Hello Everyone,

As most of you know, our instructors have been too busy to work on the course
for the past few months, and we've been kind of on our own. They had hoped
that they'd become less busy, and get back to writing new lessons, etc., some
time this summer.

Well, it looks like this isn't going to happen. I got an email from Óskar
telling me that they didn't think they were going to be able to get back
to us anytime soon, and asking whether I wanted to take over as moderator,
since (with the group having stayed active in their absence) they didn't
want to just close it.

Now I'm not qualified to teach Old Norse. My role in this group has been
as proofreader and guinea pig; basically, Haukur and Óskar tried out lessons
on me before releasing them to the whole group. I would fix up any problems
with the English (though their English is very good in any case), point out
any incursions of modern Icelandic spelling (easier for me to spot than them)
or vocabulary they'd not yet introduced, and they'd use my errors and questions
as a guide to revising their explanations.

So I'm basically just yet another student ... slightly more advanced than
the posted lessons, but still a complete beginner.

However, I have been plugging away continuing to study the language in the
absence of our instructors. There are resources available, both on line and
in print. I suspect some of you people have been doing the same.

Moreover, I'd kind of like to have a mutual support group for people trying
to learn the language. A place to post pointers to useful resources, ask
questions about resource availability, compare experiences/translations,
and simply encourage each other to keep on going.

It might even be nice to work on specific translations in parallel ... that
way, we could even compare results, and get some idea if we're getting
anywhere.

Plus, if feeling especially ambitious, we could try chatting in Old Norse.
(Or even modern Icelandic, for that matter.) Doubtless the results would
be hilarious to anyone who actually knew the language ... but the practice
might do us some good ... and those who think they see an error could point
it out. (Plus, we still have at least one modern Icelandic speaker on the
list, if he doesn't run screaming at the thought of reading our doubtless
inept attempts at using the language; he might take pity on us and point
out a few of our errors... or provide a good example, at least.)

So, my question for everyone here is: would that be useful to you? Or would
you rather see the list shut down? Or simply left to continue as is ... very
quiet, with the occassional question or announcement? Or have you got some
other alternative to suggest?

I'll create a poll on the Yahoo groups site with this question, to make
tabulating the results easier. Also one for those of you who feel confident
enough with the language to help others ... basically, I'm wondering how many
of the 224 members of the list are (a) still active and (b) not total
beginners.

Please respond ... to the polls, or on the list. I want to figure out fairly
fast whether there's enough interest to keep this list open, and then start
thinking about how to make it useful.


--
Arlie

(Arlie Stephens arlie@...)