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Learning Ancient Greek

Tobias

Any good recommendations for books etc for doing the above for A Level?! :smile:

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Reply 1

Madelyn

I thought this thread looked a little neglected...are you really doing A level Greek? Can I play too?

Reply 2

lskdgjsj

Tobias

Any good recommendations for books etc for doing the above for A Level?! :smile:

Reading Greek is very widely used, but I find its approach vexing at the best of times. It all depends whether you have any aptitude for language learning, and whether you've learnt another language before: if you have, I'd suggest 'Greek: An Intensive Course' by Hansen and Quinn, it's designed for sophomore American students, but it's remarkably thorough: if you're learning with a teacher, you can easily pass over the most detailed parts, and study only what is necessary. The explanations are lucid, and the lay-out attractive. The cost is quite modest too; especially compared to the ridiculously overpriced Reading Greek series, which requires that you buy three or more little books at sixteen or so pounds each, instead of one book at a reasonable price.

Reply 3

Tobias

Madelyn

I thought this thread looked a little neglected...are you really doing A level Greek? Can I play too?

If you like :eek:

Reply 4

Kalypso

Tobias

Any good recommendations for books etc for doing the above for A Level?! :smile:

"Reading Greek" is a classic, but cn be very frustrating/illogical. The new 'Teach Yourself Ancient Greek' is really good, and the Oxford Grammar by Morwood is a fairly standard useful book as well.

I'll think of some more in a minute and add them to the list...

Reply 5

Tobias

svidrigailov

Yes, I had looked at the Reading Greek series. Thanks for the help! :smile:

Reply 6

Kalypso

Are you looking to start learning the language from scratch and get up to A level, or building on what you've done so far to go on to A level?

From scratch :eek:

I had a fairly helpful Greek book for GCSE, I think it was called Greek For Beginners, by L. Wilding, with an orange cover. Not very detailed in terms of grammar, but it gets you started from absolute scratch. It draws lots of parallels with Latin, which my class found helpful if you have a reasonable knowledge of Latin, irritating if you don't.
Why the desire to learn Greek from scratch? Obviously I think it's highly commendable, but you don't see many people doing it.

Reply 9

Tobias

hehe It will come in handy for the degree I want to do at the particular uni to which I want to go...And not knowing Greek makes me feel ignorant :eek:

allusions to Latin are cool...

Reply 10

Tobias

Also: I think I shall go to the Byranston Greek Week next year (it's too late for this year) which might be rather cool.

Reply 11

Madelyn

What degree/uni are you interested in? I want to go to Bryanston (so many classicists, all in one place!), but it's not really practical.

Reply 12

Tobias

English/Cambridge. There is huge scope to study ancient or modern foreign languages, and you can focus your degree heavily on the Greeks, so I'm gonna get a head-start for good old Mr Admissions Git. But primarily, I want to learn Greek for the fun/pain of it!

Byranston sounds wicked and so I shall be applying as soon as they'll let me!

Reply 13

leannemarie

I used the book Madelyn did for GCSE Greek not that I took it but I did study for it. lol.

Reply 14

Madelyn

Tobias

But primarily, I want to learn Greek for the fun/pain of it!

Greek isn't painful. Bloody difficult, sometimes, but never actually painful.
Does anyone happen to know if there's a Cambridge Greek Course, like the Cambridge Latin Course with Caecilius and so on?
Leannemann, why did you study the course but not actually take it?

Reply 15

lskdgjsj

Tobias

Also: I think I shall go to the Byranston Greek Week next year (it's too late for this year) which might be rather cool.

It's a fortnight; I'm going this year.

Reply 16

silence

i found some pdf files of old textbooks from about a century ago, and just received a book i bought off amazon:

http://www.textkit.com/learn/ID/159/author_id/75/
http://www.textkit.com/learn/ID/105/author_id/39/

and http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0715627589/qid%3D1121302028/026-1065253-4818864

i havn't got much further than trying to learn the alphabet, and the various rules that go with it, but the learning resources i've got are pretty good. the latter has some fun exercises where it gives lists of various things (like plants, animals etc) in greek and you have to transliterate each word.

Reply 17

Madelyn

Mine did that, and with names of Greek myth people.

Reply 18

leannemarie

Leannemann, why did you study the course but not actually take it?

Because I was expected to learn Greek from scratch in a year, and I didn't want to learn all the texts for the exam but it was good practise for general language learning It's taken for granted that modern languages usually use a recognisable language.

Reply 19

Spica P.

Blimey... there's actually a subject dealing with Ancient Greek?? Can anybody teach me?? Wow, I really want to learn both Greek and Latin. They are not popular here, in my homecountry. Only Science scholars do Latin.