My Introduction: Seeking to Learn the Art of Reading Well

Textkit Community Open Board
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I’m an autodidact who has studied Ancient Greek for almost a year and started studying Latin two weeks ago.

As of today, I’m exactly halfway through Reading Greek (JACT). In addition to the readings in my textbook, I’ve been reading and translating Euripides’ Medea and Plato’s Symposium with two online groups, using Steadman’s commentary among other resources. I’m also exposing myself to Koine Greek by reading and parsing one verse from the New Testament Bible a day.

As for Latin, I’ve started using the LLPSI series, following YouTube videos that complement the series, and writing conversational Latin in a Whatsapp group. I quite enjoy the manageable pace, as I’m trying to pick up Latin without slowing down my pursuit of Greek. However, I am naturally inclined to being immersed in original texts, albeit through adaptations in the beginning, and I prefer a clearer explanation of grammar, so I’m considering adding Reading Latin and Wheelock’s Latin into my schedule.

As an aspiring amateur philologist, I’d like to end my introduction with a quote from Friedrich Nietzsche’s Daybreak: Thoughts on the Prejudices of Morality (trans. R. J. Hollingdale):

Philology is that venerable art which demands of its votaries one thing above all: to go aside, to take time, to become still, to become slow - it is a goldsmith’s art and connoisseurship of the > word > which has nothing but delicate, cautious work to do and achieves nothing if it does not achieve it > lento> . But for precisely this reason it is more necessary than ever today, by precisely this means does it entice and enchant us the most, in the midst of an age of “work,” that is to say, of hurry, of indecent and perspiring haste, which wants to “get everything done” at once, including every old or new book: - this art does not easily get anything done, it teaches to read > well> , that is to say, to read slowly, deeply, looking cautiously before and aft, with reservations, with doors left open, with delicate eyes and fingers.

I look forward to learning the art of reading well from and with the members of this community.

Enosh

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Welcome to Textkit!

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Noble goals, for both languages. Keep in mind, though, that reading and translating are not the same. Though they are often conflated by language teachers for some reason. In fact, to be a good translator, you need to master the language(s) first. Becoming a good reader is part of that process.

Rather than focus on translating (unless you have to as a course requirement), focus on understanding what you read, and why an author uses particular phrasing (cases, tenses, moods, idioms, synonyms, etc.). At least for the first couple of years, I would do this. Learning to ask and answer questions, even if just to yourself, in the language being studied helps tremendously. This can be done either orally or in writing.

I would also use some conversational bits of the languages, both orally and in written form. I used to say things to our dog and cats in Latin, like: Bonus feles es! Bonus canis es! Ecce cibus tuus, ecce aqua. Of course, if you can find somebody who will respond in Latin/Greek, all the better. I used to have short conversations in Latin with a friend after church services, which really helped.

Bene venisti ad foro, amice! We look forward to hearing more about your progress.

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Thank you for your invaluable pointers! I’ve recently found a similar piece of advice in this quote of C.S. Lewis: https://sententiaeantiquae.com/2017/08/20/learning-to-think-in-greek/. I’ve been consciously shifting the focus of my learning from translating and thinking in English to reading and thinking in Greek as much as possible. I tried that with my reading of Medea this week by refraining from writing down the translation; I find that I pay much more attention to the text and the way the sentences are structured than before. Instead, I spend more time rereading the passages that I read and understood.

Yes, I’m making it my goal to be able to discuss an ancient Greek text in Greek.

Thanks again!