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New Testament Audio Texts
Posted: November 4th, 2011, 7:11 pm
by Louis L Sorenson
As many know, I keep a list of available Greek New Testament audio at
http://www.letsreadgreek.com/resources/greekntaudio.htm. This week, I got several new leads on some available Koine audio - one in curious mix of Erasmian (ει = [ei], modern υ =
, p = p (not pʰ), Attic (θ=tʰ θεός = tʰεos) (with a French accent) (http://www.areopage.net/ntgraudio.html) , and one in Modern Greek (a gentleman in his 50's? No other info on this one yet) which has the entire NT (http://www.gospelsingreek.com/MasterList.htm). (Many thanks to Kamil!)
There is also John Schwandt's newly available German Bible Society USB4 audio of the entire NT (Published by Hendricksen Publishers http://www.christianbook.com/greek-new- ... /pd/566321 which should not have the stilted quality of the Logos audio he made (I've yet to hear this audio). There is also another modern Greek version of some books of the Μετάφραση Νεόφυτος Βάμβας by another gentleman YTVideoJudge http://www.youtube.com/user/YTVideoJudg ... G28ju_va0k. I'll update my audio page this weekend.
Randall Buth's Restored Koine samples can be found at http://www.biblicallanguagecenter.com/g ... 3-samples/
Pekka Ikonomaki's Librivox links are broken. They can best be found by searching Librivox for the reader "Pella" https://catalog.librivox.org/search_adv ... ion=Search
If anyone knows anything about the specifics of the people listed above (YTVideoJudge, GospelsinGreek.com) please send me an email or private message. So far, Buth's and my own audio is the only restored Koine NT of which I know.
Re: New Testament Audio Texts
Posted: November 9th, 2011, 5:39 pm
by Jeremy Spencer
Hi, folks,
I was just wondering what "Restored Koine" refers to--I'd assume that it refers to a certain way of pronouncing Koine Greek, maybe different ways of pronouncing the vowels and so forth.
Thanks,
Jeremy
Re: New Testament Audio Texts
Posted: November 12th, 2011, 3:55 pm
by Mark Lightman
Jeremy asked I was just wondering what "Restored Koine" refers to--I'd assume that it refers to a certain way of pronouncing Koine Greek, maybe different ways of pronouncing the vowels and so forth.
Hi, Jeremy,
Yes Restored Koine is essentially pronouncing Ancient Greek the way Modern Greeks do, but with a few less iotacisms (i.e. converting other vowel and dipthong sounds to ιοτα, like ee in feet.) It's probaby pretty close to the way New Testament Greek was proncounced at the time. Many people interested in speaking Ancient Greek adopt this προφορά. It's also known as Buthian after Randall Buth.
Even, if like me, you chose to retain Erasmian, if you are going to get serious about listening to and speaking Ancient Greek, you are going to have to learn to speak and understand Restored Koine. Beggars cannot be choosers. I can switch back and forth with little difficulty.
One of the interesting things about Restored Koine is that is as it moves from a PDF to a real dialect spoken by real people it, like all languages, is beginning to change. Students are told to conflate αι and ε and pronounce both more or less like e in pet, but French people tend to pronounce ναί and καί like nay and kay, like "a" as in late. οι, which is supposed to be like kind of a French u, tends to simplified to EITHER "ee" as in feet or "ou" as in soup.
This is the most natural thing in the world, and stuff like this has been happening with Erasmian for centuries. If Jesus tarries, some guy will have to "restore" Koine all over again in a couple hundred years.
Re: New Testament Audio Texts
Posted: November 15th, 2011, 11:42 am
by Jeremy Spencer
15 Nov 2011
Mark:
Thanks for a fascinating yet brief description. I appreciate the response. I'm probably not yet ready to take the spoken language plunge, but I'd guess that for those who can do so that it really opens up horizons of understanding and thinking--certain constructions would seem more natural if used conversationally.
Best wishes,
Jeremy
Re: New Testament Audio Texts
Posted: November 16th, 2011, 7:31 pm
by RandallButh
Jeremy ἔγραψεν
... I'm probably not yet ready to take the spoken language plunge, but I'd guess that for those who can do so that it really opens up horizons of understanding and thinking--certain constructions would seem more natural if used conversationally.
Best wishes,
Jeremy
what would it take to be ready for the plunge? Mostly a person just needs to want to learn Greek, no holds barred.
As for 'restored Koine', one may aim at the sounds themselves, not the "simplifications" whatever those might not be.
Listening helps more than descriptions.
υ is a highfront vowel with 'rounded lips' and will stay that way. And yes, αι and ε are pronounced the same. Anything close to 'e' in "get" is fine and handled by French people as well. It needs to be kept distinct from η, which is a higher vowel close to "eight/ate". The distinction becomes tricky for people from a five-vowel language like Spanish or Modern Greek, where they do not naturally distinguish such an η and ε. If you are at SBL on Saturday aft we will be discussing this.
Randall Buth
Re: New Testament Audio Texts
Posted: January 7th, 2012, 6:46 pm
by Louis L Sorenson
Here is another Neoellenic rendering of the NT and OT in read in modern Greek by a native speaker:
http://www.vivlos.net/kaini.html
Re: New Testament Audio Texts
Posted: January 9th, 2012, 7:37 am
by Devenios Doulenios
Louis, do you know which Modern Greek translation this site used for the recordings?
Δεβένιος Δουλένιος
Re: New Testament Audio Texts
Posted: November 25th, 2012, 6:50 pm
by Louis L Sorenson
Δεβένιος Δουλένιος wrote:
Louis, do you know which Modern Greek translation this site used for the recordings?
The site says:
The demotic language translation done by Mr. Professors Vassiliadis Galitis, Galanis, Karavidopoulos made on behalf of the Greek Bible Society.
Re: New Testament Audio Texts
Posted: November 25th, 2012, 6:54 pm
by Louis L Sorenson
I have updated my page listing all the known available audio for the Greek New Testament with reviews of each. Several outstanding recordings of the Patriarchal Text of 1904 (Similar to the Tischendorf text, I believe) are available. So take a look and listen. The site can be found at
http://www.letsreadgreek.com/resources/greekntaudio.htm. Thanks for everyone who sent me a lead. I've also endeavored to update any broken links.
Re: New Testament Audio Texts
Posted: November 29th, 2012, 4:57 pm
by Devenios Doulenios
I highly recommend the 1904 Patriarchal recording from Bible.is. I listen to it almost every day and it is really helpful as I slowly move from the grammar-translation to the living language approach. I have listened to all of John, Luke, and 1 and 2 Corinthians. I also like the John Simon recordings from greeklatinaudio.com. One nice thing about both of these is that they are free (the Simon set is also available on DVD for a modest price). Both have really good conversational flow, which is important.
Louis, I'm enjoying your Psalms audio and your hymn translations, as well.

--Though after switching from Erasmian to Modern Greek accent it is a tiny bit jarring hearing η as /e/ instead of /i/...but I understand why Randall went that way. But I say any spoken ancient Greek, even Erasmian, is better than no spoken ancient Greek.
As for the concern about distinguishing or not distinguishing the ι, η, υ in the modern accent: the more I listen to these and then look at the print form of the text, the more I find that context almost always helps with knowing which is meant, even with homophones like υμεις, ημεις. The role of context in understanding conversation and reading material is often not considered sufficiently, in my opinion. Which is why students struggle so to learn and retain Greek vocab. taught by the Grammar-Translation method. It's taught without sufficient context.
Ειρηνη πασιν υμιν,
Δεβένιος