[B-Greek] Accents in ancient Greek - (a continuation)

Kevin P. Edgecomb kevin at bombaxo.com
Sun Sep 19 12:20:45 EDT 2010


Proper accentuation in any spoken language is a sign of true fluency. It's better to learn it earlier rather than to need to correct it later. The same must be said for pronunciation.

I would likewise question the fluency of a person who is "fluent" in only one book of a culture's vast patrimony. Such a person would miss all the richness of the language in its native, unsystematized and undigested state. They cannot be said to know a language, but rather to know only one book in that language.

Perhaps many people are not interested in fluency?

Regards,
Kevin P. Edgecomb
Berkeley, California

On Sep 19, 2010, at 7:51 AM, Blue Meeksbay <bluemeeksbay at yahoo.com> wrote:

> For those recently engaged in the thread concerning how one orally communicates 
> in Greek, with or without the right accent, this recent article might be 
> interesting in seeing how we are communicating today in the written press, with 
> or without the correct form. It came to mind because of what Mark L. wrote in a 
> previous post concerning comprehension vs. form. He wrote:
>  
>    *…I think anyone who has had a little experience listening to Greek will 
> understand 100% of his Greek NT.  If I can understand 100% of someone, on what 
> basis can I criticize the way they speak the language?  I live in a neighborhood 
> where lots of people are learning English as a second language.  They almost 
> never stress English words on the same syllables as I do, and it never 
> interferes with my ability to understand them.*
>  
> The article is entitled, *Goodbye, cruel words: English. It's dead to me,*  by 
> Gene Weingarten of the Washington Post.  It can be found at the following web 
> address:
>  
> http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/09/13/AR2010091304476.html
> 
>  
>  
> Cordially, 
> Blue Harris
> 
> 
> 
> ---
> 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