I'm not sure where else to go right now as I am unable to speak with mentors from my school. I recently graduated with B.A.s in English and History, and I am interested in going to graduate school for anything along the lines of ancient/classical studies, medieval studies, art conservation, archival work and research. Most of the programs require a working knowledge of Latin, Ancient Greek and a modern language (mine is French). I was hoping to go to grad school by next year, but I need to spend time working on these languages. As historian, how would you suggest I go about learning these languages? I cannot seem to find any two-year (or even one-year) track programs that will teach me these languages, and I could use any help/advice, thank you!!
I’m a PhD in classical archaeology. This is what I did:
Read the book “Reading French in Arts and Sciences, 4th Edition (English and French Edition)” by Stack.
For German, I used “German for Reading Knowledge, 5th Edition” by Jannach.
Some schools offer courses for reading knowledge of French and German. You can take them while you do your graduate work and it counts towards the program requirements. You’ll likely have to pass a language exam in both French and German. Usually just a translation of an academic article.
As for the ancient languages, If you didn’t take them while earning your BA, I would suggest looking into doing a post baccalaureate program to at least start Latin. If you have some Latin and Greek already, look into doing an MA in a classics or ancient history program. There are several terminal MA programs out there.