from a second-year classics major. iāve acquired these tips from my seven years of being a latin student and one year of ancient greek.Ā
this post can be helpful for classics majors or people interested in self-teaching the classics. my concentration within my major is language and literature, so my tips will revolve around latin and greek. but if youāre studying any other ancient or modern language, my tips may still apply to you :)
~ make word associations.Ā this is a BIG one. there are many nuances to this tip, so to start, iāll explain why associations are useful, and then iāll give several examples with different variations to cover the nuances.Ā
since many english words, prefixes, and suffixes are derived from both latin and greek, take the time to figure out one or two english words that come from each new word you learn - these can either be normal everyday english words or pop culture references. (also, latin is semi-derived from greek, so you can make associations between the two languages as well). if you learn any kind of word association, it will make remembering the word so much easier.
pop culture: pane, which means bread in latin, is related to The Hunger Gameās city of Panem (panem is the accusative singular of pane). food insecurity is a big theme in The Hunger Games, therefore Panem is an appropriate name for the city that the series takes place in.Ā
latin/greek to english: in latin,Ā vicina is an adjective meaningĀ āclose, neighboring,ā and its english derivative isĀ āvicinity.ā in greek, ĻĪ±Ī¹Ī“ĪµĻ
Ļ meansĀ āi teachā and its english derivative isĀ āpedagogyā - akaĀ āa method/practice of teaching.āĀ ĪŗĻĪ¹ĻĪ·Ļ means ājudgeā and its english derivatives are ācritic, criticizeā and ācritical.āĀ
greek to latin to greek: sometimes itās tricky to find out which word came from which language first, but usually itās greek to latin. example: dea (āgoddessā in latin) comes from ĪøĪµĪ± in greek.
think of those word associations as you learn your ancient language vocab. it will make recalling a wordās meaning so much easier.Ā
anD DONāT FORGET TO LEARN THE GENDER AND THE GENITIVE SINGULAR OF EACH NOUN YOU LEARN BECAUSE IT HELPS WHEN DECLINING THE NOUN AND MATCHING IT UP WITH ADJECTIVES LATER ON OH MY GOD thiS IS SO IMPORTANT
~ make a concentrated effort to remember lots of different sentence constructions. there are so many i literally donāt remember them all and iāve been doing this for years. the major categories i can think of off the top of my head are subordinate clauses, conditionals, and indirect discourse, and, more generally, learn the difference between the primary and secondary verb tenses.
~ every so often, brush up on as much grammar and vocab as you can. iām saying this because iāve procrastinated reviewing greek all summer and i barely remember anything beyond the basics :/ pls donāt tell my professor.Ā
~ learn authorsā common themes and literary/rhetorical devices. for example: in the elegies of propertius, a roman poet, he used emptiness and unfulfilled wishes as motifs. learning words associated with emptiness and learning how to recognize the introduction of a wish made translating faster. iāll confess though that i never really brushed up on the use of the optative subjunctive (the device used in wish statements), so i couldnāt recognize how exactly to translate certain sentence constructions. if i did review, it would have made translating in class a breeze. but hey, it was my first semester in college and i had no idea what i was doing at that level. please learn from my mistake!Ā
~ learn the political, cultural, and historical context of each piece of literature you read. it will make the experience richer.Ā if you know the context of a fiction piece, whether its poetry or prose, you will understand so much more about it. for example: the aeneid, vergilās masterpiece (and arguably one of the best works in latin literature), is an ode to augustus. augustus commissioned vergil to write the aeneid and to make comparisons between himself and the protagonist aeneas. he wanted people to see him like they saw aeneas - kind, pious, loyal, determined, and in charge. knowing that bit of information makes many parts of the aeneid clearer. you can apply this tip to any piece of literature, no matter the language.
this is also important in terms of non-fiction writing. i took a class on roman letter writers and i wouldāve been completely lost if my professor didnāt share anything historical with us. these letter writers typically vaguely referenced local gossip because messengers often read letters that were meant only for the recipientās eyes. my professor filled in a lot of what was missing from the letters themselves.
~ have fun with it. learning languages is supposed to be fun!! of course languages enrich your mind and bring you into close contact with other cultures and ways of life, but it is supposed to be fun too. example: propertius once wrote a whole poem about knocking on his lover Cynthiaās closed door while she sat inside... and the door was a metaphor for her vagina.... which means propertius was h0rny on main!! and he published that in a poem!!1! for people all over rome to read!!!!Ā
in terms of plays, my friend read one in latin by plautus about a prostitute who subverts the traditional roles associated with customer-prostitute relationships. he absolutely loved it bc the main character was a bad b!tch... and bc it was a comedicĀ play.Ā
there are lots of metaphors and jokes written within latin and greek literature, so donāt be afraid to laugh :) it makes learning that much more enjoyable
~ when reading a work of literature, ask yourself what this reveals about the authorās culture.Ā (suicide tw: mentions of su*cide as a plot point in tragedy) this tip is kinda related to the cultural context one, but different in that it looks for culture within literature, rather than looking at literature as a product of culture.Ā andĀ like the previous tip, you can apply this to any piece of literature no matter the language it is in. itās important to think deeply a piece of literature as well as enjoy it for what it is. example: iāve read most of sophoclesā plays and i can tell you that the greeks were very comfortable with suicide as a plot point. while murder is also common, suicide is much more common no matter the tragedy. the fact that this theme occurs throughout so many plays tells me that greeks viewed suicide as a tragic occurrence that affects people deeply, but also as a common way to die. it raises questions: what percentage of deaths were attributed to suicide in ancient greece? was it viewed as honorable or shameful? etc.Ā
and going back to vergil yet again (heās my homeboy fr), when writing about dido and her people building the city of carthage, he specifically mentions that they are building the theaters first before almost any other building - and these few lines implicitly state that the arts were very important to carthageās culture as a whole.
~ to sum it up: as a classics major, if you are intentional about learning the languages and truly engaged with the literature, the process will be that much more fun and you will gain that much more out of it. (<- and that sentence has a future-more-vivid construction by the way hehe)
