If I could do it again

Last Edited: Sun Dec 29 01:21:28 UTC 2024

My thoughts on learning Ancient Languages

The title "If I could do it again" is a bit dishonest here. I feel the phrase implies some wish or desire to restart from square one, but I don't feel that way. I have no regrets about my time studying classics. I don't feel a single moment was wasted or time not well spent. I do feel, however, that someone starting anew could be served much better with a different path.

I have, to the best of my knowledge (credentials: classics major at an "elite" liberal arts college, 7 semesters of Greek, 2 of Latin, 2 semesters in Athens), detailed what I think is the best path for learning Latin/Ancient Greek.

Currently, the is all the rage. I think that there is great value in these methods, but at the end of the day deep philological study and correspondence with works of philology requires knowledge of the minutiae of grammar. By using both of these methods (natural method, grammar-translation) the student will be able to acquire an excellent level of reading fluency AND an excellent level of grammatical knowledge. Furthermore, I don't think it's necessary to make a grand appeal to Krashen or other second language acquisition research–other writers, youtubers, tik tokers, and podcasters have beat this to death. Instead I offer a more intuitive appeal: What we do repeatedly we get better at.

So, my simple prescription is this: Use multiple books, read early, and go slow.

Latin

Multiple books

For Latin we're spoiled for choice. The best and most common approach is to use Lingua Latina Per Se Illustrata (abbreviated LLPSI). However, in addition to this you should also be using a traditional grammatical approach. The textbook I'm using is Susan C. Shelmerdine's Introduction to Latin and it's good. Wheelock's is also good. Latine Disco is a book explicitly designed to go with LLPSI. Each of these books will teach the exact same things albeit in a slightly different order. The point is, for grammatical instruction choose anything. A benefit to Wheelock's latin is that due to its popularity there is great supplemental material like readers that can strengthen the learner's reading comprehension.

Read Early

LLPSI is an approach to learning Latin entirely through reading. It's great, but it's not "authentic" text. It's been through at least 1 revision (some of which includes making it more authentic), so it's a great resource. For reading authentic Latin as early as possible, the Vulgate bible is probably your best bet. If you grew up in a "western" culture you'll have the Bible as a cultural background; even if you think you know nothing about the bible you probably do.

Go Slow

As much as you may want to be a hero, there's great value in taking your time. Spending 8~12 months on truly mastering these intro materials (LLPSI + Latine Disco/Shelmerdine/Wheelock) will serve you well forever.

Greek

Multiple Books

Due to the lack of a ubiquitous textbook like LLPSI, the multiple books approach for Ancient Greek is a bit different. Further "Ancient Greek" as a target is very much a vague concept. The Greek of the Κοινή period is VERY different from the Greek in Homer. I'm of the opinion that the reader should start with Homer.

As such, the first book the reader should go through is Clyde Pharr's "Homeric Greek: A Book For Beginners." It teaches every word in book 1 of the Iliad which gives decent coverage over the rest of the Iliad and the Odyssey. The best thing after this is more Iliad.

Once the student chooses to go beyond the Iliad to their preferred genre, they will be well prepared to tackle any text commentated for a beginning-intermediate student.

Read Early

The coolest thing about the Pharr textbook is that, while there are sentences of prose translation, it introduces the reader to the real and unabridged text of the Iliad on lesson 13. Each lesson is very brief, so at a decent pace of 2 lessons/week (if you're strapped for time), the student will be reading the real Iliad in about a month and a half. To me, that is incredible.

Go Slow

I mentioned a pace of 2 lessons per week, and it's worth going at a nice slow pace like this for a good time. By chapter 48 it transitions to being purely review, and by chapter 56 it's just vocab and a portion of the Iliad.

Some notes on vocabulary

The best way to learn vocabulary is to encounter it in a natural setting. If you come across a word you don't know in a text, just let it be and keep reading. There are some strategies that can help (Nouns in particular are completely unimportant. You can just let a ghtj be a ghtj and move on without much understanding being lost more often than you'd think!) Resist the urge to look up a word on first encounter, and on your second encounter you're allowed to look it up.

I encourage the use of spaced repetition software like Anki. Do a little bit every day (or a lottabit every day, just as much as you reasonably have the time) and you'll eventually get these words in your head. Learning vocabulary is a process of forgetting so don't feel bad if you are forgetting a bunch of words. If it's happening one day or a few days you might have just had a bad day(s). If this is happening repeatedly, it might be time to take a step back and stop doing new cards for awhile or to just lower the amount of new cards.

Closing thoughts

I'm giving prescriptions because I think they're useful, but after you have a good chunk of experience in learning one language, go crazy, do what you want. If after Pharr you want to challenge yourself to read the entire Iliad 24 days, go crazy. You might fail but you'll learn a ton along the way.

Furthermore, I encourage beginners to jump into the authentic material they want to read as soon as chapter 1. Pharr's chapter 1 teaches the alphabet and pronunciation. Fantastic, now, if you're so inclined, open up the Gospel according to John or Plato's Republic and look at that, you're able to read these words (although you won't know what they mean). By chapter 3 where you learn the 1st declension you'll be able to recognize what case some of the words are in. By chapter 13, with a vocabulary, you might even be able to squeak out a whole sentence.

I mentioned previously that I am not dipping into the science of language acquisition and this means that you should take this blogpost with a MASSIVE grain of salt. I have described what works for me. If you think you're wired like me, you may reap massive rewards from doing exactly what I'm doing, but if not, don't sweat it. I'm a bit of a unique case because I truly enjoy learning the nitty gritty of grammar, memorizing tables, and all of these things.

No matter what you do, start with a fixed goal (reading a specific text is a good pick) and go towards that with passion and really savor the joy of being able to read what you want once you get there.