#ancient languages

[honorthegods]

The Classical Association of Scotland is once again proud to present Ancient Voices language school for 2026! This will be running from the

The aim of Ancient Voices is to offer accessible entry points to the ancient world (broadly conceived) to as wide a global audience as possible. This will be running from the 1st until the 28th of June via online classes so you can learn from the comfort of your own home.

Click the link for fees and class schedule.

[themarlar]

Starting a PhD in January, let's add learning Latin to the to-do list to keep things fun! I currently do not have a desk, but I quite enjoy my little setup (of course feating lofigirl)

[pxltrgst]

How I Study Languages

Okay so full disclosure: I'm currently sitting at a genuinely irresponsible number of languages, and no, I do not study all of them every day, my brain is not built like that and neither is a 24-hour day. At some point you accept that you're frying yourself and you just get more organized about it. This post is for everyone learning any language (yes, including those of you studying Latin, Ancient Greek, OCS, Biblical Hebrew or any other dead or liturgical language (I see you, I respect you, I’ll be joining you (eventually)). I'm skipping the basics because you've seen them a hundred times. Let's goooo!!

Tip #1 — Color code everything

If you're learning multiple languages at once, get notebooks in different colors. It sounds too much but when you're switching between languages regularly, the color association becomes almost automatic. Russian is purple, Bulgarian is green, German is yellow, Greek is blue. Your brain just figures it out and honestly it's one of the few things keeping me organized. Before starting a new language, actually think about how it connects to what you already know. If you speak French, study Spanish through French rather than through English: the vocabulary overlap does a lot of the work for you.

Tip #2 — Actually have a plan

Make a curriculum or at least something that works like one. Know what you actually want to do with the language. Going from B2 to C1? What does C1 even mean for you? Reading academic papers, understanding legal stuff, getting through a novel without crying? "General fluency" is really hard to work toward because it doesn't tell you what to do on any given study day, and vague goals are very easy to just... not do (speaking from experience). Once you're at a decent level, mix up what you read and watch on purpose. Most people stick to one type of content, usually news or casual videos, and then completely freeze when something more formal comes up. Try something academic, something legal-ish, and something embarrassingly casual in the same week. It feels weird but it works. And at some point just stop studying the language and use it for something else. Watch stuff about topics you actually care about in your target language. Once your brain stops treating it as homework and starts treating it as actual content, something clicks and that's usually when things start moving faster.

Tip #3 — For liturgical and classical languages: lean into the ritual

If you're studying Latin, Ancient Greek, Coptic, OCS, Classical Arabic, Biblical Hebrew: listen to choirs, follow religious livestreams, read the actual texts they come from. The repetition and formality of liturgical contexts stick in a way that isolated vocabulary lists simply don't. There's a reason people have been memorizing these texts for centuries and it works. You can find a lot on YouTube.

(Be respectful with religious material. Goes without saying, but here we are anyway.)

Tip #4 — Photos on flashcards, not translations

If translation is your actual goal, ignore this. But for most learners, using images instead of translations pushes your brain to map concept directly to word, without routing through your native language first. It's closer to how children learn a language, and over time it changes how you engage with the language (less translating in your head, more just... thinking in it, which is the whole point). Sticky notes around your house, a diary in your target language, even your grocery list, small things that quietly add up more than you'd expect. Also, record yourself shadowing a native speaker and listen back. Nobody wants to do this, it's uncomfortable, but the gap between what you think you sound like and what you actually sound like is exactly where pronunciation improvement lives. Just do it.

Tip #5 — Music (my personal favourite)

Listening, singing along badly, translating lyrics, paying attention to how the language moves rhythmically etc. It keeps you engaged even when you're not formally studying, which means you actually do it consistently instead of finding reasons not to. One thing to keep in mind though: songs take a lot of liberties. Metaphors, figurative language, grammar bent to fit a melody. Cross-reference what you pick up, especially if something seems off, because sometimes you'll learn a construction that sounds completely normal to you and then use it in a real sentence and confuse everyone around you.

Bonus: a little historical grammar goes further than you'd think

For any language you want to go deep with, understanding even a bit of its history explains a surprising amount of why it looks the way it does now. Why are German strong verbs like that? Why does Lithuanian look like it barely changed since Proto-Indo-European?. Knowing the why behind irregular forms makes them stick far better than grinding flashcards and hoping for the best. It's also one of the unexpected payoffs of studying classical languages: they make the modern ones make more sense at a structural level. The languages you're studying aren't as separate from each other as they sometimes feel, which is either comforting or slightly alarming depending on how many you're currently juggling.

One last thing: you have to actually produce the language

Consuming content feels productive, and it is, but speaking and writing have to be a part of the routine too. The gap shows the moment you try to produce the language under any kind of pressure. You won't feel ready to start? Do it anyway, earlier than feels comfortable.

Take what's useful and leave the rest. The best method is the one you'll actually keep doing.

pxltrgst out

[kemetnefret]

// Hymn to Ra ~ ☀💛

𓁨𓅓𓆳𓏏𓏥𓅓𓊪𓏏𓇯𓅱𓃀𓈖𓇶𓂋𓂝𓇳I𓀭𓇋𓏏𓈖𓇳𓐝𓈌𓎛𓇳𓎛𓆖𓉐𓂋𓂻 𓆑𓅓𓄡𓏏𓏤𓏌𓏏𓇯𓁐𓏌𓏌𓏌𓇯𓈗𓏏𓆇𓁐 𓇳𓇰𓎟 𓌞𓋴𓂻𓇋𓂝𓎛𓇹𓇓𓅱 𓅓𓁷𓂋𓏭𓇯𓈖𓂧𓃀𓏏𓈅𓅓𓄫𓄣𓏤 𓄔𓅓𓏏𓆑𓏶𓅓𓁷𓂋𓏏𓇯𓂋𓍿𓏏𓀀𓁐𓏥 𓏎𓈖𓆑𓃀𓇋𓈗𓏥 𓉔𓇋𓇋𓀁 𓂻𓅱𓈖 𓇓𓏏𓉔𓂋𓅱𓇳𓏥 𓄔𓅓 𓌃𓂧𓅱𓀁𓈖𓎡𓊹I 𓆓𓌃𓋔𓇳I𓀭 𓈖𓂢𓇋𓇋𓀉𓇋𓅓𓊿𓏏𓈉𓄤𓏏, 𓅱𓃀𓈖𓇶𓇋𓅓𓉗𓏏𓉐𓃀𓈖𓃀𓈖𓉐 𓃹𓈖𓉿𓇋𓁹𓁹𓇋𓉐𓂋𓂻𓂝𓈖𓈋𓅱𓇶𓃹𓈖𓉿𓇋𓂋𓇋𓂋𓂻𓏤𓎛𓅱𓄑𓅆 𓂻𓅱𓄟𓋴𓏪𓇋𓏙𓈖𓈖𓍿𓈖𓏥𓋹𓎛𓇳𓎛 𓁹𓊨𓏏𓉐𓍿𓈖𓏥𓄜𓏏𓇶𓏥𓇋𓁷𓏤 𓊪𓋴𓆓𓇶𓏇𓇋𓏏𓈖𓇳 𓍿𓈖𓏥𓏏𓆑𓂧𓏭𓈐 Millions of years in the sky, Ra, the Aten, rises in the horizon for eternity He comes forth from the womb of Nut-Naunet every day and night The moon follows him above the Earth with joy The father who is in heaven, he hears the people and brings the floods Rejoice, the king of days has come. Listen, the god speaks to you Words spoken by Ra: I come to rest in the beautiful west, and I rise from the temple of the Benben I open my eyes and light comes forth, I open my mouth and Hu comes forth Come, my children, (I) have given you life for eternity Make your seat under my rays, shining like the sun Your father is here ☀---------------------------------------------- - Kemetnefret (Really enjoyed writing this and definitely the longest text I've written! Dua Ra!)

[kingmaplesyrup]

I think the Romans really had it with "Amabo Te" as a way of saying please (at least in Latin).

Saying "I will love you" as a way of asking someone something? Amazingly dramatic. I love it.

"Make me tea/coffee please?" Polite, yes. Dramatic flair? Not really.

"Make me tea/coffee and I will love you." Strong. Emotional. True.

[trucywright]

Does anyone have a photo of that handout of how to interpret different untranslatable small ancient Greek words like μην? It was written in a humorous tone and I know I've seen it on tumblr before but can't find it. I wanted to send it to a professor I know who teaches Greek.

Edit: I have it! Behold, the perfect translation guide.

[charcharrealsmooth]

I tried to translate Desert Song (My Chemical Romance) into Latin !! If anyone happens to have any reccomendations for grammar or vocab I'd love to hear it because so frankly this was done in an hour of pure delusion and a dream, I know it's not complex or completely accurate

Tenemus ferrum et fidem in cordibus

Movent nebulae, tabentes pluvia

Etiam semper deludemus

Et denique

Inventures sumus viam

Manebimus per corpe caedeque

Et venis testari aut sanguinem erades?

Tenebra, tenebra

Adveniet?

Vives vitam tibi

Cantens infero

Tenebra

Adveniet?

Video vigilare te usque

In capite

Omnia labamus?

Omnia labamus?

Omnia labamus?

Omnia labamus

Ex astris in viam

Ex lecto in terram

Ex militia in morbum

Ex humo in cinerem

Cinis, cinis, cinis

Tenebra

Adveniet?

Vives vitam tibi

Cantens infero

Tenebra

Adveniet?

Video vigilare te usque

In capite

Omnia labamus

Etiam

[cisthoughtcrime]

I’m interested in learning Latin, where would you suggest I start?

So exciting! I'll try to keep this short:

I recommend starting with this very short informal intro, especially if you don't have a strong grasp on technical terms about grammar (most textbooks take that for granted). Latin grammar follows a rigid organisational system and the earlier you understand how it works, the easier it will be to learn the rest of the language. The 18-page PDF in the link uses English examples and practice questions to go through basic Latin grammar concepts and tables. It doesn't go through less basic things like participles or conditional clauses, but it does explain everything you need to know in order to learn those more easily. It also includes a hyperlinked list of good online resources for self-taught Latin and Greek students.

If you want to work through a textbook, Wheelock's Latin is probably the most widely used and comes with a lot of accompanying resources and guides (even though the official website looks older than Rome). Ecce Romani may be a bit more approachable and there are plenty of unofficial online lessons and guides made to go along with it. Those are my top two personally; I know some people like Latin Via Ovid because the practice texts are adapted from an actual ancient text about different myths, but imho I don't think it's as good a starting point if you're teaching yourself from scratch. Keep in mind that they'll all follow different formats for conjugation/declension tables, which can make it a bit confusing to switch between them; the short intro in that first link is a good way to understand how these charts work well enough to use them no matter the format.

There are tons of free resources online, even including full recordings of lessons, live study groups to join, communities with forum posting, and written-out explanations. For any individual concept that's troubling you, there are almost definitely multiple youtube videos of someone in front of a whiteboard saying it differently from the textbooks. Again, there's a good list included in that first document.

For practice in reading and understanding without deliberately translating, it's fun to try reading Latin translations of books you already know well in English, like Harrius Potter, Hobbitus Ille, Winnie Ille Pu, Alicia In Terra Mirabili, and many, many more, most of which are free on Archive and/or can be bought as physical copies.

However, this will be much more rewarding once you've built up some vocabulary and grammar, and might be frustrating or discouraging if you try the long ones too early, especially since they sometimes use words irregularly to convey modern meanings.

There are also a handful of recently-written stories in Latin targeted at students who like this kind of practice more. The German Netflix series Barbarians has all the Roman characters speaking in real Latin, and listening to it with subtitles can help build your ear for what sounds right.

Those are my recs for where to start! If you're stuck on something and can't find a good explanation, you can also send me an ask about it and I'm always happy to lay out how I think about it (even if my response times are irregular).

Good luck and enjoy!