[B-Greek] Seeking.....

Iver Larsen iver_larsen at sil.org
Mon Mar 10 01:49:41 EDT 2008


As a non-native speaker of English, I was never required to study Shakespeare in his original 
language in school, and I don't have sufficient literary and historical interests to want to do so. 
If for some reason I wanted to do such studies or to read the King James Bible, I would indeed need 
to learn some of the peculiarities of English as it was used centuries ago. However, this does not 
help me to understand modern English, whether Australian, British or American. Likewise, studying 
Classical Greek is necessary if you want to read the Classical Greek literature, but if your primary 
goal is to understand the Greek NT, it can be dangerous.

For a native speaker of modern English, it is no problem recognizing when Shakespeare used grammar 
or semantics that is different from modern English, but if you are not proficient in the modern 
language, you are in danger of wrongly assuming that what applied to Shakespeare's English also 
applies today.

A famous first attempt to translate Psalm 23 from the King James Bible into a local language in 
Canada was disastrous, because the translator was not a native speaker of English and had no 
knowledge of sheep or shepherds. The translation came out as: The Lord is my wild-goat-hunter, I 
don't want him. He knocks me down in the grass and drags me down to the water.

As long as students are clearly told the differences between Classical and Hellenistic Greek, the 
dangers are minimized, but years ago I corresponded with a Classical and NT Greek scholar who 
insisted that the hINAs in John's gospel were all indicating purpose. Many flawed Bible translations 
have been (dis)colo(u)red by such wrong assumptions, so beware.

In my opinion as a practical linguist and translator rather than a Classical Greek scholar, a study 
of contemporary Greek texts including papyrus texts is more helpful for understanding the Greek NT 
than Classical Greek. Because of the unique background for the NT a study of Hebrew and Aramaic is 
also very helpful. How much one can accomplish is a personal choice.

Iver Larsen


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Hugh Donohoe Jr." <justusjcmylord at yahoo.com>
To: "blist greek" <b-greek at lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: 10. marts 2008 03:21
Subject: [B-Greek] Seeking.....


George your advice is akin to having someone study
Shakespearean English in order to learn the English we
speak currently. It is indeed edifying to interact
with the apogee of English, but to make that a
priority?

George wrote:

DON'T LEARN NEW TESTAMENT GREEK

Learn classical.

george
gfsomsel





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