[B-Greek] Learning KOINE

paulmilka1 paulmilka1 at compuserve.de
Thu Feb 26 16:59:35 EST 2004


Ah, Sie sind Deutscher?  That's another language I'm trying to learn in
the Tokyo subway...;-)
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No, I'm American.  If you want to learn German in a 'sardine can' 
(that's what those trains are like, aren't they?), try using the famous 
Pimsleur tapes; you don't need a book and the method does work.  The 
tapes are pricey, but it's worth the investment.
 
I still don't know why Hudson's book can be any better than
Machen's (unless one thinks ignoring the accents is a better way).

I don't think it's necessarily better, but maybe "better" for certain 
people at certain times.  Hudson was my first KOINE book.  I picked it 
up while serving in the military. I had it stuffed in my leg pocket and 
would it pull it out whenever I had any downtime.  Hudson was right for 
me back then in the sense that the book was small, light, supple, and 
was broken down into manageable chunks.  For me it was the right book at 
the right time.  In choosing any foreign language book, it's probably a 
good idea to do a "needs analysis" first.  That is, the learner should 
ask himself why he needs or wants to learn the language.  This could 
help in choosing a suitable book. If he just wants a fast and 
uncomplicated introduction to the language, then Hudson is probably a 
better choice than Mounce, for example. If he is terrified of languages 
and had to seek psychological help after venturing into high school 
Spanish, then he definitely has no other choice than to get Randall 
Buth's course, which is based on the audio-lingual approach of Harris 
Winitz (the author of the "Learnables" series - only pictures and sound).

One list member recently said he planned to attend seminary and that he 
admired Machen.  In his case choosing Machen's grammar was a good 
decision -- at least in the sense that he would be bringing a good 
amount of so-called intrinsic motivation to his studies.  This is of 
course a subjective factor, but I think such factors play a significant 
role in language learning.  If you are simply "turned off" by the 
cumbersome layout of a certain book (Mounce?), for example, your brain 
might subtly try to sabotage your learning. This leads to the question 
of learning styles...more later!


Paul Milkaitis
Potsdam, Germany
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Kathleen Borsari:

...They [Hudson and Machen]present the Greek like a 100 year old grade 
school Greek or Latin book
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Paul M:

I agree, Kathleen! But that leads to the question of methods! The "old 
fashion" methods were basically deductive - as far as I can see - and 
made you learn by applying logical deduction and lots of sweat. The new 
methods seem to want to tap into "intuition" or the right side of the 
brain - or whatever! That doesn't mean they are useless, though.  I 
think Mounce at least can be accredited for attempting to combine the 
deductive and inductive methods.  Whether he succeeded or not is of 
course another matter.  








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