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Luso’s Silk Thread - Yürükler, TAC Rare | ||
Tags: Arabic (classical) | Sanskrit | Arabic | Total Annihilation Challenge (TAC) | Italian | German | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log |  | |
| Luso Hexaglot Senior Member Portugal Joined 6054 days ago 819 posts - 1812 votes  Speaks: Portuguese*, French, EnglishC2, GermanB1, Italian, Spanish Studies: Sanskrit, Arabic (classical) | Message 137 of 162 16 October 2014 at 1:18am | IP Logged | ||
Our common language has a rich history in that sense. Being the first Europeans to arrive in many places, there's a high number of languages whose first bilingual dictionaries were to and from Portuguese. Apart from the very obvious (like Tupi-Guarani and other American and African languages), there was a significant proportion of South and East Asian languages in that number. Of course, there was an underlying agenda (most were compiled by Jesuits and members of other religious orders), but that was tied to that time. Be as it may, it's undeniable that bridges were built and communication achieved. Our National Library even held an exhibition on the subject. 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Luso Hexaglot Senior Member Portugal Joined 6054 days ago 819 posts - 1812 votes Speaks: Portuguese*, French, EnglishC2, GermanB1, Italian, Spanish Studies: Sanskrit, Arabic (classical) | Message 138 of 162 25 October 2014 at 10:29pm | IP Logged | ||
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Sanskrit
Thursday was the day of Diwali, and yesterday was New Year's Day for Hindus all around the world. I happen to know a couple of people in the local community and was invited to the temple for the festivities. It was all very nice: I thought I was going to stay for an hour or so, but soon I was in a big hall and had a plate with a lot of food in my hands. I naturally ended up staying for the whole evening. As I went with my Sanskrit teacher's group, people asked me repeatedly whether I was a Hindi student (that's his main job). When I replied that I was a Sanskrit student, I got many good reactions (people usually ask me what Sanskrit is, and why would I want to learn it), but they also like "oh, I learned a bit in school, but it was too difficult". All these people are Indians. They speak languages related to Sanskrit, and some use its script on a daily basis. And they are saying it's very hard. What did I get myself into? :P 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Lakeseayesno Tetraglot Senior Member Mexico thepolyglotist.com Joined 4327 days ago 280 posts - 488 votes Speaks: English, Spanish*, Japanese, Italian Studies: Esperanto, French | Message 139 of 162 25 October 2014 at 11:37pm | IP Logged | ||
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You seem to forget that there's a little masochism implicit in learning rare languages, Luso. :P
It's awesome that you got invited to their festivities! What is the Hindu New Year like? Do they go by a calendar different to the Gregorian? 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Luso Hexaglot Senior Member Portugal Joined 6054 days ago 819 posts - 1812 votes Speaks: Portuguese*, French, EnglishC2, GermanB1, Italian, Spanish Studies: Sanskrit, Arabic (classical) | Message 140 of 162 26 October 2014 at 9:43am | IP Logged | ||
In everyday life, I guess they go by the Gregorian calendar. After all, you need to have some reference to communicate and trade with the world at large. In religious terms, there's a staggering variety of calendars and significances. I once went to a seminar on that subject and it was very interesting. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| clmns01 Diglot Newbie Austria Joined 3682 days ago 22 posts - 23 votes Speaks: German*, English Studies: Portuguese, Italian | Message 141 of 162 26 October 2014 at 11:46am | IP Logged | ||
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Bom dia Luso! Boa sorte nos teus estudos!
1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Luso Hexaglot Senior Member Portugal Joined 6054 days ago 819 posts - 1812 votes Speaks: Portuguese*, French, EnglishC2, GermanB1, Italian, Spanish Studies: Sanskrit, Arabic (classical) | Message 142 of 162 28 October 2014 at 12:05pm | IP Logged | ||
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Vielen Dank, Clemens.
Italian I once wrote here that I like the moments when I get rid of old materials. Someone replied that I should not throw anything out, but rather give it to someone who might use it, and saying she could use some German stuff. I sent her a PM, suggesting I could give her some of the materials. Never got a reply. Curious. Well, moving on. As my (formal) Italian studies draw to a close, I'm trying to make sense of some of the stuff I've been keeping in the past years. It's a good feeling when you realise you don't need some of it anymore. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Luso Hexaglot Senior Member Portugal Joined 6054 days ago 819 posts - 1812 votes Speaks: Portuguese*, French, EnglishC2, GermanB1, Italian, Spanish Studies: Sanskrit, Arabic (classical) | Message 143 of 162 09 November 2014 at 4:55pm | IP Logged | ||
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Sanskrit
This week, I began learning the concept of sandhi ( संधि ), which is one of the most distinctive features of this language. Simply put, it's a way to join words so that they may pronounced seamlessly within a sentence. Of course, not all sounds may be joined, but there's an interesting logic to it: if you end a word with a short vowel and begin the next with the same short vowel, you join them and pronounce instead the corresponding long vowel. This incremental logic also has some unexpected rules that end up being interesting. For instance: a + i = e a + u = o As you may have guessed, this is just the tip of the iceberg. Interestingly enough, this sheds light on some of the strange things you learn at first, like "so, we have 15 vowels". Now it's possible to see why there are so many "vowels". German As I've stated several times before, I'm not actively studying German right now, but I manage to practise a bit every now and then. Blame it on the many tourists we are still having (don't they know it's November? :P ). Italian I'm going through a period of lack of motivation for Italian. It doesn't have to do with the language per se, but rather with the fact that I don't have patience for my snobbish classmates at this point. Maybe it's just me, but retired people to whom the highlights are the beginning of the opera season or some mouldy baroque exhibition in some out-of-the-way palace are not my cup of tea. I happen to like these things, but in much smaller doses. I'm just happy that our teacher usually sides with me in the "wtf" approach (discreetly, of course). 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Gemuse Senior Member Germany Joined 4075 days ago 818 posts - 1189 votes Speaks: English Studies: German | Message 144 of 162 10 November 2014 at 3:37am | IP Logged | ||
What they are saying is that Sanskrit was taught to them in a crappy manner in school (as is usually the case in high school teaching). I lucked upon an excellent tutor (outside of school), and like others in my group, liked the language quite a bit, and didn't think it was exceptionally hard. One of my friends started a serious study of it in college, as a hobby, in order to study classic Sanskrit texts; and succeeded in the endeavor. 3 persons have voted this message useful |
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