[B-Greek] Fw: Analytical Greek Lexicon

James Tauber jtauber at jtauber.com
Sat Jan 28 22:13:48 EST 2006


For a simple demonstration of the kind of thing I'm talking about, see:

http://jtauber.com/blog/2006/01/28/ 
dynamic_interlinears_with_javascript_and_css

This is just a start but it gives you the idea of how interlinears  
don't have to be static.

Note: I've only tested it on Safari and Firefox. I don't know if it  
works in Internet Explorer.

James Tauber


On 28/01/2006, at 8:50 PM, James Tauber wrote:

> I think there is perhaps a middle ground here made possible by
> technology.
>
> The problem with printed interlinears is the gloss is always there. A
> far better approach would be for the existence of glosses to be
> tailored to the particular stage a reader is at. A complete beginner
> would start off with all the glosses visible but then the glosses
> would start to "drop off" in some graded way. This could be based
> only on the lemma of the word but also its morphology and even syntax.
>
> I'm actually working on a website at the moment that would facilitate
> this kind of thing.
>
> James
> --
> James Tauber                       http://jtauber.com/
> journeyman of some   http://jtauber.com/blog/
>
>
> On 28/01/2006, at 5:53 PM, Ernest Blum wrote:
>
>> Re "Analytical Greek Lexicon:
>>
>> Bert de Haan should not be apologetic about investigating
>> unorthodox methods
>> to learn to read Greek.
>>
>> The fact is that he can easily read the 24 books of the Iliad in
>> Greek in
>> one month. It's not the kind of reading that the scholars on b-
>> greek do or
>> advocate, but it beats Lattimore, I guarantee it.
>>
>> I would plead with Bert de Haan to go to the internet and find a
>> copy of
>> Thomas Clark's interlinear translation of "The Iliad of
>> Homer" (David McKay
>> Co., 1952.  He'll never regret it.
>>
>> Those who denounce interlinear translations, analytical lexicons
>> and other
>> "crutches" are confusing writing with reading.  What one sees on "b-
>> greek"
>> is Greek viewed from the viewpoint of the writer, not the reader.
>> The fact
>> is that a native reader of any language is rarely aware of the
>> gramatical
>> substrate of the sentences he is reading.  Why should Bert de Haan
>> have to
>> do this for Greek when he doesn't do so for his native language?
>>
>> The answer is that Greek scholars, beginning with "Perseus" et al,
>> have
>> failed to responsibly furnish neophyte readers with the "crutches"
>> that
>> every beginner has a right to expect.
>>
>> The reason: There is an unfortunate and universal theory in
>> academia that
>> the only way to read a foreign language is by knowing grammar and
>> memorizing
>> a vocabulary list, enabling one to deductively "decipher" those
>> mysterious
>> foreign writings.
>>
>> But all native speakers originally acquire their languages by
>> induction, not
>> deduction, and adults can repeat this process through interlinear
>> translations.  (Also helpful is a voice-over, vide "The Iliad of
>> Homer"
>> tapes, read by Stephen G. Daitz).
>>
>> Speaking for myself, I have learned to read a dozen languages,
>> including
>> Homer and GNT,  through interlinear translations or other
>> "crutches" with
>> comprehensive vocabulary lists on each page of text, with the barest
>> smattering of grammar.  One then advances to the original text  
>> without
>> English,  referring to the interlinear text only for increasingly
>> diminished
>> difficulties.
>>
>> Even though this method does not allow me to see the text from the
>> vantage
>> point of a native writer or grammarian--and this is certainly
>> necessary  for
>> full  language mastery, not to say indispensable for scholars--such a
>> vantage point is not at all a factor required for semantic and
>> aesthetic
>> understanding.  How could it be when we are totally oblivious to
>> grammar
>> when reading our own language?
>>
>> What Bert de Haan has heard in this (and other interchanges on b-
>> greek) is
>> equivalent to having a music  teacher dissuade him from listening to
>> Mozart's 41st Symphony before learning how to play the piano and
>> mastering
>> music theory.
>>
>> Ernest Blum
>>
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: "Bert de Haan" <b_dehaan at sympatico.ca>
>> To: <b-greek at lists.ibiblio.org>
>> Sent: Saturday, January 28, 2006 8:10 AM
>> Subject: Re: [B-Greek] Analytical Greek Lexicon
>>
>>
>>> After re-reading my previous post I thought that it could come
>>> across as
>>> rather polemic.
>>> It was not intended that way.  My intention in asking these
>>> questions was
>> to
>>> get an answer, not to ruffle anyones feathers.
>>> Bert de Haan.
>>>
>>>
>>> ---
>>> B-Greek home page: http://metalab.unc.edu/bgreek
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>>>
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>>
>> ---
>> B-Greek home page: http://metalab.unc.edu/bgreek
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>
> ---
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