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Why learn a dead/artificial language? | ||
Tags: Dead Languages | Reasons for study | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : General discussion |  | |
| Serpent Octoglot Senior Member Russian Federation serpent-849.livejour Joined 6600 days ago 9753 posts - 15779 votes  4 sounds Speaks: Russian*, English, FinnishC1, Latin, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese Studies: Danish, Romanian, Polish, Belarusian, Ukrainian, Croatian, Slovenian, Catalan, Czech, Galician, Dutch, Swedish | Message 41 of 70 13 April 2015 at 2:19pm | IP Logged | ||
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One more factor are the misconceptions people have about learning several languages. English and Latin are generally seen as a safer option than English and Italian, and Latin can actually help you with advanced English. Those who want to learn both Italian and Latin may also feel pressured to choose one instead of doing both. Or they may genuinely lack the time to do both, and then Latin again feels like a safer alternative because it's waited for a couple of thousand years and it can wait more if you take a break. With modern languages, the usefulness is often seen as temporary and transient, directly related to economics. Edited by Serpent on 13 April 2015 at 2:20pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| tarvos Super Polyglot Winner TAC 2012 Senior Member China likeapolyglot.wordpr Joined 4710 days ago 5310 posts - 9399 votes Speaks: Dutch*, English, Swedish, French, Russian, German, Italian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Romanian, Afrikaans Studies: Greek, Modern Hebrew, Spanish, Portuguese, Czech, Korean, Esperanto, Finnish | Message 42 of 70 13 April 2015 at 2:50pm | IP Logged | ||
I never really enjoyed studying German and I speak that language pretty well. It's about the discipline to put up with what you have to know so you can get to what you want to know. Edited by tarvos on 13 April 2015 at 2:50pm 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Goindol Senior Member United States Joined 6077 days ago 165 posts - 203 votes | Message 43 of 70 13 April 2015 at 6:25pm | IP Logged | ||
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I might be the only person in this thread to sympathize with the OP's concerns. I learned enough Latin and Greek to
read Vergil and Homer in the original, and in retrospect--speaking for myself--I'm not sure it was worth the effort. Yes, it was thrilling to sweep through the entire Aeneid in Latin, and yes, reading or listening to Homer recited in pitch accent is captivating. But doing so involved losing hundreds upon hundreds of hours that I could've used for other activities I value just as much or more than reading old literature. There's definitely an enormous sacrifice involved. I now realize now that a single, heartfelt conversation with my wife on an ordinary afternoon carries far more value for me than any work of literature. Again, speaking for myself only, all the lofty literature and philosophy I've ever read has had far less transformative power than even a single conversation with a loved one in which we render ourselves vulnerable. Far harder to do so with an ancient language than a living one! 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| luke Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 7208 days ago 3133 posts - 4351 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: Esperanto, French | Message 44 of 70 13 April 2015 at 6:57pm | IP Logged | ||
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While I agree with the sentiment Goindol has just expressed, on the other side, I can say that thoughts, ideas, and writings of the ancients do provide fodder for discussions with my wife. No reason I couldn't do that with just English, but ...
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| Tyrion101 Senior Member United States Joined 3916 days ago 153 posts - 174 votes Speaks: French | Message 45 of 70 13 April 2015 at 7:37pm | IP Logged | ||
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I'm studying to be an engineer, and considering a dead language, but don't know if Greek or Latin would be more beneficial, I've kind of been forced to learn the Greek letters because of math, so I was just considering that since I already know the alphabet...
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| Serpent Octoglot Senior Member Russian Federation serpent-849.livejour Joined 6600 days ago 9753 posts - 15779 votes 4 sounds Speaks: Russian*, English, FinnishC1, Latin, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese Studies: Danish, Romanian, Polish, Belarusian, Ukrainian, Croatian, Slovenian, Catalan, Czech, Galician, Dutch, Swedish | Message 46 of 70 13 April 2015 at 7:53pm | IP Logged | ||
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Would you learn Vietnamese or Hungarian because you already know the alphabet?
Also, nobody said that learning a dead language is worth it for everyone, or even every literature lover etc. Edited by Serpent on 13 April 2015 at 7:54pm 5 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| daegga Tetraglot Senior Member Austria lang-8.com/553301 Joined 4524 days ago 1076 posts - 1792 votes Speaks: German*, EnglishC2, Swedish, Norwegian Studies: Danish, French, Finnish, Icelandic | Message 47 of 70 13 April 2015 at 8:45pm | IP Logged | ||
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It's kinda funny how the heading states "dead/artificial language". Old manuscripts feel
a lot less artificial to me than many a modern standard language. Why learn standard German, rikssvenska etc. if you could spend the time with dialects that are actually spoken? (that's a sarcastic rhetorical question of course) Edited by daegga on 14 April 2015 at 12:17am 7 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| eyðimörk Triglot Senior Member France goo.gl/aT4FY7 Joined 4102 days ago 490 posts - 1158 votes Speaks: Swedish*, English, French Studies: Breton, Italian | Message 48 of 70 13 April 2015 at 9:37pm | IP Logged | ||
While I personally would choose Greek for a variety of reasons, I don't think knowing the standardised Greek alphabet gives you any advantage at all given that it's the one thing about learning Homeric/Classical/Koine Greek that requires essentially nothing from the learner (Day one in Classical Greek class we had an introduction to the course layout and were given our first homework: learn the alphabet for tomorrow's class, because tomorrow we start reading and writing). 1 person has voted this message useful |
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