Greek harder than Latin?

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praepositus
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Greek harder than Latin?

Post by praepositus »

Hello all. I've been studying Latin for about six years, and have got to the point where I can read the easier authors with enjoyment, if no exactly fluently. This year I've decided to take the plunge on Greek as well. I'm 11 chapters into my first grammar (I use the one by Anne Groton) and I must say, so far I'm finding it very rough going. Of course there's the different alphabet. But also the inflections seem much more complicated than Latin or French, and there seems to be overwhelming number of rules even for things like punctuation and stress. There are plenty of words with four, five, or more syllables. I don't know if it's just me, but I don't remember Latin being anywhere near this difficult. Is this the general experience of those who get into Greek after Latin?

anphph
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Re: Greek harder than Latin?

Post by anphph »

Others will certainly chip in with more insightful comments, but I'll just say that you're being unfair to Greek for at least two reasons. No one's saying it's going to be easy - it won't - but you're not only judging a language which you just started (and which therefore seems locked to you from all sides) but also you're comparing it with another language (Latin) which you've been studying for a long time and with which you've grown comfortable.

Keep at it. Greek is immensely rewarding. Plus, we're all learning here (-- at least most of us; I know I certainly am), and we are either going through the same or have gone through the same, and will gladly help you with questions you may have.

Mindy

Re: Greek harder than Latin?

Post by Mindy »

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mwh
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Re: Greek harder than Latin?

Post by mwh »

Hi, and welcome to Textkit! I expect you’ve just forgotten how hard it was to learn Latin. Greek is really no harder, especially when you already have Latin. It does have a few more inflections, both in verbs and in nouns (but no ablative!), but there’s not too much difference in the syntax, except that Greek is more flexible and graceful than Latin, which is comparatively clunky.

praepositus
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Re: Greek harder than Latin?

Post by praepositus »

Thank you for all the encouragement. To be sure, I am totally determined to push through with it; I plan to spend this year on grammar. Also, nothing could be further from my intention than passing negative judgement on Greek! I have a passionate amateur interest in philosophy and cultural history, and would much rather possess a knowledge of Greek than, say, a million dollar home. (Now if you're talking a 1.2 million dollar home... :D )

npc
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Re: Greek harder than Latin?

Post by npc »

Background: I took three semesters of Latin in college, I've learned Greek on my own (much) later in life. I didn't take my Latin studies as seriously as I might have. I've put more energy in my Greek and had the enormous advantage of being able to pursue it at my own pace. My Greek right now is much better than my Latin ever was.

I believe that Greek is more difficult than Latin. I agree with the majority of what praepositus said. There are reasons why many (I'm not informed on the issue enough to say "most") classics programs have some Latin as a prerequisite for Greek. There is certainly something to be said for issues of recollection and your relative levels of fluency, and there are some hints you get from Greek sources (such as the use of the definite article) that would be handy in Latin, but from scratch, I think Attic Greek is the more difficult of the two languages.

One other issue is that I think there are overall easier real texts to make the jump from textbook Latin to actual authors than there are in Greek. In Greek that jump is pretty rough, IMHO. You might want to try the Greek New Testament or Apostolic Fathers or other texts like that which use a relatively limited vocabulary, increased uses of prepositions, and a (non-Attic) generally simplified syntax. Except for some vocabulary, I've found that even the texts that give seminary students fits are pretty straightforward to understand by someone with a grasp of Attic Greek. Even if that's not part of your ultimate goal, I find it useful to help build fluency as well as confidence.

One other piece of advice I'll give is that when I got to places where I felt like the water was up to my neck I found it valuable to go back and repeat the material I had covered until it completely sunk in. I've gone through several beginning texts as a way of reinforcing what I already learned, and I have gone through a bunch of graded readers. Now the straightforward stuff is automatic so it's easier to focus on the harder stuff while keeping the general sense of the passage in mind.

In any case, keep at it. It's certainly not *so* much tougher that someone who has handled Latin to the level you have won't be able to get there.

Good luck.

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Barry Hofstetter
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Re: Greek harder than Latin?

Post by Barry Hofstetter »

I found Greek at the beginning level more challenging than Latin, but found once I got beyond that level I progressed more rapidly than I did with Latin in terms of real authors. But it's really just a matter of perseverance, and the rewards far outweigh the effort.
N.E. Barry Hofstetter

Cuncta mortalia incerta...

RandyGibbons
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Re: Greek harder than Latin?

Post by RandyGibbons »

praepositus,

My experience was similar to Barry's. I learned Latin and Greek (pretty much simultaneously) as a college undergraduate. It seemed that with Greek there was more "stuff" I had to learn, and I guess in that sense you could say it was harder (though I actually thought all that "stuff" was fun!). By the time I got to graduate school, though, for whatever reason, the Greek felt pretty natural to me, whereas reading Latin felt like putting together a puzzle and unnatural. Years later (the academy didn't end up being my career), I had to undo some bad habits in how I was reading Latin (v. our discussion on Wheeler in the Reading Latin forum).

All I know is that, when on day one of undergraduate Greek we read ἐν ἀρχῇ ἦν ὁ λόγος at the top of Lesson 1 in Crosby and Schaeffer, I was thrilled to death. I'm with msw and the others: I wouldn't think of Greek as hard, and in a while in won't be. Is there a particular author(s) you're especially passionate about reading in the original?

GnothiSauton
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Re: Greek harder than Latin?

Post by GnothiSauton »

Just two more cents to add: Having spent years studying both Greek and Latin in grad school and afterward, I believe that Greek is the more complex language (which doesn't always mean "harder"). Evidence for this assertion may be found in the excellent textbooks/workbooks of Keller and Russell. They included all of Latin grammar in one textbook, but devoted two books to Greek. However, both languages at the advanced level are challenging, I feel, in a rather similar way. Each has advantages and disadvantages for the learner, e.g., Latin has more cases, but fewer principal parts. To me, Greek, though more complex, is easier to work with overall because it is more carefully (or maybe "explicitly") structured, in part because of the use of the definite article. This one little feature makes a big difference, I think, in being able to determine the logic of a Greek sentence.

Manuel
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Re: Greek harder than Latin?

Post by Manuel »

I have a significantly harder time reading Latin than Greek. In my mind, at least, everything looks the same in Latin. It is much harder for me to differentiate the case endings than it is when I read Greek. I also don't find myself ever wanting to read Latin, so I don't get any practice with it.

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