I have been studying Greek by myself for a few years now, and would like to also start learning Latin. My issue is, I know that if I just devoted all of my time to Greek (rather than dividing my attention) my Greek would get much better than it currently is. So I am wondering, is it better to focus on Greek for a bit longer and get it to a good level before switching to Latin, or is starting on Latin now that I have a handle on Greek ok? I am wondering how other people on this board go about balancing studying both languages at once.
Unless you’re severely limited for time, you should be able to manage some time for Latin. The important thing is to develop a routine and stick to it. As with many subjects, Latin needs to be digested in small chunks, so spending a small amount of time a day, say an hour is ideal. With Greek, if you’ve completed an introductory book, such as Mastronarde, Hansen & Quinn, or Reading Greek from JACT, or one of the older textbooks available on Textkit, you should be mostly reading at this point, so continue to read. If you need to make time for Latin, perhaps read a little less, but continue to read every day.
As to a choice of textbook, I think generally Orberg’s Lingua Latina Per Se Illustrata is recommended by the members. I’m from the grammar/translation generation, so I have no direct experience with it, but I’m impressed by the results as reflected by the knowledge of posters who have completed Orberg’s course.
In any event, you’ll find plenty of help here. Enjoy your journey!
I am doing the opposite of what you are doing and have recently picked up Greek after many years spent on Latin. If you start on Latin now that you have a handle on Greek it should set you up nicely to commence it. As long as you have time to devote to both and set up a routine that works for you there should be no problem with commencing Latin and you will enjoy seeing the similarities in vocab that exist between the two.
I do a little bit of both each day, bite sized pieces from JACT Greek and Reading Latin and I find that works well.
Let me know what kind of study pattern you end up working with to split your time between both as I would be interested to hear how others balance it.
After years of neglect, I took up Latin and Greek again last year. I worked through White’s First Greek Book and Wheelock’s Latin. I tried to do a bit of both each day, but I found that I could really only concentrate on one language at a time, so I did Greek one day and Latin the next. I learned a lot, but I never got to the point where I could simply read at sight. Also, I must confess that I did not do the writing exercises, the translation from English to Greek or Latin. Years ago, I bought one volume of Reading Greek. I think I lost it in the general upheaval of one of my divorces. I never read it. I remember thinking that it was a kind of inductive method and I was very much from the grammar-translation school. I thought, somewhat contemptuously, that it was a lot of made-up Greek. I no longer hold this view. I just recently bought three volumes of Reading Greek and Lingua Latina. I now feel I would very much benefit from the writing exercises.
That’s interesting Charlie. Please let me know how you go with diving back into Reading Greek. I have found it very good from a complete beginner’s perspective. I do all the exercises as listed in the books and then correct my work with the answer key. Works for me anyway
Sometimes there are Latin/Greek pairs of words that are obviously cognate if you realize it, e.g., ὦμος and humerus. I’m only working on Greek, but often I know the Latin word or its English version, so it helps with the Greek vocabulary.
But also very often you get other situations: –
There are cognate pairs that are super fun to learn, but somewhat distant semantically, like ὅρκος (oath, fence) and Orcus (the god who avenges broken oaths).
Words that are close semantically but not phonetically obvious to someone who’s not trained in historical linguistics: ἕπομαι, sequel.
I started studying Latin before studying Greek. Latin was a big help, in that it accustomed me to the inflected language. Now I’m focusing on Greek, but I also read a some Latin every day.
Surely it would would work in the opposite order. Incidentally, the Perseus presentation of the Greek New Testament gives you the Vulgate Latin translation, which you might find interesting.
As far as sight-reading is concerned, I don’t worry about my weakness in that. I read as well as I can, and use whatever aids help.
I can’t say enough about these books, Reading Greek and Lingua latina per se illustrata. I am absolutely loving my studies. The only criticism I have is the audio recordings of Reading Greek. I am sure I have no business saying this, but they sound awful, at least to my ear. I do not doubt for a moment their scholarship. By all accounts, they have adopted the pronunciation advocated by Allen in his Vox Graeca. I have heard other recordings which sound more convincing, especially those of Ioannis Stratakis and I have only listened to a few of the free samples. For some reason, I like the sound of the pronunciation in the YouTube channel Polysophia, Ancient Greek Comprehensible Input. Here’s a link in case you’d like to listen. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6GCiq5_EdBI/. I don’t think it is practical to use the aspirated pronunciation of theta, phi and chi. I can, of course, pronounce them, but I think that students and scholars of Greek would have some difficulty making themselves understood. For example, kappa would too easily be taken for chi and so on. The fricative pronunciation, on the other hand, allows of no such confusion. I also find the pronunciation of zeta rather annoying. To be clear, I am not arguing that it was pronounced as in Modern Greek. However, there is still some debate as to whether it was sd as in “wisdom” or dz as in “adze.” So I prefer the modern pronunciation as in “zeal.” The pronunciation of the Latin in Lingua latina is beautiful. Just my opinion. I am so impressed by the latter that I would like to acquire other books that use the comprehensible input method.
