is it possible to learn greek, latin, french and german at the

>>9468618
Yes, but you either need to go to a super fancy school or to be extremely self-motivated/interested

>>9468618
The earlier you start the better, but you could probably do it in three or four years.

a bit optimistic perhaps? Do you have any experience with language learning?

>>9468645

how many hours a day is the optimal time to study?

>>9468618
Instead of setting yourself up for the big project of learning 'latin, greek, german AND french', maybe start off with one of them? And instead of beating yourself in the head with the fear that you won't live up to some abstract ideal of 'what you ought to know, but won't achieve' maybe revel in the small victories and have fun with and apply your new skills in your chosen language. Once you feel you have a comfortable enough foot in one language in terms of comprehension and applying it in ways you find satisfactory and rewarding, then maybe you can start to consider to start up a new one.

>>9468618
Don't set impossible goals. Just master one of them. Then maybe another. Then...

>>9468667
beautiful post desu (i wrote "desu" on purpose, i like the way it sounds)

>>9468618

The really shitty thing is that the brain is more pliable to new stuff like this at younger ages anon, especially during childhood. You're just exiting the life stage when learning multiple languages is easiest, provided you have the opportunity to be exposed to them.

Any time I think about learning a language, I find myself paralysed because I can never decide which one to fully commit myself to. How do I get around this problem?

>>9468777
you have a general disorder called
>indecisive pussy bitch

you don't actually want to do any work, so what you do is convince yourself that the options are overwhelming and if you only do one it's not enough and you can't possibly do all so might as well not do any

good luck with that.

btw the problem is called
>confidence
^believing that you are capable of making valuable decisions and actually putting value in what you've decided, me telling you this won't fix the problem, but that is the problem, you are probably just poorly socialized, best of luck anon, try a hooker, maybe idk

>>9469075
Why would paying a woman for sex boost my confidence that's silly

>>9468618
>wants to learn 4 dead languages

Go for English, Spanish, Arabic and Mandarin instead.

>When he was five years old Hamilton could read Latin, Greek, and Hebrew. At age eight he added French and Italian and when ten he could read Arabic and Sanskrit. At the age of 21, while still an undergraduate at Trinity College in Dublin, Hamilton was appointed Professor of Astronomy at the university and Royal Astronomer of Ireland

Don't bother, OP. It's too late for you; you didn't abuse childhood language learning skills.

>>9469117
>tfw wanted rosetta stone as a child but parents could not afford it

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>>9469108
>Arabic and Mandarin

>>9469372
English for the Anglosphere, Spanish for South-America, Arabic for Europe and Africa and Mandarin for Asia. It's perfect.

>>9469412
>>>/bant/

>>9468618
French and German sure. The problem with learning Greek and Latin is that a big part of language acquisition is speaking the language regularly.

>>9468618
I don't know. I learned French at 20 and Latin at 21. Had I tried at 18 I might not have been successful.

Federer is a tennis player and he speaks Swiss German, Standard German, French, English and I think some Italian.
And knowing all those languages is ordinary in Switzerland.

>>9468618
Learn linguistics and any language will be easy as fuck.

Also, what do you mean by this
>Nothing bothers me more than knowing i probably never will
They're not very challenging compared to a language more removed from English. Why say such things instead of simply learning them?

>>9469372
5th and 1st most spoken languages in the world. They're very interesting and beautiful and allow you to escape being Eurocentric, in reading and mentality alike, language is culture. Though if you're learning a language to specifically read parts of literature then that's something else entirely.

>>9469075
>le act like i know the answers and write posts smugly and lazily
Bad post!

>>9469857
>5th and 1st most spoken languages
>They're very interesting and beautiful

Sure, but:

1) They're not the most relevant languages for literature (somewhat less relevant than French or German for sure),
2) Arabic especially is never going to be "the language of the future", and you're never going to speak Mandarin as well as native speakers,
3) They are extremely hard to learn and master.

>>9469874
>le

>>9469857
Why the fuck would anyone learn Arabic if not for religious or work reasons, and Mandarin if not for work reasons? Give me a break, anon. And like >>9469877 says, especially with Mandarin, it's painful how difficult it actually is. If you want a language outside of Europe go with fucking nip-speak, they have some decent lit and then you can watch all your favorite Mongolian cartoons(dubbed to Japanese) without subs. Also the country is actually good compared to the countries where Arabic is king, and naturally >China

>>9469893
>the only reason to learn mandarin is for work

maybe the person is into marxism and maoism, you fucking pseud, yeah, learn a language to watch cartoons, fucking kys

>>9469857
>if you're learning a language to specifically read parts of literature then that's something else entirely
This is the literature board after all.

>>9470027
A person into Marxism (in 2017?) would rather learn German and not Mandarin.

>>9470302
the german revolution failed fuckface, maybe they want to study actually existing communism and not fantasy communism

>>9468618
http://foreignlanguageexpertise.com/

>>9469893
arabic literature from 1k+ years ago is readable??

>>9470311
Communism is not Marxism.

If you want to study Marxism, you need to read Marx, and not a Chinese translation of it.

>>9468618
Of course you can, but I must say, it sounds a little bit pointless, if you are not frequently exposed to either of those languages you will eventually forget them as time passes, if you are going to learn a language it's because you are actually going to use it on a daily basis, I speak both spanish & english, I live on a cross-border city, I frequently use both, you should try spanish, arabic or mandarin instead, try something useful, don't waste so much time learning shit that you will eventually forget.

>>9468618
Well I had a goal of learning 3 more languages, I achieved it but it wasn't like I set the goal and start running to it, no that way never works try one at a time. Motivation is the only thing that matters and motivation drains fast.

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>>9470618
>you should try ultra-hard third-world languages, instead of just French or German

>>9470027
>marxism
funny
>maoism
literal autism
and yeah learning nipspeak is better because the country is actually good and if you're into anime that's a bonus, stupid chink

>>9469893
>Why the fuck would anyone learn Arabic if not for religious or work reasons

They have tons of lit, poetry, philosophy, all of the superstructures of criticism, going back many centuries. There are definitely people in the west who learn Arabic/Persian for the same reason others learn Latin/Greek.

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>>9470730
>not learning languages on the verge of extinction, situating yourself on the vanguard of intellectual endeavor with the concrete possibility of being among one of a few hundreds of people possessing this esoteric knowledge and unique world-conceptualization with the near guarantee of professorship/being published should you ever decide to enlighten the masses

Don't be a brainlet anon.

I have spent the last year and a half or so studying Attic Greek on my own. It is a huge time investment and I honestly don't think I would have had the patience for it when I was 18. Learning several other languages at the same time would amplify that several fold. If you feel like you are ready to commit yourself heavily to one thing, then I would say go for it. You have your whole life ahead of you to learn these things and you only really have to do it once. Just remember that it isn't a race and there are millions of things you could be doing with that time.

>>9468618
you can learn a language at any age, but

(1) One at a time
(2) While being self-taught is possible, a good teacher gives you wings.
(3) Make full use of the resources you have: language tapes like Michel Thomas, software to drill vocabulary like Anki, read books and watch movies in the language you are learning use >>>/int/ with the language you practice, consider paying for a talking session on italki.

>>9470618
you can still be exposed online.
I never speak english where I live.

>>9468618
Not if you don't need to.

So you need to make yourself need to.

Usually this happens automatically if you are living in France or Germany - less so in Germany, where the locals know more English, are more helpful (though not necessarily more polite,) and have a cultural need to make friends with the countries they blew up.

Basically, you say you want to, but most learning happens because of sustained interest and curiosity that needs to be stimulated by real life. So watch French/German movies that interest you, read a book by one of their authors whose other works have not been translated, etc. Give yourself incentive.

>>9472575
...I left it unstated, but ancient greek and latin are not likely to happen unless you are seriously fascinated by ancient literature.

Any practice you do at this early age will make learning later in life much easier. You need to learn how English ticks, how it differs from at least one other language. This will give you the perspective necessary to learn other languages.

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>>9468618
(i wrote "desu" on purpose, i like the way it sounds)

Contrary to other opinion, I think ancient languages are actually easier to learn than modern ones, in that you can essentially ignore pronunciation.

Essentially, get a grasp on grammar and then start reading with a dictionary throwing words into a flashcard program as you go. Once you have a grasp of all the main grammar rules you would be surprised at the rate of progress.

Best to begin with a dual text of what you want to read so you can actually follow I and aren't taking words and word meanings horribly out of context

>>9468661
3 is leisurely, 5 if you're serious.

>>9472475
can i really get a guaranteed professorship if i learn some near extinct language?