What are some ESSENTIAL languages to learn to read Classic Philosopical texts in their original language?
>>857147
All you need is the Rosetta Stone.
>>857147
Latin, French and German.
>>857147
>>857197
Basically, I think this is right: Latin, French, and German (and maybe Greek)
It depends on the era of philosophy you're interested in. The Greeks were kings of philosophy for a while, that's for sure; but the Greek is hard as shit to learn, especially because you'd need to learn Ancient Greek. People spend a boat load of time just learning it, nevermind the difficulty of applying that learning to interpreting and translating texts.
As for Latin, that'll help with huge swathes of the history of philosophy in the Roman world and well beyond--medieval European philosophy, and a good deal of modern philosophy too.
French is super helpful for modern philosophy too, well into the Enlightenment--and, of course, a good deal of 20th century philosophy. If you're into thinkers like Rousseau, and the other social and political philosophers of that time, then French is a good way to go. As well as Sartre, Camus (arguably not a philosopher), Merleau-Ponty in the 20th century, and even guys like Derrida and Foucault (if that's your cup of tea).
German is essential if you're into Kant (who's hard as fuck to read in any language) and post-Kantian philosophy (Hegel, Nietzsche); aesthetics and ethics before and after Kant (18th century through the 20th); and the host of philosophers in the 20th century like the Frankfurt School, Heidegger, etc.
German, (Ancient) Greek, Latin (not necessary), Aramaic
>>857147
>What are some ESSENTIAL languages to learn to read Classic Philosopical texts in their original language?
You could start by looking at which original language the text you want to read is written.
>>857147
>>857218
I should have mentioned, there are of course plenty of other worthwhile languages to learn (of varying difficulty), but it all depends on what you want to read.
Also, I assume you meant "Classic Philosophical texts" as meaning "works in the history of philosophy that are considered influential and are widely read, discussed, and taught--not classic in the sense of "having to do with the ancient world."
If you're interested in non-Western philosophical traditions, then then the languages start to multiply, and become hugely complicated. A friend of mine from China wanted to read Confucius in the original; as is to be expected, he had to basically learn another language, since he was reading Ancient Chinese (I don't have an inkling for how different Ancient Chinese is from the Mandarin my friend spoke, but setting aside the complications in the dialects of chinese and all that, I just have to imagine how much English has changed in since Chaucer, or since old English, to get a sense that the language of Confucius and what my friend spoke must have been for all intents and purposes two different languages...
ANYWAY, that's just to say that once you open the door to historical figures in India and China--not to mention all the other areas of the world--then you're really dealing with a ton of languages.
>>857147
The languages in which they (by your definition essential texts) were written.
Latin and Classical Greek.
>>857147
B R E H S
>>857147
>Classic
Greek and Latin.
If you want moderns, German, French and English.
I'd also add Russian if you're looking for good 20th century classics.
Greek and German, the languages of Being.
>>857147
Latin, Ancient Greek, German, French, English, Russian
Maybe Arabic
>>857147
who's ass
>>860790
nvm it's siri duh
>>857150
>people will think this is real
Serious question: I'm the only one who clicked for the ass?
>>862235
yes
>>857147
English.
>>862235
