learning a new language

[SteveDallas]

Originally posted by Undertoad
A few years back my wife and I were comparing notes on our high school experiences. "And I got the Physics prize, for being the best Physics student," she said. "Wow, Physics, I wouldn't have expected that," I said. "Tell me something. What's Ohm's law?"

She didn't know. The most basic law of electronics, a major part of Physics.

Oh yeah I know all about that, something about an Indian and a vulture and a rock? I know about the prizes to... I got a few math prizes, and a French one, and I've got a Phi Beta Kappa key floating around in my dresser somewhere if it didn't get lost last time I moved. Am I glad I got the kind of education I did? Yes. Did it make me a better person? Yes. Do I remember half of it? Do I use half of it? Would I encourage my kids to choose the same kind of education? Ummmmmmm.........

Well back to the languages, I am attempting to learn Ancient Egyptian. You know, hieroglyphs, mummies, etc. etc. It's interesting.. and somewhat frustrating because I can't concentrate on it for periods of time, so I always have to go back and review things that came before. ("Oh yeah, I forgot they could use that as a first person pronoun.") I've always had an interest in Ancient Egypt and it's gratifying to have some knowledge of the language, though I doubt I will ever be able to read anything without a dictionary and a grammar at hand. I am now at the point where I recognize many of the most common signs (even if I don't recognize the words they're spelling), and some of the pharaoh's names & titles that I'm more familiar with. So we'll see how far I can go with it.

What really shocked me, from the aegyptian-l mailing list (which I recommend as a starting point for anybody else who wants to try this) was that for the movies Stargate, The Mummy, and The Mummy Returns, they actually retained a specialist in the ancient egyptian language and used "real" egyptian in the movies. I'd never have imagined they'd go to that much trouble.