[B-Greek] English translation as best goal for learning Greek?

George F Somsel gfsomsel at yahoo.com
Wed Aug 22 22:15:23 EDT 2007


It's not as though there are no ambiguities in language.  How many times have you said something or heard someone else say something only to discover later that what you thought you heard was not in fact what was intended (or had someone else misunderstand what you had said)?  There are not only ambiguities in English; there are ambiguities in Greek as well.  When you throw in the fact of translation on top of that the possibilities for misunderstanding abound.  Sometimes the misunderstanding is not simply that you get the wrong idea.  Sometimes you may miss another idea that was included in what was said as well.  The problem with translation (any translation) is that the translator frequently must choose what it is that he wishes to set forth in the translation and leave other included ideas behind.  Unless you wish to footnote the text to death or read a commentary on the text, you are going to miss something -- even if you are reading your own
 translation.  The better you are able to read the original and to read it as one who used the language of the original as his native language (or at least as a very well-know second language) the better you will be able to pick up on these points.  Remember, the translator is a traitor.
 
george
gfsomsel
 
Therefore, O faithful Christian, search for truth, hear truth, 
learn truth, love truth, speak the truth, hold the truth, 
defend the truth till death.
 
- Jan Hus
_________



----- Original Message ----
From: John M. Linebarger <jmlineb at comcast.net>
To: b-greek at lists.ibiblio.org
Sent: Wednesday, August 22, 2007 6:02:03 PM
Subject: [B-Greek] English translation as best goal for learning Greek?


Carl has made statements in passing several times that open with the condition, "If producing an English translation is your goal for learning Greek ..."  At the risk of appearing naive, what other goals for learning Greek should be put ahead of the ability to produce an English translation?  In priority order, what are the "best" goals for learning Greek, in the opinion of the group?

Blessings!

John M. Linebarger
Albuquerque, NM

(P.S. I remain grateful to Carl for his recommendations about how to learn Attic Greek.  My Mastronarde book arrived in the mail yesterday [it seemed to correspond best to my particular language learning style, and an answer key is available for it] and I've devoured two chapters already.)
---
B-Greek home page: http://www.ibiblio.org/bgreek
B-Greek mailing list
B-Greek at lists.ibiblio.org
http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/b-greek


       
____________________________________________________________________________________
Looking for a deal? Find great prices on flights and hotels with Yahoo! FareChase.
http://farechase.yahoo.com/


More information about the B-Greek mailing list