[B-Greek] fearful about switching to modern pronunciation

Jeremy D. Brightbill jeremy_brightbill at sall.com
Fri Sep 16 04:34:09 EDT 2005


Hello Kat,
	I first learned Greek with Erasmian pronunciation and recently
switched to Modern Greek, so I would be glad to share my experiences....  I
would say, don't be terrified about making the switch.  It will certainly
cause you a lot of confusion at first, but keep practicing, and it will be
well worth it in the long run!  For me it took two or three weeks to get
comfortable with Modern Greek pronunciation.  The key was to get extensive
audio input, even if it wasn't from the actual New Testament.  I've also
been studying Modern Greek itself, using Teach Yourself Greek with audio
CD's.  It was really helpful to listen to the recordings of dialogues and
get used to the sound of the language.  Then it was fairly easy to apply
that pronunciation to the New Testament.  I would spend lots of time reading
whole chapters out loud, or just a few verses or paragraphs whenever I got
time.  And eventually, the text started coming alive to me, much more than
it ever had with Erasmian pronunciation.  I really think that's the main
benefit of using Modern Greek pronunciation, because you can speak it like a
real living language.  For example, when I was using Erasmian, I never knew
exactly what a question should sound like.  What intonation pattern should I
use?  Or, how do I emphasize particular words in a sentence?  By default, my
Erasmian Greek ended up sounding like English.  Now that I've heard
recordings of Modern Greek, the right pronunciation just comes naturally.  
	So, you might find it helpful to get some recordings of Modern
Greek, even if you don't actually want to learn Modern Greek.  You can
listen to the news online at www.bbc.co.uk/greek.  (They speak very fast so
it's hard to make out individual words, but you can pick up the rhythm and
intonation patterns.)  For the New Testament itself, you could get the CD's
of the Koine Greek New Testament, read with modern pronunciation by Dr.
Spiros Zodhiates.  There is a sample of one chapter online at:
http://www.amgpublishers.com/www/docs/113.140/koine_greek_cds.html
	In summary, here is my advice on switching to modern pronunciation:
MH TARASSESQW hYMWN hH KARDIA MHDE DEILIATW; LYPHQHSESQE, ALL' hH LYPH hYMWN
EIS CARAN GENHSETAI.  

Jeremy Brightbill

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Message: 7
Date: Wed, 14 Sep 2005 14:36:04 EDT
From: TuNeCedeMalis67 at aol.com
Subject: [B-Greek] fearful about switching to modern pronunciation
To: b-greek at lists.ibiblio.org
Message-ID: <85.2fdd8966.3059c794 at aol.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII"

I'm giving serious thought to taking Dr Sellers video course using Machen's

book.
 
_http://www.nbcbible.org/bookstore/bookstoreindex.html_ 
(http://www.nbcbible.org/bookstore/bookstoreindex.html) 
 
I'm terrified about switching to modern pronunciation. I have worked so
hard 
on my listening and speaking skills for Erasmian. I'm one of those people  
who cannot memorize without speaking the vocabulary.
 
I've heard all the good points about using modern pronunciation, but I'm  
afraid I won't have access to audio support for every word in the NT. At
least  
with Erasmian I always have Strong's dictionary to refer to, even though
some  
of the dipthongs are a bit unusual.
 
I've been spending about 30 minutes a day using audio resources for months  
and it's really been paying off, especially when it comes to accenting words

and  just feeling very comfortable reading.
 
The idea of videos and a real teacher to grade my work sounds so good, and  
in the future being able to attend a Greek orthodox church and be able to 
follow  along....but...I'm worried it might be a big adjustment and slow
down my  
progress, just as I'm really starting to make some.
 
Can anyone comment on switching to Modern after starting with Erasmian? Are

there any resources to hear modern Koine online other than here? 
_http://www.greeklatinaudio.com/_ (http://www.greeklatinaudio.com/) 
 
Kat Doe
homemaker





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