[B-Greek] The best starting place?

yancywsmith yancywsmith at sbcglobal.net
Fri Aug 25 23:53:39 EDT 2006


Good question,

I started with one year of Koine which took us through Davis, then I  
read the New Testament at 2 pages per day in about one year. I had  
some study partners that would read out load together and discuss  
grammar, construction, and interpretation. Then I took a course in  
Classical Greek readings working backwards from Xenophon, Plato,  
Herododus and Homer for one year while reading Luke-Acts, the Pauline  
epistles, and Hebrews. After that I felt pretty comfortable anywhere  
in the New Testament and got some tutoring in the tragic poets, took  
courses in Patristics, Septuagint and Hellenistic Greek. The study of  
Hebrew and Syriac have both helped me extend my understanding of NT  
Greek as well because of the significant Semitic background of much  
of the New Testament.

Teaching Greek (beginning courses and reading courses at various  
levels has been a great learning experience as well). I know feel  
like I can pick my way through just about any Greek text with a  
dictionary, a grammar, and a little time. HOWEVER, I think that the  
kind of knowledge I have is vastly inferior to the kind of knowledge  
I have of Spanish, or Georgian (languages I have studied with at  
least some attempt at verbal, productive proficiency). I lament the  
fact that Greek is not taught the way other languages are taught and  
that I have, alas, contributed to the ongoing tradition of passive,  
grammar book Greek learning.

I highly recommend the approach of Randal Buth, a frequent  
contributor to this list, of gaining an ability to relate concepts  
directly to Greek usual oral-aural and visual helps as one attempts  
to gain proficiency in reading. On this note I highly recommend as  
well the internet site www.greeklatinaudio.com , where one can  
download free mp3 recordings of most of the NT read aloud with Modern  
Greek pronunciation in a fluid manner. I highly recommend listening  
to a passage several times and then following along with a Greek  
text. I often do this in my Bible translation work when I can.

Yancy and Lanette Smith
yancywsmith at sbcglobal.net
5636 Wedgworth Rd.
Fort Worth, TX 76133
817-361-7565




On Aug 25, 2006, at 5:43 PM, Jim West wrote:

> At 06:27 PM 8/25/2006, you wrote:
>> 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
>
>
> Koine.
> 2 years.
>
>
> Jim West
>
> http://web.infoave.net/~jwest -- Biblical Studies Resources
> http://petrosbaptistchurch.blogspot.com -- Weblog
> ---
> B-Greek home page: http://metalab.unc.edu/bgreek
> B-Greek mailing list
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