Χαίρετε, ἅπαντες! My name is Michael, I’m a 16 year old student from Greece. Since Gymnasium, I started learning ancient Greek. I didn’t cope with it very well. Three years later, I started searching more and more about the ancient language and I saw many connections with modern Greek, my mother language. Since then, my view on this subject has changed. I’m also keen on Linguistics now.
Now in Lyceum, I chose the Anthropistic studies which adds more hours of studying Greek (ancient) and we finish the whole Grammar of Attic. From the next year, I will be learning Latin, too! I have introduced myself to the Latin grammar but, as I’m accustomed to Greek, I find hard to learn the five declensional systems and the verb inflections.
I’m intrested in learning more about the ancient world. But I’m more intrested in using the languages. I’d love to reach my comprension level at maximum and my goal is to read Homeric Greek from the original without the help of commemtaries. After accomplishing that, I have in my mind Proto-Greek and Proto-Indo-European. About Latin, I haven’t made any plan yet. Though, I feel really excited when I listen to chorus songs in Latin and I’m decided to master this language.
On my first visit to Athens in 2008, I asked a middle-aged gentleman where I could find the temple of Hephaistus (pronouncing the god’s name in what I thought was the usual English way). What I got in answer was a lecture on how the correct pronunciation was Ífestos (Eeeeeefestos) and how Erasmus was wrong all along. 