Learning a foreign language is not hard; neither is it easy. While Greek is not the most difficult language to learn, it's harder than the ones you may have studied in high school or college (Spanish, French, or German).

The most difficult part of learning a language is time management,  because there is a lot of memory work required.  There are no "casual" language learners.  Except for during your formative years (birth-5), language is not learned by osmosis.

Learning a new language must be done intentionally, deliberately, and methodically. This will not be accomplished without a long-term commitment to regular, concentrated periods with the material. Lengthy periods are not necessary, but they must be frequent, regular, and over a prolonged period of time. It is easy to miscalculate the time required to learn Greek. The RTS Virtual Campus allows you 6 months to complete Greek I.

There are two areas of language learning that require study time: new material and review material.  There is flexibility in learning new material.  It can be done as often as several times a day to as infrequently as twice a week.  This aspect of language learning is simliar to other kinds of learning.

Reviewing material, on the other hand, must happen daily, or at the very least, every other day.  Those who cannot spend a minimum of 30 minutes per day, at least four days a week, reviewing previous material will not be successful learning Greek. All new material soon becomes review material, adding more and more to the review task.

If you cannot give your Greek studies at least 30 minutes every other day for review, and 1 hour at least three times a week for new material, keeping this pace for 8-12 months, your chances of succeeding are not good.

Finally, you may wonder how taking a course like this differs from taking it on-campus. The online Greek course covers about the same amount of material online as an on-campus course would. But there are differences:

Difference	On Campus	Virtual Campus	Advantage / Disadvantage of online Hebrew
time limit	15 weeks	15 weeks (up to 6 mos )	work at your own pace; less accountability
class meeting times	once a week - 3 hrs	"class" meets when YOU want	set your own schedule; no "drive time"; no regular accountability and personal contact
primary source of info	class lecture and textbook	interactive CD ROM, textbook, interactive and static web pages	course built with learning at home in mind; no face to face contact with instructor
learning environment	classroom with other students	wherever you choose	comfort, convenience, moves at your pace; no face to face contact with fellow students
feedback from instructor	once a week in person; other times when convenient; e-mail	e-mail; request a phone call	since there is no class time, student feedback is RTS's #1 priority; no face to face contact
quizzes and tests	taken in class; fixed schedule; usually receive your grade a week later	taken at your convenience, YOU and your proctor choose time and location; online quizzes (honor system) are self-grading; online exams usually graded within a few days.	flexibility; online helps and practice exams; prompt feedback; professor often present for clarification