My Language Learning Path

Last Edited: Tue Dec 10 19:39:40 UTC 2024

OUTDATED

This doc is completely outdated. At the time, having a path mapped out 20+ texts deep made sense. Now that I'm out of school and I've started to actually /live/ the reality of complete independence, my relationship with scheduling, studying, and text selection has changed. As such, it doesn't make sense to have a massive "masterdoc" of my language learning stuff.

Instead, expect posts like "A Retrospective On My Clyde Pharr Cram" to be more frequent. I'm also considering making this a more general blog and lifting the restriction of topic-specific posts like "July 2025 in review" or "Plans for August 2025" maybe. Who knows, either way, this document represents my mindset at the time of writing. As of today (August 1, 2025) I'm studying Ancient Greek, Akkadian, and Latin (in that order of time spent. Something like a 2:1:0.25 ratio)

Previous Intro

Why care about Ancient Greece or Rome? Quite honestly, I don't have a satisfactory answer as to why one should care about these particular ancient cultures over any other. I could regurgitate some stock ramblings on about cultural heritage and the (obviously mythical) idea of western civilization, but the truth is I just like the ancient world and, because of my particular circumstances, happened to pick these ones! There is, of course, deep value in studying the ancient world, getting a long view of history, and really feeling for ancient people. I've gone fairly deep into the study of Classics and Ancient Greece and one of my biggest takeaways is that ancient peoples are, at their very core, very similar if not the same to us modern people.

I'm writing this now at the end of the Fall semester of my senior year of college. I started studying Greek in my freshman year as a window into the New Testament and other early Christian literature. I'm still interested in this, of course, but along the way I've done an academic year in Greece and developed a deep appreciation and love for all things in classical antiquity. As of now, I'm looking beyond college and wondering: how the hell do I stay connected to all of this? I'm going to be living in Boston which is a city with a rich academic culture, so I've found some groups interested in spoken latin, yearly spoken latin conferences, and more. I'm confident that in these groups I'll be able to meet people interested in ancient Greece and reading ancient Greek materials in Greek, but for now I must set out a plan on my own.

This is very much a living document and at the bottom of each section I plan on including updates on what I'm changing.

Greek

Starting point

For starters I will have read, in a classroom environment:

1. Plato: Crito
2. Aristophanes: Clouds, Assemblywomen
3. Thucydides: Large chunk of Book IV Pel. war, Plague section of Book II
4. Selections from the Iliad (Book I, chunk of Book VI, Book XXIV)
5. Many inscriptions

Now I only really started taking Greek seriously this year. Of course there is a ton of residual residual knowledge rattling around in my brain, but in terms of systematic, serious learning beyond a passing hobbyist interest, I'm considering all of that work (except the Iliad selections) essentially null and void. So, I've created a plan for reading Ancient Greek authors.

Reading plan

In brief:

1. Finish Clyde Pharr's Homeric Greek textbook between Dec 20-Jan 19.
2. Read Lyric Poetry during the Spring Semester in classroom.
3. Athenaze book I.
4. Athenaze book II.
5. Eleanor Dickey's Greek Prose Comp.
6. Re-Read Athenaze book I and II.
7. Read the Batrachomyomachia.
8. Read Iliad.
9. Re-Read Batrachomyomachia.
10. Read Odyssey.
11. Re-Read Iliad.
12. Read Hesiod corpus.
13. Read Homeric Hymns.
14. Re-Read Odyssey.
15. Re-Read Hesiod corpus.
16. Re-Read Iliad.
17. Re-Read Batrachomyomachia.
18. Re-Read Homeric Hymns.
19. Re-Read Hesiod.
20. Read the Argonautica.
21. Read Herodotus.
22. Re-Read Odyssey.
23. Read Thucydides.
24. Re-Read Argonautica.
25. Read Xenophon Hellenica.
26. Re-Read Herodotus.
27. Re-Read Thucydides.
28. Re-Read Xenophon Hellenica.
29. Read Xenophon Anabasis.
30. Re-Read Hesiod
31. Read Xenophon Socratic Dialogues.
32. Read selections of Plato.
33. Read selections of Aristotle.
34. Read hellenistic philosophy
35. Read Septuagint.
36. Read New Testament.
37. Read the Patristic Greek Reader.

So. Not so brief, eh? I plan on revising this over time, but this is a good smattering of my plans/intentions for my stud(ies) of Ancient Greek Literature. I'll also note that this plan is representative of my current obsession/fixation/interest in Greek poetry and other poetic works, so I could see this changing radically once another fixation captures me (I'm re-reading my list and I'm seeing a distinct lack of Aristophanes and Tragedy), but for now this provides a nice smattering of texts I want to read and then review later to increase fluency.

The breakdown of it, though, is as follows:

Scholastic phase

[This section an update written on March 15, 2025]

1. Finish Clyde Pharr's Homeric Greek textbook between Dec 20-Jan 19.
2. Read Lyric Poetry during the Spring Semester in classroom.

As I'm wrapping up my short college career in Ancient Greek, I have realized something: I'm tired of poetry. Poetry is very difficult and can be very frustrating at times. In reality, I haven't "read" much poetry at all; the vast majority of time spent has been on decoding these sentences which is not how I want to operate.

Back to the books

[This section an update written on March 15, 2025]

1. Athenaze book I.
2. Eleanor Dickey's Greek Prose Comp.
3. Athenaze book II.

Homeric Building Phase

1. Read the Batrachomyomachia
2. Read Iliad.
3. Re-Read Batrachomyomachia
4. Read Odyssey.
5. Re-Read Iliad.
6. Read Hesiod corpus.
7. Read Homeric Hymns.

The general plan for these is to take a thorough approach to them: If I see a word I don't know, make a flashcard. At first this will be a massive amount of words, so my progress will be slow, but by the end of it I'll likely only be adding ~5 cards per day which is a very manageable amount even if a word is a hapax.

I want to transition away from the Greek -> English flashcards as much as possible, so with my brief stop in Attic Greek, I plan on utilizing Theodorus Gaza's paraphrase of the Iliad and Batrachomyomachia so that I'm more able to read the texts and stay as "in language" as possible.

I'm spending this much time on Homer and a little Hesiod because in my readings of ancient materials, these texts are super important and the mythology is constantly referenced. On top of that, becoming familiar with homeric language only makes it easier to read more homeric language, so before I transition away I want to become an expert. The goal is reading fluency, not decoding. Always.

Review phase

1. Re-Read Odyssey.
2. Re-Read Hesiod corpus.
3. Re-Read Iliad.
4. Re-Read Batrachomyomachia.
5. Re-Read Homeric Hymns.
6. Re-Read Hesiod
7. Read the Argonautica.

I'll then take a period of no new texts. Just reviewing some classic Homer (and Batrachomyomachia) so that I really get the vocab and get fluent. I'm also tacking on the Argonautica because it's shorter and after my thorough acquaintance with Homeric language, I'm hoping that this one won't be too bad.

Prose phase

1. Read Herodotus.
2. Re-Read Odyssey.
3. Read Thucydides.
4. Re-Read Argonautica.
5. Read Xenophon Hellenica.
6. Re-Read Herodotus.
7. Re-Read Thucydides.
8. Re-Read Xenophon Hellenica.
9. Read Xenophon Anabasis.
10. Re-Read Hesiod.

At this point I will have read a helluva lot of poetry (and admittedly a little prose during my undergrad career), so I will want to start incorporating prose reading into my studies. I'm going Herodotus->Thucydides->Xenophon because I want a nice narrative arc of Ancient Greece, and because Clyde Pharr writes that Herodotus would be approachable after homer and that "His work would admirably supplement the Homeric stories."

There are re-reads of each of the texts after I finish the series, with re-reads of past texts in between for review.

Philosophy phase

1. Read Xenophon Socratic Dialogues.
2. Read selections of Plato.
3. Read selections of Aristotle.
4. Read hellenistic philosophy
5. Read Septuagint.
6. Read New Testament.
7. Read the Patristic Greek Reader.

This is the least well defined section. I'm going with Philosophy because, with my goal is still christian literature, I want to have a good understanding of the philosophical threads that Christianity came up in. I'll be starting with Xenophon's Socratic Dialogues because I'll already be acquainted with Xenophon. Then, I'll step through things chronologically with Plato and then Aristotle. Then Hellenistic philosophy and the Septuagint (maybe also Josephus, Philo of Alexandria, or some of the other Hellenized Jews would be worth reading).

Once I get here my plans will likely have radically changed, so this is all tentative.

Latin

Starting Point & Reading Plan

I'm really only taking latin because I think it's worth rounding off my classical education with Latin. I haven't taken the plunge into Latin literature in the same way as I have with Greek, but I MUST resist this temptation. After all, I have several years of Greek and almost a calendar year in Greece, but only a few weeks of Latin so far. This is less a Latin literature reading plan, and more of a latin learning plan.

1. Self study up until chapter 13 of the Latin textbook by January 19.
2. Take Latin 1102 spring semester.
3. Read LLPSI I
4. Read Fabulae Syrae
5. Read Living Latin

That's it. That's the plan. Along the way (for just Shelmerdine) I'm going to be making flashcards of all of the vocabulary I come across and don't know, just like in Greek. I'm hoping at this point I'll have enough of an interest in Latin literature to make a list like the one of Greek, but my interest in Latin is mostly in the living latin communities, specifically because I want to make a video playing fortnite in latin because that's funny.

Update Dec. 16: I had a revelation about other uses for Latin: Classical scholarship & newer latin. Oxford Classical texts have latin introductions and the epigraphy world writes and publishes in latin. I'm also probably going to read along with a group in Boston (if one such group exists) and use their enthusiasm for the texts in place of my own (as to keep my knowledge fresh).

Update Jan. 9 2025: I still don't have many texts to care about in latin, but hey I'll find them eventually. I'm making good progress in latin but it's getting hard. Luckily, by dropping chapters beyond ch. 13 I have several days to do a complete review.

Update Mar. 14 2025: Latin is enjoyable and I'd like to get better at it (even if I still don't really have a reason why). I purchased one of the LLPSI supplements "Fabulae Syrae," and I know several of them are freely available online. I also purchased the graded reader "Living Latin" by the Paideia institute which is intriguing to me because of its modern vocabulary.

Georgian

Cancelling Georgian

[UPDATE March 24, 2025]

I don't dislike Georgian at all. Do not get me wrong. But. As of right now I don't really have the time or motivation to put the energy into Georgian that I should be giving it. There also isn't a big enough Georgian presence in Boston for me to feel connected in any real way to the people. Sure, there's discord servers but they never really stick with me, personally.

Motivation & Goals

This is a tough one because for the rest of the languages on my "what's next" list, I can give something of a justification. Japanese and Korean? I read manga/manhwa. Chinese? I've studied it before and liked it. French/German/Italian? Classical scholarship. Old English? The closest thing to a heritage language I've got. But Georgian is the odd man out.

The full extent of my connection to the country is a visit for a few days to Tbilisi, but something about the Caucus mountains just sank its teeth into me. The aesthetics of the country, both in the artistic output of its people and its geography, captured me in a way that few others have. Even little details like the alphabet and random pieces of Georgian typography have been holding my mind hostage since I left. I can read Ancient Greek, and soon I'll be able to add Latin to that list. After the monster that is my ~1200 years of relative fluency in Ancient Greek, what will be an academic year of latin, and growing up speaking English, I have full confidence that I'll be able to pick up any modern "practical" Indo-European language with relative ease should I desire. As such, I'm giving myself permission to give Georgian a try, to learn its literature, to visit the country (hopefully) again, but this time more fully–and speaking to its inhabitants.

Starting point & Plan

1. Go through Reading Georgian
2. Go through Beginner's Georgian
3. Brute-Force the new testament(?)

This is the whole plan. The scant pieces of advice I have seen online involve these two books receiving high praise. Ideally I'll move on to more auditory materials and other such things, but I'm not going to place too high of an expectation on myself. The goal is to just do a little bit every day until I move a mountain. Ideally Reading Georgian will have recommendations as to where I should head next, but for now I'm happy with my studies.

German

Motivation and Goals

I want to be proficient in a modern language, speak to and encourage my girlfriend who is learning/has learned German, and (probably most importantly) read the extensive classical scholarship and use the learning materials for ancient languages that seem to only be written in German.

Starting point & Plan

1. Language Transfer Complete German
2. German by the natural method

That's it for now. I want to really get the Language Transfer Complete German stuff under my belt. I've heard it's really good, but it's also unfinished. After this I'll do German by the natural method. From there I don't have any real idea of where to go next, but I'm sure I'll have a more concrete goal by then.

What's next?

After this I really don't know where I'll want to go. I've kicked around the idea of learning Old English, thought about French/German/Italian for the classical scholarship, Georgian, Japanese, Chinese, Korean, etc. Who knows!

Anyways, that's all I have to say about that. Bye Bye!

Update: Dec 16, I've decided to add Georgian to my workload. We'll see how long it actually lasts.

Update: Dec 27, I'm still very much interested in learning Georgian, but Beginner's Georgian isn't what I want at the moment. My primary motivation is to read Georgian works (especially ვეფხისტყაოსანი), so I think it's probably wise–for motivation's sake–to start with Reading Georgian.

Update: March 14-15, added some changes to the Latin & Greek sections

Update: March 24, explained why I'm putting Georgian on pause and what I'm planning on doing with German.