<p>For my Freshman year - to be part of an Academic Preparatory/Advisory program offered by my college, I have to take a course in the Classics. A specific course (CLSICS 80) - I'll copy the course description below: </p>
<p>"Through consideration of significant figures in Greek literature, history and philosophy, this course introduces students to the major features of the culture of Ancient Greece and to the prominent place of Greek ideas in the Western tradition. The course focuses on critical reading of ancient sources and incorporates analytical writing focused on the reflection of social structures in Greek literature."</p>
<p>My question is - based off of the description above - will I be studying <em>in Greek</em> - or is the course going to be an English-based history course? I've taken four years of Latin and I tried exposing myself to Classical Greek a few times but had a rather terrible time with it - I want to avoid studying Greek as a foreign language in college. I would love the opportunity to study Greek culture, however, if it was solely a history/literature course in English. </p>
<p>I'm confused because I associate "the Classics" with the study of Latin/Greek language with supplementary culture courses. </p>
<p>But how could an introductory Greek language course entail the translation (and analysis) of Greek philosophy and literature - especially in only one semester? I feel like it would take at least two weeks to hammer down the most rudimentary basics of Greek language (simply just the alphabet) – so it seems weird to me. I didn’t start translating heavy Latin material until my fourth year of Latin (granted, HS is different than college, but still - there had to be a substantial grammar and vocabulary foundation before delving into the analysis of poetry and prose.) </p>
<p>OK, I went to the website. The classics dept offers courses in Classics, Greek, and Latin. So, while they don’t do a good job explaining this, it appears that the classics courses are in translation and the Greek and Latin courses are in the source language.</p>
<p>@skieurope - Alright, that makes sense, thank you – I don’t know if you noticed this but in the two separate programs (Classical Studies [which I’m assuming is English] and Classical Language [which is in Greek/Latin]) - there is an “L” that appears next to some of the course numbers - I didn’t know if that designated the course as being in the “language” studies department and was therefore not in English or what - but the L doesn’t appear next to the course I’m taking.</p>
<p>@vienneselights - I know that Greek and Latin are dead languages - and I’m well aware that you learn them in depth by doing translations - however, an introductory foreign language course is not going to require translation of the Bacchae or the Odyssey in its curriculum. </p>
<p>It’s a course on ancient Greek culture including literature, history, philosophy. That culture is very important in that a lot of things in ours are based on ideas at that time. The course will be taught in English and there won’t likely be any Greek involved other than maybe a brief exposure to the alphabet and few words just so you get a look. The Greek alphabet is nice to know if you do cross word puzzles, LOL. </p>
<p>Many series in western civilization and culture require this grounding. Also important in literature, and philosophy. I’ve noticed that a lot of classics majors are split into those studying the languages and those studying the culture without the languages. </p>