I don't think it would take less time than for Portuguese or French, but...
Tom Send a noteboard - 05/01/2010 04:53:27 AM
...I already pretty much know Spanish. I took 5 years of it and read the classics in Spanish. Of course, with any Romance language it doesn't take that long to master. It took me about 2 years from my first word to master Russian (complete with nuances, cultural references, popular jokes, cinema, music, etc.) but the vast majority of that was taken up with stylistics, not grammar or vocabulary (other than slang, which evolves quickly).
Political correctness is the pettiest form of casuistry.
ἡ δὲ κἀκ τριῶν τρυπημάτων ἐργαζομένη ἐνεκάλει τῇ φύσει, δυσφορουμένη, ὅτι δὴ μὴ καὶ τοὺς τιτθοὺς αὐτῇ εὐρύτερον ἢ νῦν εἰσι τρυπώη, ὅπως καὶ ἄλλην ἐνταῦθα μίξιν ἐπιτεχνᾶσθαι δυνατὴ εἴη. – Procopius
Ummaka qinnassa nīk!
*MySmiley*
ἡ δὲ κἀκ τριῶν τρυπημάτων ἐργαζομένη ἐνεκάλει τῇ φύσει, δυσφορουμένη, ὅτι δὴ μὴ καὶ τοὺς τιτθοὺς αὐτῇ εὐρύτερον ἢ νῦν εἰσι τρυπώη, ὅπως καὶ ἄλλην ἐνταῦθα μίξιν ἐπιτεχνᾶσθαι δυνατὴ εἴη. – Procopius
Ummaka qinnassa nīk!
*MySmiley*
50-book challenge complete!
31/12/2009 10:02:42 PM
- 1960 Views
What did you think of Three Men on a Boat? One of the more underrated comedies out there, IMO. *NM*
01/01/2010 12:02:36 AM
- 467 Views
I think Jerome K Jerome was brilliant, and wish there were more like him.
01/01/2010 11:21:07 AM
- 775 Views
Good job, Tim!
01/01/2010 01:09:20 AM
- 741 Views
Not only that: my current read is Matter, the last Culture novel.
01/01/2010 11:16:34 AM
- 797 Views
Me too.
01/01/2010 11:53:57 AM
- 865 Views
You counted a book about contract law???
01/01/2010 04:16:53 PM
- 759 Views
fnords!!!!!
01/01/2010 07:29:09 PM
- 687 Views
by the way
01/01/2010 07:30:04 PM
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Three. If they were originally published separately, the fact that someone collected them into...
01/01/2010 11:55:22 PM
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The Night Watch series just got progressively worse. I liked all of them, though. *NM*
01/01/2010 10:18:15 PM
- 336 Views
Of course. It's the 50-book challenge, not the 50-SciFi-or-Fantasy-book challenge.
02/01/2010 12:14:59 AM
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I would never have considered case books "books" for purposes of the 50-book challenge.
02/01/2010 05:41:02 PM
- 852 Views
It's a textbook, not a case book.
02/01/2010 08:43:42 PM
- 994 Views
I think even books we called textbooks were essentially case books.
03/01/2010 05:42:45 PM
- 768 Views
Re: You counted a book about contract law???
04/01/2010 10:30:24 AM
- 707 Views
We both speak Spanish already.
04/01/2010 02:00:06 PM
- 703 Views

Do you really figure...
05/01/2010 01:57:54 AM
- 796 Views
I don't think it would take less time than for Portuguese or French, but...
05/01/2010 04:53:27 AM
- 818 Views
I think you should teach her Koine before French
05/01/2010 04:01:44 AM
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If I could convince my wife, I would
05/01/2010 04:57:05 AM
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There's always Amharic, I suppose
05/01/2010 07:32:50 AM
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For some reason I always want to read that word as though it were in Gaelic
05/01/2010 01:49:44 PM
- 702 Views
Well, at least it's not Klingon!
05/01/2010 11:30:48 PM
- 705 Views
I have a cursory knowledge of Old Persian and a smattering of Gatha Avestan...why do you ask?
07/01/2010 06:09:20 AM
- 673 Views
Oh, come on. Finnish is all kinds of awesome.
05/01/2010 05:01:16 PM
- 711 Views
I know the word "omenapiraaka" means "apple pie" - I went to the Helsinki McDonald's.
07/01/2010 06:10:49 AM
- 730 Views
Since 50 and a half seems to be quite a popular number this year, here are mine.
01/01/2010 04:38:09 PM
- 892 Views
I think I managed, too. However, after that, my reading just... ceased.
01/01/2010 06:02:16 PM
- 781 Views
What did you think of Foucault's Pendulum?
02/01/2010 08:42:02 PM
- 707 Views
Because I'm not American.
03/01/2010 05:50:36 AM
- 654 Views
Yes, but you lot have lost so much more...
03/01/2010 06:03:38 AM
- 671 Views
Is the subjunctive any more alive in America than in Britain?
03/01/2010 06:23:09 AM
- 701 Views
Not in any meaningful sense. I suppose there are some irregularities which could be subjunctive...
03/01/2010 09:54:46 AM
- 741 Views
Would y'all (
) say it's the same situation as with French (and I think Spanish)?
05/01/2010 02:05:59 AM
- 680 Views

Not exactly
05/01/2010 04:00:04 AM
- 693 Views
All I know about French is what's in Louisiana, and it's just completely incomprehensible.
06/01/2010 08:20:53 AM
- 661 Views
Aaah.
03/01/2010 09:04:45 AM
- 715 Views
I should have mentioned...
03/01/2010 11:39:27 PM
- 728 Views
Illuminatus! is so great. I finished the trilogy last year, I think.
05/01/2010 06:58:14 AM
- 697 Views
If this will be your first Eco, I definitely recommend The Name of the Rose rather than FP. *NM*
05/01/2010 11:13:07 AM
- 306 Views
I finished with 90 books.
09/01/2010 09:45:29 PM
- 770 Views