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Quirky things in old language materials | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : General discussion |  | |
| Jeffers Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 4909 days ago 2151 posts - 3960 votes  Speaks: English* Studies: Hindi, Ancient Greek, French, Sanskrit, German | Message 33 of 41 16 December 2012 at 12:16am | IP Logged | ||||||||
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I bought a used copy of "French, How to Speak and Write it", by Joseph Lemaitre. These is no date given, but the forward mentions that France has recently been through two wars, so I guess it was published sometime soon after the second world war.
I really enjoy flipping through and looking at the photographs, as this is a well-illustrated book. The cars in some of the pictures and drawings are the curvy black sedans from (I guess) the late 40s and early 50s. But one double-page photograph which I love shows the Champs-Elysees with Model T style cars parked all along it. Whenever this particular edition was printed, given the other pictures in the book, that picture would already have seemed quaint! 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||||||||
| mahasiswa Pentaglot Groupie Canada Joined 4432 days ago 91 posts - 142 votes Speaks: English*, French, Spanish, German, Malay Studies: Arabic (Egyptian), Persian, Russian, Turkish, Mandarin, Hindi | Message 34 of 41 16 December 2012 at 12:17am | IP Logged | ||||||||
Who which mistaken is works. Edited by mahasiswa on 16 December 2012 at 12:17am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| mrwarper Diglot Winner TAC 2012 Senior Member Spain forum_posts.asp?TID=Registered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5226 days ago 1493 posts - 2500 votes Speaks: Spanish*, EnglishC2 Studies: German, Russian, Japanese | Message 35 of 41 16 December 2012 at 3:34am | IP Logged | ||||||||
'Cos the other kinds suck big time. Having a great, glorious and correct party behind you goes a long way, I guess ;) Edited by mrwarper on 16 December 2012 at 3:35am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| Luso Hexaglot Senior Member Portugal Joined 6061 days ago 819 posts - 1812 votes Speaks: Portuguese*, French, EnglishC2, GermanB1, Italian, Spanish Studies: Sanskrit, Arabic (classical) | Message 36 of 41 18 December 2012 at 9:13am | IP Logged | ||||||||
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Very nice thread.
I have two examples: #1: I once saw a set of books from the early 20th Century for learning German: 3 volumes, I think, nicely bound. The quirkiness: after the first or second chapter (bilingual and in Latin script), it switched to monolingual German in Gothic script. More than a bit off-putting, if you ask me. #2: This one is from experience. Hope you don't find it off-topic. I'll try to keep it short, but it's the details I find priceless: In my last year in college I set out to learn German. The local Goethe-Institut being too expensive for my meagre student income, I found a nice alternative in its East-German counterpart, the Herder-Institut. I was not deterred by its affiliation (in fact, I could not care less). I just wanted a cheap alternative, and that's what I got. Now for the details: the school was set up in an office and its walls were lined up with photos of youths dressed in blue (GDR team colour) sporting gold olympic medals. The manuals, albeit very cheap, were made of brownish paper. Furthermore, I learned very interesting words and expressions, like Kaufhalle and Tonbandgerät, and to address coffee-shop employees (without exception) as "Herr Ober". And for the punchline: I started in September 1989 (no kidding). As a consequence, by the end of school year we were politely informed that, due to lack of funds, the school was closing its doors. I still think it was a nice experience. Edited by Luso on 18 December 2012 at 9:45am 4 persons have voted this message useful | |||||||||
| mrwarper Diglot Winner TAC 2012 Senior Member Spain forum_posts.asp?TID=Registered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5226 days ago 1493 posts - 2500 votes Speaks: Spanish*, EnglishC2 Studies: German, Russian, Japanese | Message 37 of 41 18 December 2012 at 4:01pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
It may sound quirky right now, but it wasn't at the time. I have an incredibly good German grammar (from a time when authors and editors had to and cared about typography), second edition. It says one of the main changes readers will notice regarding the first edition is the switch from Gothic script to Latin, 'to keep up with the times'. So I expect any books from that time and age to be in Goth script, or be 'quirky' otherwise. I learned the Gothic script from an encyclopaedia for fun as a kid. Whenever I hand-write anything I make a conscious effort not to write Gothic capital letters if I think it'll pose a problem for the reader.
Interesting, that's what I learned years later at a regular school. What's the right formula now, then? Herr Kellner (and Frau Kellnerin I guess), or what? 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| langslav Newbie United States slav.freemessageboar Joined 4379 days ago 24 posts - 31 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Russian, Albanian, German, Spanish | Message 38 of 41 19 December 2012 at 6:53am | IP Logged | ||||||||
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I compulsively look for anything to read online, when i could be learning something. i found a 1749 Latin book, (6,666 mbs.) google scanned. Publick is spelled = Publick, S - ff looking letters. some other odd spellings.
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| Luso Hexaglot Senior Member Portugal Joined 6061 days ago 819 posts - 1812 votes Speaks: Portuguese*, French, EnglishC2, GermanB1, Italian, Spanish Studies: Sanskrit, Arabic (classical) | Message 39 of 41 19 December 2012 at 7:46am | IP Logged | ||||||||
From a site that gives advice to expatriates (talking about Germany): "Do not use "Herr Ober" to address the waiter, unless you are in an elegant restaurant. (...) Just waving your hand or saying "hallo" or "Entschuldigung" is fine." From my German teacher: in Austria this form is still in use (this part was new to me). Edited by Luso on 19 December 2012 at 7:48am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| DaraghM Diglot Senior Member Ireland Joined 6151 days ago 1947 posts - 2923 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: French, Russian, Hungarian | Message 40 of 41 19 December 2012 at 9:59am | IP Logged | ||||||||
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In the 1960's course, Learn Hungarian, a number of trade union officials arrive for a Soviet congress in Budapest. We're only in the fourth lesson and learning the vocabulary for delegates, weavers, iron workers and of course, comrades (saktárs). I really like the structure of the course, but wary I'll use saktárs by mistake.
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