[B-Greek] Koine Greek fluency
Mike Sangrey
MSangrey at BlueFeltHat.org
Fri Jul 22 09:05:02 EDT 2005
On Fri, 2005-07-22 at 08:28 -0400, Carl W. Conrad wrote:
> On Jul 21, 2005, at 5:38 PM, Elizabeth Kline wrote:
>
> > Randall Buth wrote:
> >> ... linguists can attest that much of what speakers say 'about' a
> >> language is not often valid when it comes to explanation. The bizarre
> >> side appears when an adult language user can give either a
> >> theoretical
> >> or a popular explanation about a structure but cannot fluently use it
> >> or understand it when hearing it at normal conversational speeds. I
> >> don't advocate analyzing a structure as a doorway into fluency.
> >>
> >
> > Why is this bizarre? Can a typical NT translation consultant order
> > a meal in
> > Koine? Was fluency even a goal in their professional training?
>
> No, of course not. But for my part I think Randall is right to think
> that fluency
> OUGHT to be a goal for any professional who works with NT Greek --
> and that
> Randall's pedagogy is probably more successful than most of what
> serves as
> NT Greek instruction in making that goal achievable.
What is a good definition of Koine Greek fluency?
I would love to see some discussion around this topic. What does Koine
Greek fluency look like? How do I know (or how does a student know)
when they are fluent?
FWIW: Part of where I'm coming from has to do with Bible translation.
I put translations into two categories: analytic and synthetic. The
analytic translation enables an exegete to analyze the text. A
synthetic translation enables a person of normal heart language ability
to read the text. The former type of translation is needed, but might I
suggest that a fluent Koine Greek Bible student is one who can word the
text in clear, accurate and natural English (or whatever their heart
language is) with a minimum of analysis. In other words, if you can
read the Greek and then say in English what it says in Greek and do so
in a way that a normal English speaker (a person in the KMart parking
lot) can understand, then you're Koine Greek fluent.
So, how do you define Koine Greek fluency?
--
Mike Sangrey
msangrey AT BlueFeltHat.org
Landisburg, Pa.
"The first one last wins."
"A net of highly cohesive details reveals the truth."
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