[B-Greek] David Black on learning Greek
Mark Lightman
lightmanmark at yahoo.com
Fri Oct 1 19:35:10 EDT 2010
I'm with Michael L. on this one. I think Ancient Greek is a very difficult
language to learn. The only way you could prove this is to get a representative
sample of people from around the world, say about 10,000 of them, and ask them
to all learn the same ten languages, in different orders, and then ask them to
rank them. I think if you did this, Greek would rank among the most difficult.
Failing this, all you have is anecdotal evidence. But lots of people have
studied both Hebrew and Greek on the one hand, and Greek and Latin on the other
hand, and is there not a consensus that Hebrew is much easier, and Latin at
least a little easier, than Greek?
I don't think Greek is hard because we don't teach it correctly. I don't think
it is hard because we don't expend enough time and effort. I think it is hard
because of the accents, because of the word order, because it is hard to figure
out what goes with what, because the vocabulary is large, because there is over
lap in the endings, because you have so many ways you can form a genitive,
because of the elipses, because the default meaning of many verbs is transitive
whereas the default meaning of the English counterparts are often intransitive,
because you have to deal with dialectical variances, because simple finite verbs
are easier than infinitive and participle constructions, because because
because.
It's probably true that a child can learn any language just as easy as any
other, but maybe Greek is the exception that proves the rule. What's the
easiest thing written in Greek? The LXX, right? It is easy in exactly the
places where it is not Greek.
I agree with David Black's other twelve points.
Mark L
FWSFOROS MARKOS
________________________________
From: George F Somsel <gfsomsel at yahoo.com>
To: Michael Lawson <dikaiosune_7 at msn.com>; James Spinti
<JSpinti at Eisenbrauns.com>
Cc: b-greek <b-greek at lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Fri, October 1, 2010 2:23:07 PM
Subject: Re: [B-Greek] David Black on learning Greek
Au contraire, Pierre. Greek is not difficult to learn, but it does require
effort. That is, special intellectual abilities are not necessary. Even the
little children learned to speak Greek (standard joke). For us, however, it
does require some perspiration. If you aren't willing to expend the effort, you
will not learn it, but if you do expend the effort, even a child can learn
Greek.
george
gfsomsel
… search for truth, hear truth,
learn truth, love truth, speak the truth, hold the truth,
defend the truth till death.
- Jan Hus
_________
________________________________
From: Michael Lawson <dikaiosune_7 at msn.com>
To: James Spinti <JSpinti at Eisenbrauns.com>
Cc: b-greek <b-greek at lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Fri, October 1, 2010 10:57:14 AM
Subject: Re: [B-Greek] David Black on learning Greek
David Black says,
<6. Greek is not difficult to learn. I'll say it again: Greek is not difficult
to learn. I like to tell my students, "Greek is an easy language; it's us Greek
teachers who get in the way." The point is that anyone can learn Greek, even a
poorly-educated surfer from Hawaii. If I can master Greek, anyone can!>
Now, a view from a student of the Greek language.
Greek is difficult to learn. I'll say it again: Greek is difficult to learn. I
would like to tell those Greek teachers out there, "Greek is a difficult
language; Greek teachers help sometimes in explaining things if you can find
one
to ask who has the patience but its still difficult." The poorly-educated surfer
from Hawaii would rather surf than write out a verb conjugation chart for sure.
But, to be fair to David Black, I believe his point is that any surfer is
capable of learning a "little Greek"; mastering it requires more than average
intelligence and more ambition than meets the average surfer who wants to surf
the big waves.
Michael Lawson
----- Original Message -----
From: James Spinti<mailto:JSpinti at Eisenbrauns.com>
To: B-Greek List mail to all<mailto:b-greek at lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Friday, October 01, 2010 11:49 AM
Subject: [B-Greek] David Black on learning Greek
I haven't seen this posted here yet, but David Black has a "13 things
your Greek teacher won't tell you" posted on his non-blog. Here's the
link to Rod Decker's quoting of it (so you can find it):
http://ntresources.com/blog/?p=1020<http://ntresources.com/blog/?p=1020>
Enjoy,
James
________________________________
James Spinti
Marketing Director, Book Sales Division
Eisenbrauns, Good books for more than 35 years
Specializing in Ancient Near Eastern and Biblical Studies
jspinti at eisenbrauns dot com
Web: http://www.eisenbrauns.com<http://www.eisenbrauns.com/>
Phone: 574-269-2011 ext 226
Fax: 574-269-6788
---
B-Greek home page:
http://www.ibiblio.org/bgreek<http://www.ibiblio.org/bgreek>
B-Greek mailing list
B-Greek at lists.ibiblio.org<mailto:B-Greek at lists.ibiblio.org>
http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/b-greek<http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/b-greek>
---
B-Greek home page: http://www.ibiblio.org/bgreek
B-Greek mailing list
B-Greek at lists.ibiblio.org
http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/b-greek
---
B-Greek home page: http://www.ibiblio.org/bgreek
B-Greek mailing list
B-Greek at lists.ibiblio.org
http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/b-greek
More information about the B-Greek
mailing list