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Chung Diglot Senior Member Joined 7149 days ago 4228 posts - 8259 votes 20 sounds Speaks: English*, French Studies: Polish, Slovak, Uzbek, Turkish, Korean, Finnish
| Message 113 of 231 01 January 2013 at 3:51am | IP Logged |
renaissancemedi wrote:
aloysius wrote:
There are so many good reasons why I want to learn Greek. Although this time I will start out with the modern
variety it's still intertwined with its ancient predecessor and the fantastically rich cultural heritage that comes along
with it.
//aloysius |
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I am so happy to hear you say that. I can't get it in my head that ancient and modern greek are considered two seperate languages. I am not at all a bilingual, you see. If you treat the greek language as one and the same, you will be greatly rewarded, as the roots of the words haven't changed at all since homeric times. Sure the styles change over the centuries, but if you really learn words and their etymology you'll recognise more and more in the texts of all eras. I am not saying that you don't need special studies for reading the attic form because you do, I am just saying that modern greek and ancient greek is the same language. Modern greek is not simpler, as I have seen written. Maybe in the future we'll use the infinitive again, maybe something else, maybe not. Everything is still contained in the language, enriched over the centuries. Maybe we have been spoiled by the amazing ancient writers, but modern things like Seferis's essays, δοκιμές he called them, are equally great.
Think about shakespearean and modern English (all over the world). Isn't it the same language?
I promise I will never write anything like that again, but I just had to say it. From now on only grammar and spelling, I promise. |
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An apt comparison would be between Old English and Modern English instead. Shakespeare's texts are from a later stage of "Early Modern English" and mostly intelligible to us today at a first glance unlike Beowulf. Old English and Modern English represent stages in the development of one West Germanic language/dialect, but no one could seriously demonstrate that they're the same language. The divergence is too great even though some insight from etymology in Modern English would make Old English more transparent just as you state when one tries to make sense of Ancient Greek with a background in Modern Greek only.
P.S. I didn't mean to butt in but my having been taught by a professor of Germanic philology and even earlier a teacher of classics (not to mention a couple of academic linguists) has left me sensitive to these kinds of discussions.
Edited by Chung on 01 January 2013 at 3:59am
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| renaissancemedi Bilingual Triglot Senior Member Greece Joined 4351 days ago 941 posts - 1309 votes Speaks: Greek*, Ancient Greek*, EnglishC2 Studies: French, Russian, Turkish, Modern Hebrew
| Message 114 of 231 01 January 2013 at 1:25pm | IP Logged |
Sorry about the bad English example, I am not an expert at all in the history of the English language! I stand corrected.
But the gap between ancient and modern greek is not that huge. If you are a native speaker it doesn't take much study to read even the most difficult attic writers. As for the "simpler" ones, or later era texts,
it's even more easy to read. Even if you don't know a word, you still know it's a verb, plural, or a noun, female etc. And if you think a bit, you might find you still use that word in one form or another. In modern greek you will learn the word υποβρύχιο, submarine. The Homeric word is βρύχια, deep waters. There are countless examples. All you need is to be alert and make connections. That's why all I wanted to say is to treat the language as one, because it is, and not be intimidated by the mighty ancient greek. I don't believe you can't go in your learning journey from modern greek to ancient greek, because we do it anyway. Doesn't that count as proof?
Jack, I will be close to team Sparta. Thank you, you are all very kind!
Edited by renaissancemedi on 01 January 2013 at 1:48pm
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| stelingo Hexaglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5825 days ago 722 posts - 1076 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Portuguese, French, German, Italian Studies: Russian, Czech, Polish, Greek, Mandarin
| Message 115 of 231 01 January 2013 at 3:19pm | IP Logged |
I think going from Ancient Greek to Modern Greek for a native speaker is completely different than for the foreign learner. IMO they have to be treated like 2 different languages, in the same way that Latin and Italian are now separate languages. I have a book on Ancient Greek, Athenaze, and even the sinpler exts are impenetrable to me at the moment. Maybe this will change as I improve my knowledge of Modern Greek.
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| stelingo Hexaglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5825 days ago 722 posts - 1076 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Portuguese, French, German, Italian Studies: Russian, Czech, Polish, Greek, Mandarin
| Message 116 of 231 01 January 2013 at 3:29pm | IP Logged |
I guess my log introduction was too long, as nobody seems to have read it apart from Cristina. Lesson learnt for next year.
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| renaissancemedi Bilingual Triglot Senior Member Greece Joined 4351 days ago 941 posts - 1309 votes Speaks: Greek*, Ancient Greek*, EnglishC2 Studies: French, Russian, Turkish, Modern Hebrew
| Message 117 of 231 01 January 2013 at 4:16pm | IP Logged |
stelingo wrote:
I think going from Ancient Greek to Modern Greek for a native speaker is completely different than for the foreign learner. |
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You may be right on that. Let's stick to modern greek then because I am afraid I sent this thread off topic.
I'll try to find resources to share with you.
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| ancpem1 Groupie United States Joined 4381 days ago 56 posts - 60 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish, Russian, Greek, Latin, French
| Message 118 of 231 01 January 2013 at 4:46pm | IP Logged |
I'm not sure if you saw my post or not, but I would like to join this team. Is it too late to join?
1 person has voted this message useful
| Solfrid Cristin Heptaglot Winner TAC 2011 & 2012 Senior Member Norway Joined 5327 days ago 4143 posts - 8864 votes Speaks: Norwegian*, Spanish, Swedish, French, English, German, Italian Studies: Russian
| Message 119 of 231 01 January 2013 at 4:58pm | IP Logged |
@Stelingo: Mine is even longer - but I think most people are down with headaches even worse that mine today (not fair to have a headache when you have not even had any alcohol). Give it a couple of days :-)
ancpem1: Of course we have room for you. You are most welcome! Just let Brun Ugle know ASAP that you have joined us, start up your log where you give detailed descriptions of your languages, levels and goals, write team Sparta in the heading and introduce yourself here on the thread. And then you read all your team mates logs and comment on them, starting with stelingos's :-)
I saw that you are also interested in Russian, and since most of us do Russian as well, this is the perfect team for you. As you see a lot of us have French as well, and I think Ogrim has Latin, so you will not walk alone!
Edited by Solfrid Cristin on 01 January 2013 at 4:59pm
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| ancpem1 Groupie United States Joined 4381 days ago 56 posts - 60 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish, Russian, Greek, Latin, French
| Message 120 of 231 01 January 2013 at 5:29pm | IP Logged |
Hi everyone!
I'm in my late twenties and living in the United States. In college I majored in Spanish and also took courses in other Romance languages. I have studied Koine Greek and am interested in Biblical Greek because I'm a Christian. It's been several years since I have studied Greek. I'm very much a beginner in modern Greek and only know a few words in the language. By the end of the year I would like to have worked on my translation skills for Koine Greek and be at an A2 level in modern Greek.
I look forward to being on this team!
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