Understanding Language: A Guide for Beginning Students of Greek and Latin

10. Reading a Greek or Latin Sentence: Some Suggestions

173 10 Reading a Greek or Latin Sentence Some Suggestions This book has repeatedly proceeded from function to form, but as you learn Greek or Latin you will find that your book is probably arranged on the basis of the forms you have to learn. Of course, arranging textbooks in order of forms is perfectly logical , and one might argue that there is no other way to do it. Greek and Latin have a very large number of forms, many of which you have to be able to recognize in order to read those languages well. As I have mentioned at various points in this book, the fact that I have not taken that approach stems from two major factors. First, as I mentioned in the introduction, this is a supplement to a textbook, not a substitute for one. Second, I am convinced that understanding the big picture of what any language needs to accomplish is very helpful in enabling you to understand and recognize the various forms and their usages. This second factor in particular has shaped the way I have proceeded in this book. Now, however, as you look at a complicated Greek or Latin sentence, you have to think both from function to form and from form to function. There are specific words, forms, phrases, and clauses in front of you. It will be hard for you to identify them if you do not focus on form. It will be even harder for you to understand how they fit together if you do not focus on function. At this point, you cannot think merely from function to form (as I have asked you to do throughout this book), or merely from form 174 Part 4: Looking at Sentences as a Whole to function (as your textbook has likely been teaching you to do). You need to be able to think in both directions. Therefore, in this concluding chapter, I will offer some suggestions for thinking both from function to form and from form to function, and thus I will try to help you improve your ability to read complicated sentences in one of the classical languages. Do Not Pretend You Can Do Something in Your Head If You Cannot Whenever one is studying a modern foreign language, of course, the goal is to be able to speak, understand, and read that language relatively easily. With an ancient language the corresponding goal is that a person be able to read and understand the language with ease. Of course, that may never have been your goal. You may be taking Greek or Latin just because you have to, or you may be studying a classical language to improve your English or your technical vocabulary, not primarily to be able to read a body of literature in that language. Even if you did and do intend to read literature in Greek and Latin, now is the time to recognize that you are unlikely to be able to do so “in your head,” at least not at this point in your study. There is almost never a student who can sight-read complicated Greek or Latin after a year of study, and even after two, three, or more years, the number of students who can sight-read difficult literature is relatively small. In fact, the number of teachers who can sight-read difficult material in those languages is not particularly high. I cannot take anything you might hand me in Greek or Latin, glance at it, and translate it accurately, and I have been reading each of those languages for several decades. Your teacher may not be able to do so, either, although he may quite possibly be better at it than I am. Part of the reason for this, of course, is vocabulary. Think of how many words you know in English. If you are a typical educated adult native-English speaker, you might know 30,000 or 40,000 words. Furthermore, you know words from all walks of life; you know some of the technical vocabulary of many fields, from auto mechanics to politics to religion. Of course, there are certain technical fields whose vocabulary is rarely recognized by Reading a Greek or Latin Sentence 175 anyone other than specialists, but most of us know a wide variety of words from many fields. It is very rare for a non-native speaker to gain that kind of...