Thank you for your response.

I appreciate the invitation to try to join in with the new text. I may try with some of the current texts, to get practice for the next one, so that I can understand the whole text from beginning to end. I will probably try to translate only the first part of each text until I can recognize common vocabulary (and make translations a lot faster)

Is there any common text between you, such as dictionaries or grammars? If not, is there a particularly dictionary that you would suggest? So far, I've used Barnes' Glossary trying to "un-decline" the words. When a word is not available there, I search in Zoëga and if all else fails, turn to Vigfusson, this works well, but if there is another dictionary, perhaps only in print, I can try to buy a copy online.

I've taken a look through the 'Files' section and have started reading through the course there, although I prefer the UTexas course, as I have light experience with germanic grammatical jargon. Thank you again for allowing me to read through these texts with you.

Elliot

--- In norse_course@yahoogroups.com, "Brian M. Scott" <bm.brian@...> wrote:
>
> At 2:03:49 AM on Wednesday, June 19, 2013,
> elliot.holland@... wrote:
>
> > Hi. I'm Elliot. And I've recently started independently
> > studying Old Norse from Oklahoma, USA. So I'm new to Old
> > Norse, and right now, I'm trying to figure out the complex
> > grammar of Old Norse. I'm having some difficulty, but with
> > the help of the online course material at utexas.edu, and
> > A New Introduction to Old Norse, I am slowly progressing.
>
> > I'm also new to Yahoo Groups, and am not quite sure how
> > the webpage works.
>
> > I'm asking for help regarding how I can use this group
> > as a resource, or if I am welcome to use this group at
> > all.
>
> You're certainly welcome in the group. As you've seen, it's
> not very lively these days, and most of the most
> knowledgeable folks are no longer around, but I'm happy to
> try to answer questions.
>
> We're actually in sight of the end of Laxdæla saga.
> Assuming that we start on something else when we finish, you
> might consider trying to join in: it's a bit daunting at
> first and probably feels a bit like learning to swim in the
> deep end of the pool, but it's really very effective, and it
> has the great virtue of providing constant feedback.
>
> > As I understand now, It's mostly being used to post
> > translations of Old Norse texts, but I see some places,
> > such as the polls, that lead me to believe that course
> > material is somewhere to be found. If someone could please
> > point me in the direction of it, that would be great.
>
> The Files section, accessible from the links near the top of
> the lefthand side of the web page, contains a set of six
> short but rather good lessons aimed at native speakers of
> English. They're definitely worth a look: I'm not the best
> judge, since I have a fairly strong linguistics background,
> but I'd say that they're noticeably more accessible than
> either the Texas course or Barnes, and despite their
> brevity, they cover a lot of ground.
>
> It also contains a PDF of Zoëga's dictionary and errata
> thereto. There is a nicely webbed online version of Zoëga
> at <http://norse.ulver.com/dct/zoega/index.html>. You can
> find an online version of the larger dictionary by Cleasby and
> Vigfusson, from which Zoëga produced his dictionay, at
> <http://lexicon.ff.cuni.cz/texts/oi_cleasbyvigfusson_about.html>.
> It's a bit more comprehensive and has more citations, though
> the arrangement of the various senses of a word is sometimes
> a bit less convenient than Zoëga's.
>
> If you read German or one of the Continental Scandinavian
> languages, other resources are available.
>
> Brian
>