff's German textbook.

Skimmings, or “A winter at Schloss Hainfeld” by Basil Hall. Pg 80

"By good fortune however I fell in with a truly philosophical professor of German at Paris M Ollendorff author of a new and most luminous method of teaching that language He soon satisfied me of what I had indeed myself begun to suspect that German to be understood properly must be attacked exactly like mathematics and that as there is no royal road to knowledge in the one case so is there none in the other I gave a sigh or two over the ten months labour I had almost entirely thrown away and commenced the study anew through he medium of M Ollendorff's method which well deserves the title of the Euclid of German After six months close application I can venture to pronounce that by his method alone so far as I have been able to understand the subject can this very difficult but very charming language be taught without confusion To those who like me have none of that readiness by which instinctively as it were foreign tongues are breathed in by some people and are made use of seemingly without effort such a method is quite invaluable By it the scholar advances step by step understands clearly and thoroughly every thing he reads and as he goes on he becomes sensible that all he learns he retains and all that he retains is useful and practically applicable At the same time he scarcely knows how he has got hold of it so slightly marked are the shades of daily progression and sq gentle is the rise that he feels no unpleasant fatigue on the journey Of course the student is called upon to exert no small degree of patient application and he must consent to devote a considerable portion of his time to this pursuit but he will have the encouraging conviction that every of effort is well bestowed I wish I could persuade this admirable teacher to publish his work in English and in England and to fix himself in London where his abilities his knowledge and his skill in teaching so difficult a language in the most agreeable and patient manner I ever witnessed would soon earn for him the distinction he deserves I write in these strong terms of M Ollendorff's method because I feel convinced that a familiarity with it would go far to spread the knowledge of this delightful language in England where of all countries in the world it is most likely to be duly appreciated The almost matchless beauties of German not only from their own excellence but from their analogy to those of our own literature and the great similarity of character between the two people are calculated to produce a much greater effect with us than elsewhere Independently also of the wholesome pleasure which belongs to an elegant pursuit the study of German may do much good not only by the generous cultivation of the national taste and the vigorous exercise of individual thought which it requires but by its placing within our reach an immense store of mental merchandize in exchange for which the labour of six months is the cheapest possible payment"

I'm going to focus on Adler

I'm finding as I'm part way through a couple of grammars that I'm not doing a good job of pronouncing the vocabulary to myself in a consistent way. That's making me have to "relearn" words in a way as I'm hearing them spoken on the CD I got for Lingua Latina and hearing the Latinum podcasts. Though I realise they aren't use the same rules between them. Some of my internal attempts have been WAY off. Having then thought about it more I now realise that all my native pronunciation is probably based on "hearing" the words pronounced more than from deriving it correctly from seeing the words. So for me I think it will be a huge help to focus more on learning from sources that also have audio available than only working with a written text. So I think I'm going to focus on Adler and Lingua Latina and them come back to some of the other grammars later as additional practice once I feel I am pronouncing most of my vocabulary consistently. I think I'm going to try and stick to the way the words are pronounced on the Latinum podcasts. Now I hope I can find somewhere that has greek audio using the same approach that includes the tonal accents as I'd like to handle pronouncing accents consistently between both latin and greek to make it easier on myself. So as an aside, if anyone knows where I can find that type of greek audio samples I'd love to hear it. Back to the original topic, I'd be happy to do a combined adler/wheelock as that is sorta what I'm going to be doing anyway.

LOCŪTŌRIUM VIRTUĀLE SCHOLÆ

Si cyberpressōrium tuum super internexum qvī suprā appāret premis, qvadrātum vidēbis ubi "Screen Name" (Nōmen Cybernēticum) inscriptum est. Dēlē "Screen Name", in locum qvōrum verbōrum inscrībe deinceps in qvadrātō textuālī nōmen usōris tuum. Deinde preme cyberpressōrium tuum super spatíolum qvod iuxtā est, ubi verbum ánglicum "Log In" (Inscrībe hīc nōmen tuum ut intrēs) legitur.

Nec cryptographēma necesse est intrōdūcere nec inscriptiōnem ēlectrónicam.

In Locutōriō Virtuālī nostrō cum aliīs colloqviōrum participibus vel microphōnō vel machinā phōtographicā tēlārī vel símplice scriptiōne commūnicāre potes.

De Lingva Latina Recte Pronuntianda

De Lingva Latina Recte Pronuntianda



I found Mr. Whalen's public criticism of Evan Millner's pronunciation of Latin on the latter's website "Latinum" curious to say the least, all the more so because I am by profession a simultaneous interpreter (as well as a translator) practicing this vocation in a number of modern languages, including a few of Latin's granddaughters. Like other interpreters, I am obliged to improve continuously my language skills I have lived eight years in different foreign countries, working on one or another foreign language to gain the required vocabulary, fluency, and pronunciation. In this office I am compelled to pay due attention to the niceties of stress and intonation, especially in my non-native Spanish, French, Italian, German, Romanian, all of which I have interpreted in trials and court proceedings, lest my listeners be left scratching their heads in partial or total incomprehension.

In all this time I have not come upon one human language that does not exhibit both stress and tonality. Some languages, like English and its Germanic cousins, feature more stress than tonality, but the tones are still there and are easily heard in almost any utterance one can imagine, except perhaps from those emanating from an actor or comedian speaking in a monotone for comic or dramatic or anti-dramatic effect. Even our modern English speech, in its most atonal form, i.e., that heard from the relatively immobile mouths of U.S. Midwesterners and farmers and ranchers living on the Great Plains shows some small variation of pitch.



I cannot imagine the Latin of any period having been spoken in a monotone, especially in the Classical period. I speak to a greater or a lesser degree the five major Romance languages, and none of these offspring of Latin wants for tonal variations. Indeed, Italian, Romanian, and French have a very marked tonality in educated speech.



There may have been some backwaters in the Roman Republic or Empire where where farmers, dung-spreaders, and other locals spoke Latin with lock-jaw monotony. But I cannot believe that the philhellene optimates and litterati of Rome and other urban centers eschewed musical pitch in speaking a Latin which, of course, also featured stress. But both the abundance evidence cited by the great American linguist E. H. Sturtevant in his "The Pronunciation of Latin and Greek " and the marked musicality of Latin's children, esp. French, Italian, and Romanian convince me that Virgil did not compose his hexameters with a monotone buzzing in his ear.



If, however it is the monotonous backwater speech that Mr. Whalen wishes to impart to his pedagogical charges, he is welcome to do so, clamping his jaw shut with surgical wire and avoiding arpeggios up and down the musical scale in favor of atonality.



I am not a Latin teacher, hence do not know with what ancient Roman professions today's students of Latin might identify. But I would wager that those of "cantor" and "musicus" at the court of Augustus would win hands-down over those of "agricola" or "stercorator" on the eastern edge of Dacia (Qvid diceret Ovidius?).



As for Latin's modern avatars, it is impossible to hear a native speaker of Italian uttering that at once ancient and modern Italic word "cantare" without noting the delightfully falling interval of a musical fifth, a characteristic of the Italian language that Verdi and Donizetti exploited to such great advantage and which did not simply appear out of nothing. It is also eerily similar to the Greek circumflex accent as described by Dionysius Halicarnassus and deftly reproduced by Mr. Millner on Latinum).



And "cantare" is what I would suggest that Mr. Whalen do a little more of, especially in his classes of Latin, lest whatever acoustic appreciation of Latin that his pedagogic charges have retained be completely obliterated by a stress-heavy or atonal pronunciation of Latin.
.
John Doublier