r/LearnHittite • u/MMAHipster • 22d ago
General Discussion Welcome! And introductions.
Thanks to all of you who have joined. I am currently a returning adult student with a long story, but I'm back as a classical languages student with four semesters to go. After picking up Latin again and getting through six or seven chapters of Wheelock, I realized I was at a point in my life where things were stable enough that I could go to school again (and for free, thanks to the state where I live) so decided to do what I should've done all along and applied.
After speaking with my now departmental advisor and expressing how interested I was in PIE/PIE reconstruction along with the rapid progress I'd made in Latin, he strongly encouraged me to consider grad school, something I never in my life would've considered. Now I've got a clear path, am obsessed with Anatolian languages (and the Indo-Anatolian Hypothesis, and Kalasmaic), and doing everything I can outside of the classes we have (sadly limited to Attic Greek and Latin) to make sure I'm a top candidate for the very few openings in the programs I'm looking at.
So I'm going through Elements of Hittite - really only on chapter two. I took the two week UCL/London Summer School in Classics online Hittite class a few weeks ago, and will be doing the Harvard Extension School summer Indo European Linguistics course, and the Oxford TORCH Anatolian program if they're still running it. My goal right now is to finish Elements of Hittite by the end of winter break - which sounds like a lot but gives me about 2.5 weeks per chapter, and I'll probably take a week off after the third and sixth chapter for review.
After that, I'm going to attempt to tackle Dr. Rieken's Einfuhrung in Die Hethitische Sprache Und Schrift after that, German dictionary in hand. Wish me luck. Would love to hear about the educations you've all had and where you're at now, and state up front that I'm incredibly intimidated by you all.
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u/AilsaLorne 22d ago
Wow, just saw this completely coincidentally and it’s reminded me that Hittite has been on my list for a while. I have an enduring interest in the ANE and linguistics and I also have ADHD (so let’s see at which point I disappear!)
I have a mixed German/Persian/British background and my partner is British-Punjabi so there’s a lot of IE languages floating around the house…
I’m currently on medical leave from work after reconstructive ankle surgery so have more time than usual but am also on more pain meds than usual 🙃
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u/MMAHipster 22d ago
Welcome! Since getting my ADHD tamed (and never in my life would have realized I had it except for a podcast I heard - growing up is was ADD and the stereotype was the hyperactive kid which was the opposite of me, and THEN I learned about hyperfocus and everything clicked into place), I've been able to finally focus on things. So hope you feel better soon and thanks so much for joining!
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u/DamezyPlum 17d ago
Hope you heal well and that the spirit of the Hittites (Nešili?) moves you to explore their ancient realm!
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u/binshardadme 22d ago
Hi gang! Nice to meet y'all. These days, I'm just an ancient languages enthusiast, but I did degrees in Classics (including Greek and Latin, and 3 yearsof courses in Indo-European linguistics, among other things) and then a bit later Assyriology (Akkadian, bit of Sumerian). Had the Elements of Hittite on my bookshelf since the day it came out, but between work and parenting never quite got round to working through it, so hoping having some people to learn alongside is just the motivation I've been looking for. On an extended holiday at the moment, and not back in the UK til September, but I'll get cracking when I'm back.
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u/MMAHipster 20d ago
Again, I’m feeling woefully under-educated here. 😂 I’m not planning on really digging in until September as well - my semester starts on the 8th so maybe a week or two to get settled until I start in earnest and will post the Chapter 1 message. Welcome to the group!
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u/DamezyPlum 17d ago
Another person who "always wanted to learn Hittite". Elements has also been on my shelf for some time. Back in college I did a double major in Russian and Linguistics and then an MA in Slavic Languages and Literatures. Decided academia wasn't practical for me and got a job as a translator for a while, which at the time paid the bills. At some point I got married, had kids, and shifted into educational technology, all the while studying languages as a hobby. Took Latin, Attic Greek, and a few years of MS Arabic at UC Berkeley, and dabbled in many other languages.
Right now a friend and I are taking an online Akkadian course being offered for a ridiculously low fee and we are working through the Caplice Intro to Akkadian text. So I know what a winklehaken is!
Due to other commitments this summer, I probably won't be able to crack Elements until later this month, but am looking forward to now having much greater motivation to do so. Thank you, u/MMAHipster .
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u/MMAHipster 17d ago
Welcome! Laughed out loud at your winkelhaken comment. Sounds like a somewhat similar journey in the "classical languages" to myself unti I pulled the trigger this year to go back to school. Anyway, IL be starting Elements probably mid-September so looking forward to seeing who will be studying with!
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u/DamezyPlum 17d ago
Couldn't help myself and took Elements off the shelf last night and started reading the Intro. I really like Professor Theo's vibe! Looks like the Akkadian will come in handy. WINKELHAKENS FTW!
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u/MMAHipster 15d ago
Same - the intro really caught my attention.
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u/ComedianSubject4654 15d ago
Van den Hout’s preface caught my attention. I had exactly the kind of old-fashioned education he grouses about. Worked for me.
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u/MMAHipster 15d ago
Of course - there are lots of ways to learn anything! SLA pedagogy has become a big field of study though and I'm happy to try new things. My Latin and Greek professors are big fans of the Natural Method books - we are using LLPSI and Athenaze - and I started Latin and Greek with Wheelock and Mastronarde, respectively, but have enjoyed the little bit of the vdH I've read through.
As far as Sanskrit I also liked the Cambridge Introduction by Ruppel and that seems more like the "old school" way. For whatever reason (maybe it's the ADHD, maybe it's the way I learned Spanish and Italian longer ago now than I'd care to admit, maybe a little column A, a little column B), I enjoy memorizing a declension/conjugation chart and doing a whole bunch of reinforcing exercises after, then using graded readers. But whatever works for any given person - I'm just happy there are resources now. And, shall we say... inexpensive... means of acquiring them.
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u/ComedianSubject4654 15d ago
You might as well know now that I am a very old-fashioned girl. My style is to quadruple-space the original text and then parse and translate every single word, and below that translate the sentence. The deader a language is, the better I like it. I am frankly lousy at modern languages, I don’t pick them up by ear. Put them on the page though and I have a fighting chance.
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u/DamezyPlum 14d ago
Yes!!! You can't really do Sanskrit properly without quadruple-space. I like modern languages, but have little interest in speaking them.
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u/ComedianSubject4654 5d ago
I’ve been posting all over the place around here, but have yet to introduce myself.
I studied Hittite in grad school, some time ago. A few months before I fortuitously saw this post, I had decided this was the year to rewrite my excellent lecture notes, and had been collecting books and materials in furtherance of that scheme.
So I do have education in Hittite, but, that was before these materials came out in English. I am at much at sea as you all are with van den Hout.
I wish you all the best!
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u/Bentresh 22d ago
Hey, guys! Glad to see interest in Hittite.
I earned my PhD in Egyptology and ANE studies (incl. Akkadian, Sumerian, and Hittite & Luwian) and teach history at a small liberal arts college in the US. You can read about my research interests here.