[B-Greek] Interlinear Greek-English NT

George F Somsel gfsomsel at juno.com
Tue Dec 27 15:33:05 EST 2005


On Tue, 27 Dec 2005 14:51:02 -0500 "Terry and Gail Cook"
<cookie99 at fuse.net> writes:
> Jim West said: "Don't get an interlinear- it will only cripple you.  
> Do the 
> hard work,
> memorize the words that occur more than 100 times, memorize 
> paradigms,
> and learn the grammar."
> 
> I am in the middle of third year Greek; from my personal experience 
> an 
> Interlinear is not such a bad tool. Yes one should try to memorize 
> the most 
> common words and the principle parts and the myriad of paradigms, 
> but from 
> my experience that is serious work. Once an individual has memorized 
> these 
> forms and basic word meanings there's the matter of sitting down and 
> reading 
> the GNT.
> It takes a very long time for someone to have the "expertise" to sit 
> down 
> and read a GNT for more than a half dozen words. Almost immediately 
> one is 
> met with a Greek word found less than 100 times (or even 50 times) 
> and the 
> common words in "unusual forms" are difficult to recognize. By that 
> I mean 
> there are words that might be easily recognized in their lexical 
> form but 
> not so easily recognized in their 2nd aorist form or perfect form. 
> Then 
> there's the problem of word order.
>  So, reading the GNT without an aid becomes quite frustrating and a 
> chore; 
> most people abandon the effort. What I've done is covered the 
> English gloss 
> and tried to read the Greek. If I run into a difficult word I simply 
> slide 
> the paper a bit.
> If reading the GNT in an interlinear allows to one to come in 
> contact with 
> the GNT and allows one to enjoy reading the GNT then I think a step 
> forward 
> has been made.
> Learning Greek was not like learning English. I learned English a 
> tiny bit 
> at a time- See spot run. Everyone around me spoke it and encouraged 
> me. 
> Years went by before anyone expected me to have a command of it.
> Greek teachers absolutely throw students in the deep end of the 
> pool. One is 
> expected to master foreign concepts and paradigms in seven days or 
> less 
> every week for three quarters. No one else they know is studying the 
> 
> language and they'll never use it conversationally.
> I respectfully say the interlinear may be an opportunity to study 
> Greek a 
> little more "gently".
> Terry Cook
> sDg
________________

I have a suggestion for those who have reached a certain level of ability
in reading the GNT.  Take it to church and follow along as the passage is
read in English.  This forces you to move along faster than you might
otherwise if you were sitting at your desk taking your own sweet time in
translating the passage.  You do get a certain amount of help from the
English translation, but you don't have anything before your eyes in
permanent form for reference.  Of course, this won't work too well for
those whose Greek reading skills are at the level of "See Spot run", but
those who are a little more advanced will find that their reading speed
will increase over time.

george
gfsomsel
___________



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