[B-Greek] The best starting place?

MDWatson mdwatson at open.org
Sat Aug 26 21:25:16 EDT 2006


Robert,

I started with a two year course, four hours of class time a week plus
another two to four hours of daily study. We used an inductive method and,
after the alphabet/diphthongs, dove straight into the text. Wonder of
wonders, we used just a lexicon and no grammars and dealt with the features
and grammatical issues as they occurred in the GNT. In other words, as we
constantly came across genetive absolutes, etc. the increasing familiarity
of those features became easier to deal with wherever they may be found in
the text. Personally I can't recommend this method highly enough but this
one didn't have a good grasp of the infinitive, nor did it deal properly
with the issues of the Greek voice.

That began sixteen years ago. In the first two years I was able to read
Mark, John, Ephesians, Galatians and a few others with relative familiarity.
Over time (read that *with practice*) more books become easier. Be prepared
to correct the flaws of your course for yourself as you discover them. To
answer your question - comfortable fluency depends on how much time your
willing to spend with a given book, author, etc.

For me, II Corinthians and Hebrews are becoming more familiar. I started to
dabble in Xenophon's Anabasis and will eventually move on to Herodotus.

Blessings,


Mike Watson










> ----- 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
> >
> ---
> 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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