# Can you read Latin, Ancient Greek or another 'dead language'? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 25, 2005, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-read-latin-ancient-greek-or-another-dead-language/309793 "2005-06-25T13:58:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Theologue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c0e974/32.png) [@Theologue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Theologue)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2005, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-read-latin-ancient-greek-or-another-dead-language/309793/21 "2005-06-26T02:17:29Z")
> [@Noone Special](#): > > Nothing to add to the thread, except **Hebrew is not a dead language** dammit! Hee hee. Just means we’re lost without the vowel points. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2005, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-read-latin-ancient-greek-or-another-dead-language/309793/22 "2005-06-26T03:59:22Z")
Two years of high school Latin. Enough retained to read epigrams. ---
**Author:** ![Mirror\_Image\_egamI\_rorriM](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e56c9b/32.png) [@Mirror\_Image\_egamI\_rorriM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mirror_Image_egamI_rorriM)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2005, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-read-latin-ancient-greek-or-another-dead-language/309793/23 "2005-06-26T04:00:29Z")
> [@Fretful Porpentine](#): > > I can read Old English and medieval Latin passably well, as long as I have a dictionary at hand. Classical Latin, despite several years of study, never quite “stuck” – the fluidity of the word order completely throws me, especially in poetry. I am just the opposite–I started with Latin poetry, and when we started prose, the whole “translate straight across” thing just completely threw me for a while. ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2005, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-read-latin-ancient-greek-or-another-dead-language/309793/24 "2005-06-26T04:11:17Z")
I studied Latin in public school and university, and minored in classics, but that was so long ago that I have forgotten my latin. ---
**Author:** ![GilaB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8e7dd6/32.png) [@GilaB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GilaB)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2005, 6:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-read-latin-ancient-greek-or-another-dead-language/309793/25 "2005-06-26T06:50:19Z")
My religious life is mostly conducted in non-modern forms of Hebrew, so I guess I use them daily, although I don’t think that’s what **Ms Boods** meant. (The other Orthodox Jews on the boards could say the same.) I have friends who use them professionally, in the rabbinate or teaching bible and such in high school. At the moment I’m not using Biblical Hebrew per se every day, although it comes up a lot, at least once or twice a week. I pray in the slightly later Rabbinical Era Hebrew, which has some Biblical stuff interpolated in, and read Mishnaic Hebrew daily. (It’s a little later than Biblical, but a coupla thousand years old. Does it still count? ;j) ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2005, 11:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-read-latin-ancient-greek-or-another-dead-language/309793/26 "2005-06-26T11:03:24Z")
Took a semester of Latin in High School. It helped with learning medical terminology later on. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2005, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-read-latin-ancient-greek-or-another-dead-language/309793/27 "2005-06-26T14:32:36Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > I took a course in Ancient Greek in college, but it was so long ago, it was practically a contemporary language then. I don’t remember much. Of course, they do say that any Greek-in-the-street today could read Herodotus in the original, though probably not converse with him due to the sound changes. So in a way it still is a contemporary language. I can’t read Latin or Greek, but I do know a lot of Latin roots based on my English vocabulary, and know a bit about the way Romance conjugations work, so I can sometimes take a stab at a short inscription. ---
**Author:** ![Ms\_Boods](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5e9695/32.png) [@Ms\_Boods](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ms_Boods)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2005, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-read-latin-ancient-greek-or-another-dead-language/309793/28 "2005-06-26T15:04:30Z")
> [@GilaB](#): > > My religious life is mostly conducted in non-modern forms of Hebrew, so I guess I use them daily, although I don’t think that’s what **Ms Boods** meant. (The other Orthodox Jews on the boards could say the same.) I have friends who use them professionally, in the rabbinate or teaching bible and such in high school. > At the moment I’m not using Biblical Hebrew per se every day, although it comes up a lot, at least once or twice a week. I pray in the slightly later Rabbinical Era Hebrew, which has some Biblical stuff interpolated in, and read Mishnaic Hebrew daily. (It’s a little later than Biblical, but a coupla thousand years old. Does it still count? ;j) Yes, **Gila** B, it counts! 🙂 I’ve also been ‘on call’ from people when they see a movie and there’s nattering in Latin, and they want to know if it’s real or not; my mum loves that, especially the strange sort of Latin phrases used in movies to depict Mass. ---
**Author:** ![Helen\_s\_Eidolon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8edcca/32.png) [@Helen\_s\_Eidolon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Helen_s_Eidolon)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2005, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-read-latin-ancient-greek-or-another-dead-language/309793/29 "2005-06-26T16:36:52Z")
> [@Ms Boods](#): > > Out of curiosity, if I may add a question to the OP – I wonder if anyone has opportunities to use their abilities to read a dead language on a daily basis? I’m starting grad school in the fall and will be reading them both on a very daily basis. Not sure if that’s exactly what you were looking for. I’m amazed and pleased to see so many people replying. I really didn’t think it was so common. ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_Wright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@Steve\_Wright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_Wright)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2005, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-read-latin-ancient-greek-or-another-dead-language/309793/30 "2005-06-26T18:01:35Z")
Can still read some Latin, but my Greek has pretty nearly rusted away … it’d take a while for me to work my way through a simple sentence, these days … ☹ **Mirror Image egamI rorriM** , you have my deepest sympathies on the _Pro Caelio_ … that one annoyed me so much, I used to turn up for classes wearing a badge that said “CAELIUS IS GUILTY OK” … ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2005, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-read-latin-ancient-greek-or-another-dead-language/309793/31 "2005-06-26T18:12:21Z")
I can _read_ Biblical Hebrew. I don’t know what I’m reading a lot of the time, though. The grammar is quite different from Modern Hebrew - I don’t think there’s a future tense at all, just “now” and “not-now” (the latter being what we’d now call past tense). Still, I like having a bilingual Tanakh, my Biblical Hebrew’s good enough to refer to it when I am curious about the English translation. I was surprised to discover I can’t read the Dead Sea Scrolls _at all_. They could be in Chinese for all I could read them. Kinda interesting. ---
**Author:** ![Typically\_Sunday](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7ba0ec/32.png) [@Typically\_Sunday](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typically_Sunday)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2005, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-read-latin-ancient-greek-or-another-dead-language/309793/32 "2005-06-26T18:16:09Z")
Took 3 years of latin in high school. Not sure if I’d be able to translate anthing substantial- class was more write down the teacher’s translation, memorize it, and reguritate it on the test. ---
**Author:** ![Noone\_Special](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/noone_special/32/2863_2.png) [@Noone\_Special](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Noone_Special)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2005, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-read-latin-ancient-greek-or-another-dead-language/309793/33 "2005-06-26T19:17:05Z")
> [@Kyla](#): > > I can _read_ Biblical Hebrew. I don’t know what I’m reading a lot of the time, though. The grammar is quite different from Modern Hebrew - I don’t think there’s a future tense at all, just “now” and “not-now” (the latter being what we’d now call past tense). Still, I like having a bilingual Tanakh, my Biblical Hebrew’s good enough to refer to it when I am curious about the English translation. Actually, with very little practice, a native Hebrew speaker can get to the point where Biblical Hebrew is completely straightforward except for the odd bit of vocabulary here and there > [@](#): > > I was surprised to discover I can’t read the Dead Sea Scrolls _at all_. They could be in Chinese for all I could read them. Kinda interesting. Actually, it’s only the script that is different. The Dead Sea Scrolls are presented in the original Ancient Hebrew script – which transliterates to modern using a straight substitution pattern; Squiggle-A for _Aleph_, squiggle-B for _Bet_, etc… (and no, I don’t know all of them by heart – I could probably figure it out it confronted with it, but only on an ad-hoc basis) IIRC, it was found that the Dead Sea version of Josiah differed from the “Accepted” Hebrew version by something like six words. Dani ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2005, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-read-latin-ancient-greek-or-another-dead-language/309793/34 "2005-06-26T19:34:35Z")
> [@Noone Special](#): > > Actually, with very little practice, a native Hebrew speaker can get to the point where Biblical Hebrew is completely straightforward except for the odd bit of vocabulary here and there But I’m not a native Hebrew speaker. You guys have that advantage over me. Modern Hebrew is tough enough for me, especially when I don’t have anyone to practice it with. !חבל ---
**Author:** ![Noone\_Special](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/noone_special/32/2863_2.png) [@Noone\_Special](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Noone_Special)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2005, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-read-latin-ancient-greek-or-another-dead-language/309793/35 "2005-06-26T20:15:55Z")
> [@Kyla](#): > > But I’m not a native Hebrew speaker. You guys have that advantage over me. Modern Hebrew is tough enough for me, especially when I don’t have anyone to practice it with. > > !חבל זו הזמנה? 😉 דני Mods: I know you don’t like non-english posts. Translation: Is this an invitation? ---
**Author:** ![ouryL](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ouryl/32/6067_2.png) [@ouryL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ouryL)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2005, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-read-latin-ancient-greek-or-another-dead-language/309793/36 "2005-06-26T21:20:44Z")
A fiend of mine decided to take clssical Greek. He dropped out: He found out that it was only good for reading the Bible. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![NinjaChick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/71c47a/32.png) [@NinjaChick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinjaChick)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2005, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-read-latin-ancient-greek-or-another-dead-language/309793/37 "2005-06-26T22:25:49Z")
Have a year of Attic Greek under my belt and will be taking at least one more year. I love it. [uberGeek]You have no idea how cool classics are until you’ve read _Meno_ in the original Greek.[/uberGeek]. Also: trying to teach myself Latin (in my “spare” time) and could, at one point, sort-of kind-of read (though not understand) biblical Hebrew. (I think the majority of people who were raised as reforms Jews can say that, if they had a bar/bat mitzva.) ---
**Author:** ![Wolfian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/7ea924/32.png) [@Wolfian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wolfian)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2005, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-read-latin-ancient-greek-or-another-dead-language/309793/38 "2005-06-27T00:45:18Z")
Two semesters of Attic Greek. One day I will read Homer in his words, but for now I’ll settle for Harrius Potter (see link in the OP). ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2005, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-read-latin-ancient-greek-or-another-dead-language/309793/39 "2005-06-27T00:57:48Z")
> [@Noone Special](#): > > זו הזמנה? 😉 > > דני Rotzeh letapen oti? Ani lo chashavti et zeh! (Ani mitztaeret sh’tzrichiti liktov b’otiot latinit, aval ain lecha raion ech kasheh hayah liktov חבל hazoh! Microsoft lo ohev et ivrit.) Translation: [spoiler]You want to call me? I didn’t think so! (I’m sorry I had to write in Latin letters, but you have no idea how difficult it was to write that חבל. Microsoft doesn’t like Hebrew.)[/spoiler] ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2005, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-read-latin-ancient-greek-or-another-dead-language/309793/40 "2005-06-27T00:59:09Z")
> [@Kyla](#): > > Rotzeh letapen oti? leta_l_pen. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-read-latin-ancient-greek-or-another-dead-language/309793.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-read-latin-ancient-greek-or-another-dead-language/309793.md?page=3)