Dear Sarah, Raymond, Grace, Simon etc.
If you have been looking at the Norse course
e-mails, you will know that Erich Rickheit has already had a go at the first
chapter of 'Hrafnkel'. I suspect he didn't know that we seemed to
agree not to begin sending in our translations until September, but the
fact that such a translation has arrived early, highlights a problem that will
affect all of us sooner or later.
All of us work at Old Norse for greater or lesser
amounts of time, and inevitably, people like me who are blessed with more
leisure than most, will find ourselves forging ahead, wishing that there
were one or two others who were keeping the same pace. Personally I would
like to translate half a long chapter or even a full chapter in one go. However
those of you who have to work and have other commitments as well, may be unable
to keep up and feel a bit miffed if you are left a long way behind.
Is there any means by which we can ensure that
everyone can work at their own pace and not feel left out, whatever the amount
of their output? In other fields of learning, I have been in the unhappy
position myself, of lagging far behind the others and giving up in despair. This
I feel, is very wrong; everybody's interest should be nurtured and encouraged at
whatever level. I really would like to press on at a greater speed, but if that
were to result in people with less time to spare, abandoning Old Norse
altogether because they felt left out of things, it isn't worth it as far
as I am concerned.
Can we have a consensus of opinion on this and any
suggestions on how we can accommodate everyone?
Jed Mc Harg