falling behind...

Ack. I'm a bit behind schedule. I was hoping to have studied 30 chapters of Wheelock by September, but I've only just completed Chapter 17... I suppose if I work into September I might make it just before lectures start. Today I was feeling enthusiastic and read ahead a couple of chapters, but I still have to work through the exercises and sententiae antiquae.

Of course, actually reading and understanding the lessons isn't really the difficult part at this stage. Having stuff sink in and process at a deeper level is the problem, and that's definitely not something that can be rushed. Still, I'm happy I spent a lot of time on some of the fundamentals earlier. For example, I've noticed that lately I haven't had to think "Hmm... now is that an accusative or genitive or what?" For the most part I'm recognizing the endings without much effort. It's nice knowing all the practice is paying off! I just wish some topics like the subjunctive were introduced earlier in the text... it would be nice to get as much practice with that as I can.

Anyway, I've gained a solid appreciation for the importance of doing Latin daily. When I first took a Latin class years ago, most of my time was dominated by other coursework. Back then, 'learning Latin' really meant marathon sessions immediately prior to assignment due-dates. Naturally, I promptly forgot what I learned. I imagine this review project wouldn't have been necessary had I instead broken the Latin into bite-sized chunks and done a bit every day...

So if you're learning a new language, take heed: doing a little bit every day is preferable to learning in huge chunks sporadically.

Ok, so no big surprise here... :P
Still, it's easy advice to ignore, and probably one of the most important factors in learning a language efficiently. Of course, I don't think learning a huge chunk once a week on TOP of doing a little bit every day could hurt... but then you're probably spending too much time doing Latin and not enough time enjoying other things in life. :P

whoops...

castra hodie movi!

Well, I've returned from camping. I realized (while reading some Latin out in the wilderness) that I made a mistake in my previous post. I thought 'ponere' was a second conjugation verb, but it isn't...
so really, it should have read:

castra cras ponam

instead of:

castra cras ponebo

camping

Castra cras ponebo!

...although, my camp won't be

an encampment fortified by a ditch (fossa) and a mound (agger) surmounted by palisades (vallum),

the literal definition of castra, -orum n. in Cassell's Latin Dictionary. (The singular castrum, -i n. is simply a castle or fort.)

Skip a few entries up in the dictionary and we find the infinitely more useful word: castoreum, -i n., the aromatic secretion obtained from the beaver