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jthnews

285 karma · joined September 11, 2015

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jthnews··on Show HN: A Latin self study course, Khan Academy-style
Thanks for the feedback! I'll put some thought into this.
jthnews··on Show HN: A Latin self study course, Khan Academy-style
Yeah but imagine how distressing it is to make them :) Fixed. Thanks for the heads up.
jthnews··on Show HN: A Latin self study course, Khan Academy-style
timthorn in a thread below suggested http://www.minimus.com/ for young kids and https://classroom.thenational.academy/subjects-by-key-stage/... for older ones
jthnews··on Show HN: A Latin self study course, Khan Academy-style
Yes, the Duolingo course is great if you are interested in conversational Latin. This tool is focused more on reading ancient Roman authors. No reason you can't do both, though!
jthnews··on Show HN: A Latin self study course, Khan Academy-style
Unfortunately I have not been able to find a way to learn Latin that doesn't involve some amount of memorization pain. I find that focused exercises, as opposed to flashcards or other rote approaches, mitigate the pain somewhat. But I'm not sure it can be eliminated completely.
jthnews··on Show HN: A Latin self study course, Khan Academy-style
Wow, this is great. Thanks for the link. I hope to take Selfstudyclassics a little farther than this one goes over time, but this would be a great place for anyone to start.
jthnews··on Show HN: A Latin self study course, Khan Academy-style
Yes, several other commenters have made that suggestion, and I agree it is a good one. This tool is aimed at those interested in a public domain text, or people who using other tools who are looking for additional practice in the form of interactive exercises with explanations.
jthnews··on Show HN: A Latin self study course, Khan Academy-style
Agreed! That is unquestionably a great text for those who have access to it. Selfstudyclassics is aimed at those who might not have access to it, or who are looking for additional practice in the form of interactive exercises with explanations.
jthnews··on Show HN: A Latin self study course, Khan Academy-style
No apology necessary. I sincerely appreciate any and all feedback on the project.
jthnews··on Show HN: A Latin self study course, Khan Academy-style
Thanks! Excellent text and excellent channel.
jthnews··on Show HN: A Latin self study course, Khan Academy-style
Congrats on beginning your Latin studies! Duolingo is a great place to start, and will get you off and running with conversational Latin. Selfstudyclassics is geared more towards vocabulary and constructions you might find in reading, say, Caesar. I agree that they complement each other nicely.
jthnews··on Show HN: A Latin self study course, Khan Academy-style
Thanks for the link to a great resource. I don't mean to detract in any way from any of the other terrific resources available online - free or otherwise. I created selfstudyclassics.com to scratch a very particular itch. When I started to re-learn Latin after many years, I was looking for something which was focused on examples and featured a lot of practice with instant feedback - something like Khan Academy, which I love. My hope is that it is helpful to others with a similar itch.
jthnews··on Show HN: A Latin self study course, Khan Academy-style
You might be surprised at the size of the community of Latin speakers (outside the Vatican). It gets some attention from time to time on HN. For this community a shared pronunciation is crucial to being mutually intelligible. And I suppose it makes sense to use the one with the most support from the experts, even if it will always remain somewhat speculative. I take your point - it is possible to study and ready Latin without much regard for pronunciation. But I also feel that if you approach it this way you miss out on the fun of trying to recreate the speech of an ancient culture.
jthnews··on Show HN: A Latin self study course, Khan Academy-style
Yes, I think that was the original intention. I changed the option to - Nautae in "Nautae fābulam dominīs nārrat quia dominae fābulās amant." - for the time being, so at least it isnt't flat out wrong while I think of something better.
jthnews··on Show HN: A Latin self study course, Khan Academy-style
Thanks for your interest! I agree about the pronunciation. The first of the videos is on that very topic. Also I second your suggestion of Lingua Latina Per Se Illustrata. That is a great text. My goal is not to replace any of the existing tools, but rather to supplement them. There is no such thing as too much practice. Also, this presents a free alternative for those that might need one.
jthnews··on Show HN: A Latin self study course, Khan Academy-style
Great project! At first glance it looks like the differences in approach are substantial, but I'll think about it some more and see if there are ways I might be able to contribute.
jthnews··on Show HN: A Latin self study course, Khan Academy-style
Those are two great ideas for question formats. I will likely try to work those into future quizzes. Thanks for checking out the site!
jthnews··on Show HN: A Latin self study course, Khan Academy-style
Looking at your second example...that's just a mistake, sorry. I figured a couple of those were bound to slip in. I'll get it fixed. And again, I really appreciate your taking a look at the site.
jthnews··on Show HN: A Latin self study course, Khan Academy-style
Thanks! Fixed...
jthnews··on Show HN: A Latin self study course, Khan Academy-style
Thanks for the feedback! As you noticed, the drills are more about syntax than reading comprehension, and your understanding of syntax is solid. It might be challenging to come up with multiple correct translations of each Latin exercise, but I will give some thought to how it might be done.
jthnews··on Mystic coolness
There's a really interesting blog post that discusses an unusual mid 19th century use of the word "cool": http://therumpus.net/2011/06/there-is-a-head-rolling-over-th...
jthnews··on The underappreciated role of muscle in health and disease [pdf]
If I understand you correctly, you are implying that the more recent paper in someway contradicts or undermines the earlier one. I don't think this is the case. The more recent paper is about the distribution of protein intake throughout the day, not the presence or absence of protein in one's diet. The only claim of the recent paper is that it makes no difference what time of day you choose to consume your protein. It is not comparing a diet with protein to one without protein.
jthnews··on MySQL InnoDB Cluster GA
Is there any support for sharding?
jthnews··on Latin Speakers of West Virginia
Yes, a lot of classical scholarship stands the test of time and, once done, need not be redone. On the other hand, a classicist's job has always involved more interpretation than discovery. A brief look at the classical scholarship from 100 years will probably convince you that interpretation is the kind of thing that needs to be updated from time to time.
jthnews··on The Guru Meditation
These are videos about Commodore, retro computing, and related topics.
jthnews··on Ask HN: Who is hiring? (October 2015)
Mochila Fulfillment | Pennsauken, NJ (Philadelphia Area) | Full Time | ONSITE

Software Engineer

We provide order fulfillment and warehousing services to e-commerce brands. Our proprietary software enables us to combine very fast shipping with industry leading accuracy rates and flexible packaging solutions.

We make use of Java (Android), Javascript (Mithril), PHP, MySQL, and Python. But we're looking for solid fundamentals, not experience with specific technologies.

jtracy@mochilafulfillment.com

jthnews··on Ask HN: Who is hiring? (September 2015)
Mochila Fulfillment | Pennsauken, NJ (Philadelphia Area) | Full Time | ONSITE

Software Engineer

We provide order fulfillment and warehousing services to e-commerce brands. Our proprietary software enables us to combine very fast shipping with industry leading accuracy rates and flexible packaging solutions.

We make use of Java (Android), Javascript (Mithril), PHP, MySQL, and Python. But we're looking for solid fundamentals, not experience with specific technologies.

jtracy@mochilafulfillment.com