Studying Classical Greek

[HopefulHeart]

I am thinking of taking an introductory course at my university in Classical and New Testament Greek and using the course toward a minor in classics. Has anyone else studied classical Greek? What were your impressions of the language and the difficulty of learning it? 

Edited July 26, 2015 by HopefulHeart

[puellapaschalis]

I'm learning some over the Summer. Prepositions are hard. 

[Amppax]

I am thinking of taking an introductory course at my university in Classical and New Testament Greek and using the course toward a minor in classics. Has anyone else studied classical Greek? What were your impressions of the language and the difficulty of learning it? 

It's much harder than Latin, I know that much. 

[Luigi]

Never mind the difficulty level - do it! 

Difficulty level shouldn't matter that much, anyway, if the teacher knows what she's about. 

[HopefulHeart]

Thanks for the responses! Knowing the difficulty is a little worrisome, but I still feel that I should be able to handle it, with the professor's guidance. Fortunately, I'm able to view last year's syllabus for the course and see course evaluation results, which are helpful. I'll have to see what my adviser thinks.

[Sponsa-Christi]

I'd say, go for it!

On an introductory level, Greek isn't really all that much harder than Latin (actually, I'd even say it was slightly easier). The big thing that scares people is the different alphabet, but it's not as hard to learn the alphabet as you would think. Greek verbs are really weird and irregular, but the nouns have articles that can tip you off to the case endings (unlike Latin).

Also, fairly soon after starting Greek, you can read some of the easier books of the New Testament, which is VERY cool!

[marigold]

Never mind the difficulty level - do it! 

Difficulty level shouldn't matter that much, anyway, if the teacher knows what she's about. 

I'd say, go for it!

On an introductory level, Greek isn't really all that much harder than Latin (actually, I'd even say it was slightly easier). The big thing that scares people is the different alphabet, but it's not as hard to learn the alphabet as you would think. Greek verbs are really weird and irregular, but the nouns have articles that can tip you off to the case endings (unlike Latin).

Also, fairly soon after starting Greek, you can read some of the easier books of the New Testament, which is VERY cool!

Completely agree! The little liturgical and NT Greek I have picked up has been mind-expanding. Totally worth it.

[marigold]

Might be of interest - the Orthodox version of the Hail Mary in Greek

 

Θεοτόκε Παρθένε, χαίρε κεχαριτωμένη Μαρία, ο Κύριος μετά Σου’ ευλογημένη Συ εν γυναιξί, και ευλογημένος ο καρπός της κοιλίας Σου, ότι Σωτήρα έτεκες, των ψυχών ημών

Hail, Virgin Mother of God, Mary full of grace, the Lord is with you; blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb, for you have borne the Saviour of our souls

Edited to add - sung by the choir of Ormylia, which is one of the most famous women's monasteries in the world. It houses over 120 nuns from all over the world, and has a reputation for excellence in medical education and - unsurprisingly - this choir  

Edited July 27, 2015 by marigold

[DJMitch]

I have just borrowed a book from a friend (who read Classics at Cambridge), called "Teach Yourself Greek" - a rather dilapidated paperback from 1968, the first edition being printed in 1947.  I am trying to work my way through it.  Greek *is* more difficult than Latin, because while there are many words in English that derive from both languages, Greek has, it seems to me, far more words that bear no apparent relation to any word in any other language that I have any acquaintance with; learning the grammar seems more difficult than that of Latin; and there are many features of Greek that do not exist in any other European language that I am aware of - for example, the vowel changes at the beginning of words in different tenses, which can make it fairly difficult to work out what the root word actually is.  Also, there are many irregularities.  I am not saying this to put you off; I think you should go for it.

I think that both Greek and Latin are incredibly important, or certainly should be, to anyone who takes an interest in the history of Western civilization over the last three or four thousand years.  The amount of work produced in these languages is simply staggering.

I also think that Greek is a remarkably beautiful language.

[marigold]

I agree. There really is a lot of Greek in English! The other day someone said 'epiphenomenal' in a science video and I understood what it meant without understanding what it meant.

[HopefulHeart]

Lots of good comments here. Thanks! Those grammatical intricacies sound challenging, but I'm pretty confident I can learn them. I have found myself proficient with grammar in English, high school Latin, and college French. If I apply myself I should be able to learn Greek.  It's really exciting to think that I might be able to read simple passages from the New Testament!

 

[CatherineM]

My husband's grandfather taught classics at Cambridge. I took Greek with a Maronite friend on Saturdays in junior high. Sometimes I remember it, and sometimes I don't. Swiss cheese brain. 

[Kia ora]

yo. i have a major in ancient greek (classical). basically they teach you the athenian dialect, in which most of the major works were written, and from there it's not so difficult to transition to ionic (in which the historiographies were usually written like herodotus) and others, like the mixed-epic dialect of homer and hesiod etc etc. once you've got attic greek under your belt, koine greek is pretty easy!

tbh i never learned greek because of the nt or the bible, i wasn't religious at the time, more interested in the classical times, but you know i don't regret it, cause i still use it all the time...

 

 

 

actually i remember why i wanted to learn greek, it was all because of sappho. i was reading catullus' version of one of her poems in latin class and i loved it so much that i swore to myself that one day i'd read her poem in the original, and so i did. such a romantic lol. totally worth it! she writes in aeolic greek, which is pretty different from attic. 

Φάινεταί μοι κῆνος ἴσος θέοισιν
ἔμμεν’ ὤνερ, ὄττις ἐνάντιός τοι
ἰσδάνει καὶ πλασίον ἆδυ φωνεί-
σας ὐπακούει

καὶ γελαίσας ἰμέροεν. τὸ μ’ ἦ μάν
καρδίαν ἐν στήθεσιν ἐπτόησεν,
ὢς γὰρ εἰσίδω βροχέως σε, φώνας
οὖδεν ἔτ᾽ ἴκει·

ἀλλὰ κὰμ μὲν γλῶσσα ἔαγε, λέπτον
δ᾽ αὔτικα χρῷ πῦρ ὐπαδεδρόμακεν,
ὀππάτεσσι δ᾽ οὖδεν ὀρημ’, ἐπιρρόμ-
βεισι δ᾽ ἄκουαι.

καδ δέ μ᾽ ἴδρως κακχέεται, τρόμος δὲ
παῖσαν ἄγρει χλωροτέρα δὲ ποίας
ἔμμι, τεθνάκην δ᾽ ὀλίγω ᾽πιδεύης
φαίνομαι·

ἀλλὰ πᾶν τόλματον …

 

Edited July 28, 2015 by Kia ora

[HopefulHeart]

 

yo. i have a major in ancient greek (classical). basically they teach you the athenian dialect, in which most of the major works were written, and from there it's not so difficult to transition to ionic (in which the historiographies were usually written like herodotus) and others, like the mixed-epic dialect of homer and hesiod etc etc. once you've got attic greek under your belt, koine greek is pretty easy!

tbh i never learned greek because of the nt or the bible, i wasn't religious at the time, more interested in the classical times, but you know i don't regret it, cause i still use it all the time...

 

 

 

actually i remember why i wanted to learn greek, it was all because of sappho. i was reading catullus' version of one of her poems in latin class and i loved it so much that i swore to myself that one day i'd read her poem in the original, and so i did. such a romantic lol. totally worth it! she writes in aeolic greek, which is pretty different from attic. 

Φάινεταί μοι κῆνος ἴσος θέοισιν
ἔμμεν’ ὤνερ, ὄττις ἐνάντιός τοι
ἰσδάνει καὶ πλασίον ἆδυ φωνεί-
σας ὐπακούει

καὶ γελαίσας ἰμέροεν. τὸ μ’ ἦ μάν
καρδίαν ἐν στήθεσιν ἐπτόησεν,
ὢς γὰρ εἰσίδω βροχέως σε, φώνας
οὖδεν ἔτ᾽ ἴκει·

ἀλλὰ κὰμ μὲν γλῶσσα ἔαγε, λέπτον
δ᾽ αὔτικα χρῷ πῦρ ὐπαδεδρόμακεν,
ὀππάτεσσι δ᾽ οὖδεν ὀρημ’, ἐπιρρόμ-
βεισι δ᾽ ἄκουαι.

καδ δέ μ᾽ ἴδρως κακχέεται, τρόμος δὲ
παῖσαν ἄγρει χλωροτέρα δὲ ποίας
ἔμμι, τεθνάκην δ᾽ ὀλίγω ᾽πιδεύης
φαίνομαι·

ἀλλὰ πᾶν τόλματον …

 

Thanks for sharing! Greek sounds like a fascinating language.

[marigold]

I think you will do just fine, Hopeful! When you've got experience with more than one language, it's easier to wrap your brains around one more, I think.

Edited July 29, 2015 by marigold

[HopefulHeart]

So, I decided to take the plunge and sign up for the Greek class! The semester has been in session for only a week, but I've had good first impressions of the class and the professor. After class on Thursday, the professor gave all of the Greek students a copy of the first five lines of Homer's Odyssey and had us write the lines with chalk on the blacktop in the quad. As we wrote, we worked on pronouncing the words. That was a fun assignment. 

[HopefulHeart]

Well, the semester is almost done, and I've been getting excellent grades in Greek. It's been my favorite class this semester, and I've signed up for the next Greek class in the spring. I'm very glad I chose to study Greek.

[Not The Philosopher]

Well I started studying Koine Greek this semester, so you might say I'm a few centuries ahead of you on this!

*rimshot*

*audience boos*

[HopefulHeart]

I happened to recall creating this topic, so I'll give you all an update about my adventures with Greek. I just finished my fourth semester of Greek, during which I translated parts of the Iliad. Yesterday my classics department gave me an award (with a hefty check) for proficiency in the language. My involvement with the classics department has been one of the most rewarding parts of my time at this university. So, taking that introductory Greek course in 2015 turned out to be a very good decision.