Category: Latin

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Alphamaniacs Rule the Word

Today we have a tribute to word players and geniuses, Alphamaniacs: Builders of 26 Wonders of the Word by Paul Fleischman and illustrated by Melissa Sweet.

Writers and poets often play with words in creative ways, but Paul Fleischman has gathered a collection of examples of people who have pushed the language envelope into other realms.

Examples:

1. Creative Translations from Sight to Sound

Young scholars have spent long hours translating Latin text into English, so imagine their delight to discover some Latin words sound enough like English words to write prose that means one thing in Latin and a totally different thing in English when read aloud. This is called Dog Latin (link to Wikipedia page).

2. Concrete Poetry Makes Images

Mary Ellen Solt and other poets have used letters  and words to make visual art. Search for examples of Mary Ellen Solt’s concrete poetry, like a poem about forsythia shaped like a forsythia bush or a zinna.

Intrigued at the possibilities? The collection includes:

  • The developer of stylometry or the use of computers to analyze writing style to establish authorship for anonymous works
  • A man who wrote an entire novel without using a single letter e
  • An obsessive designer of fonts
  • The man who created a new language called Esperanto

Plus many more.

As an added benefit , the illustrations are by the innovative Melissa Sweet. The collage mixture of art and word is its own contribution.

Fleischman has assembled an astonishing set of examples. The books is easily browsable and introduces fascinating subject matter. The only shortcoming is that because of the sheer number of different people he covers, he can’t delve deeply into any one topic. Each one receives only a light, breezy mention. Time and time again I wished the descriptions gave more details. Let’s face it, any one of these could be a topic for an extended essay or even a book on its own. It does help he provides references for “Further Entertainment” in the back matter. I wish a glossary had been included as well.

Overall, Alphamaniacs is the perfect choice for mature middle graders to young adults who have a fascination with words and languages. Who knows what it might inspire from future word players.

Related activities:

1. Take some poetic license.

My family has been creating poems and riddles based on car license plates for years, but it turns out we weren’t the first. Daniel Nussbaum has translated well-known stories using records of vanity plates in his book PL8SPK.

 

If you spend way too much time in the car, you probably see vanity license plates every day. Here’s a challenge: Use license plates to inspire haiku-like poems. You can add words if you choose.

For example, these actual vanity plates:

  • LEOPARD
  • FLAWLESS
  • SILENCE

can be rearranged to become the poem

Flawless leopard
Stalks its prey
Silence

In a similar theme, the license plates

  • X3X
  • ANCHOVY
  • FORTUNA

with a little “poetic license” become:

Three anchovies
Four tuna
X anchovies
X tuna

Think about it.

One day I saw these two in the same parking lot:

  • 1Run100
  • GOOD4EWE

I run 100 K
Good for you

That is a a nicer pair than:

Be a duck…
Kabob

UBETCYA

 

To accompany:  Alphamaniacs: Builders of 26 Wonders of the Word
Age Range: 12 – 16 years
Publisher: Candlewick Studio (April 14, 2020)
ISBN-10: 076369066X
ISBN-13: 978-0763690663

Disclosure: The book was provided by my good friend Cassie. Also, I am an affiliate with Amazon so I can provide you with cover images and links to more information about books and products. As you probably are aware, if you click through the highlighted title link and purchase a product, I will receive a very small commission, at no extra cost to you. Any proceeds help defray the costs of hosting and maintaining this website.

Looking for more children’s nonfiction books? Try the Nonfiction Monday blog.

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Ferdinandus Taurus: Introducing Languages

Isn’t it amazing sometimes how coincidences can point your thoughts in a new direction?

Many teenagers in our neighborhood are starting high school this week. They all needed to pick a language to study for the next few years. How do they do it if they have never heard or seen any other languages? How do they decide which one fits their needs and personalities best without prior exposure?

Then I met a lovely young lady who speaks several languages, such as Spanish, Portuguese, French and English. She studied to all these languages from a very young age. She has had many unique opportunities because of her language abilities.

Finally, all those high school students are now thinking about standardized tests, like the SAT. Part of these tests assess a student’s vocabulary. What better way to build vocabulary than to learn about languages such as Latin and Greek (and many others) that have contributed to English over the years.

Taken together, through these experiences I was reminded of the importance of introducing children to foreign languages throughout childhood. What is the best way to do this? One great way is to pick up children’s books written in different languages. For the next few weeks I plan highlight some examples of the kind of book that introduce languages and at the same time appeal to children.

Ferdinandus Taurus by Munro Leaf, illustrated by Roberto Lawson, and translated by Elizabeth Hadas is a wonderful classic that could be used to acquaint children with Latin.

The advantages of using a children’s picture book is that the story is familiar, and even if it isn’t, you can glean much of the plot from the illustrations. The vocabulary is amazingly useful, too, even though it is a simple story. For example:

sedeo, to sit – root of such English words as sedentary and sessile

mater, mother – leads to maternal and matronly

apis, bee – scientific name for bee, such as Apis mellifera, the honey bee, as well as the root of the word apiary

Do you need to know Latin to share this with your children/students? There is an “Index Verborum” of all the words used in the text. It might be hard to figure out things like verb tenses without at least some Latin background, but remember that the idea is to let them see and hear the language, to get some idea of what it is all about.

With the wonders of YouTube, you can even have an expert read it.

Cool!

Paperback: 80 pages
Publisher: David R Godine (October 1, 2000)
Language: Latin
ISBN-10: 1567921272
ISBN-13: 978-1567921274

Be sure to look for more information about children’s books at today’s Book Talk Tuesday.

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Asterix the Gaul

Time for another humorous series of books that have been entertaining (and secretly educating) people for decades. 

I was first introduced Asterix the Gaul by Rene Goscinny and illustrated by Albert Uderzo in my high school Latin class many years ago. The text had been translated from the original French into Latin. Does that sound dry? A book about Gauls from Roman times written in Latin? Wrong! My classmates and I loved the spunky cartoon characters so much, we would spend hours trying to figure out what each was saying. I’m sure all my success in Latin is due to the foresight of our teacher to provide us with Asterix books.

Several years ago, I stumbled on an English version. It turns out that there is a whole series featuring Asterix and Orion publishers has been re-releasing the books. I immediately bought several for my then elementary-school-age son. He loved them, too. In fact he went in costume as Asterix the Gaul on Halloween, and was bitterly disappointed when everyone thought he was a Viking.

What’s to love:

  • Incredibly clever word play and side-splitting puns
  • A humorous overview of history and geography during Roman times
  • Sly references to classics, films and famous pieces of artwork

What a few parents may not love:

  • Cartoon violence in the form of fighting

Most of the violence is the direct result of the conflict between the Gauls and the Romans, which is historically appropriate. To me, it seems so over-the-top slapstick that it is not objectionable, but I did want to mention it for those that are sensitive to such things.

You can get somewhat of a feel for the flavor in the film version. (The books are better. They don’t have the dated feel.)

Although listed as for ages 9-12, the Asterix books are really for all ages. Our local library files them in young adult or sometimes in graphic books. If your child is learning a language or you want to brush up on the language you took in high school, you might consider the French or Latin versions as well.

Reading level: Ages 9-12
Publisher: Orion (September 1, 2004)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0752866052
ISBN-13: 978-0752866055

Asterix the Gaul is the first in the series.

A selection from the Asterix series in English

A selection from the Asterix series in French

A selection from The Asterix series in Latin