What language is the most important for history scholars?

JackTheRipper   Sun Nov 15, 2009 5:28 pm GMT
French or German? Or maybe English displaces them yet again?
Guest   Sun Nov 15, 2009 5:29 pm GMT
French?

German??

No, Latin and Greek.
blanche   Sun Nov 15, 2009 6:56 pm GMT
French, German and Italian at least in Europe Except English of course
blanxious   Sun Nov 15, 2009 7:10 pm GMT
<<No, Latin and Greek. >>

Surely it depends on what history you're studying:

- Hittite
- Hebrew
- Sanskrit
- Arabic
- Chinese
- Japanese
- Etc.
Luca   Wed Nov 18, 2009 7:51 pm GMT
I agree; it depends upon what kind of history you're interested in; for european ancient history I think you shouldn't miss latin and ancient greek.
For art history, italian is a plus. For modern and contemporary history, english and french are what you need.
Sorry for my english :-))
Skippy   Thu Nov 19, 2009 5:50 pm GMT
I absolutely agree it depends on the type of history you wish to study. Eastern Europe? Russian proficiency would be good...

Central Europe? German

Western Europe? Assuming you already know English, then French

Medieval Europe? Latin probably
Baldewin   Thu Nov 19, 2009 6:04 pm GMT
The Low Countries? Dutch, French, Spanish and Latin.
French history? French (post-revolutionary), Occitan and Latin (medieval).
Central Europe? High German, Low German and Latin.
Spain? Spanish, Catalan (Valencian) and Latin.

etc...

I'd surely pick Latin as it stretches through whole of Western and Central Europe.
Baldewin   Thu Nov 19, 2009 6:06 pm GMT
You just have to know your languages in other words.
blu   Thu Nov 19, 2009 9:01 pm GMT
the Renaissance and art history = Italian
Guest   Thu Nov 19, 2009 9:14 pm GMT
the Renaissance and art history = Italian


What have the art in ancient Egypt, Greece, China, India, Spain to do with italian?
If you mean Italian art, then yes, Italian is a must language.
Spain the European butt   Thu Nov 19, 2009 9:19 pm GMT
Spain compared to China, India, Italy, from an artistic point of view? Well, Armada you should have sunk 500 years ago!
Yolanda   Thu Nov 19, 2009 9:37 pm GMT
What have the art in ancient Egypt, Greece, China, India, Spain to do with italian?

Not much, but who cares about them? Italian art is ten times better than all of the above combined.
Luca   Thu Nov 19, 2009 9:47 pm GMT
Sure. But according to your point of view, dear guest, one should know every single language of world. The point was to suggest a reference language for some branches of history.. And italian is a good one for art history. No one would state that art exists only in italy or that the valuable ancient one can be learnt only by latin and ancient greek texts.
Franco   Thu Nov 19, 2009 10:39 pm GMT
Spanish is a very important language in History. There is tons of documentation about discovering and colonization of America in Spanish.
muito giro   Thu Nov 19, 2009 10:42 pm GMT
There is tons of documentation about discovering and colonization of America in Spanish

A real shame for Humanity!