The snippet of spanish is from El Cid--in canto 3, I think--I don't have my Cantos at hand. In English the words translate, " a girl child of 9 years old." (If memory serves.) ===================================== = Steve Conger = = [log in to unmask] = = Seattle Central Community College = = Seattle WA = = Phusis kruptesthai philei = ===================================== On Wed, 2 Dec 1998, Daniel Pearlman wrote: > There IS a little snippet of Spanish somewhere in the Cantos, > Leon, but I can't remember where. > > As to EP's fluency in Italian, when I asked Mary de R. about > it in the late 60's, she said that he spoke his own rather > "Dantesque" version of the language. > > ==Dan Pearlman > > At 10:55 AM 12/2/98 -0500, you wrote: > >I can't resist this temptation. > > > >Tim Redman wrote: > >>I'm not sure that Jonathan Gill is correct when he says "Pound was > >>not a linguist." His Latin was excellent; he possessed near-native > >>fluency in Italian and close to that in French and Spanish; his > >>Chinese became rather good by the '50s and his Greek and German were > >>adequate. > > > > All the Italian speaking correspondents who received letters or > >articles from Pound found his Itlian to be "picturesque," "idiosyncratic," > >or sometimes "incomprehansible." It must be admited that some > >English-speaking correspondents also found his letters incomprehensible, so > >perhaps one shoud discount the last epithet. > > Tim;s Italian is much better than mine, but what I have heard > >ofPoundspeaking Italian could hardly be described as "near native flueney." > > I agree with Jonathan Gill that Pound's linguistic aptitude was not > >much better than average--though his motivation and industry in learning > >foregn languages was, of course, muc above average. Pound himself admitted > >in a letter--whose provenance I have forgotten for the moment--that his > >Latin was adequateat best. His Greek was essentially non-existent. His > >comand of French was better than any other language--not surprising given > >his early study of Provencal, and long association with French letters. I > >have not heard any recording of him speaking French, but it is difficult to > >imagie that he had a good accent. I don't know of much that would count as > >evidence for his command of Spanish--though he certainly did study it. That > >language is notable for its absene from the Cantos > >Leon Surette Home: 519-681-7787 > >Dept. of English Fax: 519-661-3776 > >The University of Western Ontario Email: [log in to unmask] > >London, Ontario > >N6A 3K7 > > > Dan Pearlman Office: Department of English > 102 Blackstone Blvd. #5 University of Rhode Island > Providence, RI 02906 Kingston, RI 02881 > Tel.: 401 453-3027 Tel.: 401 874-4659 > email: [log in to unmask] Fax: 401 874-2580 >