[B-Greek] Should someone learning ancient Greek do Rosetta StoneModern?

Barry H. nebarry at verizon.net
Sun Sep 19 22:27:36 EDT 2010


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Louis Sorenson" <llsorenson at hotmail.com>
To: "B-Greek List mail to all" <b-greek at lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Sunday, September 19, 2010 9:04 PM
Subject: [B-Greek] Should someone learning ancient Greek do Rosetta 
StoneModern?


>
> Hello all,
>
> Someone in my class today asked me a question. "Should I go through 
> Rosetta Stone's modern Greek program at the same time I am learning Koine 
> Greek?"  I've read that about 60% of NT words occur in modern Greek. So 
> would doing Rosetta Stone concurrently hurt/help. Would it confuse?
>
> I've read statements that say there was more change from Homeric Greek to 
> Attic than there is from Koine to Modern Demotic. Do we tell people learn 
> either Attic | Koine | Homeric then learn the other dialects? (That seems 
> to me the best approach. I know of no book that teaches different dialects 
> side-by-side for the beginner - but it also seems to me that there is a 
> lot in Modern Greek which can be used by the Koine student. There is no 
> Koine version of Rosetta Stone. So what should I say / have said?

Greetings, Louis, not sure about the change from Homeric to Attic, etc.  I 
have little problem reading any ancient Greek.  With a little work, I can 
get Katharevousa pretty well, but Demotike gives me fits and starts.  If 
your students are learning a synchronic dialect (i.e., Koine) let them 
concentrate on that.  My experience with modern Greek speakers who try to 
read ancient Greek is that they often have problems.  They may have a head 
start when they study the language, but they still have to learn at least as 
another dialect (much as you would have a learning curve with Old and Middle 
English), and semantic shift is murder.  So I think it would be less than 
helpful to your students, at least at the beginning level.

I'll be interested to hear Randall's take on it, and Carl's, though.

N.E. Barry Hofstetter, semper melius Latine sonat...
Classics and Bible Instructor, TAA
http://www.theamericanacademy.net
(2010 Savatori Excellence in Education Winner)
V-P of Academic Affairs, TNARS
bhofstetter at tnars.net
http://www.tnars.net

http://my.opera.com/barryhofstetter/blog
http://mysite.verizon.net/nebarry




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