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Latin in Hungary | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Philological Room |  | |
| Cisa Super Polyglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 6419 days ago 312 posts - 309 votes  2 sounds Speaks: Hungarian*, Slovak, FrenchC1, EnglishC2, Mandarin, SpanishB2, RussianB2, GermanB2, Korean, Czech, Latin Studies: Italian, Cantonese, Japanese, Portuguese, Polish, Hindi, Mongolian, Tibetan, Kazakh, Vietnamese, Modern Hebrew | Message 9 of 14 07 November 2007 at 11:41am | IP Logged | |||||
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Hi,
it is also interesting to me to imagine that Latin was spoken fluently by some people. It has a quite understandable, logical system etc., but I would not really call Latin an easy language to speak. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| William Camden Hexaglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 6272 days ago 1936 posts - 2333 votes Speaks: English*, German, Spanish, Russian, Turkish, French | Message 10 of 14 07 November 2007 at 3:37pm | IP Logged | |||||
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Undoubtedly, lots of people spoke it fluently though no doubt there were inaccuracies. The father of the English artist William Hogarth set up a coffee shop sometime around 1700 where only Latin was to be spoken, but the business venture failed. I suspect this was at least in part because Latin was going into decline. No doubt also people who went for a coffee wanted to relax, not pound their way through the Latin ablative.
From 1733 onwards, legal documents in England were no longer required to be in Latin. The chief minister Robert Walpole joked that he controlled the German King of England George I (reigned 1714-1727) with "bad Latin and good punch". George I's English was limited at best. Walpole's remark indicates Latin was spoken by him and others, but not with much confidence. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| LilleOSC Senior Member United States lille.theoffside.comRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 6691 days ago 545 posts - 546 votes 4 sounds Speaks: English* Studies: French, Arabic (Written) | Message 11 of 14 07 November 2007 at 6:30pm | IP Logged | |||||
Yeah, that would be interesting to know. Do you think it can be compared to the quality of English abroad today? 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| William Camden Hexaglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 6272 days ago 1936 posts - 2333 votes Speaks: English*, German, Spanish, Russian, Turkish, French | Message 12 of 14 08 November 2007 at 2:02am | IP Logged | |||||
I think so. People I hear using English as a second language often sound stilted and say things in ways no native speaker would. Sometimes there are actual inaccuracies as well. On the other hand, Latin teaching in schools was often brutally grammatical and pupils making minor mistakes would get beaten by the teacher. This might have been effective in making people learn the complexities, though not pleasant. In contrast, few people get English beaten into them now. In the 1580s, an Englishman named Richard Baines went to Rheims in France to enrol at the Catholic seminary there. He was probably a spy sent by the English government. On the way to Rheims it was noted that he spoke no French, only Latin. Since he reached his destination his Latin was presumably understood. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| quendidil Diglot Senior Member Singapore Joined 6312 days ago 126 posts - 142 votes Speaks: Mandarin, English* Studies: Japanese | Message 13 of 14 08 November 2007 at 6:16am | IP Logged | |||||
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Montaigne the philosopher was raised in Latin as a boy. Surely, the ability of his household servants to speak Latin indicates a relatively high level of Latin among the populace.
I believe Latin education up to the 17th Century very often involved what we know call "immersion teaching". Take a look at the works of Erasmus and Lilly for instance. Living Colloquia were still being written at the time to teach students spoken Latin. The grammar-translation approach was probably introduced as a result of 18th century thought. Read this 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| William Camden Hexaglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 6272 days ago 1936 posts - 2333 votes Speaks: English*, German, Spanish, Russian, Turkish, French | Message 14 of 14 08 November 2007 at 7:14am | IP Logged | |||||
With enough practice and exposure, people probably did master it. Others may have been reasonably competent but not perfect in it. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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