Written on April 23, 2011 at 8:57 am by Jennie

Comparative Grammar of the French, Italian, Spanish and Portuguese Languages

Filed under Learning French, Learning Other Languages {7 comments}

My new favorite book.

Published in 1868!

400 pages of comparative goodness.

Verb conjugations (we really should bring back thou hadst and the T-V distinction in English!)

There’s even vocabulary at the end, though the words are not grouped thematically like they are in The Loom of Language.

I’ve also ordered A Comparative Practical Grammar of French, Italian and Spanish by Oliver Heatwole (1949) as well as Comprendre les langues romaines: Du français à l’espagnol, au portugais, à l’italien & au roumain by Paul Teyssier (2004), but I haven’t yet found a book like this for the Germanic languages. As soon as I can determine if Notley’s book is in the public domain (there was a reprint in 1977 by an American publisher), I will start scanning and/or re-typing it to share it online.

0saves

Save

If you enjoyed this post, please consider leaving a comment or subscribing to the RSS feed. You can also subscribe to the Weekly Newsletter for site updates, blog posts, tweets, language news & facts delivered to your Inbox every Wednesday.

http://howlearnspanish.com/ Andrew

You’re either a serious language nerd or a glutton for punishment, I’m not sure which. I love learning languages, but I’m pretty sure I’d fall asleep after the first few pages.

Cheers,
Andrew
Kate Saunders

Cool book. But I am happy with no T-V distinction, thanks
http://www.ielanguages.com Jennie Wagner

Probably both! I love having organized lists to compare languages. It helps me remember much faster and I’m never content with studying just one language at a time.
http://www.eteachyourselffrench.com Sharyn Sheldon

That is one scary looking book. I love languages, but I’d much rather go the immersion route. Still, I can see how it would be interesting from a historical perspective for a few pages (until I fall asleep!)
Randlesc

The Comprendre les langues romaines: Du français à l’espagnol, au portugais, à l’italien & au roumain is a nice looking book. The publisher/bookstore is also great–a whole shop devoted to everything Lusophone. I e-mailed from the States and asked the publisher if they had copies in the store. Two months later when I was in Paris, I went to the store. He remembered that I e-mailed him and gave me a very handsome cotton bag in which to carry my purchases.

I hope the Notley book is in the public domain. It’d be very exciting if you could scan and post it.
Randlesc

Oh, I forgot. EuroComRom site has a book on how to learn Romance languages called the Seven Sieves. I downloaded the PDF from the publisher–the page said 7 euros, but they charged my 5. They also have a EuroComGerm site and book. I’m thinking of downloading the PDF for my sister. Unfortunately, for me, I can’t read German.
Pingback: Italian Language Grammar - LANGUAGE LEARNİNG – LANGUAGE LEARNİNG