Thanks for the response. I use Old Norse by E. V.
Gordon, 2nd edition. The pronunciation key is on p.
266. I have trouble on those lines that have French
and German words (instead of English) for the
pronunciation example. Edred Thorsson (aka. Dr.
Stephen Flowers) has some helpful stuff in his
FUTHARK: A HANDBOOK OF RUNE MAGIC, but even he uses
German. I lived for a total of six years in Germany,
and took college classes in German, but never mastered
all the umlatt vowels. But at least I've heard the
German. I am totally clueless on what French is
supposed to sound like.

Specifically, in the Grammar, part 1, section 5
(vowels).

First question for the list:

What's the difference between [a] as in mann (G.) and
[a:] as in father (E.)? I always said them more or
less the same, when I lived in Germany.

If anyone on the list can aswer that "frage", then
thanks!

StaveRunner



--- keth@... wrote:
> Hi Stave Runner !
> I also have EVGORDON (finally!!) ;)
>
> >I am a beginner, and what I need is a computer file
> or
> >cassette that tells me audibly how to pronounce
> this
> >stuff. I find the written pronunciation guides in
> the
> >books to be inadequate. I use AN INTRODUCTION TO
> OLD
> >NORSE by E. V. Gordon. Any suggestions?
>
> Yes, tell me the page number of the pronounciateion
> in EV Gordon
> and also the section no. on case I have a different
> edition.
> And then go down the page to the first letter that
> gives you problems.
> Then ask the list how to pronounce it.
> I'm sure you'll receive lot's of help.
> I know Oscar always used to say that we should get
> ourselves a book
> with the phonetic alphabet in it. Well maybe we can
> use that, if
> you have access to a book like that.
>
> The point is that it is all very simple, really:
> Each letter in ON represents a different sound.
> And so you simply have to start from the beginning
> and memorize the sound of each letter.
> One thing that is really efficient is if you write
> all the information that is relevant to the
> pronounciation
> of a single letter on a piece of paper, and then you
> go for
> a walk a couple of miles. Just repeat the sound of
> the letter
> over and over again while you walk. Then it will
> stick in
> your memory. That is all there is to it really:
> 1. Each letter a different sound.
> 2. Thoroughly memorize the sounds one by one.
>
> Best regards
> Keth
>
>
>
>
>
>
> >StaveRunner
> >
> >___________________________________________
> >--- Arlie Stephens <arlie@...> wrote:
> >> What do people want from this list? Can it be
> more
> >> useful than just a place
> >> to ask questions when you find yourself stumped
> on
> >> some translation?
> >>
> >> Well, one thing I think we could do is work on
> >> things in parallel. That is,
> >> have everyone interested working on the same
> >> translation at the same time,
> >> and discussing their results and progress. The
> >> advantage here is that you
> >> get feedback on your efforts, without needing to
> >> have someone more experienced
> >> available to act as teacher, and overloaded with
> the
> >> task of correcting
> >> the exercises of many students. And you get to
> see
> >> others' answers, and
> >> think about whether you like their approach
> better.
> >> (Since there are generally
> >> several options in translating anything.)
> >>
> >> The problem, of course, is finding an accessible
> >> text to work on. It should
> >> be something reasonably accessible to people with
> >> fairly little ON background;
> >> ideally, simply having finished the already
> >> completed lessons. It shouldn't
> >> be too well known, lest we know what to expect
> >> already, and "translate" based
> >> on that expectation. And there should be
> >> translations available, so when
> >> we do get stumped (or simply think we've
> translated
> >> a passage successfully),
> >> we can find out how someone with more experience
> >> would have translated it.
> >>
> >> For me personally, Hrei�ar's ��ttr meets these
> >> requirements. The ON text is
> >> available from the Viking Society in Anthony
> >> Faulkes' "Two Icelandic Stories",
> >> complete with a vocabulary list. There's a
> >> translation available in Penguin's
> >> "Hrafnkel's Saga and Other Stories" by Hermann
> >> P�lsson. The prose is fairly
> >> simple, and it's obscure enough that the average
> >> person interested in ON
> >> doesn't have it already half memorized.
> >>
> >> On the bad side, I don't see an online source of
> >> this particular story. (I'm
> >> not sure what resources people have.) Personally,
> I
> >> like the Viking Society
> >> publications better than online texts, because of
> >> the glossaries included;
> >> however that's less important now with Zoega's
> >> dictionary available online.
> >>
> >> Would other people find it useful to work on
> >> translating this in parallel,
> >> all working at a similar pace and posting
> results?
> >> Would it also help to have
> >> each week's portion of ON posted to the list at
> the
> >> beginning of the week?
> >> (Or would people mostly rather just get the
> printed
> >> version?) Would a different
> >> text be better, perhaps something already
> available
> >> on line? (If so, what?
> >> My vote would be to avoid poetry, and stick with
> >> fairly easy writing; other
> >> than that, I'm pretty flexible.) What sort of
> pace
> >> makes sense?
> >>
> >> --
> >> Arlie
> >>
> >> (Arlie Stephens
>
> >> arlie@...)
> >>
> >
> >
> >__________________________________________________
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> >
> >
> >Sumir hafa kv��i...
> >...a�rir spakm�li.
> >
> >- Keth
> >
> >Homepage: http://www.hi.is/~haukurth/norse/
> >
> >To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
> >norse_course-unsubscribe@egroups.com
> >
> >
> >
> >Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to
> http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
>
>
>


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