BY THE NUMEROS: FREQUENCY DICTIONARIES

Since I've been on a history kick I haven't spent as much time on foreign language material. So, just to keep the neurons idling, I've started decking out my bathroom mirror with lists of Spanish words culled from A Frequency Dictionary of Spanish from Routledge. Once I memorize the couple hundred or so I couldn't recall, I know that I'll have the first (by Routledge's reckoning) five thousand down pat. That's a fun thought.

Anyway, I think this sort of rote memorization is a good supplement for direct reading immersion (which remains the best all-around way to absorb and retain foreign vocabulary), but it's only valuable in so far as a). it's used as a supplement and b). (I think) it's more useful to fill in vocabulary gaps once the learner's at a more advanced level.

But now for Routledge's dictionary in particular:

A Frequency Dictionary of Spanish brings together frequency, alphabetical and thematic lists, combines them with English definitions and Spanish phrases for each entry, and wraps the whole thing up with a pretty bow. It's quite well-done. Basically, it does its job, and it does it well. Which is more than you can say for the bulk of language reference material out there. I look forward to going through their German, French and Portuguese editions. Unfortunately they don't have an Italian edition as of yet, but they do have Russian and Arabic.

UN PO' D'ITALIANO, A SMATTERING OF GREEK, AND VICO

First up, some more Italian gems grazie a Using Italian: A Guide to Contemporary Usage.

1.) la mangiasoldi - lit. money-eater, actually, a slot-machie.

2.) acquascooter - jetski. This word is awesome. Apparently there's a such thing as a "water-scooter," but if all English-speakers referred to jet-skis as acquascooters, the world would be a better place.

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Just a quick link to an interesting article on learning ancient Greek vocabulary, specifically how the unusually small number of high-frequency words makes the Wortschatz easier to learn at a beginner/intermediate level. He claims 1,100 lemmas make up 80% of lemmas in ancient Greek (comp. 80% of English = 2,200-2,300 lemmas). The article's doubly fantastic because it includes lists of the said lemmas w/ English definition (50% list and an 80% list). Once I get over my current Italian binge I may proceed to this, circumstances allowing --- though I could start memorizing 10/day while bagging ice. That shouldn't be hard.

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And, last but not least, a brief update on my current reading of Giambattista Vico's Scienza Nuova. In a nutshell, this book is awesome. It's on par with Wittgenstein's Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus in that it weds artistry with analytical investigation to such an extent that you can't tell whether it's more poem or more treatise. Vico himself refers to it as "nostra mitologia istorica" and it's basically that: a grand cyclical vision of history across three ages and a final transition in which society reverts back to it's original (or slightly more advanced-than-original) state. But it's the vast amalgamation of stories, anecdotes, myths, legends and linguistic speculation that thrusts the Scienza Nuova into the realm of cosmic epic (like, we're talkin Ovidian, Tolkienian, Homeric, Joycean epic epic). And, lest we forget, Vico was one of the first to argue that myths could be a legitimate historical artifact: an idea that has grown especially fashionable of late (Robert Darnton (of the Great Cat Massacre fame) springs to mind as a fairly well-known example). He also has an interesting-looking bit on Homer in the third bird (Discoverta del vero Omero) but I haven't reached that point yet. More to come surely.*

Toodle pip!

*And of course if some of this sounds familiar, Joyce definitelyprobably used it as a framework for Finnegans Wake. I'll address that at some length eventually. Probablydefinitely.