[B-Greek] hora

Raymond Regalado fwgk5942 at mb.infoweb.ne.jp
Sat May 8 10:43:16 EDT 2004


On 2004.5.8, at 11:04  PM, TuNeCedeMalis67 at aol.com wrote:

> I could care less about what is "right". I just want my son to be 
> CONSISTENT. He was making up his own sound files based on Strong's 
> phonetic pronunciations, for the Machen book, but that was taking a 
> LOT of time and we still weren't sure of what we were doing.

Strong's and Mounce's and Machen's are basically the same Erasmian 
system (with perhaps some difference in the pronunciation of the "ei" 
diphthong).

> I figured the Mounce files must be consistent and thought it would be 
> so nice just to have ready made sound files, so switched books with 
> him.
> But if the omegas aren't even consistently long...I'm wondering what 
> else is off :-(

If you know the system, then you will notice the inconsistencies.  For 
instance, you noticed that "hWRA" was a bit off and that's because you 
know the system.

> I just don't want to DRILL inconsistent pronunciation :-(

Drilling makes one more consistent.  I suggest just plunging in and 
drilling as you know how; the pronunciation will become second nature 
as you go on.

> I've even thought of using the modern pronunciation, but really don't 
> want to do that as my son will probably be studying classics in 
> college and the difference in pronunciation from his teacher would be 
> extreme.

That may be a wise decision.

> I can't believe I'm still discussing picking a pronunciation after 3 
> years of dabbling in Greek :-(

I know the feeling.  One problem we have is that we have too many books 
and materials to choose from!  Unlike John Brown, who had only a copy 
of a Greek New Testament and learned Greek from that -- with no grammar 
book, no tapes, no flashcards, etc. -- while tending sheep!  (Or some 
such story...)

I had a hard time choosing between Summers, Machen, Mounce, Hudson, 
Baugh... so I read them all!  Looking back, I'd advise just picking one 
and going through the whole thing *before* dropping it and switching to 
another.  It's a good thing that there's only one really nice Koine 
Greek book *in Japanese* to choose from to teach my own kids. ;-)

Here's my advice from my own meager experience, for what it's worth:  
http://homepage3.nifty.com/regalado/biblelang.htm  I wrote it quickly, 
so it's kind of rough, but I hope it may prove to be of some use.

Regards,

Raymond Regalado
Tokyo, Japan



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