[B-Greek] Iterative, Customary, Gnomic, Conative, etc.
randallbuth at gmail.com
randallbuth at gmail.com
Thu Mar 29 15:51:21 EDT 2007
>> **Second language acquistion theory would say that a grammatical
>> medium is a
>> medium that will guarantee problems with fluency.**
>
>Elizabeth EGRAPSE
>And people who learn, like parrots, to say a few things in a second
>language will never be able to do exegesis. The goal of learning
>biblical greek isn't to be able to order a meal in Koine since you
>will never find a waiter who will take an order in Koine.
This illustrates the point. Parroting something in a language is not fluency
and will not help with what are called 'high level reading skills'. And the
purpose of fluency is not ordering dinner in Koine Greek. To be honest, that
sounds like what is done with tourist phrase books. And a grammar approach
is like a frame of a house without walls and decoration. An internalization
of a language means being able to hold a "sumposion" in the language, being
able to discuss topics and to understand the language automatically enough
to be able follow a conversation or speech in the language. And that is part
of the basic skill set that you want exegetes to have.
A parable: would you trust the exegesis of a German speech of someone who
could not follow it when given at normal speaking speeds, who needed to go
home and parse the verbs or look up a word in every line ( or more)? To
internalize a language is a higher standard than that. And of course a
literary reading of text allows slow pondering of the phraseology and a
comparison with other material, but only when one has the basic skills to
follow it on the surface at normal speeds would you start to trust the
person's exegesis and basic language skills. (Doesn't mean they're right or
won't make mistakes, its just where you want your people to start from.)
The question is, is that doable in classroom training? Is that what
literature majors are expected to attain in non-classical languages? And
then, if so, how to do it in a classical language? Only when we see where
you could/should be getting to, can we discuss how to get there or if some
things are working, or not.
Randall Buth
Randall Buth, PhD
Director, Biblical Language Center
www.BiblicalUlpan.org
buth at jerusalemschool.org
randallbuth at gmail.com
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