MA, University of Auckland · 15+ ancient languages
Nigel Dickey spent five years at the University of Auckland, then another seven at Oxford, studying every branch of the Indo-European language family. Now he teaches that full story — from the very first human words to modern English, as well as the languages of Greece, Rome, India, Scandinavia and more — to students all over the world.
15+
Ancient languages taught
7 yrs
Studying at Oxford
10
Courses available
MA
Latin and Greek
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About Nigel
Nigel Dickey isn't a career academic — he's someone who fell in love with ancient languages and went all the way to Oxford to learn them properly. He attended degree-level classes across every major Indo-European branch, from Hittite and Sanskrit to Old Irish and Armenian. Now he teaches from Auckland, New Zealand, to students all over the world.
Read Nigel's story →What students say
"I very much enjoyed Nigel's course on Indo-European languages. Nigel has an amazing knowledge of languages, and it was an eye-opener to me when he demonstrated how apparently dissimilar languages were related if you looked a little bit closer, under the skin, as it were. Reading some of the ancient literature was wonderful too."
"I thoroughly enjoyed the course: I was most pleased at its close attentiveness to the origins of Proto-Indo-European terms, such as the numerals. In fact, your course answered many questions on that topic, the answers to which I have been voraciously hunting for a while now. I thank you."
"I thoroughly enjoyed the course. Nigel is an extremely knowledgeable guide on the subject, and his teaching style allows all members of the class to clarify their understanding of the variety of topics that he presents on. As a secondary English teacher I was grateful for the opportunity to deepen my understanding of the subject I teach."
"Nigel is the best language teacher I have taken lessons from. He is extremely knowledgeable of language etymology — actually the most knowledgeable that I have known personally. He prepares well for each lesson, and tailors his style and speed to my aptitude and interest, without ego or rigidity."
"The course met my expectations and more. It was well researched with plenty of detail and lots of resources offered. I found the evidence based information about the origins of language particularly interesting. I certainly learnt a lot."
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