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You will have to study two so Latin and Greek it is. Since Greek can fulfill the modern language component as well, I would study it as your primary language, and Latin as your secondary one.
I understand that there is a significant difference between classical and Modern Greek. Much like the difference between church and Roman Latin.
I am currently taking a short summer course on German reading comprehension. It is tough since I came into the class without any previous German knowledge at all. Class is held M-F and goes for about three hours, then there is typically at least three hours of translation homework involved. It is hard enough learning tons of new vocabulary words, but also learning new grammatical structures is even harder. Hopefully I will pass the class.
Have fun with it. If it helps, read the Bild Zeitung online. It is written in simple German that, once mastered, makes reading and comprehending standard German easier. The Bild is kind of the German version of the British Tabloid press, plus they also have the German version of page 3 girls. 😉
I think that if you don't learn a foreign language as a child, it becomes hard to learn any foreign language. So (in my opinion) it would not be any harder to learn a language at 50 than it is at 35 or at 15….and so in any case it can be difficult. I do think that some languages are harder to learn than others, and I'm still getting used to how German verbs are scattered about in sentences, the construction of different tenses, etc. Fortunately, I don't have to speak it or construct sentences on my own.
My rule of thumb is that German sentences are backward. The subject generally goes before the verb, which causes me to pull my hair out sometimes. Fortunately, I am getting to the point where I can think in German and don't have to always stop and translate in my head. I think learning a language is hard, but it is also fun at the same time. It makes me wonder why American schools don't emphasize learning a 2nd language as much as they used to.
Well I passed my German reading course. The course was only 2-3 weeks long, meeting around 3 hours per day. I don't know how quickly I could translate real German texts, but I think I could get the gist with some struggling and heavy use of Google Translate.
Congratulations! Do you use a dictionary too? That's how I did with the Greek. Did you just translate or did you have to write or speak your own things too?
No, did not have to speak or write it. Thankfully. That would have been a different learning experience, and would have gone more slowly. Google Translate is a kind of dictionary of sorts. It's best for translating single words or short phrases, but you still need to be able to determine the meaning of sentence on your own through context and structure. I can't remember if you studied ancient or modern Greek, but if you did ancient, reading it would have been most helpful to you, I think. After all, why would want to speak it….unless that time machine of yours is finally finished? 😉
I can't remember if you studied ancient or modern Greek, but if you did ancient, reading it would have been most helpful to you, I think. After all, why would want to speak it….unless that time machine of yours is finally finished? 😉
It was ancient. And so true. As my tutor put it, no one speaks it anymore, so you only have to translate not create.
