What do you think about learning an ancient language?

Question

I've always wanted to learn an ancient language But people around me say this is unnecessary and a waste of time. Ancient Greek, Hebrew, Latin, etc. -Kind regards, Kyaelfo

JoePro_ · Accepted Answer

Take my comments with a grain of salt. Most of what I say here is based on what I "know", but not all of what I know is based on actual sources. However, I like to research things, so hear me out, but do your own searching and thinking too.

Each would be handy for biblical studies.

I know of a group that's trying to bring Latin back to life. So, you could probably join a community of Latin speakers who speak it for the purpose of using it in the modern age but also read antique texts. It's also the closest to English than either of the others. So it would probably be the "easiest" in terms of vocabulary. The Latin alphabet is also closest to the English alphabet. As for grammar, it's highly inflected, meaning that the words should tell you how they're functioning in the sentence, regardless word order, which is also great once you learn how that works. And since Latin is a very common secondary language in the Western world, there's lots of non-Christian-centric material, if you want more than just the New Testament and Latinized Old Testament.

Greek would be good for other Greek works outside of the New Testament, which is a lot. There might be some words in Greek you recognize as an English speaker, but fewer than with Latin. Additionally, you're learning a new alphabet which has some similarities with the Latin alphabet, but some sound differences. One of the problems with ancient Greek is that there are so many dialects because of its spread. So you'll probably need a familiarity with a few primary dialects to properly read the majority of texts. But it's also highly inflected like Latin. So, many of the words, regardless of dialect, should tell you how they're functioning within that sentence.

Hebrew, I think, would be the hardest of the three for a native English speaker, has the most non-English-looking alphabet, and would mostly focus on Old Testament studies. Hebrew will have a slightly similar problem to Greek. Ancient Hebrew spans such a wide amount of time, that even within the Old Testament you have different grammatical structures, and a few words changing over time, but is still highly inflected, so you have that benefit as well, so long as you want to take on the challenge of an odd alphabet with a unique, more ancient Middle Eastern type grammatical structure.

I think it really comes down to what you want to use it for, what your motivation is, and what you think you'll like. Despite any difficulties, if there are attributes about a language you think you'll enjoy, that means more than anything else. Chinese and Arabic are some of the more difficult languages for a native English speaker to learn, and yet English speakers are learning these languages all the time. So if there's something you think you'll like, don't let "perceived" difficulty stand in the way.

Best of luck.

CuriousAnt · Accepted Answer

I like languages, and I speak a few of them.

However, learning a language is such a huge, gargantuan, epic time investment of unreasonable and cosmic proportions, that not every potential reason to learn it can justify said effort.

For example some people might learn a language because they want to travel to the country: that's a horrible reason to learn it, because the effort spent learning it is going to dwarf any effort saved using phrase books, google translate, making signs and pointing at things... It's also a really bad idea to learn languages for a career, unless that career is translator or language teacher. Because otherwise, literally almost anything else is going to have a bigger impact on one's career.

So which are good reasons to learn languages? There are exactly three cases that can justify the effort:
(1) That language is English
(2) You permanently live in a country where it is spoken
(3) You enjoy it

In the case of ancient languages, it can only be (3). If this is the case, if you are doing it out of a need for the language and nothing else, then it is worth your time and the pay off is going to match the effort your going to spend.

IslaTheWitch · Accepted Answer

nice fun but useless in the long run...

I still remember Drama Queen when she was choosing her second foreign language in school and could choose between Latin, French, and Spanish. Her first question was in how many countries one speaks those languages. Latin was rejected immediately because no one spoke it anymore. She chose Spanish, but there were no free places, so she was forced to take French in the end. I liked the pragmatism of her approach.

If you will learn a language so maybe it's worthy to consider learning something you can use?

jennifer_bloom · Accepted Answer

I like the idea of learning languages but to me learning a language is a lot like a marriage, there are times where you guys are dining at five star buffets but there are also times where you are cleaning up vomit and staying up late with a sick person, education is the same way, it has it's mountain top experiences where you love what you do and it also has is boredom and tedious drudgeries where you hate what you do.

OfDeath · Answer

Between the 8th and 4th centuries AD, we had what is known as the “Islamic” golden age. During that time, many Ancient Greek texts as well as works from other cultures were translated into Arabic. What that did was allow lost knowledge to be available to more modern scholars who could rediscover, take inspiration and build on the techniques and philosophy of the past.

So having people who know ancient languages is important. Not only can it lead to broader intellectual development such as with the “Islamic” golden age, but it can help discern ancient history more accurately in order to build a clearer picture of the past. Knowledge of history is a valuable tool for future progress.

GuyAnswersGirls123 · Answer

I would love to learn Old English! Or Old Norse: I've always found that studying languages is one of the most insightful ways to learn about a culture, and both of these ancient cultures really fascinate me.

AviatorTom · Answer

I studied Ancient Greek in high school. Not my choice, it's shere the school assigned me... instead of Earth Science.

It has come in handy though. Recognizing Greek roots of words helps me understand their meaning. In college, I aced a World History course when my prof discovered that I could recite the start of Homer's Iliad in Greek, with Iambic Pentameter. Easiest grade I ever got.

TheSpaceGnome · Answer

learning ancient languages can be complicated because we may misinterpret the meanings of words and concepts even more than we do with modern languages. But if successful it can teach you about all sorts of things, ancient ecosystems, extinct species, myths, forgotten architecture methods, ancient cultures, etc.

Alexandrubaschet08 · Answer

If you don't want to work as a archeologist, lawyer, history teacher or linguistic institutions is Kinde pointless.

As a latin person i can understand pretty much from the ancient Latin, but never help me then to show more smart in front of some people.

Peter_Penetrator · Answer

Latin is a lost language. It is most often used in the medical and scientific communities only.

Learning Latin is like younger generations learning to use the count back method.
Life has made us lazy to using both.

Sirenboobzilla · Answer

Imagine being able to learn Ancient Egyptian and be able to perfectly decipher hieroglyphics. That would be fascinating!

DryGermanGuy · Answer

I have learned Latin in school, and while it is a dead language, it helps with its lingual roots learning Italian or Spanish.

exitseven · Answer

I imagine knowing a few phrases of Latin would be cool. You could make people think you are smart.

BCRanger10 · Answer

I'd be interested to learn Ancient Greek and Hebrew.

JayBones · Answer

They didn't go through so much trouble destroying all of the worlds knowledge and wage a centuries long demoralization campaign just to let you learn ancient secrets. This is antisemitic

Agape93 · Answer

Go for it. I want to learn ancient Egyptian and Greek

JacobJordan · Answer

I know Latin. It hasn't been useful thus far given my field of study

Anonymous · Answer

I mean I wouldn't mind learning an ancient language, it could be interesting. However, I would be more concerned how difficult it would be. Learning current languages is not easy, ancient languages could be even harder.

MrZameer · Answer

I will also love to learn some ancient languages like Hebrew, Arabic, Latin, old Egyptian etc

electromagnetic · Answer

I would love to but no patience or time to do so.

sawno · Answer

If its your thing do it!

purplepoppy · Answer

It's not a waste of time if you enjoy the journey.

WhitneySnow · Answer

Like Linear A or Linear B (ancient Minoan)?

sheikalana · Answer

Pretty cool. Is a nice skill to have.

Cubus · Answer

I've learned a bit of Latin in college

Babygirl_S · Answer

I have never been interested in history 🤷🏻‍♀️

Tstrbrainer · Answer

Do it if you love it

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