🚀 go-pugleaf

: In article <58nfl2$lqd@epx.cis.umn.edu> miga0003@maroon.tc.umn.edu
: (Larisa Migachyov) writes:

: >I've been trying to learn ancient Greek on my own for a long time, and have
: >been having less success than I hoped for.  I was just wondering, is it
: >possible to learn Greek at my age (21) and attain a reasonable level of
: >accomplishment?  I know that those who learn the classical languages in
: >childhood learn them well, but what about adult learners?  Are there any
: >people here that have learned Greek at an adult age and know it well?

I know this is an old thread, but I just caught it.

I started learning Greek at age 48. (I was discouraged from learning it in
adolescence, though I always wanted to). I took one year of elementary
Greek at Harvard Extension School, and then the next year I took the
undergraduate courses in Plato and Homer (I'm a librarian at Harvard).
After that, I audited (but did all the reading, and participated fully in
class) and have taken most of the Greek courses offered at Harvard.

The first year was very tough. But once you get those verbs under your
belt, it becomes much easier than Latin, I think. I didn't find any of the
reading very difficult, not even Thucydides, who is rumored to be the most
difficult.

One bonus: although I find I can't really remember and retain poetry in
English very much any more, I found I could memorize large chunks of
Homer. Don't know why that is.

So don't let age keep you from learning Greek, anyone! It's really worth
the effort.


--
	--Judy Amory     (amory@fas.harvard.edu)