Re: A little Greek is a dangerous thing

DWILKINS@ucrac1.ucr.edu
Sat, 24 Aug 1996 11:35:54 -0700 (PDT)

I believe I originated this now somewhat infamous comment, so let me attempt
to qualify it. When I taught a group a "little" Greek, I foolishly viewed the
opportunity as equivalent to a class (a hazard of being a professional teacher),and when it was over, I viewed it as over. Now I know that if you try to teach
Greek on this level, you need to view your students as apprentices for a good
time after class is out, and they need to have the same attitude. Those who
follow this list and are learning Greek on their own or are beginning to at
college are taking the right approach, because they can bounce their ideas
off the more experienced students on the list, and in general learn more about
the subtleties of the language. It is particularly important, if you think you
have discovered something new about a text or a point of grammar, to present
it to a group like this list before you begin preaching it from the rooftops.
(This is S.O.P. even for the veterans.) So I think that anyone who is a stu-
dious member of this list probably has graduated, or is soon to graduate,
from being a "little Greek" in the "dangerous" sense.

Don Wilkins
UC Riverside