CLAS10022: Intensive Ancient Greek 1

Daily tests 10%, daily homework 30%, 2 x 1 hour test 60%

I haven't rated this subject well because I didn't enjoy it. My rating isn't a reflection on the way the subject was conducted or coordinated. In reality, this was a really well organised subject and especially so given the fact that it's an intensive. Leanne was lovely; she was always available for help and on many occasions tried to bribe us with chocolate (not complaining! .

Personally, I love learning languages. I find them fascinating and really love the feeling of being able to communicate in another language. Ancient Greek robs you of that feeling in many ways. This is not really a course in learning a language. It really is a test of how much you can remember. The work is unashamedly just memory work. You quite literally just have to remember tables of conjugations and declensions each day. This, I loved when learning other languages, because grammar was in many ways a key to new things, a key to a higher amount of communication. It didn't feel like that at all with Ancient Greek.

Each day, you go to class. Leanne explains some concepts normally to do with syntax. These are actually ok. I quite enjoyed that element because the grammar is kind of nifty. Then she'll move on to whatever endings we had to learn and would quite literally just read through a table of noun endings. That would be your work for the night, remembering that table. Understandably, some people are really motivated and find the energy to keep doing this. That was the case with me for the early part of the course, but it gets to a point when it starts to feel like you've lost purpose. All you use your knowledge for is to translate sentences, all of which are relatively boring. Eg: οἱ θεοι φερουσι τα δορα τοις παιδιοις "the gods bring gifts to the people". The book also has a nasty habit of putting in grammar and phrases into the translations that you haven't encountered before. So that means that you actually rely on your teacher to do the translation for you at times. You never really use what you've learned to make anything of your own though. Once in a blue moon you are asked to translate something into Greek, but it never really feels like you own the language.

All in all, this was a well coordinated course. I'm glad of the experience because now I feel like I better understand why people are so turned off learning classical languages. Classical languages are wonderful and truly are very interesting. Classicists just seem to have an arrogant hang up about the way it should be taught. Indeed, the book actually brags about how much rote there is to learn. This kind of stubborn persistence with arcane learning methods that have been proven 1000 times over makes the experience of learning a classical language too daunting and has largely resulted in a lack of enthusiasm for learning them. There really ought to be no difference, or at least only minimal differences, between how one learns a classical language and a modern language. I did not enjoy learning Ancient Greek for these reasons. I really don't mind learning grammar and I've always found it very easy to learn (sorry arrogant). This felt like it had no point though. There was no interaction, no creativity, just reading sentence after sentence.

So I'll leave you with a passage of the crap that appeared on our homework:

τοῦ δὲ νῦν ἐν τῷ νῦν οὐκ ἔστι μνήμη, καθάπερ εἴρηται καὶ πρότερον, ἀλλὰ τοῦ μὲν παρόντος αἴσθησις, τοῦ δὲ μέλλοντος ἐλπίς, τοῦ δὲ γενομένου μνήμη. διὸ μετὰ χρόνου πᾶσα μνήμη. ὥσθ' ὅσα χρόνου αἰσθάνεται, ταῦτα μόνα τῶν ζῴων μνημονεύει, καὶ τούτῳ ᾧ αἰσθάνεται

No.

Leanne McNamara

None

2 out of 5

Introduction to Ancient Greek: A literary approach

2 x 2 hour seminar four days a week

2014 Winter

H1 (88)

final exam 30%. in-sem test 30%. daily grammar tests totalling 30%. short tests 10%.

This is one semester of Ancient Greek crammed into 12 days, mostly designed for people picking up a breadth, or those who want to do Ancient Greek B in semester 2. The assessments weren't very hard, so long as you had learned the set reading, translation and exercise homework for each day. If you've learned Latin before, this subject will be easy, especially as the textbook is to some extent designed for latin students. The Lecturer, Leanne, is excellent, and manages to explain some reasonably arcane grammar quickly and clearly. I enjoyed this subject, and it was nowhere near as intense as the Intensive Latin subject offered over summer. The only downside was that you give up your mid year break.

L. Mcnamara

No, but format is explained.

5 out of 5

No.

The Luschnig textbook listed in the handbook is essential if you want to get all the homework done.

4hrs of lectures each day for 12 days. In addition, I spent about 4-5 hours studying and doing the homework outside of class each day.

2010 winter semester

95