I seem to have been struggling with Attic Greek for a long time. My first encounter with the classic language was in 1950, in my first form in high school. It was Latin, and the teacher was Mr. Webber, who had a head like a Roman bust … Caesar’s nose and all. He said “the first thing you need to know about Latin is … it’s HARD!”. Back then, only the winners got prizes. And I was not a winner at Latin. I left Latin after a couple of years, and got by in French and German. All I can remember of Latin was “nihil never let me say neminis or nemine”. Greek .was for those who were applying to Oxford or Cambridge. That was not I. Basically, I am not good at languages.
Then a couple of years ago I became interested in Greece, by way of the Pelopennesian wars … Victor Davis Hansen, etc. Then the big question arose in my mind … what were the Greeks thinking that they would break so much new intellectual ground? That lead to the Odyssey and Homeric Greek. This lead to Herodotus, and the thought that maybe I could put myself in the weldanschauung of the ancient Greeks.
So, here am I … and 80-year old guy with an 80-year old memory who is totally addicted to the idea that I might master this incredible language.
I am deep in Thrasymachus, and find it does a wonderful job of immersing the reader in one grammar subject, for example pronouns, or contract verbs,
Meanwhile, my Anabasis dual language sits on the shelf.
BTW, I was born and raised in England … SE London … but have lived in the US since 1964, and now live in Carson City, Nevada. A wonderful place to live