During my undergraduate course i’ve took 4 semesters in Ancient Greek and 6 in Latin, and now during my masters degree I’m focusing mainly in Latin. Nevertheless I somewhat miss Ancient Greek, and during the last 2 months I’ve tried to get back on Ancient Greek on my own, translating Plato, Lysias, Lucian, and some Herodotus. Still I feel a bit rusted, and not confident enough in my translations, which is why I tend to look at translations every paragraph.
I’m thinking on buying a textbook to solidificate my knowledge so that I can tackle the texts with confidence. I’ve looked Luschnig’s, Mastronarde’s, JACT, and Athenaze (the italian version). What would you recommend me? Or should I just get back to Smyth’s grammar and go from there?
Perhaps someone has already asked this, I’m sorry if I’m repeating the same old questions.
(I would be very thankful if you could as well point out my English mistakes/constructions).
Hi! I’m sure people will chip in with good advice about textbooks, but I spent 5 years teaching English as a foreign language so I can’t resist taking you up on your offer . Are you Italian? I ask because of the “I’ve took” and “would you recommend me”. Your English is very good though! (edit: I just saw on the open board that your first language is Portuguese. Close but no cigar).
During my undergraduate course > I > took 4 semesters in Ancient Greek and 6 in Latin, and now during my masters degree I’m focusing mainly > on > Latin. Nevertheless I somewhat miss Ancient Greek, and during the last 2 months I’ve tried to get back > into > Ancient Greek on my own, translating Plato, Lysias, Lucian, and some Herodotus. I > still > feel a bit > rusty> , and not confident enough in my translations, which is why I tend to look at translations every paragraph.
I’m thinking > about > buying a textbook to > consolidate (/develop) > my knowledge so that I can tackle the texts with confidence. I’ve looked > at (/I’m aware of…) > Luschnig’s, Mastronarde’s, JACT, and Athenaze (the italian version). What would you recommend? > u[/u] > Or should I just get back to Smyth’s grammar and go from there?
Perhaps someone has already asked this, I’m sorry if I’m repeating the same old questions.
(I would > also > be very > grateful > if you could point out my English mistakes/constructions).
I’m mostly through volume II of the Italian Athenaze, and that is not the book you want if you want confirmation that your interpretation is correct. The longest readings are by Miraglia and there is no translation. You have to work it out on your own (or with help from people on Textkit). I happen to like this approach because I have found in studying other languages that I come to intuit things about words, expressions and “ways of saying” through reading. Needless to say, for me that involves being comfortable with some ambiguity and having the belief that over time understanding will come.
The first book I used when I went back to Greek after a years-long hiatus was Schoder and Horrigan’s A Reading Course in Homeric Greek. I thought it was very good (much better than Pharr) and I recommend it; for Attic I would very highly recommend the Italian Athenaze (I went through both volumes two or three times) and/or Peckett and Munday’s Thrasymachus.
. Are you Italian? I ask because of the “I’ve took” and “would you recommend me”. Your English is very good though! (edit: I just saw on the open board that your first language is Portuguese. Close but no cigar).