Learning a language is a matter of hours of study. The primary function of the method therefore comes down to keeping the student stimulated, so that he can study more and therefore learn faster. Secondly, it is up to the method to guide learning according to the student’s objectives, i.e. among the four fundamental skills in the study of a language (oral and written comprehension; oral and written expression), it is up to the method to focus more on the one or ones that are most desired. In all cases, progress won’t be very far without a solid foundation in all four. In all cases, progress is directly proportional to dedication. The rest is useless talk.
Tag: languages
Language Is Ingrained in Thought Itself
I have never written a line in English, among the hundreds of thousands that have come out of my head, that was not a translation of a thought conceived in Portuguese. Not even in an email. And to imagine the battle fought by so many writers of the last century, who voluntarily adopted a new language to create literature… A writer for whom language is limited to a vehicle of expression is inconceivable. Language is ingrained in thought itself, which is constructed through it. The logical structure of thought is based only on the syntactic structure of the language in which it is shaped; the two are inseparable, and the former cannot flourish without the latter. Words in different languages follow one another and are organized in different ways; this is evidence not of a formal difference, but of a distinction between the genius of the men who develop them. Changing it, when one is already old, seems like a shock of tremendous proportions.
Latin Syntactic Flexibility
The student who is resistant enough to overcome the terrible difficulties Latin presents will be rewarded with unlimited access to the true beauty of Latin syntactic flexibility, so intricate to the brain educated in modern Romance languages. This is one of the most notable distinguishing features of Portuguese as compared to other modern languages, making them seem harsh and prosaic. To appreciate the syntactic variety of the Latin constructions is, in fact, to appreciate the degree of creativity with which the author articulates the discourse, variegating and surprising. Without a doubt, it is a pleasure that justifies years of effort to learn Latin.
In Portuguese, the Beauty and Precision of the Speech…
In Portuguese, the beauty and precision of discourse, whether in prose or verse, is mainly due to the good choice of verbs. These, well-chosen, dispense with adverbs and avoid periphrases, only justifiable when the cadence demands. It is impressive to note the number of verbs in the language, something that requires careful and constant study by the serious artist, who will only master them perhaps after long years of effort. Flaubert, if he wrote in Portuguese, would probably devote his obsession to them, and not to nouns.