Yep. I’ve added another language.
Backing up a bit, I started with Esperanto again, and I am really enjoying it. Getting pretty far on the Duolingo tree. It’s awesome.
Many years ago, back when I was constructing a language for one of my novels, Requiem in Blue, I studied Latin a bit as a jumping off point. The language, by the way, is called Reka (R-ee-kah). I still want to get back to it someday.
So I’ve always wanted to learn Latin. But Duo didn’t have it…until very recently. So I jumped aboard that train. The trip so far has been really interesting. And a bit challenging.
I’m not sure if I’ve reached my limit on learning languages simultaneously, or maybe it’s because I can’t study it every day like I used to because job and life, but it hasn’t been easy. And that’s a bit disconcerting. I mean…I used to be able to pick languages up so easily. French was easy, and Esperanto, for the most part—so far, anyway. Here are some thoughts:
1 The lack of pronouns is just plain weirding me out. Yeah. You can actually drop the pronoun and still have a comprehensible sentence. It’s wild. I always want to add the pronoun because that’s what I am used to. And I’m an editor and a stickler for proper grammar so…yeah. Cue the nervous twitches.
2 The sentence order freaks me out, too. So you can say something like “Erin my name is” and, you guessed it, it will still be comprehensible. Also different. Especially when Duo actually encourages this. Instead of, you know, encouraging the saner method.
3 “Ego” means “I.” Most people know this anyway. Sigmund Freud, anyone? But actively using it in sentences…I don’t know. I feel like I am some egomaniac by saying “EGO SUM ERIN.” Like I’m freaking yelling.
4. Conjugations, holy mother of God, conjugations. The freaking bane of my existence. Esperanto spoiled me, because there is one conjugation (at least in present tense) no matter what pronoun you’re using. I keep screwing them up! I can’t seem to remember which goes with what pronoun. I’m not even clear on all the pronouns, either! Part of this is probably me, but also, the “lesson” part of Duo is kind of different. And it’s so short. And I get it—they want to give it to us in small pieces versus like twenty pages. But I feel a bit lost.
And then adjectives and nouns get certain endings depending on gender and they’re confusing, and help
5. I can see the Latin in other languages. No kidding, Erin. Of course you can, because that was the base. But it’s still wicked cool. For example, the word for man is “vir.” In Esperanto, the word for man is “viro.” Another one is “est” which means “are.” Well, it’s the same in French. Or “sed” which is “but” in both Latin and Esperanto. “Mater” and “pater,” which are “mother” and “father”…which are the bases of “alma mater” and “paternity.” “Frater” and “Soror,” which are the basis of “fraternity and “sorority.” “Soror” is also very similar to “soeur,” the French word for sister. And part of why I love language learning is seeing the evolution and the commonalities between them. It’s not something I was able to do when I was younger—I studied French for seven years. And that was it. The internet was fairly new, so I don’t even know if it was possible to study a language online. There were no iPhones, so no apps like Duo, either. It was an odd world, yet it was roughly twenty years ago. That still blows my mind.
I’ll leave you with a final thought:
Cogito ergo sum
Anyone want to take a crack at that? I’ll give you a hint. It’s a pretty well-known phrase.
(And note the lack of pronoun, ugh! It haunts me, I tell you!)