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How about a laugh, (hopefully)
Just Want to Talk | Last Active: 1 day ago | Replies (4198)Comment receiving replies
My eldest son has become interested in translating cuneiform into English. As a mother I feel I can boast about how smart he is and how proud I am of him. So, anyway, as we were discussing this, I happened to mention that this kind of thing could lead do a Ph.D degree. So he started investigating what it would take. Apparently there are only two universities in the United States who offer this. However, Cambridge University in England is the premiere school. At the end you would know 3 or 4 esoteric languages, such as Hittite, Babylonian, paleo Hebrew, etc. And as your subject for the Ph.D, one of them is magic. My son said he would choose magic. So here is how it would go (the joke): Dr. Brown, in what subject did you get your Ph.D? He would answer: "Magic." We laughed and laughed and I hope all of you reading this get a hearty laugh also.
Replies to "My eldest son has become interested in translating cuneiform into English. As a mother I feel..."
@thisismarilynb Anyone who senses a liking for languages should definitely follow up on it! Even before high school, i realized how much I like different languages. By 12 I spoke Spanish fluently, and then learned German [so many veterinary books were first published in German!] One of my "hobbies" was translating books written in Spanish into German, and vice versa. The grammar is so radically different, and I loved the challenge. Later I learned American Sign Language. I would like to learn some dialect of Russian and Chinese, just for the challenge. My brother told me years ago I should have been a UN interpreter...
Ginger
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First, congratulations to your son (and proud mom) for taking on such an ambitious study. The daughter of my German penpal translates obscure languages in biblical writings and ancient journals for the U in Munich. It’s pretty laborious but gratifying!
The joke is hilarious. I can picture that scenario in one of the high brow soirées among his peers of profs. Here he knows all of these esoteric languages, probably reading obscure works from ancient writings and then becomes the evening’s entertainment with a little prestidigitation or lesson in potions! Good luck to him! 🪄🧙♂️