John, I never took Latin, I took Spanish and then ended up working in Mexico. I learned the Spanish dialect where I was working. The same was true when i was transferred to Switzerland and learned French, Swiss French was a tad different than French French.
Scott ford www.identityforge.com Tell me and I'll forget; show me and I may remember; involve me and I'll understand. - Chinese Proverb On Jan 16, 2013, at 7:26 AM, John Gilmore <[email protected]> wrote: > Chris, > > There is no sin in being a Latin dropout or indeed in never having > dropped in on, say, egyptology. Both can be compelling when well > taught; and they are of course boring when--as is too often, even > usually, the case--they are badly taught. We are long past the time > when Ben Jonson could put Shakespeare down for his "small Latin and > less Greek". > > These things said, a knowledge of the classical languages can also be > practically useful and give great pleasure. > > Expectations are different in different contexts. There is a story > about Robert Oppenheimer's response to a complaint from one of his > Ph.D. candidates that the paper he had been asked to discuss in a > journals seminar was written in Dutch. That response was, "But it's > such easy Dutch!" > > John Gilmore, Ashland, MA 01721 - USA > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, > send email to [email protected] with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [email protected] with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN
