The Missing Post

I'd gone back to school for historical purposes.  I wanted to make HISTORY matter to kids. 

I wanted to study Greek.

There's a class at St Kate's entitled Biblical Greek. I wanted to take that class, but it's only offered every other year, so I settled for Latin. Next fall, I can study Biblical Greek at Macalester for the first semester and return to my own campus for the second semester.

Imagine being able to read a passage like this:

Ἐὰν δὲ ἁμαρτήσῃ ὁ ἀδελφός σου, ὕπαγε ἔλεγξον αὐτὸν μεταξὺ σοῦ καὶ αὐτοῦ μόνου· ἐάν σου ἀκούσῃ, ἐκέρδησας τὸν ἀδελφόν σου.

After two semesters, I can read it in Latin:

si autem peccaverit in te frater tuus vade et corripe eum inter te et ipsum solum si te audierit lucratus es fratrem tuum

I still remember enough German to decifer this one - at least since I also know what it says in English:

Wenn aber dein Bruder wider dich sündigt, so gehe hin, überführe ihn zwischen dir und ihm allein. Wenn er auf dich hört, so hast du deinen Bruder gewonnen.AnThe Spanish:

Y si tu hermano peca, ve y repréndelo a solas; si te escucha, has ganado a tu hermano.

And then there's the Spanish I wish I knew:

If your brother sins, go and show him his fault in private; if he listens to you, you have won your brother.

To have a minor in Classics, I need to take one class outside Latin. I took Mythology. Concerns originally born in last year's bible study, Jeff Cavins' The Great Adventure, are now real questions. The answers to those questions lie in original translations, folks.

This language background helps my future application to graduate school; historians with higher level degrees must be multilingual. It also helps if I decide to pursue a Master's in Spanish K-12 Education (to determine whether I want to do that, I'm taking an Education class in the fall.) It will also help when Joe and I find our future retirement destination - a place I imagine peopled with no native English speakers and covered with very little concrete. I'm not sure it will matter that Joe has only English; he doesn't speak all that much - and his actions speak well indeed.

I have a light schedule for the summer. I'm taking Elementary Spanish I and II from May 31 until August 8, two hours every morning, Monday through Thursday.

Next fall, my four classes occur Monday, Wednesday, and Friday from 8:15 until 2:20. I'm taking Teachers as Leaders, Intermediate Latin I, Intermediate Spanish I, and the Greek class.

And might I say this? That TAL class better be a doozy, or I'm heading back to the Middle Ages and will then add Hebrew and Aramic to my repertoire. :)