[B-Greek] introduction

Carlton Winbery winberycl at earthlink.net
Mon Aug 18 18:04:46 EDT 2008


>Hello.
>
>I am a third year M.Div. student at Anderson University in Anderson, 
>IN. I am finishing a five-week intensive first-year course. My study 
>has been a bit unusual because I am blind and have had to navigate 
>some technical issues involved in making my computer put Greek on a 
>braille display using the same symbols I read in my book so that I 
>can see my own writing. Things are still not ironed out completely; 
>but I found that it is possible for a blind student to learn Greek 
>in a standard classroom environment with some modifications and the 
>right text. (Several are available in braille.) One reason I joined 
>the list was to share information with anyone who might need it so 
>that others don't have to do this from scratch.
>
>The other reason I'm here is that I am working with an adaptive 
>technology company to make my braille translation software put my 
>Greek notes into braille, and I have a lot ofquestions about Greek 
>diacritics that are really not part of the scope of the course I am 
>taking. Programming this thing is a massive undertaking by itself. 
>It would be a bit easier if I had some terms clarified. It is 
>probably best to attempt this privately, but I thought this be the 
>best place to locate someone who is familiar with diacritics in both 
>modern and koine Greek.
>
>Thanks.
>

Sarah J. Blake

Sarah, I taught two sightless students at Charleston Southern 
University from 1973 to 1976. They developed a lot of material with 
the help of the South Carolina Association for the sightless. The 
braille edition of the Newman Dictionary ran to 12 volumns. The Greek 
New Testament was a truck load. The most helpful thing we had was an 
opticon, a box like tool that looked a lot like an old tape recorder. 
You could put your hand inside it on a pad and hold small camera in 
the other hand. The camera was moved along the line of the text and 
it drew the shape of each successive letter on the end of the index 
finger. I had a plug-in screen on which I could see exactly what they 
felt on the finger. They learned Greek by learning to recognize the 
Greek letters and then words, etc. The iota subscript was especially 
difficult, but we had to have a different shape for each different 
letter that was accented. They mastered Greek to the point that they 
could read most of the New Testament without excessive use of a 
dictionary. One of the students went on to get a masters degree in 
Biblical studies. The student who was the quickest to learn to read 
with the opticon was Don League. That made use even of an English 
dictionary much easier. He is somewhere in South Carolina. When I get 
time I will contact some mutual acquaintances and see if I can find 
him. I think that the Association required them to pass some tests to 
determine if they would benefit from the opticon.

These were both very good students.

Grace,

Carlton Winbery
-- 
Carlton L. Winbery
Retired Professor of Religion
Louisiana College
318-448-6103
winberycl at earthlink.net



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