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Re:DID YOU READ THE MAHABHARATHA ?
salut heremine
je suis tres contente de savoir que tu as lu le mahabharata . c est une epopee tres sacree de l inde . on tire des morales de l histoire de mahabharata dans notre vie quotidienne , j aimerais bien communiquer avec vous afin de te faire connaitre la culture indienne dont j ai fiere .
( mais je n ai pas gold membership)
a tres bientot
sakshi
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Language pair: French; English
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muskaan 2.
October 8, 2005
# Msgs: 2
Latest: October 8, 2005
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DID YOU READ THE MAHABHARATHA ?
Namaskaar
I'm a 24 years old girl from Africa. I'm so fond of India. Is there any native speaker of hindi with whom i can have discussions about indian literature in order to learn that beautiful language?
I have read The Mahabharatha and it's a story full of wiseness and teachings. Well it deserves the title of "The Greatest Story of Humanity".
If there's anybody who can answer i'll be thankful and be pleased to exchange with the person and help him or her or even them in French and English
Dhanyavaadh
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Language pair: French; English
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Hermine
September 5, 2005
# Msgs: 2
Latest: October 8, 2005
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Re:Learning Foreign Language with Children Picture Book
Yes! There are some wonderful books for that. We just loved Rosita y Juanito by Carmen Norma. This book is great for learning a lot of basic grammar and language skills without having to get into all of the jargon. And it's really kind of cute, too.
Personally, I already had some Spanish under my belt, so I was able to start off with the Spanish translation of Winnie de Puh. From there I went to Esperanza Renace (Esperanza Rising, by Pam Muñoz). Then I read the Spanish Translations of the Harry Potter books, which, aside from being a lot of fun, are also a great source ov very useful vocabulary.
Before I knew it I was reading translations of Shakespeare, and El Cid in the original Renaissance Spanish.
Mark
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Language pair: English; Spanish
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Mark S.
August 25, 2005
# Msgs: 1
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Walden, by Henry David Thoreau
Has anybody read Walden?
Thoreau argues that if you focus on what is truly meaningful in your life, whittling away all of the non-essential dross that our culture convinces us we need, but which we really don't, we can create a simple abundance in our lives. We could "live deep and suck all of the marrow out of life."
How might you do this? What would you eliminate from your life? What is essential that you are depriving yourself of at present? If you are familiar with Walden (or have the time to read it now), what do you think of Thoreau's solution? What do you think of the fact that he abandoned his experiment after two years, two months and two days? Does this mean his experiment was unsuccessful? Why or why not?
What questions does Walden raise for you?
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Language pair: English; All
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Mark S.
August 7, 2005
# Msgs: 1
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Mark S.
July 2, 2005
# Msgs: 1
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Re:Re:Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra
As Salaamu Aleikum Ibrahim,
I'm not sure how helpful I can be since what you see is all of the Arabic I know. And I'm not sure where to start, since I know nothing about how much English you know or what your interests our in our language. Please tell me more about yourself and about your interest in Learning English, and I will do my best to help.
Here's something useful I can tell you today: The person who gains knowledge is the one who learns. The person who shares knowledge teaches: I will _teach_ you English. You will _learn_ English from me.
M'a Ssalama!
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Language pair: English; Arabic, Moroccan
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Mark S.
July 1, 2005
# Msgs: 2
Latest: July 1, 2005
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Old Turtle and the Broken Truth
Here's a hot tip: Read Old Turtle and the Broken Truth by Douglas Wood. It is illustrated with lovely watercolors by Jon J. Muth. It's a wonderful myth/children's story for the modern age. It's soulful, meaningful, and moving. You'll be glad you spent the time, I promise.
Enjoy!
Mark Springer
Sacramento, CA USA
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Language pair: English; All
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Mark S.
June 27, 2005
# Msgs: 1
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Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra
Antony and Cleopatra
A & C has never really been one of my favorite plays by Shakespeare, though in my experience, I tend to love his plays most when I'm most familiar with them, and this is actually only my second time reading A & C.
Nonetheless, most of the humor has always been right over my head, much of the plot has always been mysterious to me, and I've never really gotten the point of this story. I've never been able to get how it is that a woman so vain and manipulative as Cleo ("if you find him sad, Say I am dancing; if in mirth, report that I am sudden sick" I.iii.3-4) could be capable of loving another person to the depth that Shakespeare seems to want us to believe she loves Mark Antony. "Noblest of Men, woot die? Hast thou no care of me? Shall I abide in this dull world , which in thy absence is No better than a sty?" (IV.xvi.62-65).
Of course, this is Shakespeare's way, keeping things complex, paradoxical, the way things are in real life. Still his choices are interesting, portraying Cleopatra as a sophomoric flirt, when historically, she was profoundly intelligent, a shrewd businesswoman, and ranging between 30 and 40 years old over the course of time covered in Shakespeare's play. I have a hard time matching the flirt up with that sensible, rational historical figure, but, hey, who's to say she couldn't be both?
Well, Antony and Cleopatra still isn't my favorite of Shakespeare's plays, but I did find more jewels to appreciate in it that I'd missed last time through, and as I'll be studying this in class next semester, I expect I'll be shown and I'll myself discover still more before we're through. At any rate, I'd love to hear what the rest of you think, and if there's some interest, I'll keep you posted as I discover/learn more.
Cheers!
Mark Springer
Sacramento, CA USA
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Language pair: English; All
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Mark S.
June 9, 2005
# Msgs: 2
Latest: July 1, 2005
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Literature Shakespeare Beowulf Pope Sidney
I'm reading the following at the moment:
Beowulf
Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra
Sir Phillip Sidney's Defense of Poesie
Alexander Pope's Essay on Criticism
Anybody have any comments or reactions to any of these?
Even if you haven't read the first two, most of you probably know something about them.
Sidney, a renaissance poet, wrote his essay in an effort respond to a number of essays published around the same time, arguing that poetry was bad because, 1) There are much more productive things we can do with our time, 2) Being works of fiction, poetry is nothing but lies. 3) When we read poetry, it tempts us to sinful living, and 4) Plato banned all poets from his republic, so why shouldn't we ban them from ours?
Sort of reminds you of Herr Von Trapp, doesn't it? But it's an interesting essay, and kind of fun to see how Sidney deals with those stuffed renaissance jerkins. If you've an interest and can't find it in your library, it's pretty easy to find on line.
Alexander Pope is really interesting, because I really didn't know him from Adam before I started reading his work, and it turns out that he is the single most quoted writer in the English language after William Shakespeare. He lived about a hundred years after The Bard of Avon and was a master of the heroic couplet, a style of iambic pentameter which Shakespeare often used himself. This proves, actually, to be one of the reasons Pope is so wonderfully quotable. When a pithy jibe is structured as a heroic couplet, it becomes dangerously easy to remember. And one of the things I love about reading Pope (and about Shakespeare) is the number of old sayings I "discover"in their works. There's something really thrilling about coming across one of these and thinking, "So THAT's where that came from!" Such as, "fly to altars; there they'll talk you dead, / For fools rush in where angels fear to tread" (l 624-25). How many thousands of references have we seen to that one?
Anyway, let us know what you know, what you'd like to know, what you discover if you take the time to turn to any of these. I'll let you know if I discover anything new and wonderful while I'm at it.
Cheers!
Mark Springer
Sacramento, CA
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Language pair: English; All
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Mark S.
June 3, 2005
# Msgs: 1
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The most popular Russian book according to Russians
If you were to conduct a survey of college educated Russians about their favorite book, I can guarantee you that it's not going to be anything by Dostoevskij or, heaven forbid, Tolstoj that becomes the most frequent pick.
In fact none of those great Russian classics -- Checkhov, Gorkij, Tolstoj, etc -- will make it. They are very much admired by the Russian people, but rarely read outside of school.
I bet that the clear winner in such a survey would be
"Master and Margarita" (Ìàñòåð è Ìàðãàðèòà) by Bulgakov.
So if any of you want read what most Russians consider the greatest book of the 20th century, that's something you'd want to check out.
I'm not going to post any links to the free versions of this book in Russian and English, as it's against the policy of this site.
So if you're interested and can't find it on your own, you can always ask me in e-mail.
-- Alex
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Language pair: Russian; English
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Alex
April 29, 2005
# Msgs: 2
Latest: August 23, 2024
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