personal learning experience

[shaunthesheep]

Hi guys!

I just finished a quick scan of four languages, and I would like to share my own experience here.

Greek 'Greek an intensive course'
Latin 'Learn to read Latin'
Sanskrit 'Cambridge introduction to Sanskrit' & 'Sanskrit Grammar by W.D.W.'
biblical Hebrew 'Cambridge introduction to Biblical Hebrew' & 'A guide to Biblical Hebrew Syntax'
Why I call it a quick scan is because my goal is only to have a basic understanding of these four languages (at least for now.)

I am Chinese, but since I've been in the states for many years, so my English is at an acceptable level, and I am used to English textbooks. Before this journey, I only know Chinese and English, as you might all know, English has lost most of the declensions, while Chinese has lost all declension many many centuries ago.

This put me under great pressure when I started learning Greek. But when I get used to this case system, I found Latin not hard to learn.

Sanskrit is really an elegant language, whether on its writing or its pronunciation, but it does require practice. My personal experience is that do not rush into the following lessons, just practice writing and reading Devanagari until you are very familiar with them. Pay attention to compound words and Sandhi.

Biblical Hebrew gave me a very rough start, and Hebrew without nikud is a nightmare for me. However, its grammar is relative easy, and thank god we can always find a Hebrew Bible with nikud. Typing mixed Hebrew and English words in a common software (e.g., MS Word, Pages)will lead to chaos, and actually this happened to all western languages which are written from right to left. Jerusalem of Gold is really a great song.

If I am not Chinese, Ancient Chinese might also be hard for me to learn.

This is my learning experience.