Brief van DPhil student op Stellenbosch

Kommentaar oor die SS I-kursus

Ek dink die kursus is baie wel deurdag en dien as uitstekende inleiding tot Latyn, vernaam vir (jong) studente wat nog nooit ‘n vreemde taal geleer en kennis gemaak het met naamvalle, verbuigings, vervoegings, en sintaksis nie.

Die verskilllende taalelemente word baie geleidelik bekendgestel d..m.v. die kort beskrywings en dialoë, aangevul deur treffende illustrasies, sodat die student nie oorweldig voel nie en dit amper outomaties absorbeer.  Bv., die werkwoord in die 3de persoon enkelvoud: uit die teks lei mens maklik af dat dit op –t eindig, nog voordat dit as sodanig verduidelik word. Ek is ook beïndruk deur die eenvoudige manier waarop redelik komplekse grammatikale begrippe verduidelik word en die onderbou van elke les, sodat dit logies en maklik verstaanbaar is. Jy en Judy het duidelik ag geslaan op Einstein se vermaning!

Die dele oor kultuur, mitologie en geskiedenis is net lank genoeg by elke les en verskaf ‘n grondige konteks vir die oorspronklike sprekers van die taal.  Die stof is baie goed geïntegreer en moedig die student aan om met die volgende les voort te gaan om meer te wete te kom.

Taalkundig en kultureel is dit van groot waarde vir Afrikaans- en Engelssprekendes en vir die uitbreiding van mens se kennis van die Klassieke.

André

Letter from J.A. WESSELS PROFESSOR AND HEAD OF ENGLISH DEPARTMENT (UP)

                                                                                        11 September 2009

Prof. A. Mogetlane

Vice-Principal

University of Pretoria

Dear Professor Mogetlane,

COMMUNITY PROJECT: TEACHING LATIN

I strongly support the initiative to introduce a Latin-teaching programme as a community project.  Having had the privilege to study Latin myself, I am deeply aware of the manifold and profound advantages that the study of Latin has brought me.  I regard it, in fact, as the most valuable subject I studied at school.  Since Latin has been abandoned throughout South Africa as a requirement for the LL.B degree and admission to the bar, secondary schools have by and large stopped teaching Latin as a school subject and university departments have been faced with a radical decline in students.  The loss to the country is in my opinion enormous.

The advantages of Latin are both of a practical and of a more a subtle nature.  No other subject gives one the insight into the way language in general functions than the logical structures of Latin.  I am still able to explain grammatical structures in English (my chosen field of specialization), Afrikaans (my mother tongue) and the other languages I have acquired to a greater of lesser degree of fluency like French and German, on the basis of the clearly definable structures of Latin grammar.  No language scholar should be without that basic frame of reference. In terms of the study of English, which has become the main lingua franca of South African society, Latin provides instant access to a large, useful, slightly more erudite vocabulary.  Having studied Latin as an Afrikaans school-boy in the Free State, English words like gregarious, heredity, noxious, facile, punitive, to name but a few amongst a vast and wide-ranging lexicon posed no obstacle to me, were instantly recognizable and usable. 

Furthermore, Roman civilization is one of the fundamental basic structures of all Western culture, which is such a significant force in our contemporary world.  Until fairly recently it was assumed that any educated person in the Western world would have some competence in Latin (and even Greek).  Someone who wishes to venture into that world of culture beyond the immediate and superficial will find Latin a pass-word to great riches and pleasures; it has been an asset to me from such small pleasures as understanding the table grace said at my Oxford college, being able to read the inscriptions on graves and monuments in many countries of the world, being able to comprehend and to relate to sophisticated arguments making use of Latin phrasing and concepts, understanding scientific terminology without laboriously having to memorize it, having a huge advantage in terms of vocabulary in particular in learning a Romance language like French (as I did) or Spanish or Italian, to the more substantial advantage for those who want to dig deeper, of being able to plug into the classical roots of all Western literatures, Western art, theology, philosophy and theatre.  Latin provides one with a critical advantage in all of these fields.  Ancient mythology and culture pervades all aspects of cultural history and contemporary culture. 

Another major advantage which makes me cite Latin as possibly the most useful subject I studied at school is that it is an excellent tool to hone logical, critical and analytical thinking skills.  It develops the same skills in this respect as mathematics, but in a less abstract context.  As these are the skills that our contemporary society with its complexity and diversity particularly needs and rewards, Latin remains a vitally relevant subject in the contemporary world. Far from the schoolboy’s lament that “Latin is a language, as dead as dead can be;/ it killed the ancient Romans, and now it’s killing me”, Latin is a relevant and immeasurably rich resource which we are neglecting at our own peril.

I therefore think that the propagation of Latin amongst all young South Africans is an extremely valuable and laudable project.

J.A. WESSELS

PROFESSOR AND HEAD OF ENGLISH DEPARTMENT (UP)

Letter from Leslie Levy

Dear Corrie

As you know I graduated with Latin and Classis (first class) as my majors in my BA at Wits University (1963) and then read for an LLB (1966). I was admitted as an advocate of the supreme court of South Africa in July 1966 but chose to enter the Business World and since 1973 have been managing director of my own  (private) company in the field of marketing.

From my early years in business I aspired to identify with the beacons of professional excellence in my field and in 1973 was elected as a fellow of the British Institute of Directors and was also elected a fellow of the institute of directors in SA on the same date. I continue to be a member asof this date.

More to the point I have been a member of the Classical Association of South Africa  (CASA) since 1964 and am in fact a life member of the organisation.

My years as a student of the classics were three of the most intellectual satisfying and gratifying of my life and formed the basis of my love for the classics which has been with me ever since.

I am now 67 and feel that I owe debt to my classical education. I am heartened amazed and encouraged to see your inspirational effort to introduce young minds to this repository of treasure.

I would like to identify in a small way with your programme and would be greatly honoured if you would permit me to establish an annual prize of R1000.00 plus a trophy on a classical theme to the best student in your Schola Scripta programme.

I have looked through the material you have kindly made available to me and can only say that it is superbly and invitingly presented and should provide the first building blocks of a lifelong interest in and affinity for the classical world.

The number of young people who I believe have enrolled in your unique course testifies the need it so admirable meets.

Leslie S. Levy

Comments from students and teachers on the Schola Scripta Course:

“As students from traditionally disadvantaged communities, they have a measure impediment in English which is successfully addressed by this course

Their knowledge obtained from the course made a world of difference to their understanding and application of the English Language…they have acquired the ability and confidence to derive the meanings of unknown words from Latin”

Mrs S Hurlin. Principal Cornerstone College 1997

Comments by Zulu, Swazi and Basutu pupils

"This course taught me lots of English words I didn’t know. I think I did improve my English marks"

"I have benefited from this course because now I can spell English words that derives from Latin words and I know how to greet in Latin "

1995

HM van Heerden ( hoof v Morgenzon Volkskool 1995):

 H vd Westhuizen" 2000:

"My dogter se begrip van Engels het besonder verbeter en sy snap onmiddellik van watter Latynse woord die Engelse woord ontleen is"

A man  who does not understand Latin is like one who walks through a beautiful region in a fog; his horizon is very close to him. He sees only the nearest  things clearly, and a few steps  away from him, the outlines of  everything become indistinct or wholy  lost. But the horizon of the Latin scholar extends far and  wide through the centuries of modern history, Middle Ages and antiquity. 

Arthur Schopenhauer