[B-Greek] Self-taught in Greek
Carl Conrad
cwconrad2 at mac.com
Wed Nov 17 10:14:54 EST 2010
Once again, in the interest of simplifying, let me append to what our friend
Phospho has said: We are ALL of us, who have learned any Greek at all,
self-taught, and there is NOT ONE of us that hasn't been assisted in our
efforts by others, even if only as non-contributing list-members of B-Greek.
Yes, I have said that I have learned by intensive reading, by the process of
teaching, by the process of Greek composition and listening and speaking
in Greek (not often enough), by interaction with students who have understood
some things I was trying to teach them better than I myself understood those
things. I have even learned by memorization of paradigms of inflectional
forms and grammatical rules, but in my later years (I've been busy at Greek
for nigh unto 60 years now) I've come to think that the memorization of
paradigms and learning of grammatical rules has been of only secondary
usefulness when one is trying to talk about usage with other persons -- I
don't think the paradigms and grammar are of much direct help to one
endeavoring to read written Greek or listen to spoken Greek with real
comprehension of the content.
Carl W. Conrad
On Nov 17, 2010, at 8:54 AM, Mark Lightman wrote:
> Michael asked
>
> <...does anyone know of a good list of famous
> theologians who are self-taught in Greek?>
>
> Hi, Michael,
>
> You mean, like this?
>
> TOP TEN FAMOUS THEOLOGIANS WHO ARE SELF-TAUGHT IN GREEK
>
> 10. Ulrich Zwingli
> 9. John Brown of Haddington
> 8. John Newton
> 7. One of the anonymous editors of "Q."
> 6. God
> 5. Mark Lightman. I am essentially self-taught. Many years ago, I took a
> few college courses in Greek, but I did not learn much therefrom. Whatever
> fluency I have, I have developed from about five years of intensive self-study.
> But you know, everyone would say that. Everyone is "essentially self-taught" in
> that you do no learn Greek from sitting in a classroom. You learn Greek by
> reading (and to a lesser extent, writing, listening to and speaking) Greek over
> and over again. "Therein the patient must minister to himself." Paula Saffire,
> in the preface to her Ancient Greek Alive, says she learned Greek by reading it
> eight hours a day. Conrad says that he only started to learn Greek AFTER he
> left graduate school. Or maybe, what he said, is what you often hear from
> teachers, that he only started to learn Greek when he had to teach it to
> others. Which is another way of saying "Therein the patient must minister to
> himself."
>
>
> But I think I agree in substance to what Dave McKay wrote. There is a big
> difference between being essentially self-taught and being completely
> self-taught. Even though I did not learn much in those few classes, or to be
> more accurate, I had to re-learn on my own all the stuff taught, they were a big
> help in terms of supplying motivation and structure and self-confidence. The
> fact is, the overwhelming majority of people who try to teach themselves Greek
> do not stick with it and fail. To see, face to face, a teacher and other
> students, to complete a textbook (even though you are going to have to complete
> many more textbooks on your own) to get an overview of the language from an
> expert, probably has greater value than I admit. There may just be a
> correlation, not a causal link, between successful self-learners and those who
> at least took a class or two, in that really motivated self-learners will
> probably do what they have to do to find some formal environment to learn.
>
> But self learning today, with the internet, with audio and video and interactive
> verb charts and forums like B-Greek, for that matter, is not like it was in the
> days of John Brown of Haddington.
>
> I'd like to hear from Jonnathan Robie and other completely self-taught folks.
> I'm sure there are many on this board. I guess in the final analysis, I reject
> Dave's analogy. Learning Greek is not brain surgery. It is hard, with or
> without a teacher, but therein the patient must always minister to himself.
>
> I will let someone else finish the top ten list.
>
> Mark L
> Φωσφορος
>
>
> FWSFOROS MARKOS
>
> ________________________________
> From: Michael Baber <illuminatiaries at yahoo.com>
> To: B-Greek at lists.ibiblio.org
> Sent: Tue, November 16, 2010 8:31:26 AM
> Subject: [B-Greek] Self-taught in Greek
>
> Hello forum,
>
> I know this is not on-topic, but since this board is filled with Greek
> scholars and the like, I was wondering if anyone on this board is
> self-taught in Greek. Also, does anyone know of a good list of famous
> theologians who are self-taught in Greek? I know there are quite a few
> but I don't know them off the top of my head. Your responses would be
> greatly appreciated.
>
> Thank you,
> Mike
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