[B-Greek] Interlinear Greek-English NT
Mike Sangrey
MSangrey at BlueFeltHat.org
Tue Dec 27 16:25:50 EST 2005
The topic of whether to use an interlinear comes up for discussion every
once in a while and it follows the train of thought as has been
expressed.
"Don't you ever dare use an interlinear, or else I'll...I'll...I'll...
well, I will."
Which is answered by something like:
"Ho, hum. I used an interlinear and they're kuhl."
The truth appears to me to be that they work for some students and not
for others. Why? Let me take a jab at that and see what others on this
list who teach (and learn) Greek think.
I think the issue really is along the lines of Bloom's Hierarchy
(knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis,
evaluation). What happens is that a student thinks that by repetitively
looking at the English gloss in an interlinear (called "cheating") they
will be able to learn Greek.
The issue REALLY is what goes on inside their head when they are
"cheating". If there is something else going on, then they learn and
will eventually find the interlinear to simply be in the way. However,
if this something doesn't happen, then they will for ever be dependent
on the bottle. If they simply look and then think, "Ahhh, got it." they
will never progress beyond the first level of Bloom's Hierarchy. That
is, they identify the word and think that if they can identify the word,
they've somehow managed to "know Greek." They don't.
What the student NEEDS to do is to work up the hierarchy by doing things
like: communicating the definitions of the words to others, explaining
the role of a genitive in a specific context, composing the sentence in
his or her own heart language, justifying and defending specific choices
based on the Greek grammar and the original interlocutor's context
(essentially, semantics and pragmatics), etc.
I know that sounds hard. Ummmmmm...it is. However, the investment pays
compound interest in learning speed. It's like what they say: "Gett'n
the first million bucks is the hardest."
In short, don't just read the interlinear and think you're going to
progress. You need to have other things going on inside your head so
that you start synthesizing the original meaning and therefore can
evaluate (perform hermeneutics) on the original text.
In other words, participate on this list! <smile>
--
Mike Sangrey (msangrey AT BlueFeltHat.org)
Exegetitor.blogspot.com
Landisburg, Pa.
"The first one last wins."
"A net of highly cohesive details reveals the truth."
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