Pronunciation and subjunctives

Vince Endris vince_endris at hotmail.com
Tue Apr 2 17:43:13 EST 2002


Dear B-Greekers,

I am taking a Greek class from Holy Cross Greek Orthodox school in Boston.  
Their primary goal in the class is to learn to read the language as reading 
and chanting have so much to do with their services. Anyway, to get to the 
point, they use the modern greek pronunciation which is far different from 
what I learned.  The teacher really pushes this a lot, though, claiming that 
we KNOW that Jesus pronounced these words in the modern way.  Leaving aside 
the question that we really don't know what Jesus spoke, is it true that the 
pronunciation had already evolved to what we have today in the time of Jesus 
and the biblical writers?  The fact that my teacher is so forceful about it 
and the fact that pronunciation plays such a big part in their services 
makes me suspicious.

I also have a question about subjunctive mood. I first learned to translate 
these verbs with "might," "may," "should," or the like.  However, I am now 
being told that I should not do that.  How should I translate them?

Thank you for your imput.

Vince Endris

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