He doesn't know Greek, Latin, French, Spanish, Italian, German, and Russian

You'd have to be 16 years old or something if you think translators or people reading translations are somehow unaware that the literal words don't get translated 100% and are works of interpretation. And you'd have to be a retard to think reading some books is enough justification for the time investment of learning a language. As long as you live in a place where you never have to use the language in conversation, you're a dilettante and a fool.

Senpai three dialects of the same language.

>learning Greek and Latin to be able to actually understand and see the beauty of classical literature in their original language makes you a dilettante
Have fun with your translated Homer, pleb. Some people like to get the full effect.

Which language should I learn? I'm on my summer break and don't know what to do more than that. I'm between German and Russian.

I'm sure, being wise and learned in these languages, you could easily explain their beauty and superiority over pathetic translations.
Here's the opening of Plato's Republic in english and greek

>kατέβην χθὲς εἰς Πειραιᾶ μετὰ Γλαύkωνος τοῦ Ἀρίστωνος προσευξόμενός τε τῇ θεῷ kαὶ ἅμα τὴν ἑορτὴν βουλόμενος θεάσασθαι τίνα τρόπον ποιήσουσιν ἅτε νῦν πρῶτον ἄγοντες. kαλὴ μὲν οὖν μοι kαὶ ἡ τῶν ἐπιχωρίων πομπὴ ἔδοξεν εἶναι, οὐ μέντοι ἧττον ἐφαίνετο πρέπειν ἣν οἱ Θρᾷkες ἔπεμπον.
>προσευξάμενοι δὲ kαὶ θεωρήσαντες ἀπῇμεν πρὸς τὸ ἄστυ. kατιδὼν οὖν πόρρωθεν ἡμᾶς οἴkαδε ὡρμημένους Πολέμαρχος ὁ Κεφάλου ἐkέλευσε δραμόντα τὸν παῖδα περιμεῖναί ἑ kελεῦσαι. kαί μου ὄπισθεν ὁ παῖς λαβόμενος τοῦ ἱματίου, kελεύει ὑμᾶς, ἔφη, Πολέμαρχος περιμεῖναι. kαὶ ἐγὼ μετεστράφην τε kαὶ ἠρόμην ὅπου αὐτὸς εἴη. οὗτος, ἔφη, ὄπισθεν προσέρχεται: ἀλλὰ περιμένετε. ἀλλὰ περιμενοῦμεν, ἦ δ᾽ ὃς ὁ Γλαύkων.

>I went down yesterday to the Piraeus with Glaucon the son of Ariston, that I might offer up my prayers to the goddess; and also because I wanted to see in what manner they would celebrate the festival, which was a new thing. I was delighted with the procession of the inhabitants; but that of the Thracians was equally, if not more, beautiful. When we had finished our prayers and viewed the spectacle, we turned in the direction of the city; and at that instant Polemarchus the son of Cephalus chanced to catch sight of us from a distance as we were starting on our way home, and told his servant to run and bid us wait for him. The servant took hold of me by the cloak behind, and said: Polemarchus desires you to wait.
>I turned round, and asked him where his master was.
>There he is, said the youth, coming after you, if you will only wait.
>Certainly we will, said Glaucon

I'm genuinely curious, since the difference must be SO stark you should be able to point out what does the original have that the translation doesn't. There difference in quality must be huge and easy to see as to warrant several years to be spent on learning greek.

Oh that's easy. The Greek is a lot more squiggly.

Hold your horses. To the Greeks, our language probably looked squiggly.

>when he refuses to learn a language to read a single masterpiece of literature

more like gay and round
The Greek script is objectively more squiggly

This. If you aren't absorbing the culture along with the language, it's a waste of time

What about russian squiggliness?

>Bчepa я хoдил в Пиpeй вмecтe c Глaвкoнoм, cынoм Apиcтoнa, пoмoлитьcя бoгинe, a кpoмe тoгo, мнe хoтeлocь пocмoтpeть, кaким oбpaзoм cпpaвят тaм ee пpaздник, – вeдь дeлaeтcя этo тeпepь впepвыe. Пpeкpacнo былo, пo-мoeмy, тopжecтвeннoe шecтвиe мecтных житeлeй, oднaкo нe мeнee yдaчным oкaзaлocь и шecтвиe фpaкийцeв. Mы пoмoлилиcь, нacмoтpeлиcь и пoшли oбpaтнo в гopoд.
>Увидeв издaли, чтo мы oтпpaвилиcь дoмoй, Пoлeмapх, cын Кeфaлa, вeлeл cвoeмy cлyгe дoгнaть нac и пoпpocить, чтoбы мы eгo пoдoждaли. Cлyгa, тpoнyв мeня cзaди зa плaщ, cкaзaл:
>– Пoлeмapх пpocит вac пoдoждaть eгo.
>Я oбepнyлcя и cпpocил, гдe жe oн.
>– A вoн oн идeт cюдa, вы yж, пoжaлyйcтa, пoдoждитe.
>– Пoжaлyйcтa, мы пoдoждeм, – cкaзaл Глaвкoн

I can actually read Russian but I have to say their alphabet is pretty ugly. Looks like all caps, and several letters are just retarded, especially д and б and ж. Nice cursive though.

I'm thinking you have no idea what the world 'squiggly' means to be blunt user

You didn't realize you're speaking English, so congrats, you speak four.

Obvious bait.

I speak german and english
Theres literally nothing worth reading that isnt written originally in those languages

Russian better 4 da bookz

I've been learning for about 6 months and understand most of that. I'm quite satisfied with myself

Russian literature is terrible.

None of these languages have any worthwhile literature.

fuck you cunt
i speak english, american, canadian, australian, anglo-indian and even more languages
get on my LEVEL

>anglo-indian
get out brownie

I'm sick of you British people telling us Anglo-Indians what a real English person is. I've been to London and Manchester and you're nowhere near as English as us in New Delhi and Mumbai. In your bars I've witnessed you watching German football teams and listening to American bands with not a bottle of beer or kidney pie in sight. Come to India to be reminded what being English is all about. It seems you've forgotten true English pride.

Fuck you, op. I know spanish and italian, and am now learning french

>HE DOESN'T KNOW JAPANESE
What are you a fucking casual? How are you going to read superior Japanese literature and philosophy?

>learning a language over a summer break
Learning a language will take 5+ years for fluency

Americans don't know second languages, they learn a few sentences, bit of grammar and words and think they can speak a language, even though they can't even hold a normal conversation.

I have never met an American that is fluent in another language.

>I'm sick of you Veeky Forums users telling us redditors what a real memester is. I've been to /pol/ and the comments section of youtube and you're nowhere near as ironic as us in r/spacedicks and r/worldnews. In your threads I've witnessed you discussing video games and the american presidential election without ironically calling each other "kind sir' or ironically insulting each other. Come to reddit to be reminded what being ironic is all about. It seems you've forgotten true meme power.

Now that you mention it, when i was a freshman in college, we had this talk with an american and argentinian accountants. The american had perfect spanish, you could only guess an accent by the r's and t's

If you don't speak spanish I'm sure you don't hear the mistakes he made, especially in a language like Spanish where everything sounds very similar. I live already 5 years in Chile and a lot of Americans I meet think they can speak Spanish but make constantly mistakes when speaking, hell I can't blame them, I still make some from time to time, especially talking about complicated topics.

excluding Spanish speaking people im guessing

Excluding double nationalities of course.

I don't really want fluency though. Also summer breaks are like more than 3 months so I guess it's a good enough to just learn basic stuff.

Reading works of literature in another language without fluency will leave you coming away with less than reading a translation.

OK. So how much time will it take me to learn German in a fluent way?

Go live there for the rest of your life. Even then you will forever be an outsider to their cultural sphere since you weren't brought up in it though.

The only language you will ever master is your native language. Everything else is compromise at best.

This is very correct. I knew some americans who live in Brazil for years and they speak Portuguese like a 2 years old kid.

Yo, what's a good textbook for Latin? I got Wheelock's (6th edition). Any others I should be on the lookout for?

I tought it was implied, my bad; spanish is my first language

ITT Faggots fall for OP's bait

Some of the best translators are foreigners. Arthur Waley is one of the most highly regarded translators of Classical Chinese and Classical Japanese texts, despite never visiting China or Japan.

>I don't read exclusively in babylonian

Plebs all of you

Just try reading it allowed.

German > French > Russian

Currently most of the way through German. Can I realistically obtain decent reading ability in all these languages within 3 years? My biggest concern is Cyrillic, as that seems to take a lot of time to learn.

>Cyrillic, as that seems to take a lot of time to learn
Why?
It's literally just 33 letters.
Most are the same as in the Latin or Greek alphabets. Really, Cyrillic is just a form of Greek.
If learning a simple alphabet is your "biggest concern" in learning a language you really have no idea what you're doing.

what are the benefits of learning german?

Reading Goethe

It takes a day at most.

What you really should be worried about is verb aspect. It's extremely unintuitive and I'm told foreigners almost never totally nail it.

Cyrillic is actually easy to learn

What about the number of "Americans" in California who don't speak English at all?

I have a few American friends who learned English as their second language, and Spanish as their first

user, cyrillic is probably the easiest alphabet there is.

B-but I learned English desu

Most of them are since you have to have full mastery over the language the end product appears in.

yes, similar but different

my first language is brazilian portuguese, i can read some simple texts in portuguese from portugal but i struggle with dictionary and some sentences construction. i have no ideia how to speak it though, can only read (this also happens with spanish)

What's the better language to learn, russian or german?

none really
You've got Goethe, then a whole bunch of second-rate Romantic lyric poets, the Brother's Grimm, and German idealism
not worth it tbqh

How do I learn Greek?

I speak french, english, spanish, japanese and I'm working on russian. Not gonna need any more languages.

>italian
>german
>greek
Not relevant at all

>Italian
>what is Renaissance literature
>German
>what is Romanticism
>Greek
>what is Homer, Sophocles, Euripides, Aeschylus, Sappho, Pindar, Hesiod, and Theocritus

I'm an American and I am fluent in English and French, have reading ability in Spanish and Italian, and am going to begin learning German next semester

learning Greek and Latin, but I need some tips for Greek. Whats the best way to just get new vocab in my head? It's all so alien (obviously) unlike latin

this guy gets it

>australian
Australian here. Can guarantee you can't.

underrated contribution

russian isn't squiggly it's pointy you dumb cunt

You need to learn Sanskrit and Classical Chinese too

i opened my post with cunt so I'd like to see you try u cheeky bugger

Stop trying so hard. Australian English goes beyond the use of profanities.

Says the monolingual.

Reading books means you can read news, international shitposting, international p0rn websites, and anything else. If you're a NEET there's virtually no better skill to invest in.

The words have symbolism, etymology and represent other shit you chimp.

I read Japanese. When you read souseki's kokoro in English you completely miss the pile of emotions the main character experiences which all have the kokoro kanji in it, which removes the emphasis the author naturally gives them. All languages do this. Try taking some other language translations of English stuff and google translating them back to English. You're reading sparknotes if it's not in the original.

wow, this must be next level pleb bait

Translation is a fine art.

No language is indispensable, not even English.

Foreign stuff is not unique. You won't miss out vital things. Many major books are already translated anyway.

Thus, with only one (reasonably used) language, you still experience most of what life has to offer.

Disclaimer: I speak 4 languages fluently and can get by with 4 others, but I'd be just as fine with my mother tongue (not English).

>oops, and all German philosophy

>everything written in this post
same.

Yes they are. Each language has a cultural context and communication style that goes with it which isolates and preserves its peculiarities.

Great so you can experience most of what life has to offer. If that's so great why are you on here? Most isn't good enough. You can experience most of what life has to offer by not reading too, clearly if you're reading classic lit you're looking for something more or you've given up and are looking for something you like.

How many of those did you learn in school or from family? How many language families are they from? I can't imagine someone who misses so much of what language is about putting in the incredible time and effort it takes to learn a language and communicate in it without sounding like a potato.

>mfw learning chinese just to read 三國演義

Don't be shy, post an example

Each language is irreplaceable, but none is indispensable.

As I'm a seasoned reader, I'm on Veeky Forums to give, almost never to take. I wouldn't lose that much if I weren't here.

I learned one language from family (my mother tongue), four in school, one for religious reasons, and two by myself. That's good, but I don't think monolingual people are inferior.

In most cases, translations are "good enough", and certainly better than reading in a language you don't fully grasp. Life is too short to let you master 25 languages, and Dostoevsky remains a genius in any language. So grab a good translation and enjoy it.

>not reading the Bible in Hebrew or Arameic
>how can you follow God's word with a translation lmao

There's loads of Greek in English.

There is no easy way. Just remember the words.

My grandfather learned Aramaic just to read the bible

Well, that's a noble effort.

The hard part is to become fluent enough, because an okay-ish command of Aramaic is probably worth less than just reading a translation.

i happen to speak norwegian, swedish, danish, finno-swedish, new-norwegian, high norwegian, high danish, old norse

lmao @ literally everyone outside of scandinavian masterrace. plebby mcpleb thinking hes patrician coz of his trilingualism lmao

...

How exactly does one become fluent in a language? Go over grammar and then just read/listen to the shit out of things? Asking for a friend

i live in sydney you fucking nigger

you can't unless you speak the language regularly with other fluent speakers over an extended period of time
even then unless it's done really early on you'll always have an accent

>Tries to prove something about Greek translations
>Picks a non-fiction philosophy text

lmao.

Now do the same thing with Homer.

>*speak* new-norwegian, high norwegian

ayyyyyy

>non-fiction

Well, arguably, at any rate.

Correct.
Homer is divinely inspired and literally true.

>toiling in the mines just to stay alive
>too "dumb/lazy" to learn a language

rich ppl kill you are selves