How can this English to Latin translation be improved?

Question

I took a look at the chat and saw many comments in Latin, most of whom I could not decipher immediately. So I tried to point that out, and why not do it in Latin.

The problem is that I have basically translated this phrase from German to Latin and then back to English, so all versions are a bit clumsy.

To read all that will take me a while - as has writing this.

Haec legere multis horis me diuturnum fuerit, etiam eae scribere erat

My ideas/thoughts:

• using neuter plural (like Seneca used to)
• differentiating between that (haec) and this (eae)
• not messing up the tenses by trying future (fuerit) and imperfect (erat)
• "take time" is difficult, pons gave diuturnum esse and manere, but maybe that's more a progressive taking time, like to continue.
• Ablativus Temporalis (multis horis).

I'm not sure about the accusative for haec and eae. It's not intended to be an AcI.

Answer 1

As suggested by the answer to this question, the verb consumere is good for "taking a while". There does not seem to be a Latin phrase as flexible as the English "take" for time. Using this verb requires to refactor the sentence:

I consumed a lot of time reading all that — and writing this.

If this is acceptable, I suggest:

Multum temporis consumpsi illa omnia legens — et hoc scribens.

Unfortunately I have difficulties parsing your original suggestion. There are good elements, but for example the refactoring I suggest changes the grammatical role of reading and writing drastically; infinitives as subjects would be good if we only had a phrase for "taking a long time" to go with them.

I wrote multum temporis instead of multas horas, so that it simply means a lot of time (which will depend on context), rather than many hours. The neuter plural is indeed good for "this" and "that".