I've been considering learning an ancient language recently. Any recomendations which I should study? Any tips for learning a dead language?
You're going to have a fucking terrible time finding english-based learning materials for anything other than Latin or Ancient Greek
My first tip is that you should make sure you really want to spend all that time and effort learning something that you won't be using at all. You could be basically fluent in Spanish in like 6-8 months if you work at it and it'll look amazing on your resume (assuming you're American). That amount of time is what it takes just to get started on something dead.
Well Latin and ancient Greek would be the obvious go-to's.
Less common but still widespread would be Syriac or old Persian.
If you wanna go really obscure you could learn old Armenian or Coptic.
I've seen books in libraries for every one of these languages so you might have to drive a little to get to a library that has it but there should be enough resources to get started.
It's very, very common that methods for ancient languages other than Latin assume that you already know some Latin.
>Greek lesson number 6: Genetive Absolute. Explanation: It works the same as Latin Ablative Absolute.
Start with Latin op.
>>1401240
>old Persian
Hell you talking about nigga I haven't been able to find shit on Old Persian or even Middle Persian
>>1401143
srly, with the amount of time and dedication it needs to learn a dead language, if you don't have a language you are really interested in for cultural interest or work on whatever ground it would help you knowing a dead language then use that time to learn an active language so you can actually make use of that otherwise wasted time
>>1401143
>vocative phrase
>uses nominative ending on a second declension name
RRRRRREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
Old norse senpai
>>1401143
>Et tu, Frogus?
>us
lrn2vocative
Latin. Any other answer is wrong. It teaches you the fundamentals of English asking the way, which are needed for every other language.
>>1401143
latin is obvious choice, you already know many words, its still used in medicine and law, super useful for people interesting in medieval history, nice foundation for other romance languages and you can easily found learning materials
on the other hand I have soft spot for ancient Mesopotamian languages, and IMHO its very interesting to check (not actually learn, that would be pointless for most of people) how Sumerian and Akkadian languages and writing systems works.
Anglo-Saxon, Old Norse, gothic are all great. old High German has no good material in English
>>1401143
Do not learn Latin. I fell for that meme and I sorely regret it after years of learning it.
>>1405090
Because learning Latin prevents one from learning any further languages? Please.
Latin is the best for grammar fundamentals. End of story.
>>1401143
Latin brotha
currently going through Wheelock's Latin 9th Ed. It's got poems at the end in original Latin, from like Ovid and Horace, that you translate to practice and also learn new words. It's the shit, buy it, you won't regret it.
Also if you know Latin you basically know all the Romance anyways amirite?
>>1405163
>Also if you know Latin you basically know all the Romance anyways amirite?
No more than knowing one romance means you basically know all the romance. In fact, what I just described would be a lot better if the ultimate goal is to speak every modern romance.
>>1405090
Latin is what separate the pleb from the elite.
>>1405198
That would be attic Greek you subhuman filth
>>1401143
Greek or Classical Chinese
>>1405198
As a student of both, Greek is the better, but it's more difficult.
