... wondering whether there is a point ...

From the beginning, this has been a Quixotic sort of project, a "ha ha ha why would you even f**king DO that?" kind of thing.

The fact that I still (at 60) don't know ancient Greek or Latin foregrounds this, for me ... it makes the whole thing less ... valid. I can't precisely say why.

Then again, this summer (2022) I've signed up for some courses in ancient Greek. So.

But what real point is there in my reading Galen, for example -- apart from the Quixotic thing? Not to pick on Galen ... for all I know he was a wonderful writer and well worth reading even if only in translation.

Not stopping just yet (though I've put this thing on hold more than once), just musing.

>1 tungsten_peerts: If you want to learn Latin, just let me know...

>2 scaifea: I would like to learn Latin. I signed up for the course with the Ealing Abbey in London based on Reginald Foster but came down with COVID. I do hope one day I will pick it up.

>3 ironjaw: If you ever decide to try it on your own-ish, I'd recommend trying to get hold of a copy of Moreland & Fleischer's Latin: An Intensive Course (or failing that (it's in and out of print), Wheelock's Latin and diving in. I'd be happy to field any questions as you go along (I'm a classicist and sometime Latin professor).

>2 scaifea: My Greek course starts up in about a week ... I'll be in touch. Thanks so much!

Good goddess, Greek is *HARD*; Hansen and Quinn are harder.

>6 tungsten_peerts: H&Q is intimidating, yeah, but it's pretty much the best textbook out there right now. There's also a supplemental text that goes along with it: Twenty Greek Stories, written by one of my best friends and proofread by yours truly.

Here's the thing about Greek: it starts out pretty much as hard as it'll ever get. If you make it through H&Q, then you're ready to take on most all ancient Greek authors. Latin is different. It's deceptively easy at first, but there are some Latin texts out there that are *way* more difficult to suss out than you would ever expect after the first year of instruction. So stick with it - you can do it!!

I was JUST LOOKING at the publisher's page for 20 Greek Stories! I'm gonna buy it.

Yeah ... I do appreciate the rigor and ... solidity and clarity of H&Q. Doing the whole thing (I think*) in two 5 week sessions is ... whew.

* We're ending the first session on Unit 8, Participles, so I'm skeptical we'll be able to do 9 - 20 in the second session, but ...

>8 tungsten_peerts: Yeah, intensive beginning language courses are..well, yeah. But if you can survive it, it's a great way to learn.

I am having grand fun. But I told the professor this evening that my head was "a box full of packing peanuts that had been run over by a car." POOM!

>10 tungsten_peerts: HA! I remember going into my first semester beginning Greek final exam and one of the other students was sitting really still at his desk. When I asked him if he was okay, he told me that he had crammed so hard the night before that he was afraid if he moved it would all spill out his ears.

I added that the peanuts were the light, fluffy kind made of cornstarch, so they flew around more and were harder to control.

... and, as a fellow student then pointed out: you can eat them.

Hoo boy do I sympathize with the preternaturally still person in your memory!