whee~

First day of Latin 10
5:40 PM November 20, 2008

Well, i missed the first day, so while this is actually the second meeting, it's technically still my first day right? ^^

Anyway, our teacher used to be in the Semenary like Vigile's father, and he can speak a ton of languages! Fluently and with the proper accent! ^o^ He was supposed to teach Greek as well as Latin in UP, unfortunately, no one was interested in the subject. ^^ He can also speak Anglo-Saxon English (amazing!), Mandarin, Castillian Spanish (there are many kinds), Parisian French (it's the purest kind), German, and a bunch of others. We know cause he demonstrated. ^^ I also have the feeling he knows Japanese, since he told the class we should learn at the very least the 5 most popular languages (spanish, french, mandarin, german and japanese) and if he can say "at the very least", that must mean he knows them too. ^^

Just sitting there in class for the first time, I really got to appreciate 1) a little bit of history, 2) foreign languages and 3) Filipinos. ^^ This class is waaaay~ interesting. ^^

Really, considering I'm pretty fond of European history, i was really pleased to hear about Castille (Isabella!) and how they spread their language through conquests, etc. About the Greeks and the Romans (Augustus was mentioned) and the English (Elizabeth I and King James). I didn't know much about these things since my history is really rusty from high school, but it was really interesting to hear about them. *u* I really may have developed a thorough interest in the subject due to my reading historical novels lately. ^^;

And hearing so many foreign languages, it was making my heart glow with amazement! Castillian Spanish is beautiful~ <3 I think I want to learn it too. And I already love French, so now I want to learn more than ever!!! Must. Learn. I know the desire is getting both greedy and unreasonable, and I can't even imagine having time for lessons anywhere in the future. Plus the fact that I'd need someone to take the lessons with me so I can converse with at least someone. ^^

And finally, apparently, learning new languages is in our blood. Due to the fact that we've been colonized thrice in our history, we've developed an adeptness for languages. Unlike other countries (like the US?) we have a softer tongue for learner and acquiring accents comes to us more easily and naturally than it does for others (at least so my teacher claims, I haven't had any means to verify this. ^^)

And I even got to see how other countries view us. Particularly the Spanish. In this day and age, they're pretty shocked that Filipino tourists come to them and speak English. They honestly think (since we're considered a hispanic country by Spaniards) that we can speak Spanish fluently, and they're flabbergasted and disappointed that we no longer can (we could at least until around the 80s), unlike a lot of other used-to-be Spanish colonies. And our type of Spanish is even the best type. The Castillian, which was the original and pure type. I can't really explain or capture the feeling, but trust me, this was a totally different perspective about Filipinos. ^^

And for other bits of trivia and what not, did you know that there are several types of Latin? When I told my classmate I was taking up Latin, for instance, the Latin she had in mind was the ecclesiastic kind. There's also another type, but I can't spell it. ^^ Then there's the scholary Latin, the Classic Latin, which is the one we have in class.

And yet another bit of trivia that horrified me: apparently, you should learn your languages before the age of 21. Beyond that, it gets rather difficult and you'll have a harder time getting a grasp of the accent, etc. In short, it is recommended that you learn before you reach 21. @__@

Well, the age thing aside, I found the class very very interesting. My teacher is quite nice but he's rather strict with attendance. For instance, in the future, you can text him any Latin phrase for translation and he promises to reply as soon as possible. ^^ He's rather old, but he speaks really well. I dunno, but I was reminded of Vigile's dad a few times. Maybe it's because there's something familiar about the way he speaks? Can't place it though. ^^

I just hope this subject won't clash with my majors. Becauase as early as now, we were being warned about how difficult this subject is going to be. So difficult that any other language you take afterwards will be a piece of cake. Which is why Latin is often viewed as a window to other languages. ^^ It also promises to improve our English and our vocabulary by "leaps and bounds". I hope it's true. (The leaps and bound part, not the difficult part.) XD Although the opposite is more likely. ^^

Anyway, forgive me about any typos, wrong spelling and wrong grammar you might find. For some reason, blogger doesn't spell chack for me anymore. ^^ And I'm pretty lazy enough not to want to reread everything I just typed. Maybe later or this weekend. ^^

come fly ~ gen