GOGSoc goes forth

Hahaha ok you think you're so smart just because you speak German fluently and are doing a PhD and I was wrong.

Thanks, yeah my hand writing is basically some weird form of bronze age style syllabary.

Have any of you language people been watching Stephen Fry's TV shows on language recently? The second one, on identity, was particularly interesting. He met people who speak really minority languages like Occidental and Basque, as well as kids who speak Irish. Apparently when they use texts or Facebook they write in English, but they speak Irish to each other in the playground.

There was also a funny bit on how there's no authentic Hebrew words for things like carburettor or puncture, and although they have invented words based on the biblical ones, they haven't always caught on.

It's quite an ugly language, really. Norwegian is so much nicer.

The Hrafnkelssaga Freysgoða (because I gather it's nice and short and comparatively easy). I don't remember much of it, though, except the bit about the horse (Freyfaxi?) getting thrown off a cliff.

To be fair, it was a compulsory module and they weren't really expecting us to continue studying Old Norse. I actually did OK in the final exam, but I just felt that I was still miles off being any good at it.

Have any of you language people been watching Stephen Fry's TV shows on language recently? The second one, on identity, was particularly interesting. He met people who speak really minority languages like Occidental and Basque, as well as kids who speak Irish. Apparently when they use texts or Facebook they write in English, but they speak Irish to each other in the playground.

There was also a funny bit on how there's no authentic Hebrew words for things like carburettor or puncture, and although they have invented words based on the biblical ones, they haven't always caught on.

Gandalf. Originally an Icelandic name for a dwarf, which means "Wand/stick elf".

Why do I hate Foley? Because the guy writes, or at least wrote in 1995, in such a high flown style that it's almost impossible to understand him. Seriously. I had to do a group review of The Singer of Tales in Performance by him, and I could barely understand a single thing he was saying, his English was that complicated. And I hate a pretty good vocabulary. It was horrible to read and it felt like he was trying to be as obscure as possible. I truly wanted to burn that book after finishing my bit.

Only other time I've been that enraged by a book was reading one about Loki where the person, who was a professor of a respected department in a respected uni, used such a dodgy metholdology that the entire argument was hugely flawed.

Just trying to help...

I quite like that saga, and yea, it is relatively easy and short. Were you an ASNAC or something?

Fair enough. I get that impression too sometimes. Bastard of a writer, some good ideas in general though.

No, it's more complicated than that. I did two undergraduate degrees: before my English literature BA I did a German modern languages degree - English and Scandinavian Studies, essentially, although it wasn't called that.
For Scandinavian Studies we had to take a compulsory Old Norse module and learn at least two languages, although one of those need only be studied to a basic level (which is why I graduated with fairly decent Norwegian and so-so Swedish). The rest was mostly literature-based.

Oh good then you can be my practice dummy in the coming weeks as I eek my way to simple mastery. My aim is to be able to read Kullman's "Die Quellen der Ilias" so I've a long way to go.

Also I have a poor attention span to anything not pre 600 BC so good luck with that. Pen pals?

Sure, why not. It should be 'eke', though. 'Eek' would be this:

I can't hear you. Over the sound of my eeking. Majestically might I add.

and yes academics who write poorly often also damage their arguments, sad really. What's not sad? My fantastic eeking.

The evolution of modern Hebrew is quite interesting. 100 years ago there was a lot of debate about whether Israel should use Hebrew or Yiddish, but Hebrew won. However, it was largely a language of prayer so it had to change quite a lot. And so now I want to watch the Stephen Fry show! Where is it on?

Ive been watching it. I LOVE that programme. I find the general concept of being bilingual (or even generally good) at languages baffling, as I can barely string a sentence together in French, despite 10 years of it.

That sounds like a line from a haiku:
Classicist on beach
eeking majestically.
It's going to rain.

That sounds like a line from a haiku:
Classicist on beach
eeking majestically.
It's going to rain.

It's pretty incredible that such an ancient (and consequently somewhat limited language) became the official language of a nation so successfully. But they did have a strong political and cultural impetus to reclaim it.

All three of the programmes so far are on iPlayer - that's where I watched them, anyway! I don't have a TV.