Hello.

[milkshake]

Hello, everyone! New to the forums. I'm definitely interested in learning both Latin and Ancient Greek. Problem is, I can't decide which to study first. Realistically, I'll be devoting the next few years (and the rest of my life, for that matter) to mastering one of the two, before I'm comfortable attempting the other. I suppose I'd like to hear ya'lls experiences and opinions on the matter.

Which should I learn first? Why?
(I'm leaning towards Greek. From what I've heard, it's harder to master than Latin. Makes me want to tackle it first.)

If anyone has or is learning them both simultaneously, I'd like to hear about it, so that I know it can be done. (Even though it sounds downright impractical. )

I'm so glad I found this place!

[mingshey]

Welcome!
I think it depends on which work you want to read first.
I had opted on Greek because I wanted to read Euclid's "Elements". Caesar's "De Bello Gallico" could wait indefinitely. "But I'm putting my finger's on Latin because I also want to read Newton and Kepler in Latin.

[Eurysilas]

Heya, milkshake! I'd suggest Latin merely for the fact that you don't have to deal with a different alphabet. But you seem to like a challenge, so if you REALLY want to learn Greek, then I guess Greek it is.

[Lex]

If you decide on Greek, the alphabet will be the least of your difficulties, I assure you!

I would stick to either Greek or Latin, not both, until you are far enough along to gauge what your tolerance for the difficulties is. Otherwise, you might turn yourself off of both.

[calvinist]

Welcome!
I think Latin is easiest to start with... either one will help you to learn the other because they are very similar in terms of verbs, nouns, etc. even the endings are very similar. I started with Greek, but burned out after getting through a first year grammar. Latin has been much more encouraging, and the vocabulary (which is the biggest hurdle in learning any language) is much easier to learn than Greek not only because of more English derivatives but also because Latin uses the same alphabet making the derivatives easier to see. Either way, pick one and stick to it until you are pretty fluent before moving to the other. Otherwise, you'll just confuse yourself mixing up Greek and Latin because they're very similar.

[modus.irrealis]

I know I'm in the minority, but I find Greek easier than Latin, and I'm sure it's because I've just always been more motivated to improve my Greek than my Latin -- I think motivation is key. So if I were you, I'd ask myself why I want to learn Greek and Latin, and then start off with the language whose reason for learning it is going to keep me going when learning the language gets tedious or hard. For me personally, one of my reasons was very similar to what mingshey said -- there were a lot of Greek works I wanted to read but very few Latin ones.