LateAntique Posted November 5, 2009 Share Posted November 5, 2009 Our corner of the board is pretty dead, so I figured I'd ask about languages. When you graduate, how many years of which languages will you have under your belt? Ancient languages? Modern research languages? Me: Biblical Hebrew - 1 year (What a dreadful language!) Greek (Koine and Attic) - 3 years Latin (Classical) - 3 years Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Febronia Posted November 5, 2009 Share Posted November 5, 2009 That's a fun question....! By the end of our current degree? (I don't even want to think about how log the list could be by the end of a PhD!) Syriac-3 years Greek-2 years Coptic-1.5 years Classical Armenian-1/2 year Latin-high school, have continued to use it as a research language since, but no formal coursework I can read French with ease and German with (very) frequent reference to a dictionary.... What I really need now is Arabic. Hopefully over the summer....I've been scared off by the fact that most places require you to start with modern. I don't want to learn how to speak it! I just want to read theological texts.... Of course, while doing research in China last summer, I also discovered (rather to my own dismay!) that China is really very interesting. What a terrible realization! Now I may have to break down and learn Classical Chinese at some point..... But mostly I need to keep working at Syriac, pick up Arabic and Sogdian and Garshuni, and do quite a bit more Armenian...And if I decide to be responsible and stop getting distracted by pretty, shiny things (Ethiopic! Old Udi!), then I should really do a good deal more Greek also... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LateAntique Posted November 5, 2009 Author Share Posted November 5, 2009 That's a fun question....! By the end of our current degree? (I don't even want to think about how log the list could be by the end of a PhD!) Syriac-3 years Greek-2 years Coptic-1.5 years Classical Armenian-1/2 year Latin-high school, have continued to use it as a research language since, but no formal coursework I can read French with ease and German with (very) frequent reference to a dictionary.... What I really need now is Arabic. Hopefully over the summer....I've been scared off by the fact that most places require you to start with modern. I don't want to learn how to speak it! I just want to read theological texts.... Of course, while doing research in China last summer, I also discovered (rather to my own dismay!) that China is really very interesting. What a terrible realization! Now I may have to break down and learn Classical Chinese at some point..... But mostly I need to keep working at Syriac, pick up Arabic and Sogdian and Garshuni, and do quite a bit more Armenian...And if I decide to be responsible and stop getting distracted by pretty, shiny things (Ethiopic! Old Udi!), then I should really do a good deal more Greek also... Impressive! Is this after your BA or is there an MA (or something akin) in there? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Febronia Posted November 5, 2009 Share Posted November 5, 2009 Impressive! Is this after your BA or is there an MA (or something akin) in there? An M.Phil. and an M.Div. I actually didn't take any language courses at all as an undergraduate! (I don't know what I was thinking....) That's a large part of the rationale behind the two masters degrees... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LateAntique Posted November 5, 2009 Author Share Posted November 5, 2009 An M.Phil. and an M.Div. I actually didn't take any language courses at all as an undergraduate! (I don't know what I was thinking....) That's a large part of the rationale behind the two masters degrees... *whew* - I was starting to feel like a slacker! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Febronia Posted November 5, 2009 Share Posted November 5, 2009 *whew* - I was starting to feel like a slacker! Oh no, fear not! I'm always intimidated and depressed by you people who did such solid language preparation as undergraduates! I had absolutely no idea what I wanted to focus on as an undergrad. I mean, I was a religion major, but my coursework within religion was all over the map, and since I had so much commitment anxiety about picking a subfield, I didn't want to invest the time in learning the languages yet. It's probably just as well. The languages I was the most tempted by were Akkadian and Hindi (which does show just how conflicted I was!), and neither of those would be particularly useful to me now anyway...In retrospect, I really, really wish that I had done a second major in classics, but I never even contemplated it at the time. But I guess that's one of the reasons they make master's degrees! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LateAntique Posted November 5, 2009 Author Share Posted November 5, 2009 Oh no, fear not! I'm always intimidated and depressed by you people who did such solid language preparation as undergraduates! I had absolutely no idea what I wanted to focus on as an undergrad. I mean, I was a religion major, but my coursework within religion was all over the map, and since I had so much commitment anxiety about picking a subfield, I didn't want to invest the time in learning the languages yet. It's probably just as well. The languages I was the most tempted by were Akkadian and Hindi (which does show just how conflicted I was!), and neither of those would be particularly useful to me now anyway...In retrospect, I really, really wish that I had done a second major in classics, but I never even contemplated it at the time. But I guess that's one of the reasons they make master's degrees! To what programs are you applying now? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Febronia Posted November 5, 2009 Share Posted November 5, 2009 To what programs are you applying now? In alphabetical order, Catholic University (Semitics-Syriac Christianity), Duke (Early Christianity), Georgetown (Theology), Harvard (PhD, ThD), Notre Dame (History of Christianity), Yale (Theology). The subfield varies somewhat between schools based on where Syriac studies fits the best. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thanks4Downvoting Posted November 5, 2009 Share Posted November 5, 2009 Well, although I feel like a major slacker, here it goes: Latin - 3 years (Medieval especially) Greek - 1 year (ugh) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LateAntique Posted November 5, 2009 Author Share Posted November 5, 2009 Well, although I feel like a major slacker, here it goes: Latin - 3 years (Medieval especially) Greek - 1 year (ugh) That's not slack at all! And I feel like Medieval Latin is to Classical Latin what Homeric Greek is to the 'standard' Classical Greek we learn. You learn all the rules of each language in your first year and then if you take either Medieval Latin or Homeric Greek the next, you basically learn to just throw out a lot of the 'rules' you learned the previous year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LateAntique Posted November 5, 2009 Author Share Posted November 5, 2009 In alphabetical order, Catholic University (Semitics-Syriac Christianity), Duke (Early Christianity), Georgetown (Theology), Harvard (PhD, ThD), Notre Dame (History of Christianity), Yale (Theology). The subfield varies somewhat between schools based on where Syriac studies fits the best. Awesome - we're applying to a lot of the same places (though not the same programs at any of them - how interesting). I'm applying to CUA's Early Christian Studies program, Duke's Classics program (which has strong ties with the Religion Program, so if we both get in I'll inevitably be in some of your seminars there), Notre Dame for the MA in Early Christian Studies, and Yale Divinity for MAR in History of Christianity. Best of luck to you and please keep me posted as to where you end up! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thanks4Downvoting Posted November 5, 2009 Share Posted November 5, 2009 That's not slack at all! And I feel like Medieval Latin is to Classical Latin what Homeric Greek is to the 'standard' Classical Greek we learn. You learn all the rules of each language in your first year and then if you take either Medieval Latin or Homeric Greek the next, you basically learn to just throw out a lot of the 'rules' you learned the previous year. I'm glad you feel that way lol. Yeah, I really enjoy Medieval Latin as opposed to Classical Latin. I don't know, it just feels like it has more character; it really demonstrates the evolution of a language. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redreverend Posted November 5, 2009 Share Posted November 5, 2009 5 years Greek 1 year Hebrew 1 year Latin 1 sem German i definitely want to do more hebrew and latin and hopefully pick up french somewhere along the way! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thanks4Downvoting Posted November 5, 2009 Share Posted November 5, 2009 5 years Greek 1 year Hebrew 1 year Latin 1 sem German i definitely want to do more hebrew and latin and hopefully pick up french somewhere along the way! That's quite impressive... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
katholou Posted November 6, 2009 Share Posted November 6, 2009 Greek - 2 years Latin - 2 years Biblical Hebrew - 1 year Basic reading knowledge of French and German How hard is Syriac to learn after Hebrew? I figure that's the next one I'll need to learn. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
11Q13 Posted November 7, 2009 Share Posted November 7, 2009 I've only finished undergrad so not very much: 3 years of Greek formally, but I've kept up with it I live in the Middle East, so I've been exposed to Hebrew and Arabic for about a year... I can read Hebrew pretty ok, and speak some Arabic. I wish I knew how to add this to a resume/application... What I really need now is Arabic. Hopefully over the summer....I've been scared off by the fact that most places require you to start with modern. I don't want to learn how to speak it! I just want to read theological texts.... Honestly, "Modern Standard Arabic" is going to be the easiest way for you to learn to read theological texts because the expertise required to read theological texts in Arabic practically requires fluency, and you aren't going to get that through studying a book on classical Arabic. Even if you spent a lot of time in the Middle East immersing yourself, the vocabulary across the Middle East is vastly different, and more than 50% different than the Koran. So basically you would have to pick up Modern Standard to get close to fluency with a grammar somewhat resembling classical, and then invest a ton in learning Ancient vocab. Then of course you'll have to work in transcribed Arabic rather than calligraphy, because even Arabs can't read the calligraphy half the time. Don't even get me started on pronouncing some of the letters. Overall quite a difficult language... If you're very serious about learning it you should check out the Kelsey school in Jordan, its supposedly the best for English speakers to learn, and it's run by missionaries http://kelseyarabicprogram.org/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Febronia Posted November 7, 2009 Share Posted November 7, 2009 How hard is Syriac to learn after Hebrew? I figure that's the next one I'll need to learn. I feel like I'm probably the one who should answer this, since I seem to be the resident Syriacist on the board, but since I don't actually know Hebrew, it's hard for me to really say. I was the only person in my elementary Syriac class who had never taken Hebrew before, and certainly the others had an advantage in being able to recognize the roots of words and such. But on the whole, I didn't find it to be an extraordinarily difficult language. There is much less precision to it than a language like Greek, which in general means that it's easier to learn the grammar but then you have to interpret what you've translated. I really, really love Syriac, though, and would certainly encourage anyone to take it up. It's useful for so many different disciplines, and there is still so much untranslated material that we need to get a lot more people working on it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thanks4Downvoting Posted November 8, 2009 Share Posted November 8, 2009 I feel like I'm probably the one who should answer this, since I seem to be the resident Syriacist on the board, but since I don't actually know Hebrew, it's hard for me to really say. I was the only person in my elementary Syriac class who had never taken Hebrew before, and certainly the others had an advantage in being able to recognize the roots of words and such. But on the whole, I didn't find it to be an extraordinarily difficult language. There is much less precision to it than a language like Greek, which in general means that it's easier to learn the grammar but then you have to interpret what you've translated. I really, really love Syriac, though, and would certainly encourage anyone to take it up. It's useful for so many different disciplines, and there is still so much untranslated material that we need to get a lot more people working on it! Woah, I didn't even know it was an option to pursue Syriac before Hebrew. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Febronia Posted November 8, 2009 Share Posted November 8, 2009 Woah, I didn't even know it was an option to pursue Syriac before Hebrew. There weren't any prerequisites. But actually, it was the fact that I had never taken Greek that raised eyebrows more than my lack of Hebrew! I admittedly did things a bit backwards. But I knew that Syriac was what I was most interested in, and so I wanted to start right in on it without wasting any time! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thanks4Downvoting Posted November 8, 2009 Share Posted November 8, 2009 There weren't any prerequisites. But actually, it was the fact that I had never taken Greek that raised eyebrows more than my lack of Hebrew! I admittedly did things a bit backwards. But I knew that Syriac was what I was most interested in, and so I wanted to start right in on it without wasting any time! Hey, more power to ya. I'm interested in picking up Syriac somewhere along the way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jacib Posted November 21, 2009 Share Posted November 21, 2009 Modern languages not so big with this group, eh? I've got 2 of French (though I've forgotten a bit, I can still usually manage a newspaper), I have 2.5 of German (which was enough to let me read the tabloids without a dictionary, and stare gape-jawed at a Newspaper of Record). I've been working in Turkey for the last two years, and have been able to make some progress here without ever taking a class (I understand about half the articles in a tabloid without a dictionary, get the rest with one, and a the grammar in a proper newspaper literally gives me a headache), though I'll start classes in January after this application mess. I don't want to go to a program where I'll learn either Ottoman or Arabic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geoff Posted December 1, 2009 Share Posted December 1, 2009 When i finish up next year I'll have: 4 years of Attic Greek 4 years of Latin 1 year of hellenistic Greek 1 year German and, depending on how my final exam goes (heheh....) 2 years of French Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mathētēs Posted December 2, 2009 Share Posted December 2, 2009 Does GRE English count as another language? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thanks4Downvoting Posted December 10, 2009 Share Posted December 10, 2009 Does GRE English count as another language? Sometimes I feel like it should, lol. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Philologus Posted December 15, 2009 Share Posted December 15, 2009 (edited) When I will have completed my M.A. (Spring 2011) ... Latin - 7 years Greek - 4 years German - 6 years French - 2 years Dutch - 1 year Hebrew - 1 year (hopefully) Edited December 15, 2009 by Philologus Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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