[B-Greek] Online teaching tools

Eric Inman eric.inman at wescorpflex.com
Sat Dec 8 08:10:28 EST 2007


Responding to your initial question, I learned NTG with the Erasmian
pronounciation, which I imagine made the process much easier, but I am now
concerned by the fact that when I read a text my sense of the text might not
be as accurate as it would be if I had been taught a more authentic
pronounciation. I believe that the sound of a language plays a role to some
degree in the choices of words, phrases, structures, patterns, etc. in a
text, and I am concerned that I might be missing or misinterpreting cues in
the text that have some connection with how the text sounded originally.

Eric Inman

-----Original Message-----
From: b-greek-bounces at lists.ibiblio.org
[mailto:b-greek-bounces at lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of Sarah Madden
Sent: Saturday, December 08, 2007 6:35 AM
To: Carl Conrad
Cc: b-greek at lists.ibiblio.org
Subject: Re: [B-Greek] Online teaching tools

While we're on the subject of pronunciation, I wonder why some people --
even if they are trying to use Erasmian pronunciation -- don't always
remember to distinguish the sounds, say, between a "xi" (14th letter) and a
"chi" (22nd letter) -- I have heard learned people pronounce the "chi" (as
in "ARCH" - "beginning") like "KS" -- this is more like an English
pronunciation of an English "x" in "axiom" and this destroys any difference
between the two Greek letters. In addition, I can only imagine that this
casual reading method makes it very difficult to remember vocabulary words
since one would have to simultaneously juggle several pronunciations in
one's head to equal the one word.

This is what I have noticed for that particular letter (chi), when certain
persons would read, say, Jn 1:1a -- EN ARCH EIN hO LOGOS ,,,

Erasmian pronunciation: "en *arkhay* ane ho logos"
Slightly incorrect Erasmian pronunciation: "en *arksay* ane ho logos"

Sarah Madden
sarah.r.madden at gmail.com




On Dec 8, 2007 6:58 AM, Carl Conrad <cwconrad2 at mac.com> wrote:

>
> 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
> >> http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/b-greek
> >>
> >
> >
> >
> > --
> > 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/
>
>
>


-- 
Sarah
sarah.r.madden at gmail.com
work: 301.429.8189
---
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