How to study Latin and Greek more effectively?

For me, the key to success once we got to reading connected texts was to review everything we read, slowly, to make sure I knew the definition of every word, the principal parts of every verb (for Greek); and that I could explain what was going on with the syntax in every single sentence. What case it that noun, and why? Why is that verb in the subjunctive? And then, what is a good translation of the whole sentence? That's how I prepared for class: but in the first couple of years, I was wrong about a lot of things the first time through, so I'd get the right answer in class, then review it again later that night to make sure I got it. It took about a year, but I eventually built up enough of a repertory of grammar and syntax that a lot of it became automatic. I also kept running notes on the vocab and syntax of the reading, to study from before exams. No special method: I just re-read the text we were going to be tested on, and if I got stuck, I looked back at my notes. (This is assuming you have the declensions and conjugations already memorized. If you can't yet do them automatically, some serious rote learning is in order. What helped me most to get a handle on these was a combination of writing out entire paradigms, and also reciting them out loud. That part drove my roommate crazy for a while...) Oh yeah, and if you have the chance to do a prose composition course, do it -- you'll end up with a rock-solid understanding of the fundamentals. That's what it's for. I'm trying to remember how much time I spent on this daily. In college when I was doing second-year Greek at the same time as intensive Latin, I put in a lot of time, probably about two hours a day on each, and several entire 8-hour days spent studying before final exams. That's probably the year I worked hardest -- well, at least until I went to grad school -- and I ended up with truly solid knowledge of both languages, and the ability to find my way through a text without too much confusion. Enjoy the challenge! My years as an undergrad were a lot of fun, and being able to put in crazy amounts of work and time in order to learn things thoroughly was a big part of that. It's an opportunity most people won't have again till they retire.

You're very lucky! Latin and Greek are tremendous to learn. I've found there were three aspects to learning Greek and Latin: 1. The grammar (endings, constructions, use of tenses) 2. The syntax (the order of words, how to express ideas to best convey the meaning) 3. The vocabulary Each of them needed a different approach. They are very different beasts! Grammar: I recommend this book, http://www.archive.org/details/ritchiesfirstste00ritcrich. There is a second volume (second steps) and a First Steps in Greek. They will do little for your comprehension, but if you can get through the whole thing (not too hard) you will know your intermediate grammar inside out. Most importantly, it will put into order all those things that you've just picked up ad hoc. Rote learning is rightly condemned as dull for certain subjects, but for grammar it is perfect. You need to be able to glance at a word and ID it fast. SAY THINGS OUT LOUD. A lot of it rhymes, or is rhythmical: bellum, bellum, bellum, belli, bello, bello, bella, bella, bella, bellorum, bellis, bellis. REPEAT REPEAT REPEAT! I wrote down all the endings for first conjugation verbs on an A4 sheet of paper and looked at it every day on my way to school/work. AT NIGHT, RUN THROUGH THEM AS YOU FALL ASLEEP! Syntax: A difficult topic. What are you reading in Latin at the moment? Diagram sentences, try reading Martial, and try the Vulgate bible to pick up a feel for reading simple Latin sentences. Stick to fairly straightforward stuff (look at past exam papers, if you have them, for examples of what you'll be expected to do). Most classical authors are incredibly tough for intermediate readers. Don't be too discouraged if you can't understand Cicero or Homer instantly. I always found syntax hardest. It's one of those things that has to come through reading. However, if you have the stomach for it, prose composition is a great way to practice putting together a sentence (and practice your grammar and vocab). The http://www.textkit.com/learn/ID/51/author_id/11/ book from Bristol University Press is an excellent workbook, and out of copyright. Vocab: Flashcards! Anki is superb. Keep a list (paper/electronic) of new words. And as a bonus: http://www.archive.org/details/revisedlatinprim00kenniala, which has a cracking poem at the end to help you remember genders and a slice of vocab:

Classical Greek has so much vocabulary, so many dialects, so many endings! No matter how long you study it, you will probably keep finding holes in your knowledge and stuff you have forgotten. I think you definitely need some form of rote memorization. I have found reciting paradigms out loud useful, mostly for 15-20 minute stints in any one session. Beyond that I find returns diminish. When reciting out loud, do make sure you are pronouncing things consistently so you don't get confused about how they are spelled. You can make some CDs or sound files and drill yourself during study breaks, which will also rest your eyes. (Eyestrain is a huge liability for classicists.) Another thing I found incredibly fun and useful was memorizing poetry in Greek and Latin. After doing this for a while, I felt like I had a much better sense of how the languages work.

I haven't studied those languages, but when I've had to memorize things, I've found that varying the location of my studying has helped. I think being in an unusual setting provides a little extra peg for the memory to attach to.

I am an advocate of writing things down by hand as a way of learning. When I studied Latin & Greek I sat down and wrote out the various paradigms first thing every morning when I came to the reading room. I had a set of example words (one from each conjugation/declination), same nouns and adjectives (all genders, singular and plural) and verbs (all persons, tenses, modes). Fifteen years later they still stick, even though I haven't been using it a lot the last 5 years. Also we did a lot of composition, translation to Greek/Latin, which was hard, but really helpful both in terms of grammar and vocabulary. Also reading Harrius Potter, Ursus nomine Paddington and Winnie ille Pu was helpful practising fast reading skills where I didn't look up words all the time, but tried to make sense of what I read. Also more fun that Norwegian medieval Latin.

PS- when I say read, I don't mean translate. Read through a sentence, figure out what it means without getting hung up on making the English in your head sound totally idiomatic, and then move onto the next sentence. You'll just slow yourself down and mess up your rhythm if you try to come up with an exam-quality translation.

I studied Ancient Greek for five years (three of them in college) and Latin for five years in junior high and high school (and French for five years in high school, and German for three years in college, and have dabbled in other languages along the way--even taking Spanish in law school, as a way of avoiding legal classes). I've been through the panic you're feeling in each of those languages (especially the first year of college Greek--I had a very forgiving HS Greek teacher, and placed into intermediate Greek studying Herodotus at a school that was somewhat known for its Classics program). Endless, endless flashcards. Use the flashcards to prompt you to write it all out--so if the card gives you a noun, don't just mumble the Latin/Greek translation, write out all the cases in singular and plural for each gender (where possible). Write out every tense and mood, in each person if you've got a verb. It's brute force, but if you spend a couple of afternoons doing it, you'll learn. Good luck!

Assuming you have the basic grammar down (which I assume you do), endlessly going through 4th declension endings won't help you too much. What you need to do is to encounter tricky constructions "in the wild" and work through them. I'm in kind of a similar situation (in a Latin- and Greek-heavy program, but I came in with less previous preparation than most), and I'm only recently beginning to feel confident in the languages. I've done this by pretty much drowning myself in real texts. My Latin is stronger, so I make sure to read several pages (at least 500 words, more if possible) of Latin a day, usually right before bed. Most people will say that you should read through De bello Gallico, but if Caesar bores you like he does me, pick something else. Cicero's orations aren't too bad; I enjoyed In Verrem because it involves some interesting art history and also Cicero's fun when he's angry. Wheelock (as in the textbook) has a http://www.wheelockslatin.com/wheelockslatinreader.htm out that I really like. If you don't feel confident enough to jump into real Latin on your own, try reading through the http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1585102334/metafilter-20/ref=nosim/ book. It starts out with some adapted Virgil and, before you know it, you're reading unadapted Livy. The structure of the book means that you don't really have to bother with a dictionary, which is nice. My Greek is less strong, so I've joined a weekly reading group. We're working through some Plato now, and will pick another author when we're done. Since none of us really have time to prepare a text like we would for class, we all just bring our dictionaries and then work through a passage together. Whoever figures out a construction first will then explain it to the rest. Because it's not a class, there's no fear of being wrong, so the language is just less scary in general. Reading is the only way to gain real competency in these languages. Obviously, review the grammar as you go along-- but having all the charts memorized won't help you with the nuances of either language.

Things I did to learn Greek that aren't exactly what has been mentioned: Going to a classroom with chalkboards on all walls and writing out paradigms: all the way around the room with one, then all the way around with the next, etc. When translating, I copied out all of the Greek into a notebook in ink, skipping a couple lines in between. Then I translated in pencil (allowing for lots of erasure) in those in between lines, with notations about my word choices as I went along. This is especially helpful when you suddenly realize you translated a similar phrase 2 weeks ago in Antigone and you can go back and find that phrase in your notebook and see how you worked through it. If the Greek is only in the text you're working from, and your translation/notes contain only English, it's a lot harder to find previous similar passages.