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/lit/ - Literature

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16548344 No.16548344 [Reply] [Original]

Should i read Cato in Latin?

>> No.16548453

>>16548344

Pic related is based.

Where can I find a good collection of his speeches.

>> No.16548464

>>16548344
Follow your dreams anon!

>> No.16548600

>>16548344
Good luck if you need to learn Latin. If it’s anything like Greek in terms of difficulty, you’re in for a long ride. I’m two years into κοινή and I still feel like a novice.

>> No.16548608 [DELETED] 

>>16548600
Latin is easier. Soldier on.

>> No.16548620

>>16548600
Do you regret learning Greek? How do you feel about it? Do you have a better understanding of the Greeks now? I did consider learning Greek.

>> No.16548636

>>16548344
holy based

>> No.16548643

>>16548600
You'll never stop feeling like a novice. That's why reading the ancient languages is good. They keep your ego in check.

>> No.16548646

>>16548600
Latin is notoriously simpler to learn.One of my latin profs once told me "once I became able to translate Cicero I became able to translate almost any Latin. But with every new Greek text I feel like I'm facing an entirely new difficulty".

>> No.16548753

>>16548620
I can’t read homer or other really ancient writers, I can really only read parts of the NT and Septuagint. Greek gets easier the closer to modernity you get, it is nice being able to read the Bible and things like the Didache or Polycarp.
>>16548643
Yeah it’s very humbling. It feels like my vocabulary will never be good enough to read any difficult texts without help.
>>16548646
I can see that, I just figured Latin would also be pretty tough.

>> No.16548771
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16548771

I thought women are sperm depositories?

>> No.16548773

>>16548753
Latin is a lot of work obviously, but it's a very regular and orderly language, at least in the classical writers (and Church latin is much closer to modern languages so much easier). Know you declensions, have a good vocabulary, know how to best take advantage of a dictionary, practice and be rigorous, and eventually you'll be able to translate almost any Latin. In fact over time the biggest bottleneck is your ability to write well in your target language (so for translating from Latin to English, the biggest obstacle is being able to write a good English that conveys the feeling of the original, being able to understand the original is comparatively easy).

>> No.16548803

>>16548773
Ah I see. It’s weird that when I read Greek it’s easy enough to identify the various parts of speech and declensions and the like, but when I try to construct sentences in Greek I find it extremely difficult to accurately write what I am trying to convey.

>> No.16548831

>>16548803
Yeah it's the fundamental problem of translations. Our ability to understand and form languages make it so that we can understand foreign languages more or less like a native would after enough study, but since they they were not formed for correspondence with other languages, there is often no really satisfying translation of a given sentence. So you've got to exercise your judgement and compromise a lot.

I like to think translation is essentially an exercise in intelligent and sensitive compromise.

>> No.16548837

>>16548753
Latin itself is not so hard but Latin literature can be headache inducingly hard to read. The Romans were smug assholes and aimed to be as obscure as humanly possible in their writing. Read the Annales or Horace. It's amazing that anyone was ever able to understand this shit it's so dense.

>> No.16548872

>>16548837
True. I had a teacher who said "the curriculum expects you to learn Latin by translating Cicero, as if anyone ever learnt French by starting with Proust".

>> No.16548887

>>16548872
Yeah it forces you into the deep end. There's nothing easy to read in classical Latin really. Caesar is supposedly the easiest (I find Seneca easier) and yet he is still difficult at times. It's all good though because it weeds out the pussies.

>> No.16549322

There's very little remaining of (either) Cato's works so if you are going to learn Latin don't do it for his sake.

>> No.16549687

>>16548837
It amazes me that the language in the Gospel of the John is the same as in Jude or 3 Maccabees. The vocab is so overwhelming and the change in stems makes it so difficult.

>> No.16549853

>>16549322
this
enjoy reading fragments

>> No.16550563

Would it be dumb to learn Latin for mostly etymology reasons

>> No.16550627

>>16550563
I don't think so. Given I don't read any Latin texts most days, I find this is one of the most lasting joys of having spent time learning Latin.
Picking up some Greek is fun for that purpose too.

>> No.16550641

>>16550627
Thank you for the genuinely helpful response, I appreciate it.

>> No.16551579

>>16548453
Latin library online

>> No.16551654

>>16548344
There are so many better people to read in Latin before the Carthage meme man

>> No.16552030

>>16550563
Absolutely not. I always find my Latin coming in handy when I come across unfamiliar words when reading English and other languages. The best way to improve your English vocabulary is to learn Latin.