Learn Anglo-Saxon

I finally put together an Anglo-Saxon study group. We’re using Pollington’s First Steps in Old English.

Of all the languages, the one that matters most on earth, moving forward, for geeks and hackers like me, is clearly English.

I’ll probably never master another language like I’ve mastered English. So, rather than just be bad at another language, it would be good to learn a bit of another language that would bolster my understanding of English, like Latin did when I studied that back in high school.

I mentioned this in passing, and Tindómiel called Muinamír had to go and prod me to make it a 43thing. So, it’s on the list.

Knowing your history helps you understand the future. The future of spoken and written communication between humans is wherever English is going.

I feel so lucky that I got to learn Old English. I studied Anglo-Saxon in college for 2 semesters. It was an independent study with a brilliant professor. We translated portions of the Bible and Beowulf. My final project was to make my own poetic translation of The Dream of the Rood. Such fun!

It’s so daunting. So, my first step: finally figure out how I should be pronouncing all the vowels, then practice until I can read them without stopping to think.

And I know the first few words of Beowulf… languages are difficult for me (Spanish is extremely regular and phonetic, but it still look me three years and a few weeks in Mexico to get the basics down) so I’m hoping for the best here…