[B-Greek] Learn Nouns first, later Verbs
Terry and Gail Cook
cookie99 at fuse.net
Mon Jan 19 11:43:05 EST 2004
Quite frequently this group discusses beginner's Greek books, methods and
theories. I'm glad this happens as I am in my 2nd quarter of beginners
Greek. I fear that some are too far distanced from what it's like to be a
beginner! Let me explain.
When I learned English I was immersed in a world that spoke only English. At
age 5-6 I went off to school where they taught me to read "run spot run" and
after about a year I was reading compound sentences. Rememer, I was still
immersed in a world of English. When I arrived home from school everyone was
speaking English.
In Greek I have no prior experience and I know of no one who speaks it. I
was (as most beginners are) a true "virgin" to the language.
Greek week #1: I learn the alphabet and then week #2- I'm thrown into the
fire!! Wierd endings, 20 words to memorize which look nothing like
English... and the following week..... more of the same. Whew!! I suggest a
slower pace to learning Greek which accomadates those of us who are "normal"
learners :)
None of the books/systems on learning mentioned on this list except Lyle
Story's take a slowed down pace to learning Greek. I don't particularly like
his book/system but it does have that going for it. I have Mounce (book and
cd), Dobson, and Black as helpers to my textbook which is "Essentials of New
Testament Greek, Revised" (I also have the workbook). And finally, I am
using Greek Tutor software by Parsons. I am employing all of these aids in
an effort to understand a relatively small document written 2,000 years ago.
Nearly everyone I've talked with who has tried Greek agrees that it is
extremely difficult. Surely, from this august group of thinkers someone
could come up with a better method of learning Greek from the ground up than
is available at this time.
Terry Cook
----- Original Message -----
From: "Raymond Regalado" <fwgk5942 at mb.infoweb.ne.jp>
To: <b-greek at lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Monday, January 19, 2004 10:53 AM
Subject: Re: [B-Greek] Learn Nouns first, later Verbs
> On 2004.1.20, at 12:13 AM, Mitch Larramore wrote:
>
> > Mounce states in his Basic Greek Grammar that it is
> > best to study the Noun system first, and to withhold
> > discussion of the Verb until much later. He says that
> > this makes it easier to learn Greek.
>
> Having read Mounce's book as well as others, all I can say is, it
> probably depends...on the student. Some students may do well to
> concentrate on mastering the noun system first, and then do verbs.
> Mounce mentions that one of his students finally passed his class after
> Mounce adopted his system of doing nouns first before verbs. Some may
> find no problem doing nouns then verbs then nouns and then verbs, etc.
> Even Mounce himself is willing to accomodate those teachers who want to
> do verbs sooner, through his "two track" system in BBG. Having said
> that, let me add that there probably is no "perfect" beginning grammar.
> A student should perhaps just stick with the text assigned in class,
> in spite of its perceived deficiencies. If you are teaching yourself,
> then work through one of the popular grammars first, to the end, then
> you may want to try other systems/grammars if you have the time. I
> think the "key" to learning Greek (or any language) is getting to
> *love* it. Then you'd find yourself not being content with using just
> one grammar; you'd end up referencing several, in all probability. I'm
> in my fourth beginning grammar (I did Mounce and Machen and Summers
> previously, though not as thoroughly as I would've liked). I'm using
> S.M. Baugh's Primer; it's not exactly the best there is, but I can see
> where its "deficient", from my previous knowledge from other grammars...
>
> My two cents,
>
> Raymond Regalado
> Tokyo, Japan
>
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