Hei Gordon,
I had some remarks here too!

--- In norse_course@..., "G. Ross" <gfross@...> wrote:



> As for translating from one's native tongue into the archaic
language -- well, that is a very inefficient use of time for those
students who wish to learn only to read the language.

I think 99% of all translators ought to stick to the task
of translating *from* the foreign language they have learned
*to* their native language. The reverse seldom produces
good results. By way of example: yesterday I happened to find
a textbook that purported to teach Norwegian to Dutchmen.
I found it while sorting through a pile of old books.
The author was a Dutchman who was a professor of Norwegian
at some Dutch university. It was amusing to read through
some of the Norwegian prose he had written as part of the lessons.
In fact, it wasn't very good Norwegian at all! I could not
help exclaiming again and again: "but that's not the way we
say it in Norwegian!"

But I do not for a minute doubt that it wasn't a bad textbook
at all. The man probably had a more systematic grasp of
Norwegian grammar than the Norwegians themselves. And no doubt
he must have posessed terrific reading skills. But when it
came to speaking/writing, he obviously fell short of his goal;
a goal that is actually well nigh impossible to achieve for adults
learning a foreign language. And it certainly cannot be achieved
without living in the country for a long time.
>
> You mention "producing a text." I assume you mean "writing" in the
archaic language. My question is Why on earth would you want to write
(what? letters? short stories? critical articles? a novel?) in an
archaic language? Who would your audience be? Certainly a very
limited one. If your goal is to learn to read, you certainly don't
need to learn to write, as well. If I have a choice of spending a
half-hour doing an exercise that helps improve my ability to read Old
Icelandic or doing an exercise that helps improve my ability to write
in Old Icelandic, I will certainly choose the former. Remember that
we are not talking about modern languages here, but about archaic
ones, languages produced by cultures that no longer exist. The
culture that produced Old Icelandic texts is "gone with the wind."
The Vikings are no more.

There is the book "Den siste viking" by Johan Bojer.
The "viking" culture did linger a long time in Scandinavia.
Perhaps even a little bit into the 19th century. That is because
the way one did things had not changed all that much.
In Bojer's book, the boats are the same square rigged klinker-built
wooden booats that the vikings used. And they go after the same fish.
But now in the 21st century, it is definitely gone!

Ars longa, vita brevis,
Keth


>So why, except for kicks, would you, or
anyone, wish to write to them, e.g., letters, or for them, e.g.,
stories? Much more productive and interesting to learn to write in
modern Icelandic and to modern Icelanders, no? And to do this as
efficiently as possible, one would need to study the grammar, syntax,
vocabulary, and culture of modern Icelandic rather than Old Icelandic.