| It was a round-about path that I followed to the study of German. I've always had an especial passion for Germanic philology, but it was the long-dead or extinct sister tongues of the modern language that I pursued first, spending my time primarily with Gothic and Old English.
Over time my curiosity about New High German grew, however, and eventually I decided to try my hand at something more modern. I was fortunate enough to find a delightful little grammar while exploring the nooks and crannies of a bookstore in my hometown, and after working through the volume I opted to supplement it with a German course at college; on the whole the grammar was a far more comprehensive guide, but the class helped to round out my lexicon with a firmer grasp of the language in its more colloquial moods.
On the whole I've found German to be a true delight, and over the years I've striven to keep my skills up to snuff with a variety of literature, though I've had fewer opportunities to engage in conversation than I would like. As such I would be not only ready, willing, and able to assist the student in their first forays into the study of the language, but delighted by the chance to practice it further. |
| Latin was, in effect, my gateway to the larger world of Classical Study. As I'd always been somewhat curious about the language I availed myself of the opportunity to take a class in college, and thence fell head over heels for Latin, Greek, the Classics, and philology and history more generally. Latin truly was, to quote the well-known modern epic, my first step into a larger world.
I've accordingly spent some years studying the language, both on my own as part of one university curriculum or another. For the past year I've even been fortunate enough to find a number of opportunities to provide tutoring in this decidedly rarified subject, and for my part I hope that I can continue to do so. If no longer the lingua franca that it was in Dark Age and Mediaeval Europe, nor even the language of modern scholarship, by my lights Latin remains no less worthy an object of study; so long as interest in the language persists, I wil be only too happy to foster the same. |