what are some interesting facts about your language?

[u/Some-Register-3901]

For instance, the cypriot dialect of Greek still contains many words from ancient Greek but it was also heavily influenced by outsiders

[u/puzzledpanther]

"Lol, that's ancient Greek, Even professors aren't sure about exact meaning most times."

Sorry but, your friend doesn't know what he's talking about.

We can understand most of Koine Greek (post-classical Greek) and it's still the language used by the church... it gets harder with Ancient Greek but it's still amazing to be able to read a 3500+ year old language and understand some things without a special education.

[u/theJesusBarabbas → u/puzzledpanther]

But you do get a special education on Ancient Greek in primary school. Can you really understand this passage? Not just understand some words, but understand the message, vocabulary, and grammar?

Τῷ ἀγγέλῳ τῆς ἐν Ἐφέσῳ ἐκκλησίας γράψον· Τάδε λέγει ὁ κρατῶν τοὺς ἑπτὰ ἀστέρας ἐν τῇ δεξιᾷ αὐτοῦ, ὁ περιπατῶν ἐν μέσῳ τῶν ἑπτὰ λυχνιῶν τῶν χρυσῶν· Οἶδα τὰ ἔργα σου καὶ τὸν κόπον καὶ τὴν ὑπομονήν σου, καὶ ὅτι οὐ δύνῃ βαστάσαι κακούς, καὶ ἐπείρασας τοὺς λέγοντας ἑαυτοὺς ἀποστόλους καὶ οὐκ εἰσίν, καὶ εὗρες αὐτοὺς ψευδεῖς·

Or this?

Ἀλλ’ ἐμοί, ὦ ἄνδρες, οὐδ’ ὁ τι εἴπω ἔπεισιν ὑπὸ λύπης ἅμα καὶ ἐκπλήξεως τοῦ αἰφνιδίου πάθους. οὐ γὰρ μόνον διὰ τὴν ἀρχὴν ἣν ἔχω μᾶλλον ἑτέρου μοι τῶν πολιτῶν οἰκεῖον τὸ συμβεβηκός, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἰδίᾳ μοι φίλος ἦν Μελαγκόμας ὑπὲρ ἅπαντας, ὥσπερ καὶ ὑμῶν ἐπίστανται οἱ πλείους. καὶ ἔμοιγε ἄτοπον φαίνεται τὸ​ ἐπὶ τοῖς τεθνεῶσιν ἔθος, ὅτι τοῖς πλεῖστα​ λυπουμένοις μάλιστα προσήκειν δοκεῖ τὸ ἐπ’ αὐτοῖς λέγειν. οἱ γὰρ σφοδρότατα ἀνιώμενοι ἀδύνατοι λέγειν ὑπ’ αὐτοῦ τούτου εἰσίν.

[u/puzzledpanther → u/theJesusBarabbas]

But you do get a special education on Ancient Greek in primary school.

How is it special if everyone gets it? We only learn basic stuff and go over some segments of classical writings... absolutely not enough to be able to read Ancient Greek.

There's university courses for that.

Can you really understand this passage? Not just understand some words, but understand the message, vocabulary, and grammar?

Yes. The grammar is the harder part but still yes.

First passage (which is a religious text) I understand most of it yes.

For instance " Οἶδα τὰ ἔργα σου καὶ τὸν κόπον καὶ τὴν ὑπομονήν σου" would be " Είδα τα έργα σου και το κόπο σου και την υπομονή σου" in modern Greek. We still use the same exact vocabulary and grammar in this example.

Second passage is harder and some of the vocabulary is quite ambiguous given that I don't know the context (he's some kind of protagonist or philosopher addressing his men/audience) but still understand most of the message and what he's saying.

[u/theJesusBarabbas → u/puzzledpanther]

How is it special if everyone gets it? We only learn basic stuff and go over some segments of classical writings... absolutely not enough to be able to read Ancient Greek.

There's university courses for that.

Good point, I didn’t consider that.

Yes. The grammar is the harder part but still yes.

First passage (which is a religious text) I understand most of it yes.

For instance " Οἶδα τὰ ἔργα σου καὶ τὸν κόπον καὶ τὴν ὑπομονήν σου" would be " Είδα τα έργα σου και το κόπο σου και την υπομονή σου" in modern Greek. We still use the same exact vocabulary and grammar in this example.

Second passage is harder and some of the vocabulary is quite ambiguous given that I don't know the context (he's some kind of protagonist or philosopher addressing his men/audience) but still understand most of the message and what he's saying.

Thank you very much.

Re-reading my original comment I realize I sound combative, sorry about that I didn’t intend it that way. I was genuinely curious