[B-Greek] grammar-translation

Will Dilbeck will.dilbeck at gmail.com
Tue Aug 4 12:28:03 EDT 2009


I have observed from afar the much discussed idea of reading/thinking in
Greek vs. mere translation. I clearly want to get to the point beyond
translation. However, it is difficult for me to see how this is achieved
considering that when I see for example "BLEPW" in a given text, I convert
it to an idea which is expressed to me in English as "I see." Perhaps this
is not a good example, but I hope you can see my point. I guess my question
is a simple one, "Pragmatically, how can I go from translation to
reading/thinking in Greek?"

Thanks,
Will

On Tue, Aug 4, 2009 at 10:30 AM, Carl Conrad <cwconrad2 at mac.com> wrote:

>
> On Aug 4, 2009, at 10:59 AM, Elizabeth Kline wrote:
>
> >
> > Last night I had an opportunity to view samples of the DVDs from D.A.
> > Black's intro class. I watched portions of the first session and
> > portions of session 24 on the imperative . I know know why this method
> > of teaching is called grammar-translation. Transaltion is a central
> > feature of the discussion. Every thing is explained by looking at
> > translation alternatives. I had never see this method in action
> > before. Well perhaps I have, once. I think a while back I watched
> > something by Mounce on his web site.
>
> It is ,alas -- my reaction, shared, I suspect by very few --,  the
> wave of the future in Biblical Greek pedagogy -- less so in Classical
> Greek pedagogy. There is no pretense of such fool notions as "thinking
> in Greek." Rather, it is: Parse, decode, and use the glosses to
> convert to woodenly-literal English, somewhat like an attempt to
> describe the taste of a cucumber or broccoli that one has only
> sniffed. Granted, this is a gross exaggeration, but there is, I think,
> more than a little truth in it.
>
>
> Carl W. Conrad
> Department of Classics, Washington University (Retired)
>
>
>
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