[B-Greek] What textbook to use?

Eric Weiss papaweiss1 at yahoo.com
Wed Dec 28 23:35:23 EST 2005


> I picked up "Teach yourself New Testament Greek" by 
> DF Hudson, from my library. Is this a good course to 
> start with? I've been planning to purchase Mounce's 
> book also. Would it be a good idea to work through 
> "Teach yourself" first and then the Mounce book, or 
> would that be too redundant?

I think Hudson's book and the other "Teach Yourself" books 
are a bit difficult for a person to do by one's self.

If you are on your own, I'm sure Mounce can be done, but 
I haven't looked at the included CD to see what helps 
that offers. On his Website you can order complete 
lessons as if you were in a classroom with him:

http://www.teknia.com/index.php?page=product01

It's $89, but if you're studying on your own, it's 
probably worth it.

A problem with Mounce, IMO, is that he only teaches 
you every word that occurs 50x or more. That is not 
enough to be able to pick up the Greek New Testament 
and feel comfortable with it. If you do Mounce, then 
be sure to follow it with A Summer Greek Reader, an 
inexpensive book which is set up so that in 12 weeks 
(if you do 1 lesson a day, 6 days a week - but you 
should be able to do double that if you work hard) 
will increase your vocabulary to every word that 
occurs 21x or more if you're diligent to learn the 
new words. That's about 33 chapters in Mounce at 1 
chapter a week, plus at least 6 weeks with the Summer 
Reader, i.e., 39 weeks (if you can learn about 60 new 
words a week doing the Summer Reader at 2 chapters a 
week).

I prefer to recommend Story's GREEK TO ME with the 
audiovisual CD and Greek Memory System picture vocabulary 
flashcards, plus supplemental workbook, which in 24 
chapters teaches you the same basic grammar and double 
the vocabulary - i.e., every word that occurs 25x or more. 
(Story, however, does not have Mounce's in-depth 
morphology (i.e., word formation) explanations, something 
Mounce excels at.) Expect to spend at least an hour a day, 
five days a week with Story's text, if you do a chapter a 
week (not easy work, but Greek is not easy with any 
textbook). Probably expect to spend the same amount of 
time with Mounce's, too.

  

Eric S. Weiss


		
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