in animo habere /  by Anthony Gibbins

Viewers of shows like Lost or Orange is the New Black will be familiar with the device of continuing an overarching narrative through a focus on individual characters. The novelisation of Game of Thrones provides another example. The title page of Legonium : pars secunda informs us that this part of the story will be told through the lens of Miranda.

But first, our narrator is back. I have always liked the expression in animo habere - to have in mind, to intend. Here are just a few of the definitions of animus found in the Oxford Latin Dictionary; the mind as opposed to the body, the mind or soul as constituting with the body the whole person, the immortal part of a person, the spirit or soul of the universe, the mind as the seat of consciousness, the mind as an organ of thought, judgement, memory and opinion, the mind as the originator of intensions.

pergo, pergere, perrexi, perrectum to continue, proceed, go on with is a very handy verb indeed. It can be used absolutely (in Macedoniam), with an accusative object (iter) or with an infinitive (explicare).

Hello reader. It is a joy for me to see you again. I have in mind to continue my story. Do you wish to hear more?

a sneak peak @ lego audio disco /  by Anthony Gibbins

I want there to be a place on Legonium where a complete beginner can come to learn Latin. It is my hope that lego audio disco – I read, I listen, I learn – will evolve to be that place.

There has been much talk in Latin teaching circles that the 19th-20th Century ‘grammar explanation’ method of Latin teaching is not the only – or indeed perhaps the best – option available to us as educators.

lego audio disco will experiment with that idea. Each lego audio disco lesson will consist of two videos. The first will contain sentences and phrases (illustrated with Lego, scilicet) repeated three times; first in Latin, then in English, then in Latin again. It is my assumption that if the introduction of new material is carefully handled, the learner should be able to follow the meaning of the Latin sentences and deduce something of the grammatical rules. The second video contains only the Latin, and the learner can test their understanding by watching the video entirely in that language, hopefully without any internal English dialogue.

The videos are currently without any audio, but a terrific colleague, Phillip S., will soon be recording narration. This will ensure that the learner hears correct pronunciation from the very beginning while having the Latin reinforced through the aural receptors. Phillip has, mea sententia, an exceptional clarity of voice and I am both grateful and excited for his involvement.

Please, if you have a moment to watch the videos, I would be very appreciative of any feedback.

Oh, and one final thing. I am investigating the possibility of having a version of each lesson available as an ibook (sine voce). This would allow the learner to move back and forth through the ‘video’ at their own pace.

pars fabulae prima perlecta est /  by Anthony Gibbins

Thank you to all who have read through the first part of Legonium with me. I am trilled with how well readers have responded to this project and, mea sententia, the best is still to come.

Tomorrow I will be posting the first lesson of lego, audio, disco - a Legonium course for complete Latin beginners. I hope you will check it out and give me your feedback. Until then, here is today's translation;

I hope that my story is pleasing to you. The story, however, is not yet completed, therefore it will be necessary for me to soon tell more of the story. Be well!

like a ninja /  by Anthony Gibbins

Firstly, what a great minifigure. When I finished building the Brick Bank, even before I had conceived of Legonium, I went looking for this figure. I just thought she would look great standing on the roof and looking like she is up to something cool but shifty. Her official title is The Jewel Thief and she came in the Series 15 Collectable collection, along with a grapple-hook gun and stolen diamond.

On this page, the character hears a sound and turns herself (you can't just turn in Latin, you have to turn yourself or be turned). I wanted that turn to express something of her skill and agility. I went looking for a suitable adverb and found perniciter. Pliny uses it to describe how the baby Hercules seized the two snakes that were sent to kill him. Catullus uses it to describe how the young dance at weddings.  The Oxford Latin Dictionary defines perniciter as 'with quickness of movement, nimbly, speedily'. I prefer to think of it as 'like a ninja'.

Suddenly she, a sound having been heard, turns herself like-a-ninja. She looks around but she is able to see no one. Perhaps Pico is here.

quid facit haec femina? /  by Anthony Gibbins

Here is a very different view of The Brick Bank, the latest of the Lego Modular kits. Its a long way down from the roof to the pavement. I don't want to say too much about what is happening here, so I'll just leave you with a translation. 

Meanwhile, on the roof of the bank this woman is looking down through the windows. Perhaps you are asking what this woman is doing.

What do you think is going on?

nox adest /  by Anthony Gibbins

I thought it was a fun idea to ask the reader about the painting. I also wanted to end this story with the end of the day.

For those of you new to Latin, pingit, pinxit and picta are all forms of the same verb. pignit - he or she paints, pinxit - he or she (has) painted, picta - painted. If you were to look the word up in a dictionary your would see: pingo, pingere, pinxi, pictum (verb) to paint. This is the detail you need to form this verb in its myriad of mutations. The noun pictor, too, is formed from pictum and means 'person who paints'.

Marcellus has now painted for many hours. Does the painting, painted by Marcellus, please you? Night is now here and Marcellus is tired.

Marcellus pictor est /  by Anthony Gibbins

Here we see Marcellus painting in his attic studio. The artwork, created by Lego and supplied with the Parisian Restaurant set, is hilarious. You might think, of course, that if you are painting in Lego, your options are limited to squares and rectangles. But, as we will later discover, this is only one of Marcellus' styles.

From a grammar point of view, I really enjoy the variis coloribus ablative of description. And the way it rolls nicely off the tongue. 

Marcellus is painting inside. Marcellus is painting squares and rectangles of various colours. As I said, it pleases Marcellus greatly to paint.

Google Translate /  by Anthony Gibbins

Some years ago, I read a book called Google Planet by Randall Stross. Among many other things, it explained how Google Translate works. Well, kind of. What it did explain was that like so much at Google, the secret was an algorithm. Instead of teaching the computer how to translate from, say, English to French, they taught the computer how to compare huge amounts of texts in both languages to learn how to translate between them. The computer reads through everything it can get its hands on that is available in more than one language. United Nation reports are particularly useful because they are so broadly translated. As is a lot of popular fiction.

This is the reason why Google Translate is so bad at translating between Latin and English. There just isn't enough to read available in both languages for the computer to get a real sense of how to do it. Just for kicks, here is today's page translated by Google;

Marcellus, the door open, enters the upper chamber . Perhaps you are looking for the name of happiness , which stands in the furnace . He Pico said.

And here it is translated by a human being;

Marcellus opens the door (ablative absolute!) and enters the cenaculum. Perhaps you are asking for the name of the cat who is standing on the chimney. He is Pico.