Damien...no...not the devil's son :)

No*s said:

Quite true. It may well lead to just those sorts of complications. That's why if I translate a Greek text for someone, I always tell them to take it with a grain of salt. I don't speak Ancient Greek (nobody really does), and I'm just one person where my errors can't be checked. Languages are indeed a complicated matter .

My language (wish) list is: all Greek (I'm currently only Homeric, Attic, and Hellenistic on any level of proficiency), Latin (my Latin is poor), Old English, Chruch Slavonic, Aramaic, Hebrew, Russian, Old English, and Japanese. Of course, I'll be lucky to get even one of those beyond Greek and Latin learned .

Another really fun thing to do is to turn around and look up the Indo-European roots to words. You can learn a lot about migration patterns from that. Sadly, I haven't the resources here, but I'll soon be going to a place where I'll have inter-library loan :jiggy:

IIRC, they unearthed some tablets in the Indus Valley in the 20th century they can't translate. Could those be the tablets you refer to?

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Yes they are "some" of the texts Im referring, as there are some Sumerian and Akkadian that have yet to be translated, due to the amount they found. I hear there are some tibetian texts too that are to complicated to translate, they kind of looked like Rongo or something. (Easter Island script) Gosh, there is so much to learn, I opnly wish I could be around long enough to get to it all, you know.

What you said about Migrating patterns, its exactly why I love to learn root words and where they came from. Extremely interesting. Wow, man you really wanna learn some languages!! I too would be thrilled to learn only a few on your list, let alone ALL. Good luck !!

Oops, out to lunch, yabba dabba dooooooo!!

What an introduction thread! Welcome aboard, Damien!

Having just found the thread, there are a number of things I'd like to comment on. Starting backwards,

Yes they are "some" of the texts Im referring, as there are some Sumerian and Akkadian that have yet to be translated, due to the amount they found. I hear there are some tibetian texts too that are to complicated to translate, they kind of looked like Rongo or something. (Easter Island script)

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Some people think that the signs on Indus valley seals (they are too small to be called tablets, and they are obviously made to make impressions on clay tablets) look like the Rongorongo script. If you are lucky enough to find good pictures of the real things, not just some creative artist's rendering of them, you'll probably be convinced that they are perfectly independent of one another.

Sanskrit is fascinating, but if you venture into it, be ware that the morphology is awesome. Some verbs can have 720 different forms, each with its own specialized meaning. Compare that to the very worst English cases like be, am, are, is, being, was, were... On the other hand, you should know that there are plays and poems in Sanskrit of a quality that has never been surpassed in any language. The sheer beauty of them, the puns, the knowledge of human nature, well, I could go on forever. Try some plays of Kalidasa. Even in translation, they match anything ever written. My favourites are the play Shakuntala and his poem Meghaduta.

I'm mainly into Germanic languages, so the number of languages I can read may seem large, but I can't say that I am proficient in many language families. Anyway, thanks to my careful selection of parental genes, I am fluent in Swedish, English, German and Dutch, have no problems in understanding Danish and Norwegian, survive in Spanish, Franch and Italian, and can interpret newspaper headlines in more languages than I care to mention. No*s' mix of languages is so far beyond my reach. But in a couple of years, I hope to improve on my Arabic and Bible Hebrew, and be beyond survival level in Chinese. Also, I plan to improve on my Russian, because there are lots of really good dictionaries and grammars in Russian on other languages.

Looking forward to your contributions,

Anders

Hey Anders!! nice to meet you too. Yes, Im finding some friends here, Im really liking it. I shyed away from boards after the last forum I was involved in....It just got to me....I'd be thinking about it all day long, planning my rebuttals and retorts...it was like a drug, and Im seeing why I was addicted, lol.....ITS HAPPENING AGAIN...lol

My theory on how i'm to approach my learning of language is to start at the beginning. Maybe some of you who are linguists of sorts, can correct me on that, and please do. I want to slowly work up from the earliest form of writing, pictographs (we assume ) Not to master each language, though it would be nice, I'd rather dabble in each. I would love to be able to understand the evolution of language, hear it, speak it. Ah, I'd give anything to be 15 again, with this need for knowledge.

You guys though, are impressive!!!

Damien Bishop said:

(we assume )

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Well, you obviously know more than lots of people.

I'd rather dabble in each.

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That's a kindred soul! I own dictionaries and/or grammars in more than 100 languages. I still, at 61, am not quite sure why. Sometimes I think that I'd want to know how I learn languages, sometimes I try to understand how I function when translating. These aspects may explain why I've tried, with varying success, very dissimilar languages, but I still have no answers to my questions.

I would love to be able to understand the evolution of language

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Who wouldn't. But I think you'd better start by learning a few languages rather throughly. Then you can go on with more sketchy studies of other languages. For a serious interest in those aspects of language and sufficient time, I think that in addition to English, Russian, one Semitic language (e.g. Bible Hebrew or Classical Arabic), and Chinese would give a useful sample of the possibilities of languages. If you're heading for a black belt, try Georgian for ergativity and complex phonology, or Japanese with its three (four, if counting the Latin alphabet) concurrent scripts.

I'm retired, so feel free to contact me on languages. You could also try language sites like http://www.languagehat.com/, http://www.languagelog.com/ or the very friendly dicussion group at http://www.alphadictionary.com/bb/index.php.

anders said:

That's a kindred soul!.

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Thank you, I didn't earn such a title went I first came here

anders said:

Sometimes I think that I'd want to know how I learn languages, sometimes I try to understand how I function when translating. These aspects may explain why I've tried, with varying success, very dissimilar languages, but I still have no answers to my questions.

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That last statement doesn't leave me with much hope, as being a rookie to "Language"

anders said:

But I think you'd better start by learning a few languages rather throughly. Then you can go on with more sketchy studies of other languages. For a serious interest in those aspects of language and sufficient time, I think that in addition to English, Russian, one Semitic language (e.g. Bible Hebrew or Classical Arabic), and Chinese would give a useful sample of the possibilities of languages. .

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Great suggestions, well rounded selections too. The semetic languages would interest me the most, contrary to my germanic descent Though I am atheist, religion still fascinates me, most of all, my eX. I would love to really see the ascent of language from the aforementioned "pictographs" (though I don't think there is a "sumerian" spoken language thats known though.) ((((I'm rambling again))))) I will heed your suggestions, thank you, I'm sure too that it'll be a LONG time before I can say i'm making progress at the task herein.

Thanks Anders!!

DB

Welcome to RF!

I think y'all should start a 'languages' thread in General Discussions. I think there was one a while ago, but it seems like we have a few more people interested now. I'd certainly be up for it. Although admittedly, I haven't had enough time to learn much language. Ah, the curse of the young!

Thank you "Looking for Meaning' !!

Yes, Prima, Great Idea! ill do it now. I tend to ramble and speak out of topic, ALOT

please feel free to keep me in check if you catch me wandering again

DB

Oh, it wasn't a problem at all! I just think it would be easier for others to find this nice conversation if it were somewhere else and titled something 'languages' like you did. I tend to wander, also...when you find yourself wandering, just start a new thread about it!

I'm glad you're having a good time here