Yesterday was a very good International Talk Like a Pirate Day (international, of course, because it is celebrated by the fine people of New Zealand who know a good holiday when they see one). Our swashes were buckled, and pirate names were adopted (say hello to Captain Anne Bonney). Glog and bilge-rat were most heartily enjoyed, and the word o' the day was "yar!"
Yesterday was also presentation day for Miss Annie and me. We must have done well- Friend Maura told us we sucked because we made her presentation with Friend Hans look ridiculous. Miss Annie says we did as well as could be expected, especially since it was pretty obvious that only about half the class had read the play. That annoys me. It takes just as long to read a play as it does to watch one, and this one -since it's taking place in your head- will be cast and designed absolutely to your tastes. All you have to do is read it.
Besides, we were reading Anton Chekov, for crying out loud, if you're supposed to read Chekov, and you have any interest in theatre, read the damn play. (That was actually the first rule in my Playscript Analysis class.) Prior to this I hadn't read any (so many plays, so little time), but I knew it was important that I do so sooner or later. Chekov wrote the plays that Stanislavski used to change acting forever. Every single actor or actress in the West can singuarly thank Chekov for allowing them to do what they're doing, along with every director, and every designer. Theatre and film as we know it simply would not exist without him.
For those of you whom I have lost, pardons. Read the first page of George Bernard Shaw's Major Barbara, and then read the first page of any of Chekov's plays (preferably in a decent translation). The differences are easy to see.
Speaking of translations, I've been on a bit of a linguistic journey. We're in the midst of the dative case in German. The Russian kids have no problem with this, the Americans have no idea what the hell is going on. Part of this is because grammar is not formally taught anymore- not in America.
I went to do a little work and see what the dative is in English. We don't have a dative case. We used to, but not after about 1066 (quick, what else is important about that date?). Some of the leftovers from that era are the words "whom" and "methinks". 'Cause we use those words correctly every single day, don't we kids? Anyway, Russian has a dative case, as well as oodles of other creepy language things.
I don't know exactly how any of it works, but it seems like Russians have a lot more ways to say what they mean without being specific about it. Not that it's more euphamistic, but that saying or writing things can suggest a lot more than they actually mean. Perfect: a huge, broody country has a huge, broody language! And no wonder Russians tend to know every other language under the sun, it's a step down.
Anyone out there know a quick and dirty way to learn grammar well?