[B-Greek] Seeking....
Sarah Madden
sarah.r.madden at gmail.com
Sun Mar 9 21:31:19 EDT 2008
Marny --
When students ask me for tips on how to learn Greek (I'm a T.A. for a Greek
prof at a seminary when I'm not doing my day job as a technical
writer/editor), I tell them success in learning to love and understand NT
Greek is not necessarily based on the professor or even book, but on your
diligence and time.
BTW, at the seminary we are using Mounce's *Basics of Biblical
Greek*textook and workbook (answer key is downloadable for free). The
vocabulary
CD he sells (and allows to copy) is invaluable for pronunciation of all the
words in his textbook (all the words that occur 50x or more in the Greek
NT), and even includes his reading of 1 John 1 and 2. Mounce also sells a
complete set of lectures covering his entire textbook (www.teknia.com),
which could come in handy since you are studying on your own -- and the set
would be fairly inexpensive. Before converting over to Mounce, we had used a
different textbook for many years. All roads lead to Rome, or Athens in this
case.
In addition to straight grammar study, even in the early months you could
start reading out loud (and rereading), say, a few verses each day of John 1
-- or 1 John. Although John's theology is out of this world (literally), he
employs basic vocabulary and grammar, a boon and an encouragement to new
students.
I agree with Matthew Blair's comment: "work at it and work often" -- and I
would add, try to involve others in your journey. Another suggestion, a
little later on, is to read widely, that is, read various books and authors
(John is the easiest, Paul is harder, Luke is even harder, etc.). Early on,
it would be good to memorize a LOT of vocab (at least words occurring 50x or
more in the NT, but shoot for the rare birds as well, going down to 10x or
fewer if possible). Right away, start taking your Greek NT with you to
church and try to follow along with the pastor even if you can only pick out
simple words at first like KAI.
If you would like, I could send you some handouts I have created over the
years for students (e.g., a five-page list of easily confused pairs of Greek
words, another list of all the vocab words in the NT that occur 19x or more
-- but the first part is keyed to the order in Mounce's textbook).
P.S. I'll send it to anyone else who asks for it as well.
Sarah Madden
sarah.r.madden at gmail.com
Maryland
======================================
On Sun, Mar 9, 2008 at 6:14 PM, Matthew Blair <mpblair at gmail.com> wrote:
> I'm a newcomer to NT greek myself, so my opinion will not count for as
> much
> as Carl and Barry's words. However, I will only add that if this is an
> "independent" study for you, then I would advise that you pick a text or
> course of study that includes either exercises in the text or a companion
> workbook and, AND, make sure that the "answers" are available.
>
> I am using Mounce's Basics of Biblical Greek. I started out without the
> companion workbook. I was only able to work up to Ch. 10 (3rd declension)
> before I had to stop and purchase the workbook. I then did all of the
> exercises before continuing. In my opinion, the workbook (along with the
> answer key on his web site) makes the BBG text a good choice for the
> autodidact.
>
> One thing is for sure, whatever text you choose, work at it and work
> often.
>
> Regards,
> Matthew
>
> On Sun, Mar 9, 2008 at 5:57 PM, Barry <nebarry at verizon.net> wrote:
>
> >
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: "Carl Conrad" <cwconrad2 at mac.com>
> > To: "Marny Lemmel" <lemmels at wideopenwest.com>
> > Cc: <b-greek at lists.ibiblio.org>
> > Sent: Sunday, March 09, 2008 5:39 PM
> > Subject: Re: [B-Greek] Seeking....
> >
> >
> > > I really think it's more or less futile to look for a consensus among
> > > the members of this group. There are some who swear by Mounce's
> > > _Basics of Biblical Greek_; there may be some others more inclined to
> > > swear at it. For one learning without a teacher, Colwell and Tune's _A
> > > Beginner's Reader/Grammar for New Testament Greek_ is pretty good.
> > > Another is Clayton Croy's _A Primer of Biblical Greek_. I think you
> > > could do a lot worse than to work through Funk's _Beginning-
> > > Intermediate Grammar of Hellenistic Greek_ online, more or less
> > > complete, at our own B-Greek web-site:
> > > http://www.ibiblio.org/bgreek/project/funk-grammar/pre-alpha/
> > > or http://tinyurl.com/39xap8
> > >
> > > I would reiterate, however, that to ask this question is not unlikely
> > > to evoke a host of widely-variant responses.
> >
> > Given to understatement he is (sorry, just did a Star Wars marathon, and
> > Yoda's speech patterns on you grow...).
> >
> > One serious comment: any of these texts is going to do the job if the
> > student is truly motivated and disciplined. I do suggest that for the
> > individuals on their own the use of more than one beginning text is
> > helpful.
> > If one set of explanations doesn't do it, maybe another will.
> >
> > N.E. Barry Hofstetter
> > Professor, WRTS
> > http://www.wittenbergreformed.org
> > Mentor, TNARS http://www.tnars.net/
> > Classics Instructor, TAA
> > http://www.theamericanacademy.net
> >
> > and me:
> >
> > http://mysite.verizon.net/nebarry
> > http://my.opera.com/barryhofstetter/blog
> >
> > ---
> > 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
> >
> ---
> B-Greek home page: http://www.ibiblio.org/bgreek
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>
--
Sarah
sarah.r.madden at gmail.com
work: 301.429.8189
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