[B-Greek] relative value of re-reading the Greek NT versus following the advise of Conrad and Buth

Mark Lightman lightmanmark at yahoo.com
Sat Feb 23 20:13:57 EST 2008


I think we would all agree that the best way to learn
  NT Greek is to read and re-read the Greek NT, but
  I think most of us would also agree with Carl Conrad that you
  also have to read other unfamilar Greek and I think most
  of us would also agree with Randall Buth that you also
  have to figure out a way to speak and hear Koine and
  not just passively read it.
   
  But the quesiton is, what is the relative value of Carl and
  Randall's suggestions verus just re-reading the Greek NT.
  I always go back and forth on this.  My practice is to re-read
  a NT text but then I get frustrated that my Greek is not good
  enough, so I listen to Carl and read some some Attic Greek and
  then I listen to Buth and try to talk to my son in Koine and then I
  get frustrated again because it seems like my time would be
  spent better re-reading 2 Corinthians again so I go back to that
  and start the process all over again.
   
  Again, I think all three are important, but I wonder what has been the
  experience of others.  I remember Carl once wrote that if you 
  spend all your time just re-reading the Greek NT you can't really
  say you know Greek, but I think of all the time I have spend doing
  anything BUT reading the Greek NT and it seems like reading the
  Greek NT is much more valuable.  Sometimes I think, if I HAD spent 
  all my time re-reading Acts 27 instead of working my way through another
  Attic grammar or worrying about how to pronounce dipthongs, maybe my
  Greek would be BETTER.  At any rate, what is the correct percentage?  I
  guess I spend 75% of my time re-reading; I'm not sure if that is too much
  or not enough.   Is there anybody out there who ignores Conrad and Buth and
  just reads the Greek NT and feels this is working?  Or are there people who can
  testify that Carl and Randall are right? (in addition to being blessings to all of us
  which we would all agree to even if they are overstating the value of their methods!)
   
  Mark Lightman
   
    

       
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