Susana Biemmi
I am a retired teacher from Argentina. I have always been interested in literature and in ancient history. I am eager to learn more about these subjects.
Activity
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Susana Biemmi replied to Jan Anderson
@InekeFioole Sometimes, in times of stress, you seek help and you find more troubles. Sorry you had found that psychologist when you needed just a warm word. It would have done a great difference.
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Susana Biemmi replied to Ineke Fioole
@BarbaraC You are right, Barbara. There's something special about Italy. In such a small country there are so diversity in the cities. Venice is a unique place, quite different from Florence, and these two different from Rome. And the north so different from the south, in geography and society, both ends incredibly valuable. It was a really fascinating...
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Susana Biemmi replied to Dietlinde Bartram
@InekeFioole Very interesting. Ineke. Thanks a lot.
I've just finished this course and don't know whether I'll be able to read and answer your comments. I hope I will, but if not, now you know the reason.
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Susana Biemmi made a comment
Thanks a lot!!
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@VivienneC Thnaks, Vivienne. I'll do it. I'd be nice for me to be able to differenciate the accents within England. The only one I can recognise up to now is the difference between British and American English!
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Susana Biemmi replied to Ineke Fioole
I went to Pisa from Florence, too. I don't remember the trip very well, but what I do remember is that the most beautiful part of Toscana I saw was going from Florence to Rome. I was stuck to the window and despite the tiredness, I can't stop delighting myself with the beauty of the countryside. During this trip it was when we visited Assissi and we travelled...
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Susana Biemmi made a comment
I have arrived at this course with very little knowledge about linguistics. Some parts have been very interesting and I felt others quite challenging, mostly because my lack of understanding. Now, at the final stage, I feel I have learnt a lot and I know where to search for information about my week points. Thanks a lot for this enlightening course!
I don't... -
Susana Biemmi replied to Daniel Burnett
@InekeFioole Thanks for the link, Ineke. I travelled through the Umbria region, going to Assisi. Wonderful, green Umbria. I loved it together with to Toscan region. Their countryside is one of the most beautiful I've ever see.
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Susana Biemmi made a comment
Spanish is a phonetic language, so I think it's a good fit. I must say that I have never analysed poetry and I really find it boring. I've just read it and enjoy it, or not. This is a personal appreciation. I must admit that I relish on the flow of words on a line, that is what is moving to me. And, probably, this comes from a certain selection of words and...
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Susana Biemmi made a comment
Reading that the most important IE god was the god of the sky, I think that, as far as I have read, in most ancient cultures the main gods came from the firmament. It was the place where events ancient people could not understand came from. Events they feared and, for this, they venerate. The result was the creation of gods to protect them from these evil...
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Susana Biemmi made a comment
I agree with most posts below. Do these stories have a common origin or do they depict common events those days?
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Susana Biemmi made a comment
Although the concept of art as we know today comes from the XIXth century, its representation has always been present in the history of mankind. Perhaps as a way to transmit knowledge or customs from generation to generation, or to feel strong in front of many events man could not understand, and in many cases, he feared. Means were various but, I think, the...
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Susana Biemmi replied to Susana Biemmi
@InekeFioole Right! It works! I must have skipped something. Thanks, Ineke!
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Susana Biemmi replied to Susana Biemmi
I've forgotten another one. How could a language become extinct? With the last member of the group gone? No intermingling with other cultures around that could keep it, or mix it with their own? Is a language really extinct, or does it live in another ones?
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Susana Biemmi made a comment
All this is really fascinating to me. But what I'm really curious about is the movements of cultures and languages. How could people preserve their language while living among groups speaking a different one? How could people share DNA with a group and language with another one? How many different genetic and linguistic influences do we have nowadays, from how...
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Susana Biemmi replied to Mryka HB
@MrykaHB I come from an Italian family from the north. We know for certain that we our genetics was influenced by Germanic tribes that inhabited the area. Our physiognomy is more German than Latin, the dialect our ancestors spoke has German characters, even our surname, we assume, derives from a German word. As you have said, we are a surprising mixture of...
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@DietlindeBartram I entirelly agree with Dietlinde. Sometimes we are compelled to learn a language completely different from our DNA, but it's true that we can learn any language we want without moving from home. I'm an example of this, too. I can speak three languages apart from my mother tongue, two romance languages and an Anglo- Saxon one. And I'm thinking...
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Susana Biemmi made a comment
Striking fact that Hungarians genetically belonging to the Slavic population, yet they have spoken a non-Indo- European language. I wonder why living in a geographically common area , linguistically they were influenced by other people. I've read that their language was brought there from the Ural mountains by tribes called magyars, but why these tribes...
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Susana Biemmi made a comment
Although it seems quite obvious that emerging from the same source, different cultures share some of the same procedures, what calls my attention is that funerary barrows have come up to our time. If we visit cemeteries in different countries, we can see similar burial constructions: most of them have a sort of "burial mound". It's true that nowadays in many...
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Susana Biemmi made a comment
Fascinating! I've been looking for this from the very beginning. I must admit I have no knowledge about linguistics at all, so it's so interesting to me to learn how certain characteristics about economy or society can be traced through language.
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Susana Biemmi made a comment
For me, it's one of the most interesting aspects of the course. Looking forward to learn about the people who started most of the languages we know these days.
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Susana Biemmi replied to Maria Teresa Perez
@MaryR You're quite near!hahaha
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Susana Biemmi replied to Rosanna Vai
@InekeFioole You have to click on VISITA and there on Virtual Tour. It's really a jewell!
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Susana Biemmi replied to Maria Teresa Perez
@InekeFioole hahaha. I have forgotten to add the physical activity I must do, interrupted because of the hot spell here. If not, doctors are going to kill me!
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Susana Biemmi replied to Maria Teresa Perez
@MaryR Thanks, Mary, I'll let you know!
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Susana Biemmi replied to Susana Biemmi
Very interesting! I've read that neolatin languages form another continuum. There are many similarities in some of these languages. Spanish and Portuguese are very similar in writing, but entirelly different in speaking. Spanish and Italian are also very similar. The drawback in this is that when you speak more than one language you often make confusion when...
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Susana Biemmi replied to Maria Teresa Perez
@MaryR Thanks a lot, Mary. It sounds very interesting, but, for the time being I'm going to be busy with the art course and some of the Portuguese options. Surely, I'm going to put it in the wishlist.
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Susana Biemmi replied to Maria Teresa Perez
@InekeFioole I assume Arabic isn't at all easy, but a Marocco dialect, my God, she must be good!
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Susana Biemmi made a comment
Well, a myth revealed: the existence of Midas.
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Susana Biemmi replied to Maria Teresa Perez
@InekeFioole Nice comparison that of the coat rack! When learning a language a person must internalise step by step the elements he is learning, while adding the new ones. Here we speak of "recycling ". Once a grammatical element or some piece of vocabulary is learnt, it must be used continually, added to the previous knowledge.
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Susana Biemmi replied to Maria Teresa Perez
@DietlindeBartram I agree with you in that the difficulty of a language depends on the native language. For Spanish speakers, English structures are difficult because the position of the grammatical elements in a sentence is different. On the other hand, some grammatical elements like conjugation of verbs, articles, the use of adjectives is far simpler than in...
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@ingridfraaije Absolutely agree with you. For me, this is the most fascinating part of IE languages and cultures.
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Susana Biemmi made a comment
I'd like to learn more about changes in the different IE languages from the historical and social point of view, not so much the precise differences in lexical and gramatical items, which I, personally find too difficult to follow.
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Susana Biemmi made a comment
The use of the verb "disappear" to express death, is something I connect with present day culture. Did the use of euphemisms come from so long ago? If so, I'm surprised that some human tendencies have evolved much less than I have thought, as the, let's say "fear" to call certain facts for their name.
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@MaryR I haven"t heard that expression but I guessed the meaning. Then I googled it and I was right.
I must admit the vowels and consonants stuff is making me crazy. I only want to have an insight in the subject, so I' m.really skipping that part. As an attendant wrote to another one who wanted to drop out, we have to choose what interests us and leave the... -
Susana Biemmi replied to John Kearey
@carmenfernández The same doubt. Can anyone clear it up?
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@MaryR We are talking about the rituals performed by priests at that time, for example if he was called by the king to provide a male heir. We wondered what would happen to the priest if the result was a female. I guess he would have run for his life.
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Susana Biemmi made a comment
Amazing to learn how many figures one can see if watching properly! Besides a donkey, several birds, hands, profiles, I may say several different tools. Thanks to the attendants who mentioned the donkey. This has made made watch in detail!
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Susana Biemmi made a comment
The use of the "empty vowel" has reminded me of the use of the syllabic "r": two ways of solving pronouncing problems in ancient times.
I have learnt from this text the origin of "e.g". It has been clear the meaning to me, but I've always used it without knowing the origin. Thanks!
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Susana Biemmi replied to Marıe Woods
@MarıeWoods Thanks for this most interesting video. Some words have caught my attention.
Horse training is said "assussanni". Very similar to my name, Susana, which I was told is of Persian origin, from the city of Susa.
"Tetan" for teat. In Spanish it is commonly called "teta".
To taste is said "kuskus", as the tasty dish from Arabic origin called... -
Susana Biemmi replied to Susana Biemmi
@InekeFioole An answer linguists have to provide.
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Susana Biemmi replied to Susana Biemmi
@InekeFioole Actually I don't know how to.pronounce it. This is new subject for me too. I think in syllables where there are many consonants together and no vocals, one of them has to take a vocal function to be able to pronounce it. How they are pronounced, I have no idea. Perhaps a Polish speaker can make it clear, please!
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@InekeFioole Running away!!!
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@InekeFioole If only people could stop thinking of blood connections and start feeling freely love for those around them! I had a daughter and granddaughter "from the heart", we say here. We have chosen one another and we are extremely happy for that, enjoying every minute we stay together. And it's great!
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Susana Biemmi replied to Susana Biemmi
@MaryR Want to to visit the country and the art museums that must be great! Wish I could soon!
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@IvanVince Any connection with "pecora" (sheep) in Italian? I'm thinking now: those who had "pecore" had money.
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Susana Biemmi made a comment
Wonderful interpretetion of Beauwolf in Old English! I read it at college, and loved it. This reading has transported me to old times and I imagined how it woud be to sit round a fire and listen to this story. Marvellous!
Many years ago, I read a summary of Beauwolf story with my early teenager students. Contrary to what I supposed, because I had doubts...
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Susana Biemmi replied to Rosana Alcobé
@InekeFioole I didn't, but have it in my wishlist.
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Susana Biemmi replied to Susana Biemmi
@InekeFioole How nice to preserve poems that way! It's an approach for most people to be able to read them and to introduce poetry to some who would otherwise not have read it. Thanks Ineke!
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@BarbaraC Harsh subject to deal with. Thanks for the info!
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Susana Biemmi replied to Jan Anderson
@DietlindeBartram I've looked it up and they came from the Black Sea.
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Susana Biemmi replied to Jan Anderson
@JanAnderson I wonder that, too. Not because they were more "civilized", because they vandalised Rome. May be they assimilated some forms of Roman culture? Would like to know.
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Susana Biemmi made a comment
Interesting to learn the root of the word "saga". Now the meaning is clear for me. Thanks!
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Susana Biemmi replied to Alan Lado
Interesting article. Thank you!
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Susana Biemmi made a comment
Not using horizontal lines when writing on wood. Once again an example of how man adapts himself to his surroundings.
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Susana Biemmi replied to Marıe Woods
@SherryHallmond I felt the same!
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Susana Biemmi replied to Maria Teresa Perez
@InekeFioole An interesting explanation. I heard from people who studied both languages that German is much more difficult. I have always thought English grammar is so much easier than Spanish one because it represents the idiosincracy of the Anglo-Saxons. They are more direct, and expeditious, in dealing with everything, including their way of...
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Susana Biemmi made a comment
During the XIX century, a group of Wesh arrived in Argentina, in Patagonia precisely, and settled there. They started the colonization ( Y Wladfa) of a rough country area and their culture has survived up to now.
Place's names are written in Spanish and Welsh : Loma Maria (Spanish) is Bryniau Meri.One group settled on the east near the sea and...
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@InekeFioole Very interesting article. I've downloaded it to read it in detail. That's the point I'm interested in language, the way they've evolved. I thought this course was going to be developed in this mood, not in grammat and sounds. Nevertheless, I' m.learning many interesting things and selecting what is of importance to me. Thanks Ineke!
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Susana Biemmi replied to Mary R
@MaryR You deserve it!
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Susana Biemmi replied to Susana Biemmi
@InekeFioole Thanks, Ineke. Hope I will.
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Susana Biemmi replied to Mary R
@MaryR Your brain is brilliant, Mary, I'm sure about that!
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@Mary R I wrote a lot, that was on my college days. I remember having some blanks difficult to fill. I left them because I was sure it'd become clear in the early hours of morning. I used to wake up with the right words and structures.
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Susana Biemmi replied to Susana Biemmi
@InekeFioole How beautiful must it be! So much eager to visit the Netherlands.
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Susana Biemmi made a comment
A very superficial thought: Ogham is like tally marks joined in groups, then I think the connection with mathematics is not at all unreasonable. Why? May be it was a society highly connected with market affairs and thus, numbers were very important and also useful to develop an alphabet with them. It's only a guess and I'm now feeling I'm writing nonsense....
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Susana Biemmi replied to Dietlinde Bartram
For me too!
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Susana Biemmi replied to Jan Anderson
@DietlindeBartram I quite agree with that doctor. Once, talking with my uncle, he tolde me :" You do your own fate". And, despite in a certain degree I agree, I also think it's not the same condition if you were born in a high class family than if you were born in a slum. It's true that hard work can bring you out of the slum, but, unfortunately, there are...
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Susana Biemmi made a comment
When studying Italian, I began tracing the origin of my family who came from Brescia. I learnt that, among others, their culture was influenced by Gallic tribes that invaded the region. I think they left many traces in the local dialects, because the one spoken by my family was a mixture of Italian and French with some influences from the Longobards, a...
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Susana Biemmi replied to Jan Anderson
@DietlindeBartram Etruscans were such an interesting culture. I remember when studying Italian, reading about the position of women in their society. They were treated at the same level as men which caused the rejection of Roman and Greek. They were great artists also. Their pieces of art were of an exquisite beauty.
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Susana Biemmi replied to Dietlinde Bartram
It says " mostly found". I understand that it is refering to the number of people speaking the language. Besides this, Celtic was also spoken in central Europe, but in smaller communities. At least, it's what I have understood.
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@MaryR Having taught and learnt languages, I think it's a sort of blend of methods. Grammar is important, because it's difficult to speak a language without knowing the rules. But this can be taught in a everyday context, where you also learn how to interact with ordinary people. It's not just one way or the other. It's a blend of both.
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Susana Biemmi replied to Susana Biemmi
I would have missed two lovely, intelligent ladies with whom I daydream to share a nice cup of hot chocolate
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Susana Biemmi replied to Mary R
@InekeFioole Thanks for the link!
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Susana Biemmi replied to Jennifer Slade
@InekeFioole I want to be of the team. No matter how cows moo, but it'd great to do such a trip with two nice ladies!
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Susana Biemmi replied to Jennifer Slade
@InekeFioole I had to go back to Sarah's comment because I didn't remember what I meant by it. Sarah wrote about the relationship between climate and the way of placing the lips when speaking, as for example Australians who tend to open their mouths. In cold weathers people tend to close their lips. It seems to me that Americans are more open than English.
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Susana Biemmi replied to Mary R
@MaryR It does happen in Spanish, at least in Argentina. It is evolving like many modern languages, but its simplification is bringing about a completely unbalance of it. The wrong use of verbs is astonishing: the subjunctive mood is banned from our language and being replaced by verbs in present tense of the indicative. I was told the same happens in...
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Susana Biemmi replied to Susana Biemmi
@InekeFioole It really is!!
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I met people from the Netherlands and their English was so good I thought they were from England. One of my friend's son is now living in Amsterdam with his French girlfriend and they talk in English. He said that they both speak English at work and English is the language they used for communicating with everybody.
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@InekeFioole I was also surprised at Celtic and Latin being together, but immediately I remember the dialect my family spoke and it was a mixture of Italian and French with incorporations of German tribes (the Longobards). As the Celts were spread through France, I found the explanation for that joining together.
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@MaryR Very interesting video, Mary. Thanks a lot for the link. Two years of English history summarized in minutes. And much funnier!
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@MaryR We were trained in received pronunciation. Our tongue almost a knot just to learn that most people in England do not speak it. Nothing about dialects and accents. English sounds are very different from Spanish ones. If we add accents and dialects, it's too much! I talked to English people and could understand them perfectly well. Not the same with Irish...
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@MaryR With that pronunciation I'd never have passed first year at college! We were compelled to speak English like a native speaker.
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Susana Biemmi replied to Mary R
@MaryR After almost forty years I'm feeling quite relieved, Mary. At college we were tormented about using the right words in English. It was mortal sin to choose the wrong one, at the point that we I finished college I felt I was speaking better English than Spanish!
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@InekeFioole Government rules, hard to digest!
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@InekeFioole I've realised now that clicking on your comments I can go back and also read the other attendants' comments.
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Susana Biemmi replied to Mary R
@MaryR New area for me, too. As I can't go back again, I'm making summaries, as in other courses. They are useful and help me to understand things in a better way.
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Susana Biemmi replied to Dietlinde Bartram
I agree with you all. Descriptions help, but they are not enough
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Susana Biemmi replied to Susana Biemmi
@InekeFioole NG is great. I used to buy the magazines and spent summer days reading them in the garden, enjoying the marvellous photography. I learnt a lot in those days, and travelled to impressive places without leaving home. Now, when I have time, I watch them on TV, and go on relishing on their stories.
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Susana Biemmi made a comment
It's interesting how man has adapted at the environment where he has lived. It's the first time I read about messages written on birch bark.
And how important the work of archaeologists is. Through messages we can gain an understanding about what life was like in ancient times. It's astonishing to be able to learn about sex abuse on animals at the time. It... -
Susana Biemmi replied to Rosanna Vai
Thanks a lot for the link. It's a very interesting place, The virtual tour is really superb! I loved the lower basilica! Hope to visit it next time I'll be at Rome.
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Susana Biemmi made a comment
I remember how hard it was for me to deal with intonation when at college. No problem with sounds, but definitely I was not born a singer.
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Susana Biemmi made a comment
I didn't know that Bosnian, Croatian, Montenegrin and Serbian are dialects continuum.
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Susana Biemmi made a comment
I entirelly agree. Maths is made of rules, and so sounds and words, even grammar. I must admit it's the part of a language I'm not crazy about. I enjoy languages in a different way, in their living form. Nevertheless, the difference in sounds in different languages is interesting and the practice of them a good exercise. Children often find it funny to...
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Susana Biemmi replied to Susana Biemmi
@InekeFioole Last year I saw some great artists like Turner, Constable and Blake in the art course. I really like their work very much.
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Susana Biemmi replied to Susana Biemmi
@MaryR Hope it will!
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Susana Biemmi replied to Daniel Burnett
Eager to know that.
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Susana Biemmi replied to Susana Biemmi
@InekeFioole Late for me, Ineke, but I haven't heard anything about it. Then, with more time, I'm going to read the article
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Susana Biemmi replied to Susana Biemmi
@InekeFioole Hi Ineke! How nice to meet you again! I certainly know that Mary and you are brilliant! I always remember the witty comments you two always posted in previous courses. I really missed that. And, worse, I can not read your posts of previous weeks. As I'm doing this course free, and there is not a starting date as in the others, I can't start or...
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Susana Biemmi made a comment
I could individualize some letters, but must admit I got lost. What seemed to me one letter, soon seemed another. May be lack of practice... or lack of ability, definitely
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Susana Biemmi replied to Susana Biemmi
@MaryR My family is from Brwscia, Lombardy. My cousins live in Milan. Beautiful country, you are right. And I learnt the importance and the beauty of it in adulthood. I' m crazy about its geography, its history, its culture, its people, with all good and bad things. I had a strange feeling when I was in Milan. My godmother, my mother's first cousin, told me...
