Hans,
What a nice reply! Luckily, I have spent most my life in stormy areas,
including a 3,000 mile trip my wife and I took with a British friend in
a 33' sailboat from Hull in Yorkshire to Lanzarote in the Canaries.
When we crossed the Bay of Biscay, we ran into a bit of rough weather
which caused us to heave-to for an hour or so to get away from the
pounding. We later found out we had gone through the weakened latter
part of a hurricane. OTOH, it was quite pleasant after we left Lisbon
on the way to the Canaries.
I have heard Dutch described as "Plattdeutsch". I imagine that you can
tell me if that is correct or not. FWIW, I have been amazed by how
close Frisian is to English. Like you, the Slavic languages and Greek
are incomprehensible to me. I can slowly decipher the Greek words into
Latin type from my scientific courses at University but that doesn't
help me a lot. I had Latin as part of my instruction, before I went off
to the first of my various universities. I didn't appreciate how much
it would come in handy while I was studying it. I wish I had worked
harder to understand it. About all I can remember is "Gallia est divisa
in partes tres" (sp?).
While I was in the Navy during the Korean War I spent some time in Japan
and learned a little Japanese. For me, the kana scripts (katakana and
Hiragana) are fairly easy to learn, but Kanji is quite difficult for
me. At one time I knew perhaps 3,000 characters. However, considering
5,000, or so, is needed to read an average newspaper and most third
graders know more, I haven't accomplished much.
Considering my interest in food, I have a book you MIGHT be interested
in. I have found it very handy when I go to Chinese restaurants:
"The Eater's Guide to Chinese Characters"
by James D. McCawley
University of Chicago Press, Chicago and London
1984
It is primarily concerned with reading and understanding menus and I
have enjoyed it thoroughly. It is still available here, but I imagine
you can find a copy at Foyles in London, or any of a number of other
sources if you're interested. See:
*http://tinyurl.com/yfy6ts
*Regards...
Tom*
*
hans wrote:
Hello Tom,
Nice letter, nice area where you live, a bit exposed to
storms, but quite close to El Alamo & River Walk with nice
steak houses at reasonable prices.
I learned Hochdeutsch from my mother & clear Austrian
colored (vocables) German from my grandma & my father & in
school, but learned Latin, Greek (classical) & English in
school, but acquired Italian when working in Venice, Torino,
Genova, Naples, Catania many, many times, basic Japanese &
some Thai by myself, but can also communicate in Castellano
& Portuguese (Carioca) (was a marriage related issue) &
French & can read German handwritings back until 1500 or so,
but I am totally lost with the Slavic languages. Reading:
Greek, Cyrillic (slow, very slow, rather decipher), Thai &
some chinese characters. That is plenty enough for the
moment, but might expect something new in the future
perhaps. Ooops, I forgot that I can read trebble, alto - &
bass clef plus transposition in any key - fluently.
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