Finland’s weekly news show in Latin cancelled after run of 30 years

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/jun/28/finland-latin-news-radio-bulletin-nuntii-latini-cancelled-30-years

by situationista • 7 years ago

163 35 7 years ago

theguardian.com

MasterScrat• 7 years ago

Wow, I studied latin for many years, and this would have definitely been interesting to know then.

bytematic• 7 years ago

Maybe they can do some sort of podcast, change the format a bit? Latin students would love this, worldwide!

schoen3• 7 years ago

It's been available in a podcast format for some years already

https://areena.yle.fi/1-1931339

and Latin students worldwide do love it!

Mediterraneo104• 7 years ago

I suspect many Latin teachers might be uncomfortable with their students getting into Latin that enthusiastically.

Many high school Latin teachers are actually not very proficient in Latin, they are merely capable of teaching from a syllabus that is usually quite modest. Except for some elite schools, Latin is taught just to give students a taste of the language and expand their vocabulary in their native language by recognizing Latin borrowings. The pupils aren’t intended to actually master the language and read non-set texts comfortably, let alone follow Neo-Latin materials or practice spoken Latin. If the students surpass the syllabus, that makes things difficult for the teachers. If a student has taken up the language so enthusiastically, the teacher may simply demand that he/she simply test out of the course instead of continuing to come to class.

busterarm2• 7 years ago

I took 8 years of Latin through Catholic school. By the second year of High School, we were required to read history texts written in Latin.

mattkrause• 7 years ago

This is a remarkably uncharitable view of teachers’ motivations and abilities!

You’re not wrong that most Latin classes have somewhat different goals than modern language classes, but that doesn’t necessarily make them less rigorous, as you seem to be suggesting. Deprioritizing speaking, for example, makes sense for s language where students are...unlikely...to encounter a native speaker in the wild. We did eventually get there when doing poetry and other stuff meant to be heard, rather than read.

I also can’t imagine many teachers getting upset or uncomfortable with interested students. All of mine would have been over the moon if they discovered us studying more outside of class. I think this especially true for Latin, since it is such a niche field that people are certainly not in for the money!

Source: 3 years of Latin at a public high school, followed by a linguistics and CS degree.

lwhalen• 7 years ago

Oh man, I would've watched the HELL out of this show in highschool. Pity, I didn't even know it existed! I had a beloved Latin teacher back then (regrettably, he passed years ago) who would've been all over this too.

schoen3• 7 years ago

Apparently some students at Western Washington University have started an analogous project:

https://nuntiilatini.com/

It's interesting to compare the accent of native English speakers and native Finnish speakers in Latin. :-)

superpermutat0r• 7 years ago

It's interesting to compare the accent of native English speakers and native Finnish speakers in Latin. :-)

Finnish has a phonemic orthography, almost. So it's quite easy to just read Latin the way it is written.

schoen3• 7 years ago

This doesn't necessarily mean that their vowels are closer to ancient Roman vowels than Americans' vowels are, though, for example.

tomjakubowski• 7 years ago

What does this nice property of Finnish orthography have to do with speaking Latin or reading it out loud?

nisuni• 7 years ago

The accent still remains, in the specific way each letter is pronounced and in the global intonation.

Italian has almost phonemic orthography, as well, yet the Italian accent can be quite noticeable.

greendestiny_re• 7 years ago

Sic transit gloria mundi.

mikece• 7 years ago

I was going to say "Consummatum est" but your version is far more poetic. Bene!

FabHK2• 7 years ago

Requiescat in pace.

unmole• 7 years ago

Sort of related: India's public broadcaster has had a daily 5 minute bulletin in Sanskrit for as long as I can remember. A weekly 30 minute news show too started a few years ago.

aatharuv• 7 years ago

Interestingly enough, Sanskrit is an official language of India, both at the national level, and in at least one state (Uttarkhand).

Koshkin• 7 years ago

Nice. Looks like the EU, on the other hand, has missed the chance to make Latin its official language.

FabHK2• 7 years ago

The mic drop:

Nuntii Latini finiti

Nuntii Latini Radiophoniae Finnicae Generalis, qui inde ab anno millesimo nongentesimo undenonagesimo (1989) iam triginta annos septimanatim emittuntur, post hanc emissionem finiuntur et decreto moderatorum radiophonicorum post ferias aestivas non continuabuntur. Auscultatoribus, quorum grex ad omnes orbis continentes amplificatus est, propter fidelitatem gratias quam maximas agimus et valedicimus.

A translation (not idiomatic English, staying closer to the original, but better than Google...):

Latin News Terminated

Finnish General Radio's "Latin News", which have been transmitted from here since 1989 already 30 years weekly, will be terminated after this transmission and, by decree of the radio directors, not continued after the summer break. To the listeners, whose flock has grown to all continents of the earth, on account of their faithfulness we give the greatest possible thanks, and bid farewell.

AnssiH• 7 years ago

Audio link: https://areena.yle.fi/1-50142295 starting at 04:05.

JetSpiegel• 7 years ago

This is almost intelligible for this Romance language native...

Finland’s weekly news show in Latin cancelled after run of 30 years

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