John Newton and Learning Babylonian as a Living Language

In the 11th letter of his epistolary autobiography, John Newton describes how he taught himself Latin while serving as captain of a slave ship:

"Having now much leisure, I prosecuted the study of the Latin with good success. I remembered a dictionary this voyage, and procured two or three other books; but still it was my hap to chuse the hardest. … I was not aware of the difference of style; I had heard Livy highly commended, and was resolved to understand him. I began with the first page, and laid down a rule, which I seldom departed from, not to proceed to a second period till I understood the first, and so on. I was often at a stand, but seldom discouraged: here and there I found a few lines quite obstinate, and was forced to break-in upon my rule, and give them up, especially as my edition had only the text, without any notes to assist me. But there were not many such; for before the close of that voyage, I could (with a few exceptions) read Livy from end to end, almost as readily as an English author. And I found, in surmounting this difficulty, I had surmounted all in one." - John Newton, Authentic Narrative (1764), pp. 165-6

The key ingredients here are dedication, time and freedom from distraction. For a more efficient approach, I recommend learning Latin--or any "dead" language really--as you would a living language. Take Babylonian, for instance:

"A Cambridge academic has taught himself to speak ancient Babylonian and is leading a campaign to revive it as a spoken language almost 2,000 years after it became extinct. Dr Martin Worthington, a fellow of St John’s College, has created the world’s first film in the ancient language with his Babylonian-speaking students dramatising a folk tale from a clay tablet from 701BC." - Charles Hymas in The Telegraph

You can watch the very interesting film here (with subtitles if you prefer):

Click here for more information about the film, with a link to Dr. Worthington's book, Teach Yourself Complete Babylonian.