[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
> ---
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