[B-Greek] The best starting place?

Dave Smith (REL110, 211,212) rel21x at charter.net
Fri Aug 25 21:11:41 EDT 2006


Robert,

I started with NT koine, then early patristics and LXX, then classical, Epic
and some modern. Folks usually need some proficiency in Hebrew before
tackling the LXX because of the idiom that you will confront there. That is
probably backwards if the full range of Greek dialects  is the goal, but not
so bad if you are limited in time and need NT proficiency within 2-3 years.
It was probably 4 years before I read the NT entirely through and another
one before I read it and large portions of other koine at sight. Every piece
of literature has its technical terminology and you may always wrestle with
new material coming from a koine/NT first method. I still have a hard time
with Homer, the historians come easier. A large vocabulary gained by wide
reading and a thorough study of Metzger's Lexical Aids can really help here.
When you can read Luke-Acts and Hebrews at sight, without grammar or
lexicon, you will be well on your way.

On the other hand, if I had not had the goal of reading the Greek NT, I
would never have studied the other dialects. George is right. Don't go it
alone with Machen. There are much better methods which can get you reading
faster now. You must read the Greek Text and the other Greek literature that
interests you, and some that doesn't, continually and extensively to become
proficient. Unless you do an immersion study, it is a long process. It needs
to become your major concern, if you wish to shorten the time to
proficiency. If I could suggest any one book after the grammar and lexicon,
it would Zerwick's Grammatical Analysis to help you through the first
complete reading of the GNT.

And beware, if you don't use it you loose it!

Dave Smith
Hudson, NC

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Robert Easter" <RDEaster at wbs.edu>
To: <b-greek at lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Friday, August 25, 2006 18:27
Subject: [B-Greek] The best starting place?


> A survey question for you learned scholars:  How did you start in Greek
> (Modern, Classical, Koine classes, first language...), and how long a
> haul was it for you to gain a "comfortable" fluency with NT reading from
> the beginning?
>
> Thanks greatly,
>
> Robert
> ---
> B-Greek home page: http://metalab.unc.edu/bgreek
> B-Greek mailing list
> B-Greek at lists.ibiblio.org
> http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/b-greek
>



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