Greetings! I just finished my first year of Ancient Greek at college, using the ANCIENT Hillard and Botting Greek text (Elementary Greek Translation). I'm finishing up the passages and grammar in the book by my lonesome this summer, and afterwards I'm hoping to try The Anabasis...
Any suggestions on how to proceed? Should I try and learn some Xenophon-ish vocab beforehand, or just plunge in with a dictionary and a bit of hope? I don't know if my Greek is developped enough, or if the vocab in Hillard and Botting's is appropriate for the Anabasis, but I'd rather not resort to just writing out verb forms and such over the summer.
Any tips on how to best tackle Xenophon would be greatly appreciated!
Catching up to the Ten Thousand...
-
MindApe
- Textkit Neophyte
- Posts: 7
- Joined: Sat Oct 29, 2005 2:26 pm
-
Bert
- Textkit Zealot
- Posts: 1889
- Joined: Sat May 31, 2003 2:28 am
- Location: Arthur Ontario Canada
You could try and work through a grammar that is designed to prepare you for the Anabasis. It would prevent some frustration by giving you the vocab for the reading of that lesson.
If you rather not do that- just plunging in and reading the Anabasis with a lexicon at hand is definitely more beneficial than writing out verb forms.
If you rather not do that- just plunging in and reading the Anabasis with a lexicon at hand is definitely more beneficial than writing out verb forms.
-
GlottalGreekGeek
- Textkit Zealot
- Posts: 903
- Joined: Sun Dec 12, 2004 3:37 am
- Location: Mountain View
-
cwcoonce
- Textkit Neophyte
- Posts: 10
- Joined: Wed May 10, 2006 11:17 pm
- Location: Gainesville, Florida
Well, one thing is certain, you should browse the e-book on this site called Illustrated Dictionary to Xenophon's Anabasis. It might sound strange to recommend browsing a dictionary, but John Williams White made this one interesting. He has lists of related words toward the end that sometimes show as many as 20 or 30 words that are all from the same root. These lists are great for building vocabulary.
Also, since this is an illustrated dictionary, it is fun to browse and look at the pictures while you learn new words.
Your vocabulary from Hillard and Botting is ideal for your goals. Most beginning books and readers (and exercise books like that of Hillard and Botting) use the same words. There are about 1500 basic words gleaned from frequency counts that make up 80% of the prose of Classical Greek. This is similar to the famous 1400 word list in Latin.
If you would like to get this list in Greek, it is published by Bristol Classical Press and is called "Classical Greek Prose: A Basic Vocabulary" by Malcolm Campbell - A great resource!
Also, since this is an illustrated dictionary, it is fun to browse and look at the pictures while you learn new words.
Your vocabulary from Hillard and Botting is ideal for your goals. Most beginning books and readers (and exercise books like that of Hillard and Botting) use the same words. There are about 1500 basic words gleaned from frequency counts that make up 80% of the prose of Classical Greek. This is similar to the famous 1400 word list in Latin.
If you would like to get this list in Greek, it is published by Bristol Classical Press and is called "Classical Greek Prose: A Basic Vocabulary" by Malcolm Campbell - A great resource!
-
MindApe
- Textkit Neophyte
- Posts: 7
- Joined: Sat Oct 29, 2005 2:26 pm
Thanks for the advice all, I've already completed the first chapter...I'm a tad unsteady, the jump from synthetic to authentic Greek is a bit jarring. I'm using the Perseus edition, as well as the notes/dictionary from the Godwin edition.
Also, is it wise for me to correct myself using an english translation? I'm making frequent mistakes, usually involving the interpretation of words...They have so many different meanings they does
Also, is it wise for me to correct myself using an english translation? I'm making frequent mistakes, usually involving the interpretation of words...They have so many different meanings they does