studying greek
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studying greek
I am contemplating studying ancient greek at university level next year.I have never studyied greek previously nor do i have much language experience. I do however have an interest in greek civilisation and culture.I was wondering exactly how hard is greek ?
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Re:studying greek
[quote author=conal link=board=2;threadid=219;start=0#1069 date=1057427673]<br />I am contemplating studying ancient greek at university level next year.I have never studyied greek previously nor do i have much language experience. I do however have an interest in greek civilisation and culture.I was wondering exactly how hard is greek ? <br />[/quote]<br /><br />Greek is not an easy language. I don't know if you know any of these, but here is some idea, on a scale:<br /><br />For a native speaker of English:<br />
- <br />
- Greek is easier than Sanskrit or Arabic<br />
- Greek is just a bit harder than Latin or, in my opinion, Turkish<br />
- Greek is somewhat harder than German or Russian<br />
- Greek is quite a bit harder than Spanish, French or Italian<br />
William S. Annis — http://www.aoidoi.org/ — http://www.scholiastae.org/
τίς πατέρ' αἰνήσει εἰ μὴ κακοδαίμονες υἱοί;
τίς πατέρ' αἰνήσει εἰ μὴ κακοδαίμονες υἱοί;
- Jeff Tirey
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Re:studying greek
I found Ancient Greek to be the most difficult academic challenge I ever faced - and the one I am most proud of. For me, I found it much more challenging than accounting, chemistry, biology, finance, economics, statistics and other demanding academic courses.<br /><br />For me, first semester Greek began with about 25 students, then down to 8, then down to 4 and by 4th semester only 2. There was me and a wizard graduate student I dubbed "Golden Boy". Your class will most likely be small and sight reading will be a heavy task. A good instructor will put you on the spot all the time so Greek class is not a place for day dreamers or students who promise to themselves that they'll study before the exam.<br /><br />Unless your are absolutely brilliant, far unlike myself, you will need hours of preparation each day to be a successful student. I studied on average 6 hours a day.<br /><br />So go for it - but be warned that it will must likely consume a great deal of your time and energy if you hope to be successful. <br /><br /><br />jeff<br />
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Why Greek (and Latin) Is Hard
It just occurs to me to make one additional point about the difficulty of the classical languages.<br /><br />In a Greek sequence, you may spend 1 year (2 semesters or 3, depending on how the year is broken up at the shcool) on the basics. Year two, you start reading literature. This is crazy! I took several years of French before I was handed Le Petit Prince, and that is light (if deep) reading.<br /><br />In my opinion part of the difficulty with Greek and Latin as currently presented is that the classes are in such a rush to get you reading soon. Most people study Greek or Latin in College, or perhaps High School (or gymnasium, etc., depending on location), and there is desperate race to get you into interesting material quickly. <br /><br />So, I think Latin and Russian are probably of comparable difficulty, with perhaps Russian being a bit harder. However, they don't hand you Tolstoy for years. In Latin you get Cicero in the second year, in Greek perhaps Homer, or a touch of Herodotus, or the hated Xenophon.
William S. Annis — http://www.aoidoi.org/ — http://www.scholiastae.org/
τίς πατέρ' αἰνήσει εἰ μὴ κακοδαίμονες υἱοί;
τίς πατέρ' αἰνήσει εἰ μὴ κακοδαίμονες υἱοί;
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[GGG the necromancer strikes again]
On the French : Personally, I consider French prepositions to be no harder than Greek prepositions. I practically taught myself French (well, I learned a little French in class ... but the students in third year French haven't moved past the present tense, so...), and I tackled Le Petit Prince when I was only a few months in. I was definately not ready for it, but I learned so much trying to work through it that I think it was worth it. I only started French about two and a half years ago, and I can get through a French novel at about 3/4 of the speed of an English novel, which contents me.
It's crazy. I'm crazy. It works out.
On the French : Personally, I consider French prepositions to be no harder than Greek prepositions. I practically taught myself French (well, I learned a little French in class ... but the students in third year French haven't moved past the present tense, so...), and I tackled Le Petit Prince when I was only a few months in. I was definately not ready for it, but I learned so much trying to work through it that I think it was worth it. I only started French about two and a half years ago, and I can get through a French novel at about 3/4 of the speed of an English novel, which contents me.
It's crazy. I'm crazy. It works out.
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Re: Why Greek (and Latin) Is Hard
When I read this I thought; Who wrote this and what has he done with our William?annis wrote: In my opinion part of the difficulty with Greek and Latin as currently presented is that the classes are in such a rush to get you reading soon. Most people study Greek or Latin in College, or perhaps High School (or gymnasium, etc., depending on location), and there is desperate race to get you into interesting material quickly. So, I think Latin and Russian are probably of comparable difficulty, with perhaps Russian being a bit harder. However, they don't hand you Tolstoy for years. In Latin you get Cicero in the second year, in Greek perhaps Homer, or a touch of Herodotus, or the hated Xenophon.
Then I realized that this post is two and a half years old.
Have you changed your position William? I remember you saying you liked Pharr because it gets you reading real Greek by lesson 13.
Last edited by Bert on Sat Dec 31, 2005 12:07 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Why Greek (and Latin) Is Hard
I have not changed my position. I still think getting into real Greek as quickly as possible is good. But it does make study harder.Bert wrote:Have you changed your position William? I remember you saying you liked Pharr because it gets you reading real Greek by lesson 13.
William S. Annis — http://www.aoidoi.org/ — http://www.scholiastae.org/
τίς πατέρ' αἰνήσει εἰ μὴ κακοδαίμονες υἱοί;
τίς πατέρ' αἰνήσει εἰ μὴ κακοδαίμονες υἱοί;
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To tell you the truth from the mouth of a neophyte, the hard part about greek (that I've encountered) are the various principal parts for a single verb. Sometimes there are six and you simply memorize them. Mix in the infinitives and participles and suddenly by lesson 25 or something you are supposed to know the infinitive systems, participle systems, plus 14 or so verb tenses. Mix in some smattering of dialect considerations (Aeolic, Doric, Ionic) along with morphology ideosyncracies and you find yourself not only with a lot to memorize, but a pile of exception cases.
Getting to the Iliad (via pharr) text fast is awesome, but damn it is slash and burn to get there. I wish I had more excersizes to do in order to cement this stuff into my head. I find myself on shaky intellectual ground with the pharr book simply due to not having enough experience with what I'm learning.
Getting to the Iliad (via pharr) text fast is awesome, but damn it is slash and burn to get there. I wish I had more excersizes to do in order to cement this stuff into my head. I find myself on shaky intellectual ground with the pharr book simply due to not having enough experience with what I'm learning.
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