Learning Greek: How Far To Go?
Ken Smith
kens at 180solutions.com
Tue May 15 17:48:58 EDT 2001
I'd have to agree with those in favor of an integrated,
reading-writing-listening-speaking approach. I learned Greek the
traditional way (from Machen), with my instructor intentionally
de-emphasizing writing and speaking. And I've always regretted it. I
don't believe you can get a good, intuitive grasp on a word, or tense,
or a mood, or any other grammatical construction, until you've had to
produce it a couple dozen times in conversation, choose between it and a
half-dozen other ways of saying the same thing, and so forth. And that
will be true no matter how much reading you do. I've been embarrassed
at the obvious grammatical mistakes in Revelation that my eyes (and
ears) pass right over, just because I've never been forced to create
those constructions accurately, and so barely notice when they're being
used incorrectly or woodenly.
I'm well aware that in trying to reproduce Koine in a modern context, I
would undoubtedly miss numerous nuances of the language, and might even
develop some bad linguistic habits. It'd probably sound pretty pidgin
to a native speaker. But I think it'd be better to miss some of the
nuances than to never have a chance to enter into the language, into its
internal logic.
I've memorized numerous chapters of NT Greek, but could reproduce them
only in my stilted, stumbling, academic pronunciation: it wasn't until I
started listening to fluent Greek speakers (even modern Greek speakers
such as Zodhiates) that I really got it into my head that Greek was a
real, flowing, living language, and not an academic construct. I still
can't speak or write worth beans, but give me a course on conversational
Koine, and I'd sign up for it in a second.
Ken
> It's a matter of the pronunciation being used. Obviously a
> solitary guy out in Puget Sound might not find this very
> useful, but I think that a class of students learning Greek
> with a common pronunciation would find the reinforcement of
> thinking, asking questions and answering them in the Greek
> would considerably assist the learning process. One method of
> teaching Classical Attic, that of Carl Ruck (still in print,
> I think) was based on just this procedure. And that, of
> course, is what Randall Buth proposes to do in Jerusalem,
> even if he can interest nobody else in the world. I say: more
> power to him!
> --
>
> Carl W. Conrad
> Department of Classics/Washington University
> Home: 7222 Colgate Ave./St. Louis, MO 63130/(314) 726-5649
> cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu
> WWW: http://www.artsci.wustl.edu/~cwconrad/
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