[B-Greek] I-tunes and Greek
Randall Buth
randallbuth at gmail.com
Thu May 31 06:14:33 EDT 2007
Thank you for the reference. It is a good idea but it is also something of a
challenge to our field.
I tried to listen to some of the Hebrew texts. Fortunately, most everything
was in English. What was in Hebrew was not reliable enough to be recommended
to students (both in reading and explanation -- MAMASh TsARAM) but raises
real questions about the field and profession.
New technology has a tremendous potential.
But two parallel issues arise that need to be dealt with in a sober and
linguistically informed manner if the next generation is to be thanking us.
The first issue is adaptation to and use of a new medium. MP3 and video
allow true communication and immersion techniques to be introduced to a once
sterile classroom. It's a no-brainer, people will never internalize a
high-level French by speaking English in 50 minute segments, even if the
English is recorded. Some fundamental rethinking needs to take place BEFORE
everything gets fixed in a glue of a misapplied, new medium.
The second issue is that students will be stuck with whatever they put ten
years of production into. There should be no desire or excuse for raising a
generation of A-LAGAS-LEGEY speakers [ Imperial Koine, early church, NT
scribes, Byzantines, and moderns would say O LOGhOS LEyI ]. Caragounis has a
right to be offended by not-ever-Greek kakophoné, even if we don't follow
him in his argumentation. (LOGhOS expands a thread from earlier this week.)
The decisions need to be made before years of production and training are
built into something. Are the teachers who are working with publishers in
control of the data when/before making decisions? More than one decision is
possible but people should be asking questions and comparing data. (PS:
Westcott and Hort's spelling was textually responsible, and it didn't need
artificial correction by NA/UBS. The text and spelling is making a very
small revival, not just because it's free, but it's also more true to its
textual base.)
Anyway, the new technologies give Greek studies remarkable new
opportunities.
ERRWSO (that's "'eroso" or archaic "'erawso", but not ever erosah )
Randall Buth
--
Randall Buth, PhD
www.biblicalulpan.org
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