Latin

[icywolfy]

Well, turns out trying to just piece together a partial sentence in Latin is harder than it appears

Comments

[kirstenlouise]

I don't know that a word-for-word translation of "as if I'm people" would make much sense in Latin. There are several people here who are much sharper with their Latin than I am, so I'm sure they'll correct me if I've mislead you, but I think you can probably go with something really simple like "quasi homo" (like a man).

As for learning Latin, you can't beat Wheelock!

[di_glossia]

My Latin's not good, but why don't you change it to "human-like" or "like a person"? "As if I'm people" is, I believe, an idiomatic expression of English and those sorts of things rarely translate well.

[pickledginger]

As if I'm people? Is this some colloquial variant of "as if I were a person" or "as if I were human"?

I'm a native English speaker, but I don't know what you mean, so I couldn't begin to help you translate it.

Good luck.

[di_glossia]

It basically is used when an animal acts in some way that's considered "human", like, I dunno, wearing glasses or trying to eat at a table; mostly things that a person does to a pet and then says "look/aww, he thinks he's people!"

[pickledginger]

Thank you!

[catsidhe]

I'm thinking that it's a variant of the sort of comment one might make at a dog sitting at the table or the like: "Aww, look at that, he thinks he's people!"

"I am acting as if I'm people" ~= "Ago quasi humanus sum"?

So as part of a longer sentence, I think you're trying to say something like "'...,' I said, as if I was people", implying that you don't think of yourself as worthy of the status "person" at the time of the action.

"...," dixi, quasi humanus eram.

You would need "sum", because the statement makes even better sense in another person: "'Ave,' cano dixi, quasi humanus erat." ('Hello,' I said to the dog as if he was people [= as if he was human].)

[dorsetgirl]

I'm sorry I can't help with the Latin, but I think your sentence at least has to make sense in English first. "People" is plural, whereas "I" is obviously singular. So your sentence is "I'm saying something as if I were more than one person" and I can't even translate that into English because I don't know what it means.

ETA: Having now seen some of the other comments, I'd suggest the phrase you're going for (in English) would be "as if I were human". Or, slightly more metaphorically, "as if I mattered", "as if people were going to take any notice of me" or similar.

[di_glossia]

See the comments above. I'm pretty sure it's an AmE colloquialism/idiomatic expression made popular by a show called The Simpsons.

[dorsetgirl]

Yes, I saw the other comments soon after I'd posted, but thanks for explaining the origin. We do have The Simpsons over here, unfortunately (I loathe it, but my kids watch it every day) but it would appear my efforts not to even hear it are paying off!

[sorrowis_stupid]

having watched the Simpsons my whole life, I don't remember that phrase, wouldn't get the reference, and think it sounds really strange and un-grammatical, so you're not alone!

[ami_ven]

There is a (relatively active) Latin language community here on LJ: called just 'latin'.

And seconding Wheelock Latin books. Also, definitely find a good Latin-English dictionary. The one I have is the Oxford Pocket Latin, but find one that works for you.