Polyglotby Polytranslator
Learn ancient and classical languages online
Structured courses that take you from zero — alphabet included — to reading real literature in the original. The method is graded reading: short lessons, one system at a time, put to work immediately in real, attributed texts quoted from the standard editions. Audio on every example, tap-glosses on every reading, spaced review on every word.
Old English · Ænglisc
12 units · 36 lessonsThe language of Beowulf. From þ, ð, and æ to reading the poem's opening, the Chronicle's dragons, and The Wanderer — unabridged.
Start the courseAncient Greek · Ἑλληνική
12 units · 36 lessonsFrom the alphabet to Homer, Plato, and the Greek New Testament. Attic foundations; readings across the whole tradition — unabridged.
Start the courseLatin · lingua Latīna
6 units · 18 lessonsThe language of Caesar and Virgil. From the alphabet and the stress rule to the Aeneid, the Gallic War, Catullus, and the Vulgate — in the original.
Start the courseSanskrit · संस्कृतम्
6 units · 18 lessonsDevanagari from the first letter, then Classical Sanskrit through the Upaniṣads, the Hitopadeśa, Kālidāsa, and the Bhagavad Gītā — in the original.
Start the courseArabic · العَرَبِيَّة
6 units · 18 lessonsModern Standard Arabic from the alphabet up, every word fully vowelled, reading the Qur'an's opening sūra, al-Mutanabbī, and modern prose — in the original.
Start the courseOld Norse · dǫnsk tunga
6 units · 18 lessonsThe language of the Eddas and the sagas: normalized Old Icelandic, read through Hávamál, Vǫluspá, three saga openings, and the Jelling stone.
Start the courseOld French · franceis
6 units · 18 lessonsThe language of the Song of Roland: the French of about 1100–1250, read through the Roland, Chrétien de Troyes, and Marie de France.
Start the courseShakespearean English · thou art
6 units · 18 lessonsThe English you can read but misread: wherefore, thou, the do-less question, the meter — through Sonnet 18, Hamlet, and the King James Psalm 23, whole.
Start the courseMore languages are coming — the same engine that powers these courses runs Polytranslator's translators for over two hundred languages — ancient, historical, and modern. When a word stops you mid-reading, the translator reads them too.