edo, dormio, linguam latinam (et nunc graecam)

...haven't posted in a while because I've been doing Latin instead! (At least, I'd like to think so.) I bought Athenaze today. I've been so hard at work doing my Latin exercises that I needed a treat (which, according to Churchill, means learning Greek).

So I've started learning my alpha beta gamma's... I went hunting for some sound clips to help with pronunciation and came across Ancient Greek Tutorials. It's a great site hosted at Berkeley that has a very helpful pronunciation guide. I imagine the rest of the drills and whatnot will be equally helpful when I get that far. The site is designed for Mastronarde's Introduction to Attic Greek (see link in Athenaze post below...), and in fact the author is one of the voices in the pronunciation guide.

With or Without You

I was listening to some U2, so I thought this quick sentence would be appropriate:

nec tecum possum vivere nec sine te

Martial, Epigrams 12.47

I can live neither with you nor without you.

...hmm... maybe I should try translating some song lyrics into Latin...

Electronic Resources for Wheelock's Latin

This site at McMaster University, courtesy of Paul Barrette, is full of various Latin drills (vocab, declinations, principle parts, verb forms, etc.) and other excellent learning tools. Although it's designed to coincide with the older 5th edition of Wheelock, and there are a few bugs & mistakes here and there, the site is still a valuable resource. It's a nice way to quiz yourself and get some instant feedback.

(well. the feedback will be not-so-instant if your connection is slow... but almost-instant feedback is better than none at all, right?)

Cicero, On the Ethics of Waging War

Some Cicero (kind of...) today.  I'm catching up on some exercises in Wheelock, and this passage is found in Chapter 8 (6th ed).  Anyone who has been keeping track will notice that I mentioned reaching chapter 12 earlier... well, I tend to read a few chapters ahead and do most of the exercises later.  I find things tend to sink in a little better this way.  (Plus I'm a bit lazy sometimes. Heh.)

civitas bellum sine causa bona aut propter iram gerere non debet.  si fortunas et agros vitasque populi nostri sine bello defendere poterimus, tum pacem conservare debebimus; si, autem, non poterimus servare patriam libertatemque nostram sine bello, bellum erit necessarium.  semper debemus demonstrare, tamen, magnum officium in bello, et magnam clementiam post victoriam.

adapted from Cicero,
De Officiis 1.11.34-36 & De Re Publica 3.23.34-35

My translation:

A city should not conduct war without good cause or because of anger.  If we will be able to defend the fortunes, fields, and lives of our people without war, then we must conserve peace; if, however, we will not be able to save our country and liberty without war, war will be necessary.  We must always demonstrate, nevertheless, great duty in war and great clemency after victory.

TEXTKIT - Greek and Latin Learning Tools

I've been visiting this site daily for a while now - anyone learning a classical language will also want to visit TEXTKIT - Greek and Latin Learning Tools. The site is packed with Latin & Greek grammars and literature, and the forum is an excellent place to ask for help. There's also a place to converse in a classical language with others, which is a great way to practice. A new feature of the site is the vocabulary learning tool - have vocab e-mailed to you each day.

Athenaze

Come fall, I'm going to be starting ancient Greek. Apparently my prof has selected Athenaze: An Introduction to Ancient Greek for our text. I've heard mixed things about this book. I've read reviews that claim that the grammar content is seriously lacking; that by the time you finish the series you'll be ancient; that it assumes the student is an idiot... but I've also heard that it builds confidence and gets you reading (albeit simple) texts quickly.

So, I think I'll get a more intensive grammar to supplement it. I've been looking at these two...

1. Mastronarde, D. Introduction to Attic Greek
2. Hansen & Quinn. Greek: An Intensive Course

Any suggestions?

perfect system...

Well, I've reached chapter 12 of Wheelock. Chalk up another conjugation, personal pronouns, and FINALLY the perfect active system of all verbs. Looks like I'm on schedule to reach chapter 30 by September (yay!).

There's been a lot of memorization in the last few chapters - well... I suppose there's been a lot of memorization in every chapter, but especially in the last few. :) To accomplish the task, I've been filling a scrap notebook with the various paradigms and whatnot. After writing a declension out 100 times, it's hard to forget... perhaps a bit tedious, but an effective way of commiting things to memory (...my hic-haec-hoc's are getting faster too!)

Flashcards have been an effective way to learn vocabulary (surprise!). I've been using a freeware program on my palm pilot, "Learn?!". Any wasted time during the day (waiting in line, for example), I study some vocab... it helps pass the time and makes the task of learning all those new words less daunting.