[B-Greek] Online teaching tools

Carl Conrad cwconrad2 at mac.com
Sat Dec 8 06:58:42 EST 2007


On Dec 8, 2007, at 5:57 AM, Sarah Madden wrote:

> Unless one is speaking with or listening to modern Greek speakers, or
> listening to Greek Orthodox sermons, I'm interested in knowing what  
> the
> advantage (if any) is to most students of NT Greek to learn the modern
> pronunciation? I personally like the fact that Erasmus came up with  
> a method
> that helps identify words by their sounds -- every letter is  
> pronounced, and
> the vowels each have their own sounds. My experience with mentoring  
> students
> is that the ones who know modern Greek (either because of living in  
> Greece
> or by getting an audio tape and learning it) might be able to read  
> the text,
> but their spelling and recognition/understanding of the nuances
> between particular words (e.g., hWS versus hOS) is weak. Any thoughts?

Yes; I'm reminded of an immigrant German-born woman who sat in on a  
Beginning French class that I taught back in 1957; she had lived in  
Paris for 25 years and could speak French perfectly well but hadn't  
ever learned to write it. I remember how odd it seemed that she was  
having such difficulty with conjugating present-tense verbs with only  
two of six person-number alternatives had distinct pronunciations: she  
was trying to spell out the words as she knew they were sounded. Then  
I came to realize that this is exactly like reading papyrus letters of  
Egyptian Greek-speakers from the early Christian centuries writing  
GEINETE for GINETAI, LUPON for LOIPON, AIKASTHN HMAIRAN for hEKASTHN  
hHMERAN and the like. I think that aural reinforcement when learning  
to read and write an alien language is really quite important, but  
it's certainly made more difficult when the pronunciation and the  
spelling are not in sync.


> On Dec 7, 2007 2:39 PM, Jack Custer <jackcus at verizon.net> wrote:
>
>> I am a new arrival and look forward to profitable discussions here.
>>
>> I would be very interested in hearing of any online AUDIO resources  
>> which
>> present biblical (LXX and NT) or patristic texts using the  
>> "liturgical" or
>> "modern" (I would say "native") pronunciation (as opposed to the  
>> "Erasmian"
>> used in just about every academic institution in North America).
>>
>> Thanks in advance.
>>
>> Fr. Jack Custer
>> Academic Dean
>> Byzantine Catholic Seminary
>> Pittsburgh PA USA
>> ---
>> B-Greek home page: http://www.ibiblio.org/bgreek
>> B-Greek mailing list
>> B-Greek at lists.ibiblio.org
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>>
>
>
>
> -- 
> Sarah
> sarah.r.madden at gmail.com
> work: 301.429.8189
> ---
> 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


Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics, Washington University (Retired)
1989 Grindstaff Road/Burnsville, NC 28714/(828) 675-4243
cwconrad at ioa.com or cwconrad2 at mac.com
WWW: http://www.ioa.com/~cwconrad/





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