tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6294141728297871688.post6163658806755858977..comments2024-03-02T19:27:39.460+00:00Comments on linguistlaura: Gwynne's at it againLaurahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15599735346062899537noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6294141728297871688.post-8188086759161194112017-10-26T10:16:46.077+01:002017-10-26T10:16:46.077+01:00Dear Laura,
A friend just brought to my attention ...Dear Laura,<br />A friend just brought to my attention your 2014 article on Martin Gwynne regarding his Latin grammar. The article may be old but I thought I'd give some feed-back. I have known Mr Gwynne for over 18 years, although we are no longer in friendly terms. The first thing to say is that he is not 'odious;' and the second thing to say is that he is an incredibly learned man. Having said this, Mr Gwynne is vastly self-taught in Latin and this only at an elementary level (I think I'm right in thinking he has had a basic education in Latin at Eaton) and he is most certainly NOT an expert,a thing that I have put to him over and over again, and upon which we have crossed swards many times. I have not read his Latin or his English grammar because I refuse to read them, so I cannot in all honesty pronounce on either. My principle is that it takes infinitely more practice and experience to be able to proclaim oneself an expert at anything, and, in Latin at any rate, Mr Gwynne quite simply has neither. The second observation is that one rarely gets to self-proclaiming to be an expert at anything, but, generally, this recognition comes from OTHERS, and it is based on the amount and quality of the work one has done, and in the case of Mr Gwynne and of Latin, this amount to nothing. You are absolutely right on his "Wikipedia" copy/paste techniques. I have repeatedly pointed out the dangers of what I call "Google-knowledge," that is to say, a superficial information gathering to impress people, with little or no grasp of the subject matter. To same extent, the same applies, to Mr Gwynne's English, which he oftentimes misuses badly. It is important to understand that Mr Gwynne is NOT a an impersonator. He does have, though, a largely benevolent tendency to exaggerate. Incidentally, I happen to agree with him on the importance of learning Latin. I also agree with many of your counter-arguments. Finally, just to be clear on this, I do not claim to know Latin better than Mr Gwynne. My Latin comes from basic secondary education and it is best classed as one notch above zero.<br />Best wishes<br />David A. Castelnovo, Brighton, UKThe Catholic Observerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06580428130119080193noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6294141728297871688.post-34992122624352123172014-05-14T13:55:52.147+01:002014-05-14T13:55:52.147+01:00'a language more difficult than Latin' for... 'a language more difficult than Latin' for an English speaker: Inuktitut? No positive transfer of any sort, unlike with Latin.Ipmilathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11370120491927658242noreply@blogger.com