Valka D'Ur
-
Posts
25 -
Joined
-
Last visited
Content Type
Profiles
Forums
Static Pages
News
Blogs
Gallery
Events
Downloads
Posts posted by Valka D'Ur
-
-
Your links don't appear to work.
-
1 hour ago, guidoLaMoto said:
Studying Latin gives a benefit to not only making the Romance languages somewhat easier, but also for the general knowledge of history, politics, sociology, geography, etc it provides.....I'm a retired physician. Knowing Latin maybe helped a little in learning anatomy- but not much...Was it Marlowe or Johnson who insulted Shakespeare by claiming "He knows little Latin and less Greek?"
While knowing Latin has made it easy to decipher the Romance laguages, the way we were taught Latin is deleterious_- we never spoke Latin. Now when I read Latin, my eyes see Latin workds but then they are automatically translated to English in my brain...a bad habit when it comes to dealing with spoken languages. I stayed with that habit when learning Italian and German. I read both well, but was once accused of being "a retarded Sicilian" by a caribinieri in Italy trying to settle an argument with a shop keeper.
I find it amazing that we can read the very words written by Livy, Caesar, Cicero, etc...It reminds me of my uncle objecting to the changes made by Vatican II--"I don't like the English mass..We should still be using the very Latin words spoken by Christ." 😏
My grandfather's first language was Swedish, and he said that to really be fluent in a language, you have to be able to think in it. I can read French, but I can't think fast enough in it to be able to carry on a decent conversation (not to mention my accent isn't great, either).
-
3 hours ago, caesar novus said:
That seems strange; isn't Latin something that those on a medical or biology career track want to take for the terminology? I had naively imagined it was offered at my school for catholics, and maybe your school was on a secular kick, like when revolutionary mobs bashed statues in French cathedrals.
French would have been so useful, but the spelling seemed so unphonetic. Now I hear that the spelling comes from the very old ways of pronouncing, sort of like English used to pronounce the k in knife. Blessed are the spelling simplifiers, like the removal of u from "colour".
So in HS, surrounded on 3 sides by French Canada and a zillion miles from Mexico, I took Spanish - because it was "easy". I think our Euro dialect was highly opposite to latin america's which sounds alien and incomprehensible to me. Kind of like they are chewing a dozen pieces of gum while talking, and I honestly get by easier in portuguese Brazil.
I'm in Western Canada, in a mid-sized city. I went to a public college (not faith-based). The only languages offered at my high school and college were French and German. To this day I cannot fathom what practical use anyone ever made of German.
It's my understanding that more languages are offered now (Japanese and Mandarin). Latin still isn't on the list, though, at least not that I'm aware.
French is useful for a variety of reasons, the first one being that we have bilingual packaging on nearly everything that's sold here. Chances are that if you pick something up to read the label, you'll accidentally turn the French side out, and it's less stressful if it doesn't matter because you can read it anyway.
-
Welcome.
This may sound odd, but I envy the people here who had the opportunity to take Latin. It wasn't offered in any of the schools or the college I attended. I've met people who tell me I'm lucky I never had to take it, but in my experience learning a language is a different experience if you do it for fun, rather than because you have to (French, in my case).
-
2 hours ago, Decimus Gordianus Magnus said:
Hello. Another newbie here. I live in Indiana in the US but hope to relocate somewhere one day when I retire.
I developed an interest in ancient Rome after watching the old Rome series on HBO, then all 3 seasons of Brittania, and Barbarians I and II on Netflix. I have also watched and read up on the Vikings and Saxons etc.
I am currently reading novels about ancient Rome by Vincent B Davis II on Kindle.
I am 64 and have always been interested in history. Lately I find myself more interested in the ancient world. I look forward to being here and studying the different topics.
Welcome!
I've been interested in Roman history since watching I, Claudius back in the '70s. Rome was entertaining, but they omitted a very important character (Scribonia, who was Octavian's wife before he married Livia, and who was the mother of Octavian's daughter, Julia). Omitting her would have made it impossible to continue the series in any meaningful way (can't have Emperors Caligula or Nero if you omit the ancestor who made their existence possible).
If you like murder mysteries, I can't recommend Lindsay Davis' novels enough. Marcus Didius Falco is an 'informer' (we'd call him a private investigator) who stumbles into some of the most bizarre murder mysteries, and sometimes this means the guilty party is closely connected to the Emperor (Vespasian) and/or some prominent senators.
-
Welcome! I enjoy Roman historical novels (though not the one I read recently; the author has problems when two of the protagonists are such awful people that the reader can't wait until the last chapter or two when they die).
-
-
51 minutes ago, Novosedoff said:
A pointless waste of time if you ask me. Who are you gonna talk to? To dead folks? It's better to have spent the same time by learning a modern language, esp. if the language is widely spoken.
This seems an odd point of view on a Roman history forum. Doesn't participation here assume that we all have at least some interest in the Latin language?
I have a bilingual book of poetry where one side has the poem in Latin and the other side is in English. I want to learn to read Latin without needing translations.
As for who I would talk to... you never know when someone in a time machine will materialize in your living room and offer you the opportunity of a lifetime. I'd go.
And on that note, if anyone is a fan of both Stargate and I, Claudius, I found a fanfiction story that combines both. It's a good read.
-
Welcome! It's not as active as it used to be, but there are still some of us around.
-
I've taken a quick look at the website and there are several topics that would be interesting (I got a bit sidetracked by the "sci-phi" course (science fiction and philosophy, which is very much on my mind these days due to the Dune movie coming out later this year).
I will look the Latin course over in more detail, as the drawback of learning from books is that it's not very helpful in teaching correct pronunciation.
Thank you for the recommendation!
-
I once received an odd look from someone in a bookstore some years ago, when he saw that I intended to purchase several books on learning Latin. He assumed they were for a university course and was surprised - very surprised - when I told him I was buying them because I wanted to learn to read Latin, and was not taking any university courses.
When he asked why I would do this if I didn't have to, I told him, "For fun. "
He went away, shaking his head, thinking I was a very strange person.
I haven't made much progress in the years since then, but the books are still in my personal library, waiting for the time when I decide to get on with this. In the meantime, I was able to take a classical history course at the local college, and am definitely in agreement with the instructor's announcement on the first day: "History is FUN!"
I suppose Latin is not fun if students are forced to take it. But I intend to have fun when I finally get around to working on it.
-
I'm relieved to see that some forums are still Invision. That said, this one is not very intuitive to navigate. I had trouble finding my own account.
What a shame the old Invision smileys aren't around anymore.
-
Wow, some of these threads haven't been used in years!
But since I'm here, I might as well answer. My name here is one I use on a gaming forum. My avatar was cropped from a lolcat picture. The cat is wearing a toga and laurel wreath. His name is Clawdius.
-
Strange that this was posted on November 25, but I'm only getting it today (December 2)...?
Anyway, best of luck to you, Viggen.
-
1
-
-
Regarding the comment above about the Romans being "Godless"... no, they weren't. In fact, they had quite a lot of gods and goddesses. Pantheism isn't so common in our modern world, but it was part of the Roman world for many centuries. It's as much a valid expression of religious thought as any other.
-
I find it hard to accept that Agrippina would have been involved in this. I've never seen any historian give the impression that Germanicus was a bad husband or father, and can't imagine what she would have sought to gain from his death.
-
Is there any way to have a similar arrangement with Amazon.ca (Canada)?
-
And then we have modern speakers who, based on how most of us pronounce "Caesar," would pronounce it "see-lis."
-
I came across this regularly years ago when I was learning about blogs and searching for templates.
-
Ave, Quirites!
My name is Lewis Smith, and I am a history teacher and novelist from Texas.
I have a Master's Degree in history, but most of my course work was in modern European history.
It was only after I left college that I became fascinated with the Roman era, and I have read a great deal
about the late Republic and early Imperial era. I am constantly seeking to learn more so that my writing
about this time period will be more accurate, and discovering this forum was an exciting moment!
I am also a pastor, and the era of Roman history surrounding the birth of Christianity is of great interest to me.
I am always interested in a solid, informative discussion of the historical background of my faith, but I'm not going
to flame anyone who disagrees with me and promise to be a respectful sparring partner to those who enjoy debate.
I have one novel in print already and two more coming out next year. Two of them deal with Biblical archeology,
and (fictitious) discoveries that touch on the early history of the church. But my second novel is set entirely in
the First Century, and so is my current work in progress.
I'll be touching base here frequently, with lots of questions for the resident experts, and I hope that I can also contribute
in some meaningful way.
I enjoy reading both fiction and non-fiction works about the Roman era; I love Colleen McCullough's MASTERS OF ROME
series, as well as the excellent biographies by Adrian Goldsworthy.
If anyone is interested, my first novel is called THE TESTIMONIUM, published by Electio Publishing, and is available at
their website as well as Amazon and Barnes and Noble's website. It's currently being considered by Hastings Book and
Movie Stores for nationwide distribution.
The second novel is called THE REDEMPTION OF PONTIUS PILATE, and it will be released July 7, 2015.
MATTHEW'S AUTOGRAPH will be out on Dec. 1, 2015.
Hello!
I'm curious; do you teach Roman history?
I took an introductory course in the early '90s, and the instructor was upfront that some students became upset when he got around to discussing the Crucifixion. In our class, two students walked out in the middle of a lecture. Have you ever had difficulties like that? My instructor was being entirely factual, no bias whatsoever.
-
I don't watch movies in the theatre, so if this gets made I wouldn't see it until it became available on TV or Netflix.
I'm quite content with the Charlton Heston version. I have my doubts that any modern production could pull off a chariot race anywhere near as mesmerizing as the original.
-
Pagan Holiday: On the Trail of Ancient Roman Tourists received a rather scathing review on Amazon. Apparently most of it isn't really historically accurate, and the material that is, consists of things that most Roman history buffs already know.
-
There's not a lot about the movie "Gladiator" that is historically accurate.
-
Hello, everyone.
I have been interested in Roman history for many years, particularly after seeing I, Claudius back in the '70s. Since then I've done a lot of reading, watched a fair number of documentaries, and joined a bilingual Latin/English forum. I never had the chance to take Latin in school, so I'm trying to learn what I can now. I'm happy to have found this site and look forward to exploring and learning more.
-
1
-
Welcome and Introduce Yourself Here
in Welcome and Introduce Yourself Here
Posted
Thank you.