Languages of Antiquity

[Gulliver]

Who, here, speaks* an ancient language (Latin, Ancient Greek, Anglo-Saxon)? And, more importantly, was it worth the effort of learning?

I ask because I have potential access to several old (pre-movable type) books with very pretty woodcuts that may or may not be worth translating.

Being somewhat lazy and fairly realistic, I'm unlikely to learn anything purely for the fun of it (I would toy with it, but nothing that involved joyless work). I'm not likely to read Harry Potter in Latin, for example.

So, who has actually used their Latin (Greek, Norse...)

* Or rather, reads.

[Ziz]

I've kind of always wanted to learn Latin as well, not just to read but to be able to speak fluently... I have this sort of embarrassing fantasy where I'm speaking Latin at home with whatever family I'll amass in the future...

I think it'd be enough for me, the insight into historical linguistics, the ancient texts and the satisfaction. That said, I haven't really had time to learn it, for want of time to practice French, which I have to learn. So I'm also interested in knowing if it's actually worth all the trouble.

[Amuere]

I'm currently perfecting my Latin, I can read it pretty well now. The Latin I have learned so far has helped me enormously, from decoding new words such as medical and legal terms to even helping me understand my L1's grammar better. Many people get freaked out that I know so many "big words", and that I almost always figure out a words definition.

[Jetboy]

I'm also planning on taking Ancient Greek this upcoming year, and already speak Latin at a fairly conversant level, hindered only, for the most part, by vocabulary, though my dictionary tends to make up for this. I can also read Classical Latin to some degree, including some little amount of annotated poetry. The language's main use has probably been in figuring out English vocabulary and grammar (though the latter probably goes for many other languages); I'd say it might be a fair introduction to more complex morphology, but here that's fairly irrelevant. It definitely helps with English vocab, though, both using and understanding. Some of the poetry is very good, too, and there's a large corpus of literature. I do sometimes regret taking Latin instead of a living language like Spanish or French, because while enables you to read more things, it doesn't let you talk to many people, and it's difficult to find anyone to speak it with.

[Grimalkin]

I learnt Latin a couple of years ago, which was a lot of fun - I also got a qualification after doing an online Latin course and then taking exams in it.

To be honest, though, I haven't made much of an effort to practise or keep up my Latin, which is a shame because I know it's getting very rusty. I did read some Latin poetry when I was spending time learning it, but now I doubt I'm competent enough to understand much

Anyway, I'd say it was worth the effort, because learning Latin gave me a lot of personal enjoyment, but learning a language that's no longer spoken (or really written) definitely wouldn't be for everyone.

[catberry]

I take Latin mostly because I think it's an interesting language (and I have to take a foreign language to graduate )

I haven't gotten much practical use out of it other than vocab and the ability to make Latin mottoes for concountries.

[Echobeats]

I've found knowing Latin and Greek invaluable because they've pervaded our culture so much, and you suddenly find yourself understanding so many things you previously never even thought about.

Also, when I was a schoolkid learning Classics was the closest thing to learning linguistics. As you're no longer a schoolkid and already know about linguistics, you might not find it quite as engaging as I did. But still, learn Latin. There are plenty of people round here who can help you.

[Nesescosac]

I actually speak Latin with some of my friends quite a bit as though it were still spoken, although with most of them, it stops quickly.

Also, my middle school Latin teacher played a key role in my interest in linguistics, so there.

[Silk]

I studied Latin and Ancient Greek when I was in high school. I haven't actively studied it since, but Latin was my general introduction to cases and inflection systems and it also helped me understand how English grammar works (and how it differs from other languages). So my Latin and Greek is actually pretty rusty now, but I think learning the cases in Latin gave me an edge when I had to deal with them in Russian.

[Dewrad]

Who, here, speaks* an ancient language (Latin, Ancient Greek, Anglo-Saxon)? And, more importantly, was it worth the effort of learning?

[...]

So, who has actually used their Latin (Greek, Norse...)

* Or rather, reads.

I did Latin and Greek at school. The Latin I've kept up- I'm currently re-reading through Martial's Epigrams- and find it rather useful for my work with the Romance family. The Greek I never did: I knid of regret this but honestly I've never really felt the lack. I still recall enough to recognise cognates and understand references in philological literature, but I couldn't read, say, Sappho anymore.

I taught myself Old Norse, and Sanskrit (to a degree), but my recollection of both has faded entirely. I'm also familiar with Old Irish, but frankly none of the above are "worth" learning unless you're doing it for the fun of it, you're interested in philology or have a desire to read the literature in the original.

[linguoboy]

Dewrad, do you still speak Gaulish?

[finlay]

I know some Latin; I'm out of practice but can usually stumble my way through a short text. In truth, that probably applies to some extent to all the romance languages. My French is fairly good (esp. in reading), so knowing that and Latin helps all the other languages.

[Dewrad]

Dewrad, do you still speak Gaulish?

Of course, but as that's strictly reconstructed rather than bona fide ancient, I didn't think it worth mentioning.

However, that rather falls into an unmentioned fourth category: I didn't learn it for fun, philology or literature (there being none), but religion. Not only that, I learnt Gaulish in order to write in it myself, which is a completely different kettle of fish: I've never really bothered with Latin, Greek etc.

[Soap]

I learned proto-World while I was away last year and travelled back in time to visit the Klêpeci family of Eoqaaniam. It's really a very nice language, though I was surprised to learn that early human languages went for more than 100,000 years before they developed any fricatives.

[Twpsyn Pentref]

I read Latin fluently, speak it comfortably, and write it more comfortably. I read Greek, but less comfortably than I write Latin.

[Echobeats]

I learned proto-World while I was away last year and travelled back in time to visit the Klêpeci family of Eoqaaniam. It's really a very nice language, though I was surprised to learn that early human languages went for more than 100,000 years before they developed any fricatives.

Cool. Which continent's population are they the ancestors of?

[Etherman]

I've been studying Akkadian but I haven't had the time to really dedicate myself to it so progress is slow.

[Dewrad]

I learned proto-World while I was away last year and travelled back in time to visit the Klêpeci family of Eoqaaniam. It's really a very nice language, though I was surprised to learn that early human languages went for more than 100,000 years before they developed any fricatives.

Cool. Which continent's population are they the ancestors of?

Mu?

[BettyCross]

I don't claim to speak Latin, but with the help of a manual I could probably get the sense of a Latin text.

Betty Cross

[nebula wind phone]

So, who has actually used their Latin (Greek, Norse...)

It depends on what you mean by "use," I guess. Knowing a bit of Classical Greek was helpful in class back when I studied philosophy — but then, how useful is ancient philosophy?

Or, similarly: I've met practicing Christians who got a lot of use out of knowing Greek, because it let them think more clearly about the original text of the New Testament. Me, on the other hand, I don't really stop to consider what the Bible has to say when I'm making practical decisions — so right there, Greek is a lot less useful to me than it is to them.

[WeepingElf]

I have learned Latin in school, and can make some sense of a Latin text, but I never mastered it well.

[Viktor77]

Twpsyn has inspired me to work my way through Latin so I went out and bought Wheelock's Latin--though admittedly I haven't worked much with it as I'm working to brush up my Swedish to read some Swedish books I got from a fellow ZBBer.

[linguoboy]

I learned proto-World while I was away last year and travelled back in time to visit the Klêpeci family of Eoqaaniam. It's really a very nice language, though I was surprised to learn that early human languages went for more than 100,000 years before they developed any fricatives.

Cool. Which continent's population are they the ancestors of?

Mu?

That would make their language both Justified and Ancient!