They are such an old language and I wish to learn these languages but I am not sure if these language are still alive or if someone here knows that language.
They are all still alive! Just like any language, they've evolved over the millenia. Greeks still speak Greek. Jews still study in Biblical Hebrew and many speak at least some Hebrew, plus the entire country of Israel speaks Hebrew (though the modern version.) As for Aramaic, a version of it is still spoken in northern Iraq, from what I understand. Also Jews who study the Talmud, which is in Aramaic, are also familiar with the language.
Hi Vashti Sakura:
Only in certain contexts. Aramaic, for example, is only spoken today by a small population.
Greek, in regard to its ancient origins is not the same as Modern Greek. There are strong differences. So, for example, if you learn Modern Greek, you are not learning Ancient Greek, as in the Greek which was used in writing certain ancient texts.
Hebrew in its Ancient form, even passed away in Ancient Israel as a "living" language. It existed as a formal Temple Language however, and passed in the "Diaspora" into all the parts of the world as the language of study and worship, while being supplanted as a daily language by the local language.
A movement to revive Hebrew as a "living" language began somewhere about 1900 with the settlement of the Kibbutzes in Israel where modern words were given a Hebrew form. Words in English like MECHANIC were easily adopted to a spelling and pronuciation with Hebrew Letters.
So Hebrew, of the three you mention, is a "living" language again.
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Leaving Hebrew and Aramaic to specialists, as I am not aquainted with these languages, I'd like to say that modern Greek is "<em>live and kicking</em>".
<em>Principally spoken in Greece and as a variation in Cyprus, it is a language also known to immigrant Greeks all over the globe. (Loosly) quoting statistics, there's about 13,000,000 people worldwide who speak Greek. </em>
In the Indo-European language tree Greek "branches out" independently of others and is out of all languages of the same family the one with the longest documented history.<em> As to it's undisrupted evolution over the centuries, you may find useful information by using the following link: </em>
<em>http://www.greek-language.com/History.html</em>
Here's some more on the subject of why learn Ancient Greek, a short article from "Times online", sporting a truckload of reader comments, that make an interesting read as well; http://timesonline.typepad.com/dons_life/2010/08/why-learn-ancient-greek.html, Enjoy!
I am afraid so, a native Greek speaker will know Ancient Greek to some extent, because this is taught in high schools, but if someone for argument's sake hadn't, then he/she could read the Ancient Greek text and understand words or phrases here and there at best, but with the syntax, punctuation, grammar, and a lot of the vocabulary different in certain aspects, he/she would reach for a translation...