[B-Greek] interlinears for beginners

George F Somsel gfsomsel at juno.com
Tue Apr 19 10:24:09 EDT 2005


On Tue, 19 Apr 2005 06:43:44 -0700 "Eric Biggs"
<ericb at gracechurchreno.org> writes:
> My opinion as a beginner,
> 
> In my Greek reading class there are many who think building a 
> vocabulary is the most important thing in learning Greek, as opposed 
> to understanding the parsing of verbs and such.  I believe both have 
> equal weight.  I have noticed that those that do not focus with the 
> same strength on grammar cannot read Greek, though they may be able 
> to join a host of Pastor's in decalring what a word means. (the 
> etymological value and not the linguistic contextual value)
> 
> The simple understanding of the Participle is proof to this, when 
> one sees an article seperated by a hand full of other words not 
> knowing that it is linked the Participle, the translation becomes 
> quite ignorant.
> 
> So as a beginner, why don't we strive to read the Greek and not a 
> line of text that is in between two greek lines of text?
> It may be difficult at first, but I think there is a lot to learn 
> from the host of Greek Scholars that shun such material.
> 
> Why can't we carry our Greek NT to church and follow along with the 
> sermon?  I believe this gives a great reading work out.
> 
> 
> Eric Biggs,
> zealous stundent
> Reno, NV
_______________

This is an excellent suggestion.  It forces you to keep moving.  What you
don't know, you pick up either from 
1.  A prior knowledge of the passage
2. The reading of the text in English OR
3. The context

I follow along in the Greek myself when the epistle or the gospel is
being read and I'm not the one doing the reading.

This the way I studied for the GSFLT in grad school.  I bought
anthologies and read; I did not study the grammar (which I had previously
studied), and  I made it a practice to look up no word that wasn't
essential to understanding the passage.   The emphasis was on reading a
large quantity in the language (You can always take time to analyze a
passage at leisure at some other time). 

george
gfsomsel
___________



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