Talk:Sumerian/Grammar

Please continue with this Sumerian language book! I've learned more in the last two days about the Sumerian language than in the last two years staring that texts and translations. Thank you!

Added Lesson 6
Thanks for the comment! It spurred me to add a new lesson, which you can find in the usual place. It walks you through a real Sumerian sentence from the literary work "Enki's journey to Nibru". Hope you enjoy it! Mike.the.kitty (talk) 16:19, 24 July 2008 (UTC)

Great Primer!
I posted this comment under one of the lessons, and I'm re-posting here.

This is one of the best language intros (of any kind) that I've read. You've done a wonderful job of explaining what Sumerian is about, without forcing the reader to slog through a lot of technical details right up front. Most language texts give short shrift to the student's need to get the "lie of the land" before burying him in mechanics.

Many thanks!

Thanks :)
I'm glad you enjoyed it! I can't take too much credit for this style of grammar, though - it's more or less known as the "inductive" style of teaching, where you actually throw out real pieces of text and explain them a little bit at a time, slowly building up to the more complicated things. There's a great inductive grammar for Sumerian by John Hayes that I would really recommend - unlike this one, it focuses more on the ability to actually read tablets from the very first lesson!

Your comment has spurred me to start a new chapter. I'll get a first revision up sometime in the next couple weeks, if all goes well. Until then, keep on discovering! Mike.the.kitty (talk) 14:55, 2 June 2010 (UTC)