My current time waster is Irish Gaelic. Every once in awhile I get a bug in me to study an interesting foreign language. Can't help it. And, thanks to the World Wide Web, I have much more opportunity to butcher a language for my own fun until it bores me and I move on to something else. Occasionally, when I have the opportunity, I actually take classes in a language. I love that bit. My language passion plus the chance to earn an A, I am in language nerd heaven. Spanish, French, Russian, Greek, and Latin have all filled hours of class time in my life (and gotten me those A's I mentioned) You cannot imagine how easy Latin was after years of studying Spanish, French, and Greek. Every class was like having an epiphany. "Oh! Well that makes PERFECT sense!" while the rest of the class is scratching their heads. Fun times!
Of course I have forgotten much of what I learned. My Spanish has held on longest and best. Latin and Greek are more recent, so some of it has stuck, but not much. Of Russian I can say "I Love You" (though that is due more to Sandi Patti than my class) and "I do not speak Russian." A useful phrase to know, in case there might be confusion. LOL (Here, for you phonetic enjoyment -- Ya nye gavaryu pa roos key.) Hey, that reminds me. I can also say "I do not speak Spanish" and "I do not speak English, in Russian. In the phonetics above, substitute "pa ispanski" for Spanish and "pa an glee ski" for English. And you thought you weren't going to learn anything today!
Languages that have not had the benefit of costing me money and providing live instructors include German (I remember Bitte and Danke, and I can count to 4.) and Gujarathi (that is an Indian language) I can say "Where is the bank?" (benk key a che?) It seems like saying "kia che" after anything equals "where is ..." in gujarathi (btw, I know I am spelling that wrong.) So, having learned that "stree sva challeh" means Ladies' Room I can say a very important phrase. Good to know.
Also add Modern Greek to that list. I became enamored with Xristos Paxis music and wanted to see the difference between Modern Greek and the Ancient Greek I a=had studied in class. There are differences. The language is interesting, but my professor had drilled us so well in reading and pronouncing the Ancient Greek that modern pronunciation was difficult.
Now I am adding Irish Gaelic to my list of hobby languages, with Celtic Woman in the "to blame" spot now. I am having fun but feeling unfulfilled. All I can find is "phrase book" online "lessons," a list of things to say what you might need and how to pronounce them. It doesn't give word for word translations or explain grammar. Plus, the only site I found with audio files would not play. I'll work with what I have for now, but I think I need a book. Maybe I should put "Irish Gaelic for Dummies" on my Santa list.
Oh well,
Slan go foill! (Good-bye for now!)
Silly me! I forgot to give the links, in the off chance you are interested.
http://english.glendale.cc.ca.us/gaelic.html This is the "phrase book."
http://www.standingstones.com/gaelpron.html This one is a pronunciation guide, mainly for dj's playing celtic music. But, it is helpful for a beginner.
Oh, and "Dia duit" is "Good day."
