[B-Greek] Death by categories

Alexander Ring akring at mac.com
Thu Mar 5 16:48:01 EST 2009


On Mar 5, 2009, at 1:04 PM, Randall Buth wrote:

> RB:
> I understand and appreciate both of the above professors, though I
> wish to mention that there may be a third point on a triangle:
> language internalization takes place thru listening with comprehension
> and thru use of the language.

We are in agreement. My point was I was fortunate to have two  
teachers who tended toward extremes. I'm glad I had a language  
teacher who pounded into my head the importance of grammar, it  
actually taught me to appreciate the grammar. And I'm glad I had  
someone who taught me to see the forest for the trees, though truth  
to tell, the latter actually was closer to your third point.

> (NB: I was worried by the word 'translate'
> above. the anicent Hebrew speakers learned the language without
> English, and without even knowing of the root system of the language!)
> I always breathe easier when the teacher and students can
> communicate with each other in the language. It is then that I know
> that something real is being built.
> I always evaluate claims by imaging how the proposal, whatever it be,
> would sound around an ancient campfire.

I now have visions of conjugating verbs around a campfire....

> Languages are not imppossible or out of reach of the common person,
> they are part of the image of God, part of being a human being.
> If we want to learn Greek, then we need to do what people do, to
> successfully learn a human language, all the way.

I agree. My first year Greek professor was a nice enough person, but  
treated Greek as something only fit for theology candidates, or at  
least very smart people. This did not induce a love of the language  
in most and also gave some theology candidates delusions of grandeur  
(like we needed any help there). Part of teaching a language teaching  
students to love the language, which often means showing them it is  
not beyond them, and even better, to work at it is to open up a whole  
new world. I have a lot of anecdotes about this, but they are much  
like those that could be told by many of the language teachers on  
this list.

Alex


Rev. Alexander Ring
11221 Farwest Dr
Lakewood, WA  98498

akring at mac.com

To create a more nurturing, non-judgmental atmosphere, many math  
teachers now tell children that no numbers are negative.




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