John Ma

A lot of complicated concepts made simple by the instructor.

Finishing reviewing Latin Grammar. Many types of Subjunctive clauses, sequences of tenses, special types of Ablatives, Genitives, and Accusatives. Relative Clauses. Indirect Statement. Indirect Questions. Many types of subordinate clauses.

I learned how to take a deeper look at latin literature.

I gained a good outline of the historical, archaeological, methodological, and theoretical frameworks surrounding the scholarly discussion of the Greek polis. In particular, the emphasis on the material and epigraphic record of Greek cities, as well as the many theoretical backgrounds from a variety of disciplines proved as useful and challenging focus of the course.

I approached this course with no previous knowledge of Ancient Greek, and left with a relatively complete grasp of its grammar. I was amazed at how much Greek I could learn in a semester, and feel prepared for higher-level language and translation courses.

I learned how to examine/discuss a Latin text from both historical and literary standpoints, as well as read Latin first and foremost for analysis rather than translation. I also learned how to sift through the layers of Tacitus' narrative and think about how this relates to history and historiography as a whole.

How little of a crap Homer gave about everything you learned in Attic Greek: that guy does his own thing! This course also greatly strengthened and expanded my grammar and vocab.

I have learned a great deal in this course in great part due to the superb professor, John Ma, and TA, Gia Chen.

I finally learned how to read and understand a Latin text without having to write out a translation to make sense of it, which I had previously struggled to do.

Homeric vs. attic greek, scanning, understanding verbal transmission, improving general greek skills.