[B-Greek] latest thoughts on Greek Audio, aesthetics verus utility

Mark Lightman lightmanmark at yahoo.com
Sat Mar 28 21:55:24 EDT 2009


Louis,
 
I just checked out your site and you have gone a great job
showing what's available.  You have hit all the main points.
I encourage everyone to go there and you can see what you can
down load and just start listening!  I agree that we don't have the
James Earl Jones of koine yet, but we are getting closer.
 
www.letsreadgreek.com/resources/greekntaudio.htm . 
 
Mark L.  

--- On Sat, 3/28/09, Louis Sorenson <llsorenson at hotmail.com> wrote:

From: Louis Sorenson <llsorenson at hotmail.com>
Subject: RE: latest thoughts on Greek Audio, aesthetics verus utility
To: "B-Greek List mail to all" <b-greek at lists.ibiblio.org>, lightmanmark at yahoo.com
Date: Saturday, March 28, 2009, 2:18 PM




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Excellent post Mark,

Not since the Bush years....  I recently updated the web page on the NT Greek audio http://www.letsreadgreek.com/resources/greekntaudio.htm . David Field dropped me a note that his reader, Andy Martin, will have Luke finished soon.  Also, there is a superb recording of Gleason Archer reading about six NT books on the now out of print GreekMaster - Greek NT Software and Audio with Dr. Gleason Archer.  I contacted the publisher, Heavenword, about the possibility of ripping the audio off the software and creating a separate CD, but got no response, perhaps I should send another post. Archer uses Erasmian, but apparently has a great voice.  

Louis Sorenson
> ------------------------------
> 
> Message: 7
> Date: Fri, 27 Mar 2009 19:37:05 -0700 (PDT)
> From: Mark Lightman <lightmanmark at yahoo.com>
> Subject: [B-Greek] latest thoughts on Greek Audio, aesthetics verus utility
> To: b-greek at lists.ibiblio.org
> Message-ID: <254526.77657.qm at web63603.mail.re1.yahoo.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1
> 
> I finally got a used MP3 player for a good price
> (I traded all my GM stock for it) and so I have been
> listening to a lot of the Greek Audio that is 
> available for free.? My sense is that there is more
> of this out there now than there was even a year
> ago.? At first, I was trying to find an alternative to
> Jonathan Pennington, whose c.d.'s I have listened
> to many times.? I DON'T want this post to lead to
> another fight over Erasmus versus Modern or
> Living Koine, although I don't think we have had 
> this fight on this list?since the Bush years, so maybe it's
> time? for it.? But what I?didn't like about Pennington
> is not that he uses Erasmus, but that he sounds 
> less like a Rhapsode from Rhodes and more like
> an Accountant from Akron.? He makes no attempt
> to roll his r's or?not to?glide his long vowels.? I had
> thought that the problems with Erasmus could
> be solved if you just gave it a certain Mediteranian
> flair, if you read it say the way a Frenchman or
> an Italian might, not the way, say, I would.? And it
> turns out there are readings of the Greek NT in more
> or less Erasmus which sound much better, Louis Tyler
> for example.? And yes, Buth's First John and the readings
> available on Greek Latin Audio.com (with MG pronunciation)
> do SOUND much better than Pennington.
> ?
> But when I put these on my player and listened to them
> for a while, I discovered something which in retrospect is
> pretty obvious.? While some Greek audio sounds very nice,
> it may not be as helpful as Pennington.? My real find has been
> Marilyn Phemister.? Her Greek sounds about as pretty as her
> name, which is to say it is uglier than Pennington.? But I have 
> found her readings to be very USEFUL.? I can understand her
> Greek very well.? She speaks slowly.? She enunciates each
> word.? She has less idiosyncracies than any Greek Audio I 
> have found.? She gets the accents right most of the time.
> Again, her diction is dull, artificial, ugly, and very helpful I 
> think in what is a very difficult task, listening to and understanding
> a language you have learned by reading.
> ?
> Now, I know what you are going to say.? Sure, I can understand
> my High School French teacher better than I can Jean Paul
> Sartre, but Marilyn Phemister is not real Greek, it's not 
> "Living," as Buth might say.? I agree.? But you have to 
> walk before you run.? I find that listening to Phemister over
> and over again I can follow the Greek text quite well, once
> I go through it a few times with the text in front of me.? I
> realize that this is only the first step in Audio Learning, and
> that Buth is ultimately right about hearing and speaking 
> not just NT texts but real language.? He has challenged us that
> we cannot really say we understand koine if we cannot understand
> a random passage from?e.g. Josephus read at normal speed.? I'd
> like to get there, but I can at least do this with Phemister, and
> I am grateful for her to making her readings available.
> ?
> As a postscript, I have also put on my player Book 1 of the Iliad
> read by one Stanley Lombardo.? His website says that he is
> from New Orleans, but he reads Greek?like?a Sicilian?on steroids.
> He basically uses Erasmus but for some reason pronounces both
> omega and omicron as a long o as in note.? He reads very dramatically,
> but very fast and does some weird things with the accents.? Again, his
> Greek sounds much better than Phemister or Pennington, but it is
> much harder to follow, even though I am getting as familar with Book
> I of the Iliad as I am with the Greek NT, since I have readi it about ten
> times now.? If Phemister had recorded it, it would sound worse, but
> I have no doubt she would help me understand the Iliad better.? If
> you haven't already done so, I would recommend that you go
> to her website and give her a try, even if you have?a bias against
> American sounding Erasmians. 
> ?
> Mark L. 




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