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Biblical Greek, modern pronounication

Posted: April 30th, 2018, 8:31 am
by Catrin
I am a beginner with some experience in Russian and French. Just enough to confuse myself. I want to learn NT era Greek to read Patristics, New Testament, and the LXX. I do, however, really need to learn the modern pronounciation. From what i.can tell, there are no formal resources for this but am checking. I do know there aren't THAT many pronounciation -related differences outside of a few letters and dipthongs.

Are there beginning manuals and workbooks I've not yet run across that specifically addresses this? If not, as I suspect, would the Porter book/workbook combo be good for an actual beginner? I've Machen but need more drills and exercises than what he offers. I've also read good things about Decker and am considering him as well.

Thanks in advance for any comments!

Re: Biblical Greek, modern pronounication

Posted: April 30th, 2018, 11:24 am
by Jonathan Robie
Hi Catrin,

Biblemesh teaches Greek using modern pronunciation, and they have nice recordings. If you can afford that route, I would recommend it. Faith Comes By Hearing has the entire New Testament recorded in modern pronunciation for free so you can read and listen at the same time. Buth's Restored Pronunciation is very close to modern Greek, you can easily get used to switching between them, and various people teach New Testament Greek using that pronunciation or very similar pronunciations.

You can use pretty much any book and workbook, ignoring what they say about pronunciation. Machen is useful mainly as a source of tables. Mounce's book and workbook have worked for many, David Alan Black's book and workbook have also worked for many. Decker's graded readers are great for getting lots of reading experience early on.

Re: Biblical Greek, modern pronounication

Posted: May 6th, 2018, 1:34 am
by Jacob Rhoden
Yes, the textbooks really don't say much about pronunciation except for an initial short section about how to pronounce greek. One exception to this I know of is Decker's textbook. It has a slightly more detailed introduction to pronunciation and caters for "reconstructed" which is much closer to modern.

But yes, you can get away with basically using any textbook you would like. Its simply a matter of finding an audio resource to go along with your study to help practice/solidify the pronunciation. I personally like Randal Buth's recordings. One of his CD's has audio drills where 1 John is read out with spaces so you can imitate copy the pronunciation.