I split this into three parts to make it easier to read (I meant it to be a simple question but it ended up David Copperfield). The question is part three.
I. BACKGROUND
I’m currently in a bit of a tough stretch. I was in an introductory (Attic) Greek class for nine weeks before falling ill and spending a week in the hospital. The next week I was advised to take easy, so I stayed away from work; losing two weeks’ class wasn’t as big a deal as it seemed because I was far ahead of the rest of the class (keeping to my own pace, which was faster than theirs). And then I developed a new and still-mysterious ailment and spent another week out sick, and then when it still wouldn’t go away with treatment, I dropped all classes on medical withdrawal. During this time I tried to get back to Greek (the only subject I really cared about) but couldn’t get my head in the game, so to speak. After two weeks of doing nothing and watching my feet swell and recede (generally a sign of organ failure or autoimmune disease, both dire ailments, but tests for both were conclusively negative and three doctors, two ER docs, and a vascular specialist all gave it the “WTF?” treatment), I decided that I needed some studies back in my life or I’d go crazy.
Among other things, I got Pharr’s Homeric Greek. I wanted a fresh start, for one; I wanted a fresh perspective; I was going to take Greek 101 again in the future, so there was no point in knowing all the material; Homeric is the dialect recommended on this site, if I’m not mistaken; Pharr has the student reading the Iliad very early in; and the style is very different from Athenaze and I have a strange fetish for early-20th-cenury textbooks (specifically the actual objects, those cloth-bound green or blue octavos with stamped gilt lettering and a delicious aroma).
II. MY PROBLEM, AND HOW I RESOLVED IT
I didn’t mind starting from scratch because Pharr gives far more detail on some very interesting topics (the declensions, for instance) that Balme and Lawall do, and because there are some important differences between some Homeric and Attic forms that are apparent from the first two chapters. There are plenty of translation exercises, which I’ve always found terrific fun, and the Greek-to-English ones can be real puzzlers compared to the softball Athenaze exercises. So I got through the first several chapters quickly and efficiently (even the new vocabulary is coming more quickly than ever).
And now I’ve spent several days on the second declension – which is identical to its Attic forms with a couple of slight variations – and have made no progress. I’ve encountered no difficulty because I know the grammar presented. I’ve got about 3/4 of the vocabulary in memory (most of it sticks the first time through the list) but have no desire to learn the rest. Doing the translation exercises would help learn the rogue vocabulary and would be fun, but I don’t feel like stretching myself. It’s as if my brain has turned against me; I’m in the head space I was in when I got out of the hospital. I just feel like doing nothing, or at least doing nothing productive. The next chapter is just review and after that is some exciting new material that I’ve never studied before in either dialect. I should be happy and motivated and ready to press on and finally meet something completely unfamiliar and make friends with it. But instead I’m being an intellectual stay-at-home because my mind doesn’t feel like changing out of its pyjamas.
III. THE QUESTION
Everyone says that stagnation is the most damaging thing that can happen to someone learning a foreign language. It’s been three days with no study and something’s got to change – and something will change, because writing all of this has convinced me to get out the book and some sheets of paper and see what I can do. But there will be future funks: what to do? I’m not going to waste board space with another pity-party in that event; I’m sure that everyone here has run aground at some point or another but obviously has gotten back up and succeeded. I’ve found that time generally heals all motivation problems, myself, but that’s crappy advice to give someone. Lowering your shoulder and plowing through it is the stock answer, but when your brain won’t cooperate, your brain just won’t cooperate.
I’m interested to see how people have dealt with this common and potentially devestating issue.