a vast panorama of work

[hawkwing_lb]

You know, it strikes me that if I want to be a scholar of ancient history to any professional level, I need, in the next few years, to learn:

Latin
Classical Greek
Modern Greek (particularly if I get this dig placement in Crete thing)
German for reading
And retrain myself back to where I can actually puzzle out a page of academic writing in French with the aid of a dictionary.

I think, perforce, I will have to let Irish mostly lapse. Is feidir liom fós an Gaeilge a labhairt agus a léimh, provided it's not terribly complex. But I can feel it slipping away, every time I go to grasp after a phrase, and that's annoying.

(It's like maths and physics. I know I have to prioritise my learning, but damn, I hate forgetting stuff.)

We'll see, after the Schols, how this DIY modern Greek learning thing works. If it works out well, we'll try it for the German.

(For Latin, I have a book. And for French, well. I still have all those grammars and dictionaries from when I thought I was going to do French to degree.)

I guess this means I should think about learning Russian, Turkish and Arabic when I'm in my late thirties, rather than any time soon, right?

Ambitions. I has them.

Comments

[clarentine]

Russian is primarily a language of synonyms - if you're good at memorizing words, you'd do well at Russian. Russian grammar is very simple.

[hawkwing-lb.livejournal.com]

If only there were thirty hours in a day. :)

[clarentine]

If only we (I) didn't have to have a day job!

[hawkwing-lb.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that.

Not that I mind college. It's cool. But. I would rather just direct myself at the interesting reading and learning parts rather than do exams. :)

[clarentine]

May whatever you end up doing after college bring you the challenge and enjoyment you get out of your classes, without the worry of too many exams. *g*

[hawkwing-lb.livejournal.com]

I have ambitions of being the one setting the exams. :)

(Yes, I'm slightly evil. Why do you ask?)

[desperance.livejournal.com]

You might yet find Turkish more useful than you'd think - but, yup. Priorities. Sorry. (On the other hand, if you already have the Irish, the effort of sustaining a language is far less than the effort of achieving one; and every loss diminishes you a little...)

[hawkwing-lb.livejournal.com]

If I had world enough and time... :)

Seriously, I scarcely have time to keep up with the work I absolutely have to do. I have no idea where I'm going to find the time to learn all these new languages, unless I give over going back to sleep on the train in the mornings and start my day then.

I have to see how the Greek works out first.

[desperance.livejournal.com]

I loved Greek, what little time I had to study it (at St Andrews, on the first year of a theology course I didn't survive). What I meant about the Turkish, m'friend David Hawkins is my touchstone on ancient civilisations (Hittites are his thing, largely), and most of his significant discoveries seem to have turned up in Turkey...

[hawkwing-lb.livejournal.com]

Greek is cool. But if I'm going to Crete this summer, I need to pick up at least some of the modern stuff, too.

Turkey? I would love to be able to be involved in research there (Hellenistic kingdoms! Ionic city-states!), but. Priorities.

Which St. Andrews would that be?

(Myself, I'm incredibly greatful that my biblical and theological studies course? Can work out to be about the history of the ancient Near East, and not actually technically be all that theological at all. :P)

[desperance.livejournal.com]

Which St. Andrews would that be?

That would be the one in Scotland. An ancient foundation, barely younger than Oxford or Cambridge, if I remember correctly.

And yup, my attraction to theology was mostly for the history and the languages. Alas, it still couldn't keep me; I was a flibbertigibbet when I was young. I'd do it now like a shot, but I am old and past it.

[hawkwing-lb.livejournal.com]

No one is ever past it.

But YMMV.