Dead language thread. Which one is better to learn for classics?

I'll start with the how far back, personally(burger) just before chaucers time is when I get lost.

File: Confusion_of_Tongues.png (339KB, 515x597px) Image search: [Google]

339KB, 515x597px

I'll be starting to learn latin as soon as my books arrive so can read Descartes, Spinoza, Leibniz. Can't really comment on anything else in the OP.

>>9740594

You need koine Greek for the New Testament, not Hebrew.

Native Spanish speakers can kind of understand the Cantar del Mio Cid, which was written about 1207.

>>9740594
>Which one is better to learn for classics?
Latin for literature, law, speeches, religion etc, Greek for philosophy, poetry and theatre.

>Should I also include Hebrew for the bible?
It's a lot of work to read a single book not saying it is not worth it though, only try doing this if you're a christian aficionado.

>>9740594
Italian here. Studied both Latin and Ancient Greek in high school. Not too proficient in them though I'm afraid. Especially Greek.
>Which one is better to learn for classics?
I'd say Greek, but I'm biased since I'm into early philosophy.
>How far back in native language can you understand?
Around 900-1000 A.D. without starting to rely too heavily on Latin.
>what pronunciation do you use?
Ecclesiastical for non-poetic Latin, and I have no idea which I was taught for Greek. Not modern Greek pronunciation, that's for sure.
>Do you recommend further pursuits?
Not a pursuit but I strongly recommend spaced repetition/flashcards for those who want to start. I wish I knew about those things when I was studying these languages in school, I would probably be proficient in them by now. I used them and I saw them used to great effect while studying Japanese. Fair to say I wouldn't be able to read it now if it wasn't for Anki.

saneya al domorakosh
isain far ninten souvri

>>9741220
>saneya al domorakosh
so i should include classical arabic?

>>9740594
Don't know, but that image is really cute.

>>9740594

This is a pretty stupid thread but Latin was the lingua franca of the educated European world for like 1000 years so in terms of bang for your buck you can't do much better than that.

>>9741176
Any particular flashcard system/program that you'd recommend? I've heard that it's a particularly good way to approach languages several times.

>>9742341
Memrise is good as a daily resource, but you don't want to ever settle with a single system. Do 30 minutes of memrise daily alongside listening to the language being spoken naturally. Once you understand basic grammar and 1000 words or so, sit with a book alongside a dictionary and chip through, while still doing your daily practice.

File: Sebastiane DIVX (Derek Jarman) - by tur.avi_snapshot_00.36.22_[2017.07.11_21.42.09].jpg (61KB, 720x544px) Image search: [Google]

61KB, 720x544px

>>9742364
>listening to the language being spoken naturally
Is there any way I can do this with Latin other than watching Sebastiane every single day for a year straight? I love the movie to bits but there's a limit.

>>9742378
As long as you're listening to it being spoken you'll absorb a certain amount of it. Look up stuff like https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Qu5oFByFMQ

>>9742383
Ah, that didn't occur to me. Thanks, this should help. I've had a couple of books sitting around for a while now, I think I'll get stuck into for real right now.

thanks everyone who participated in this thread, information was useful and not full of shitposts

>>9742341
Anki works for any language (as long as you can find good decks), and you can make your own cards too although that takes time. I never used memirse but I second what the other anon >>9742364 here said regarding listening. If you want to study Ancient Greek, remember that you can also use whatever Modern Greek course/resource (like movies) you can find, as long as you don't care too much about pronunciation being different. Grammar and vocabulary wise they remain very similar and mutually intelligible as long as you don't go too far back I think.

>>9740594
Greek
French
English

3 most important, followed by Latin and German. If you still haven't had enough learn random related shit like Tuscan or Middle French cause everything else is useless.

>>9742341
Quizlet

>>9743521
What's the big deal about Greek, senpai?

>>9740594
I'm learning g Latin because it seemed easier than Greek and I want to read as many classics as I can in the original as well as the vulgate bible, Aquinas, Augustine, etc.
It's pretty enjoyable just learning the language too.
I've learned more about English by learning Latin than I did in all of my schooling.

I can read English as far back as Chaucer.

>>9743569
Ancient Greek is a great language tbqh.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q_jnHuiB_5M&

Good thread.

I'm learning latim, its easy for me because im brazilian.

File: Syriac-manuscript_2.jpg (108KB, 720x540px) Image search: [Google]

108KB, 720x540px

>>9740594
>How far back in ... your native language can you understand?

Let's just say that speakers generally need to be told when hearing something written 1700 years ago that it isn't actually a modern dialect and a fraction of the words are not used in current speech. Anything from the millennium it's been written down before then, I haven't heard enough of to know.

latin is very easy to learn, greek is easy once you get past the definite articles and sentence structures.

>To those who have learned these, what pronunciation do you use? Do you recommend further pursuits?

classical and ecclesiastical pronunciation are easy to switch between.

>people ITT who haven't learned Old Church Slavonic

Who /obscure languages/ here?

File: 1452277365880.png (228KB, 396x458px) Image search: [Google]

228KB, 396x458px

>>9745046
>not learning reconstructed languages like Proto-Indo-European or Old Chinese
i bet every other vowel you pronounce isn't actually a consonant