An Introduction to an Absolute Beginner's Course in Old English
Learning Old English presents many problems to the student working outside of academia. When text books such as Sweet's Primer or the various Readers can be found they tend to assume that the student has two or more of the following:
- An expansive knowledge of Grammar.
- A good working knowledge of other archaic languages.
- A tutor.
Stephen Pollington has recently designed a complete, well presented and easy to use Old English language correspondence course which contains all the exercises and texts needed to learn Old English. The course has been designed to be of help to a wide range of students, from those who are teaching themselves at home, to undergraduates who are learning Old English as part of their English degree course. The author is aware that some students have difficulty learning languages and that many have trouble with grammar. To help overcome these problems he has adopted a step by step approach that enables students of differing abilities to advance at their own pace. The course contains exercises designed to aid the learning process.
The course comprises three constituents:
- A correspondence course.
- A book - First Steps in Old English.
- An audiotape, Ærgeweorc, which contains a selection of Old English verse and prose.
Although learning Old English by taking the correspondence course provides needed contact with - and feedback from - a tutor, it is possible to gain a good working grasp of Old English from First Steps in Old English alone.
This group of pages holds sufficient excerpts from the book to give the prospective student an outline of the structure of the course, the methods used and the ease with which a working knowledge of Old English may be acquired.
I urge you to take a look at the Table of Contents, and try the first couple of sections for yourself - I don't think you'll be disappointed.
RealAudio samples taken from Ærgeweorc are available elsewhere on these pages.
More information can be gained about the book First Steps In Old English and the audio tape Ærgeweorc by visiting the Anglo-Saxon Books web site or by email.
For more information on the First Steps in Old English correspondence course contact the author Steve Pollington
