Some professors are amateurs (e.g., moi!); others are quasi-or actual professionals. It does not matter what you call yourself: it’s how much you know and how well you understand the subject and can communicate your knowledge and understanding. Your basic question is good but the answers will differ according to the knowledge, understanding, and ability to explain of the one replying to the message.
Scott Catledge
Professor Emeritus
history & languages
Amateur in Icelandic
From: norse_course@yahoogroups.com [mailto:norse_course@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of CalecM@...
Sent: Wednesday, May 04, 2011 11:16 AM
To: norse_course@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [norse_course] Learning
I've been slogging through ON for a while now, and I have a question that may lead to divergent opinions.
As I read through texts, I can usually get the meaning. But when I go to the grammars, I slam hard into a level of detail which I think of as "pilpul," the Hebrew word used to describe the micro-analysis of Talmudic scholars. So my question is this: How much detailed grammar do you all feel you need to know to read (not write) ON comfortably? Can you read to your satisfaction without knowing all the different conjugation patterns? All the different declension schemas? I know that to write correctly in ON requires orders of magnitude more knowledge; I'm just asking about reading.
BTW, in your replies, it might help if you identified yourself as an amateur, a professional, a professor, etc.
Thx,
Alec