![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sariagrayIn my life, short as it has been, I have studied three languages. French, Latin, and Italian. This does not mean that I can speak or write any of them, of course, but I know enough of each that I can suss out meaning from intermediate level text.
I'm thinking about this now because I've just responded to an email from our Italian partners and, while the woman wrote in English, part of her subject line and email signature paragraph was in Italian. And I could read it!
Then I started thinking about what I knew off of the top of my head in each language. I admit to knowing slightly more than I've listed here, but the Italian word for "blonde" isn't as amusing as the words and phrases that remain etched in my mind. (It's "biondi," if you're wondering).
Spelling is most likely incorrect. Actually, all of this is probably incorrect.
French:
Je nage alla plage avec mes amies. - "I swim at the beach with my friends."
Le fuque secs - I have been told that this means "dry seal" but I don't believe my former French teacher, who was a self-proclaimed one-legged French whore and declared that we should be gay on our own time. Google says it means "the dry Fuqua" which means absolutely nothing to me.
Latin:
Ancilla - "slave girl"
Memento mori - "Remember to die" (i.e. remember your mortality)
Morituri te salutamus - "We who are about to die, salute you" (said by gladiators to...Caesar, or whomever else was in charge - this was my favorite of our daily mottoes)
Something about Grumio, Caecilius, Metella, and Cerberus, their dog. And how Mt Vesuvius erupted. I think Caecilius died. I cried. At some point, Grumio was in the kitchen with Caecilius, by the way. I bet they were having sex. Cambridge Latin Course, w00t! (And yes, that Doctor Who episode made me happy.)
Italian:
Nel letto - "in bed"
Mi piace - "I like"
Ho mal di testa - "I have a headache"
Zingara - "gypsy woman"
Mi piace zingari nel letto. Ho mal di testa! - "I like gypsies in bed. I have a headache."
Actually, I remember "Mangia!" So let's add that.
Mi piace mangare zingari nel letto. Ho mal di testa! - "I like to eat gypsies in bed. I have a headache."
Like I said, I remember other things. And I admit, je parle francais, mais je ne parle pas bien. Et je parle un peu! I recall the seasons, ete et hiver et printemps. I forgot autumn, though. Lunedi, mardi, merecredi, jeudi, vendredi, samedi and something else are the days of the week. I can count, too. I know my colors, know that my hair est rouge et noir. I know that I love etudier et chanter et ecriver. I still hate etre.
And I have this common problem where I will speak a sentence that's part Italian, part French, part English. I slip "avec" in for "with" all of the time. Just now, I was trying to think of the French word for "hair," but only came up with "cappelli," which is Italian. "Vecchio" is "old" in Italian, too, but I can't remember the French (though "young" in French is "jeune" and I don't remember the Italian).
Latin is, apparently, a wash. Which is a shame, because it was my favorite to study. "Uxor" is "wife." I remember that and "ancilla." What does that say about me? (Metella and that ancilla who did her hair totally had a thing going on.)
Actually, what does ANY of this say about me? Probably that I'm insane. Carry on.
I'm thinking about this now because I've just responded to an email from our Italian partners and, while the woman wrote in English, part of her subject line and email signature paragraph was in Italian. And I could read it!
Then I started thinking about what I knew off of the top of my head in each language. I admit to knowing slightly more than I've listed here, but the Italian word for "blonde" isn't as amusing as the words and phrases that remain etched in my mind. (It's "biondi," if you're wondering).
Spelling is most likely incorrect. Actually, all of this is probably incorrect.
French:
Je nage alla plage avec mes amies. - "I swim at the beach with my friends."
Le fuque secs - I have been told that this means "dry seal" but I don't believe my former French teacher, who was a self-proclaimed one-legged French whore and declared that we should be gay on our own time. Google says it means "the dry Fuqua" which means absolutely nothing to me.
Latin:
Ancilla - "slave girl"
Memento mori - "Remember to die" (i.e. remember your mortality)
Morituri te salutamus - "We who are about to die, salute you" (said by gladiators to...Caesar, or whomever else was in charge - this was my favorite of our daily mottoes)
Something about Grumio, Caecilius, Metella, and Cerberus, their dog. And how Mt Vesuvius erupted. I think Caecilius died. I cried. At some point, Grumio was in the kitchen with Caecilius, by the way. I bet they were having sex. Cambridge Latin Course, w00t! (And yes, that Doctor Who episode made me happy.)
Italian:
Nel letto - "in bed"
Mi piace - "I like"
Ho mal di testa - "I have a headache"
Zingara - "gypsy woman"
Mi piace zingari nel letto. Ho mal di testa! - "I like gypsies in bed. I have a headache."
Actually, I remember "Mangia!" So let's add that.
Mi piace mangare zingari nel letto. Ho mal di testa! - "I like to eat gypsies in bed. I have a headache."
Like I said, I remember other things. And I admit, je parle francais, mais je ne parle pas bien. Et je parle un peu! I recall the seasons, ete et hiver et printemps. I forgot autumn, though. Lunedi, mardi, merecredi, jeudi, vendredi, samedi and something else are the days of the week. I can count, too. I know my colors, know that my hair est rouge et noir. I know that I love etudier et chanter et ecriver. I still hate etre.
And I have this common problem where I will speak a sentence that's part Italian, part French, part English. I slip "avec" in for "with" all of the time. Just now, I was trying to think of the French word for "hair," but only came up with "cappelli," which is Italian. "Vecchio" is "old" in Italian, too, but I can't remember the French (though "young" in French is "jeune" and I don't remember the Italian).
Latin is, apparently, a wash. Which is a shame, because it was my favorite to study. "Uxor" is "wife." I remember that and "ancilla." What does that say about me? (Metella and that ancilla who did her hair totally had a thing going on.)
Actually, what does ANY of this say about me? Probably that I'm insane. Carry on.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2011-06-09 09:59 am (UTC)"Be gay on your own time!" was an admonishment directed to these two boys who would be all snarky with each other in the middle of class. They would be all...fighty. Think Owen and Ianto. They kept interrupting her one day, so she said that. Oh, it was brilliant.
So, not, it wasn't meant to be a life lesson or negative. It's just become my favorite thing with which to (mentally) scold boys who are acting up. Like in meetings at work. :D One day, I'll accidentally say it....
I think reading, understanding, and being able to speak is the most important part. I wish I had that with a language. The problem is, while I have an ear for it, I have absolutely no willpower when it comes to study. I am thinking of picking up French or Italian again....
no subject
Date: 2011-06-10 04:19 am (UTC)I can't imagine trying to learn a language on my own. I learned Spanish because I had to. My mom speaks very limited English, and my dad prefers to speak in Spanish. It's not like I had a choice.
no subject
Date: 2011-06-10 05:06 am (UTC)And really, I bet you could definitely learn and retain language on your own, especially one of the Romance languages. :D But what you know of Spanish far surpasses what I know of all of the languages combined, so what do, I know? Lol