• MoonMelon@lemmy.ml
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    1 day ago

    I was forced to take 4 years of Latin and I’ve basically reverted to “Salve Magistra, Italia Peninsula Est” levels. It never clicked with me. Every week was a struggle, I was a terrible student, and I remember jack shit. At best it helped me remember the names of stuff in anatomy class, which was actually interesting. I think the way it was taught is the worst fucking way to learn a language, like most 19th century educational theory.

  • Ardyssian@sh.itjust.works
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    1 day ago

    I used to memorize the Greek Alphabet when I was young

    spoiler

    Alpha Beta Gamma Delta Epsilon Zeta Eta Theta Kappa Lambda Mu Nu Rho Tau Sigma Upsilon Phi Chi Psi Omega

    There are 24 letters in the Greek Alphabet, so I missed 4.

    spoiler

    Iota Xi Omicron Pi

  • NomenCumLitteris@lemmy.ml
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    2 days ago

    Latin: I’m reading at a level of a second year student. Noun and adjective declensions are solid, but I am trying to hone in on different tenses of complicated verb forms, such as imperfect passive conjunctive. I can only speak Latin with small phrases derived from vocabulary and familiar texts I’ve read. My speech is quite limited since there is no one around me that has an interest in Latin, so I have to piece together and memorize what I want to say before saying it.

    Ancient Greek: I know only the alphabet.

    Both: I am a self learner in my adult years and did not take either language via schooling.

  • Skunk@jlai.lu
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    3 days ago

    Cum gallo et gladio.

    That’s the only thing I know in Latin cause I want it to be my family coat of arms.

    It means “with a rooster and a sword”, but you need to understand French to discover the power of that sentence: “Avec un coq et une épée”, or as famously said in slang, “Avec ma bite et mon couteau suisse” (with my dick and Swiss Army knife).

    It a saying we use to say that we don’t need preparation or equipment to do something.

  • dragnucs@lemmy.ml
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    2 days ago

    I know like less than 10 phrases:

    Etcetera Ad hoc Vice verca Veni vidi vici Carpe diem Spiritus Santus

    And some other I forgot how to write them and correect pronunciation because I never use them. Generally I only know words or phrases, not even a full sentence.

  • schnurrito@discuss.tchncs.de
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    3 days ago

    I learned Latin in school for several years; I only learned to understand and translate it, not actively speak or write it, and have by now forgotten some of it.

    I do not know any Ancient Greek at all, I might recognize some words from other languages.

  • frightful_hobgoblin@lemmy.ml
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    3 days ago

    Latin: I can still bang out the five declensions and the four conjugations in my sleep. Trying to read a text, the sentence structure always finds ways to trip me up.

    Greek: very patchy, I know a lot of words but my grammar is shite

  • Metostopholes@midwest.social
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    3 days ago

    Older millennial here. I know a few random words and phrases in Latin. A couple examples:

    “Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?”
    “Who will watch the watchmen?”
    Thanks to the comic Watchmen. Meaning it is difficult to regulate the actions of people in power.

    “Alea iacta est.”
    “The die is cast.”
    Attributed to Julius Caesar when he crossed the Rubicon river, guaranteeing there would be a civil war. Meaning the outcome is uncertain, but you’ve passed the point of no return (“crossing the Rubicon” is also used to mean that).

    I don’t know any ancient Greek though.

  • Binette@lemmy.ml
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    2 days ago

    A bunch of abreviations, like etc., eg., and some falaies like quid pro quo