New Members Introduction Thread (New Users Post Here!)

[briannacollins]

Hey there everyone!
My name is Brianna, and I live in Alberta, Canada. I just graduated high school, and I am fluent in French, reasonably proficient in Spanish, and passable in American Sign Language. Language is my passion, and I have hopes of one day being a broadcast radio journalist.

I'm here to learn Latin, which has always fascinated me. Finding this site with other people doing the same thing and supporting each other has kicked me into gear about this. It's time to actually buckle down and learn it.

[Hampie]

Greetings to all,

My name is Nathan, and am evidently interested in learning both the Greek and Latin language. I am an absolute beginner who has neither an understanding of the clear methodical approach that is needed to learn the classical languages nor do I have a general idea as to where I must begin - hence with any luck ... someone on this forum may be kind enough to point me in the right direction in regards to "learning the basics" in step-by-step manner?

I shall be attending my regional University mid next year to thus further my study of the classical languages. However, I wish to be first and foremost acquainted with the languages and am thus searching for help on this forum - I am sure there are many of you here on this forum whom have quite an extensive knowledge of the classical languages, so I am relying on you.

Whatever help any fellow forum-dweller can provide would be greatly appreciated.

Sincerest regards,
Nathan

The most common method still used is learning grammar, getting a couple of examples, move on to the next grammar points. If you have no knowlege of grammar, as it is, I'd highly recommend you reading up on either English grammar if that is your naitive tongue, or that of the language that is. Noun, adjective, adverb, verb, pronoune, relative pronound, grammatical case, gramattical voice, gramattical gender, accusative, dative, are a couple of key words that are handy to know.

Oh, and I don't think you have to be clear and methodical, just do whatever works for you. Most important is motivation, everything else is second to that.

[Andromaque349]

Hello, I am a religious studies major and I have just found this site and I am fascinated by it. One of my goals is to learn Koine Greek, which I am beginning to do that now. I find that it helps me to type out my exercises, but I am having trouble accessing the accent marks and subscripts. If anyone could give me some help on how to do this, I would really apprciate it. I have downloaded the Greek keyboard, etc., but I still am not able to do whatever it takes to get the alpha and eta subscripts, in particular.

I look forward to communicating with the members of the group and hearng of your own endeavors.

Best regards!

[NateD26]

Welcome, Andromaque349!

After installing Polytonic Greek keyboard layout through Control Panel -> Regional and Language Options,
go here and learn the keys used to type Polytonic Greek.

Good luck with your studies!

[Brandon0529]

Hello everyone! I'm so glad I've found this site! Ive been trying to learn Greek as well as Latin. The textbook I used wasn't that helpful. I'm grateful I finally found this sight!

[Andromaque349]

Thank you very much. I appreciate your sending me the information on the accents/subscripts. Hopefully I will be able to pull this all together. I like the detail of the instructions and I'm eager to apply them.

All the best!

[peperghost]

Hello all!
My name is Alexander, I am currently a Junior at a High School in the US and i have always been interested in learning Latin and Ancient Greek and I guess this gives me a great opportunity to do so.

[Andromaque349]

Greetings! I just wanted to thank you for the information on how to access and subscripts. After a couple of trys I finally got it and it makes such a difference, especially being able to use the subscript because of its grammatical function. Just thought I would also mention, in case anyone else has run into this: don't linger too long on the access keys. If you do so, they will print out what's on the key themselves. I was running into that in the beginning.

Thanks again! And best regards,

Andromaque349

[NateD26]

It was my pleasure, Andromaque349. Best Regards!

[rnt]

Going to give this one more try. About 25 years ago I began to learn Greek. In the meantime, I've had some health problems that caused me to lose my memory. Language skills have been a problem for me. English works for me pretty well, but learning others has been difficult. I've tried to regain my Greek skills a couple of times and gave up. Now I've run across this site and want to try one more time. So, into the breach once again. We'll see what we shall see.

[Pros]

Hi rnt,
It's never too late. Hey, I bet most in here, if not everyone, at one time or another has been distracted and had to put Greek on the back burner. YOU are not alone my friend. My advice is to find a Greek Primer that you want to learn or relearn Greek from and do it. Hopefully one with an answer key. If you are like me and I hope you are not..lol..you might need to join a group to keep you accountable and help you progress in spite of the many distractions in life. You can find some groups at The GreekStudy List http://www.quasillum.com/study/greekstudy.php. If you can remember English, I feel you can remember Greek too. Start fresh, get started and if you need help.....post a question in this forum. I wish you well in your studies.
pros

[Phil67]

Hello,

I'm Phil, I'm trying to revive my schoolboy Greek and Latin (with the emphasis on Greek), a lot of is is familiar as I studied both to British "A" level (Grade A) in 1985. Have been serious about this for a while and started in earnest early this year, trying to juggle my new hobby with family and job. Sometimes manage half an hour independent study/reading a week, sometimes more (!)My goal is to be reading texts in the mid term.

[pgstjean]

My name is Paul and I'm from NoVA. As a senior in highschool who took Spanish his freshman and sophomore year I am only i n Latin II. My conundrum however is that last year I took Latin I from the Henle book and this year I am taking Latin II online from Wheelock's. Needless to say my vocabulary is a little behind. I have used this forum to look up translation and vocab problems that I have had and thought I would join so I could submit my questions/answers as well.

Thanks for setting this up! It has already been incredibly helpful.

All the best,
Paul

[blossombud]

Hello

I want to study classical Greek for a degree course in Theology and Religious Studies in the UK. This seems like a very helpful website with useful downloads too.
I look forward to chatting to you all.

cheers
Blossombud

[hsd3]

Hi
I'm Hazel - living in Leicester, England.
I learnt Latin at school (many years ago) and passed by 'O' Level in about 1977 (??) but have forgotten most of it.
This site looks great - I have downloaded many of the books but also wanted some physical books, so I have ordered the . D'Ooge book, a dictionary and Virgils Aeneid translation (we did it at school) from Amazon.
Once they arrive, I'm sure I'll be needing some help!

H

[K56sf]

My interest in learning ancient Greek stems from my dissertation work with the German Idealist and post-German Idealist roots to contemporary qualitative methodology in the social science field. As I delve deeper into the foundational influences of Greek philosophy and linguistics on German Idealism, and in particular, the phenomenological movement, I realize I need to be etymologically and linguistically proficient in ancient Greek, as well as, being able to navigate through the original ancient Greek texts.

KMD, San Francisco, CA, US

[Irma]

Greetings,

I'm delighted to have found this site. I first want to refresh my Latin -- for the third time (or fourth time if one counts learning the Latin Mass as learning Latin ).

I had a two undergrad majors, History and Ancient Studies. At one point my Latin was fairly good. Then I wandered off to grad school and became a Victorianist. That meant reading quite a bit of "Cambridge" Latin. After 20 years, I'm back to relearn or, hopefully, retrigger my memory of proper Latin. I even have started to hunt for my copy of Greenough's grammer.

If I succeed with that, I'd like to tackle Greek. My best friend is an archaeologist who works primarily with Greek transport amphoras. I've spent oddles of time with her in the Agora or wandering off to unknown-to-me, wonderous places to look at bits of amphoras.

I have always found learning a new language difficult, though I can read (and write a bit) of French and German and speak enough Italian, modern Greek, and Gaelic
to make casual conversations mostly coherent.

Well, that's me.

Irma

[thesaurus]

I had a two undergrad majors, History and Ancient Studies. At one point my Latin was fairly good. Then I wandered off to grad school and became a Victorianist. That meant reading quite a bit of "Cambridge" Latin.

Are you still involved in Victorian studies? I just finished my MA in English literature, and I had been planning on using Victorian literature as the focus for my PhD (I since decided that it would be best to move onto other things). I'm currently shopping around an article that involves a lot of discussion of Latin and Thomas Hardy. In my case, you could say I wandered off into classical studies...

[Mic_]

Hello Everyone in the Textkit Forum!

I Investigate the ancient history of a very small place in Europe, and sometimes I need to be extremely precise in Latin translations - I'm not a perfect translator, far from that, so sometimes the meaning of a single word can change all things in history!

And a big thanks for having this excellent forum available!

Michael

[MikeC1956]

Hi all, found this site as a result of a search for and difference in Koine vocabulary for infant and child..I know that child is padion and infant is brephos. I guess my question is, are these used in a consistent manner in other literature???

As for my language skills...I have sat in Greek class a number of times and it never "stuck" maybe this time it will the two languages I'm interested in is Koine Greek and Vulgate Latin.

[MikeC1956]

Have I asked the wrong question in a wrong place?

[thesaurus]

Have I asked the wrong question in a wrong place?

Nothing wrong with your question. However, I'm not sure that many people regularly read this thread. I suggest reposting it in the main Greek forum, where assuredly someone will have an answer.

Non perperam rogavisti. Hoc autem filum lectores rare vident, ut credo. Tibi commendo idem in foro principale de Lingua Graeca ponas, ubi profecto aliquis doctus tibi respondebit.

[uberdwayne]

Hello,

I'm Studying greek for the purpose of reading the New testament, and eventually some of the early church fathers. I've gone through the first 25 chapters of Mounce's "Basics of biblical greek." But I seem to be running into a bit of a wall...

I have no friends who know any Koine, nor have they the time to learn, which is really unfortunate, because they are missing out on a lot So thats were the forum comes in, I need a place to share what I've learned, ask questions, and put some input.

Looking forward to hearing from everyone.

p.s. For those studying German..... Sorry for my use of "Uber" in my name... LOL.... I found that post shortly after signing up.

[CharlesDWard]

Hey y'all!

I'm a first-year undergraduate living and studying in Chicago, IL. I have been taking Latin for only four years, but my beginnings with it turned me from a moderate interest in chemistry and mathematics to an obsession with classics in a matter of months. Being part of a classical studies community in high school helped encourage it; this aspect is much weaker where I am now, however, so stumbling across this site while trying to find whether hic/haec/hoc has a locative form (by the way - does it?) seems pretty serendipitous.

Part of my intermediate course is Latin composition, so most of my questions will probably be about correct idiom and vocab usage. I'm sure I can find help here, and I'll provide it where I can! Thanks!

[jay54meister]

I'm a life-long learner and have always been fascinated by other languages, I speak 2 and working on 3rd, but never tackled ancient languages. I did take a basic Latin class in college back in the 80s, but that was my only exposure to it.

[edward6662]

Well I'm very happy to join you all. I'm a student wishing to just begin the study of Greek and Latin. I have no prior experience. My goal is to read Aristotle and Ancient philosophy and enter a classics PhD program at University of Chicago. I'm 44 y/o man and an attorney.. I am consumed by the contrasts in contemporary philosophy of mind with Ancient philosophy's. And frankley, the Aristotilians have got the better of the argument. I will enroll in elementary courses in classical greek next semester. So this is literally my first venture on the net to see what resouces and support I can find. Happy to join all of you.

ed

[areazel]

I'm a Junior in High School, I am in my Fourth/Fifth year of Latin (i switched into Latin at a weird time so the first two years were somewhat overlap). I am currently reading Caesar's Invasion of Britain (w.welch and c.g. duffield). My teacher is great, but my only problem is that because half our class had one teacher last year, and the other half had a different one, we all seem to be on a different page right now. Also, I am able to get down the basic translation, but I struggle with grammar and tense, especially because in all my years of school I've had one grammar class...

[hippopotamos]

Salvete τε καὶ χαίρετε!

I'm a cab driver and teacher of Classical Latin and Greek in Los Angeles. I'm eager to help learners of either language and to talk shop with other teachers. I enjoy reading History, Philosophy (but like edward6662, i'm not a huge fan of Plato though), Oratory, Epic, and Roman Comedy. I also enjoy reading Biblical and Medieval literature. Looking to incorporate some spoken Latin and Greek into my classroom

[cfizzo]

Salvete omnes, I have been using Lingua Latina with Wheelock's as a secondary reference for a year or so. I have been reading this site for quite a while, but haven't gotten around to creating an account until now. My end goal is to read classical authors in the original language and maybe some Vulgate and modern works. I've also started learning Spanish again after about a 4-5 year break. Bene valete.

[skywola]

I have spent a great deal of time learning Latin, Ancient Greek, Russian, French, Spanish, German, but I am no expert in any of them. I have spent the last two years working on creating a program called Tachufind, (tachu = rapidly in Ancient Greek) that allows you to take any text and color the grammar by using search-replace-color. It is in Beta now, so I have some free time, and have found a real cool tutorial for Ancient Greek on youtube. It is amazing how many new resources are popping up on the web! Anyway, there are lots of resources, and I am happy to have some free time to augment my knowlege . . .

[theophilec]

Hello to all-
Please let me introduce myself.

A little information about me:
My name is Theophile. I am 13 years old. I am French but I have lived in the United States for the last ten years of my life. I speak both French and English fluently. I am now leaving with my family around the world on a sailboat.
I am not a student in latin but I would like to learn latin seriously:
I recently watched The da Vinci Code, and I thought it was really interesting how the "angel" spoke in latin with the clergy. Ever since I have wanted to learn latin.

I think that learning latin can help me in both my French and my English but also as a tool in learning more foreign languages in the future.
I also have other uses in mind for my latin!
I know that learning a "language" like latin, especially without a teacher can be very difficult and I wanted to know if anyone else has done the same thing as I would like to do!

I guess that's it!

Best wishes to all,

Theophile

[millingcooper]

Hello! I've got a few questions about Greek and I figured that instead of having to comb the internet every time I'm curious it would help to just register on a forum!

I LOVE the anti-spam policy you've got too. There are so many idiots posting spam, I block a new one from my own forum almost every day. Monitoring the first posts is brilliant.

[tomtom]

Hello there,

I've been a member for a few weeks now, and it has taken me this long to write my first post....tempus fugit, hey!?
Most of the posts I have read on this site make me feel a little intimidated, you all seem so smart!

I have been teaching myself both Latin and Greek, using a variety of resources (Reading Greek and Athenaze, Wheelock's Latin and Latin Via Ovid, among others...), for about a year now. I am fast approaching the stage at which I can branch out from the heavily adapted and modified passages in the textbooks and progress to some 'real' Latin and Greek (I am nearing the end of section 18 of Reading Greek, and the end of Wheelock's Loci Immutanti - to give you guys an idea of where I am).
My reason for studying Latin and Greek is complex. Not even I know exactly why. I guess I feel a special connection to this world that is oh so different, yet, somehow strangely familiar. Mainly, I decided to study Greek as a final act of highschool rebellion, I studied Greek rather than study for my final exams..haha! For me, classical languages and classical studies, are what cuts me away from the pack. The source of my individuality.

I read Literary Japanese and Classical/Literary Chinese. The Pillowbook by Sei Shonagon is one of my favourites. I am also quite partial to Tang dynasty poetry!
I am working toward a mastery of Coptic, Akkadian and Middle Egyptian too - What can I say, I like a challenge, and often bite off more than I can chew!

I also speak Japanese and Mandarin Chinese, relatively conversationally!
I am studying French and Modern Greek too.

Presently, I am completing a BA/BSc, with majors in Biochemistry and Pharmacology, Asian Languages and Classical Studies.
I am further undertaking a BA by distance education majoring in French, Modern Greek and Classical Near East studies.

I look forward to chatting to you!

[furrykef]

I LOVE the anti-spam policy you've got too. There are so many idiots posting spam, I block a new one from my own forum almost every day. Monitoring the first posts is brilliant.

I used to block spammers on one of my forums all the time. Finally one day I installed a simple captcha mod and removed all the IPs I'd blocked -- every single one. The spam stopped. Sure, I get the occasional one every month or two, but it's no problem. This forum already has a pretty good captcha, so I guess it can't be helped here, but have you tried one yourself?

(By the way, my other forum uses MediaWiki login integration, so spambots can't register for it unless they know to register for the wiki instead! Ha, take that, spam bots! Human spammers are still possible, I guess, but that forum has yet to encounter such a pathetic species.)

I also speak Japanese and Mandarin Chinese, relatively conversationally!

こんにちは！　テキストキットへようこそ！　僕も日本語を勉強していますが、中国語も文語も勉強していません。それらも勉強したいですが、時間がありません・・・・

("Hi, Welcome to Textkit! I'm studying Japanese too, but I'm not studying Chinese or Classical Japanese. I'd like to study them too, but I don't have time...")

- Kef

[tomtom]

I also speak Japanese and Mandarin Chinese, relatively conversationally!

こんにちは！　テキストキットへようこそ！　僕も日本語を勉強していますが、中国語も文語も勉強していません。それらも勉強したいですが、時間がありません・・・・

("Hi, Welcome to Textkit! I'm studying Japanese too, but I'm not studying Chinese or Classical Japanese. I'd like to study them too, but I don't have time...")

- Kef

よろしくお願いします

この先、翻訳しては要りません。

[furrykef]

この先、翻訳しては要りません。

Yes, but I was translating it for anybody else who might be reading.

[csigataraj]

Hi,

My name is Attila and i live in Hungary. I'm not really too keen on learning latin, however I'm a huge lyrics fan so to speak. I don't know whether anyone can help me with it or not:) Hope someone can:)

Kind regards

Attila

[learner2010]

I am a layman of Greek and hope that someone will offer help for me to shed light on the meaning of Biblical Greek.

From learner2010

[Aetius Apulus]

Hello. My name is Apulus Aetius. First, sorry for my English, that's not excellent. I'm happy I have found this wonderful site. I am Italian, specifically from Apulia. I work in public administration. I'm passionate about Latin and Greek. They are languages that I studied in high school (some 20 years ago; now I am 40 years old). After high school, I studied Law.
I would like to improve them again (also english).
Bye.
AD MAJORA!

[pipusmar]

Hello,

I'm at the beginning of learning Biblical Greek using 'Elements of New Testement Greek' by Duff (Cambridge university press). I'm really enjoying it - I translated my first sentence today! 'The brother sees a house'. On Reformastion Sunday as well, how apt.

I looked the site when I was starting out but thoughtI ought to learn the very basics first, such as the alphabet. I'm hoping I'll be able to get support with grammer etc, as I'm studying alone, and just general encouragement as things are beginning to get harder. I'm particularly interested to know if there are any other girls learning it.

Pip : )