[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...;-)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
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
----------------------------------------------
Kathleen Borsari:
...They [Hudson and Machen]present the Greek like a 100 year old grade
school Greek or Latin book
----------------------------------------------------------------
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.
More information about the B-Greek
mailing list