/lit/ - Literature

my /lit/ goal is to find a /lit/ gf but mastering Sanskrit, Arabic and Hebrew seems like a more realistic goal for me desu :(

>>19442011

I know four languages in addition to English and French: Italian, Latin, Greek, and Hebrew. These serve me only for the perusal of four poets: Dante, Juvenal, Æschylus, and Isaiah. In French, I prefer Corneille to Racine, and Agrippa d’Aubigné to Corneille. In English, Jonson to Shakespeare, and Marlowe to Jonson.

Having summited the very peaks of world literature, I now live in quiet readerly retirement with the endless potential of these figures, spurning all others.

>>19442033
how old r u and how long did it take for u to learn the 4 languages,especially the latter 3?

>>19442033
Still missing German, but good job on the others.

>>19442041
I'm taking the piss to some degree... it's a paraphrase from Les Miserables. I don't know Italian, but trust T S Eliot that a person with Latin can take baby steps into Dante.

The Latin, Greek, and Hebrew I learned in seminary. On top of my other courses, I was doin the languages constantly for 4 years. Im 40, btw, and teach early modern English literature at a small Christian university.

>>19442060
>Still missing German
I'm working on it, actually. I'm using Rilke, Celan, and Trakl. Kafka is too complicated for me still and, though I want to read Hölderlin I'm just not there yet.

This has been said so many times and sounds like an empty platitude, but each language does get easier. Especially after Latin. I learned to speak a Bantu language in Uganda that had very few connections to Latinate/Germanic languages, but knowing Latin at least helped me to understand the structure of the language and its relation to the traditions I know.

>>19442063
> The Latin, Greek, and Hebrew I learned in seminary.
It's a shame you weren't around in the recently deceased classical language thread.

So, I guess you learned Biblical Hebrew for the Tanakh? Have you tried to read portions of the Mishnaic Hebrew in the Talmud? How hard is it? What about the Mishneh Torah? Is that any easier?

>>19442075
The reason I'm asking is that BH seems quite approachable, mostly due to the small vocabulary needed for the OT.

But I'm wondering if that's enough for the other important Judaic texts, or whether those are out of reach without specifically studying Mishnaic Hebrew. (I'm ignoring the Aramaic part here, of course.)

>>19442063
>early modern English literature
do u know much about norse,saxon,gothic and archaic english?

>>19442011
its not a realistic or worthwhile goal.

i spent years learning arabic to understand the quran and it wasn't worth the effort.

>>19442011
Learning a language to a understand all the nuances takes years. You are not going to "just move on with arabic and then hebrew"

These threads are larping or pure delusions of burgers who only speak English

>>19442750
At least there's other stuff in classical Arabic too, right? Poetry and philosophy, and even works about Judaism. Also 1001 Nights. Assuming you can read those after just having the vocabulary of the Quran?

Basically the same question as the above ones for Hebrew:
>>19442075
>>19442124

>>19442790
Who said anything about understanding all the nuances? Reading in other languages can be fun even if you haven't attained mastery yet.

>>19442846
You could just use Google translator to have fun with foreign language texts. Don't have to go through Sanskrit on Duolingo every day for 5 minutes.

>>19443006
But I said reading IN other languages. Otherwise you could just pick a translation.

>>19442795
No there isn't much worth reading in Arabic. It's mostly religious stuff, like the hadiths, Shariah law manuals, commentaries, history etc

Not much new stuff gets written, nor do many people other than religious people read.

>>19442846
It's going to take you years to learn the grammar, how to read books fluently etc, sitting there with the dictionary having to look up every single word because there are no cognates in English. I spent a lot of time, effort and money learning Arabic and I don't think it was worthwhile. You won't be able to maintain the motivation. Only someone who has a real desire to understand the Quran and Hadith because they are a religious Muslim will be able to stick with it.

>>19444019
Averroes (and al-Ghazali, for completeness)? Al-Ma'arri? Maimonides? And as mentioned above, 1001 Nights?

If you want to see a dearth of secular literature, look at Aramaic.

>>19442011
To read the Western Canon in the original languages. I am currently dedicating 6 hours to the study of French, Spanish, Latin, German, and Italian. I obviously still have to learn Greek and Russian.

I hope I'm successful.

>>19444323
I hope you're joking, learning five languages (four of them Romance) at the same time is a recipe for disaster.

>>19444336
Not joking. Smooth sailing thus far. Maybe I'll make a thread about in a few years if I have any success.

>>19442011
Already know:

Portuguese, English, Spanish,Italian, a newspaper knowledge of German and French.

I am going for Latin and Greek next year and will improve my German and try to read more in French. I think that I could achive a reading level in Chinese, Japanese, Hebrew and Russian in the next 7 years.

>>19444444
:0

>>19444444
What's your native language anon?

>>19444479
His native language is Sex(ts). Can you tell from his post number?

>>19444444
>Portuguese, Spanish,Italian,
literally the same.
you should not feel proud of your language skills, but your gets are ebin.

>>19444444 (checked)
Nice.

>>19444087
These things aren't read in the Arab world. Except for ghazali because his books are religious, talking about how to be a good Muslim for the most part. Averoes etc are more known in the west because they have been translated into European languages. Muslims don't know who he is for the most part, and most certainly the more literate religious arabs wouldn't read ibn rushd because he is considered a kafir.

>>19444818
Yes, I know, but this is a thread about language learning, so I couldn't care less what the native speakers do.

I'm just interested in whether one could read those works without having to cram lots of extra vocabulary over what's in the Quran (because I assume there's no way around this when learning classical Arabic).

>>19442011
yeah right you’re just an uneducated filthy american baka

>>19446271
elaborate

>>19442025
I'll be your /lit/ girl :3

>>19442011
Hope you are also planning on spending years delving into the nuanced history of each of these cultures so as to actually understand the extra-contextual meanings behind not only the phrasing within individual passages but also their historical context.
It's hard enough to do that even with recent re-translations of the Bible, let alone in different languages. If you aren't willing to crush your own limited perceptions and biases in the pursuit of studying the history of a people you may well end up hating, then you should honestly give up now.

This idea is frankly retarded given what little you would gain for the effort that would be necessary to invest, but good luck. You will need it.

>>19446398
What better way to do that than by reading the primary sources in the original languages?

>>19444444
WASTED

>>19445251
Ok, the answer is, no you can't. You'll be sitting there for years with a dictionary having to look up nearly every word

>>19444444
nice digits

also you should have learned Latin first because it would have made Italian, French, Spanish and Portuguese all easier

>>19446378
Are you a monsterous female such as a werewolf or dragon?

>>19446945
That's disappointing, but thanks.

>>19446412
You are probably a burger who only speaks English so let me cue you in. Languages change over time. There is lots of nuance in language and given that the languages have changed, are you able to pick up the nuances in that language? You can't simply hide behind "well who said anything nuance, you fucking plebbit commie bitch??" That's not how it works.

At best you could get idea what some texts is about but you would miss so much historical and cultural nuance it's not worthwhile. Language is not math where "this equals this and then learn grammar so you know the language." No, that's not how language works. There's so much history and culture you need to know and understand to truly appreciate the texts.

This idea that you can just pick up thousands of years old Hebrew and then move on to Ancient church Slavic and Arabic on Duolingo is just laughable. Just read re-translations if you want to enjoy the texts and study the history and culture of the times these religious texts were written. You could get more out of those texts that way.

>>19447719
why are you so angry