[B-Greek] "WRITE, WRITE WRITE' (was "Suggestions Please!")
Ken Penner
kpenner at stfx.ca
Mon May 30 15:58:10 EDT 2011
In response to George's caution below, I might suggest back-translating a text into Greek, then comparing what you wrote to the Greek original. I did something similar when trying to keep up my Greek and Hebrew over the summer: I translated Ruth from Hebrew to Greek, then compared my translation to the Septuaginta to see where I had misjudged vocabulary equivalences or syntactic structures.
Ken
Ken M. Penner, Ph.D.
Greek, Hebrew, Aramaic vocabulary memorization software:
http://purl.org/net/kmpenner/flash/
kpenner at stfx.ca
-----Original Message-----
From: b-greek-bounces at lists.ibiblio.org [mailto:b-greek-bounces at lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of George F Somsel
Sent: May-29-11 6:59 PM
To: Carl Conrad; John Barach, Sr
Cc: b-greek at lists.ibiblio.org
Subject: Re: [B-Greek] "WRITE, WRITE WRITE' (was "Suggestions Please!")
While I don't wish to imply that writing is not a valuable tool in learning a
language, I would be rather cautious in advocating its use. Without a qualified
mentor to correct missteps, it can result in bad practices becoming ingrained.
As one begins to write by simply coverting an English idiom into Greek without
regard for whether Greek would ever have used such an idiom and then compounds
it by repetition, one does not truly learn Greek as it was spoken / written. It
is somewhat synonymous to the inmates running the assylum.
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: Carl Conrad <cwconrad2 at mac.com>
To: "John Barach, Sr" <jbarach at motorera.com>
Cc: b-greek at lists.ibiblio.org
Sent: Sun, May 29, 2011 10:21:52 AM
Subject: Re: [B-Greek] "WRITE, WRITE WRITE' (was "Suggestions Please!")
On May 29, 2011, at 12:10 PM, John Barach, Sr wrote:
> While I don't disagree with those who advocate extensive reading and
> writing in Greek, may I suggest memorizing passages in Greek.
> When I studied German and French, it was required to memorize long
> passages. Although that was some 55 years ago, I think I could still
> quote those passages even though I don't use those languages much anymore.
> However, when I started to learn Greek 50 years ago, I had to walk
> several kilometres to church. I decided then that I should memorize the
> Gospel of John as I walked. First, I did it in English; but then I began
> in Greek. Although I memorized only a few chapters in Greek, the text is
> still with me.
Yea, verily. Memorization of good texts is a valuable procedure. The gospel
of John is a fine choice. Other NT choices: 1 Cor 1-4 and/or 12-14, Acts 7,
Matthew's and Luke's Nativity narratives. Those are arbitrary choices out
of a number that one might mention.
Outside the NT: Memorize Plato's Apology of Socrates, Epictetus'
Enchiridion, Homer's Odyssey 6 -- to mention but a few "memorable"
gems of Greek literature.
Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics, Washington University (Retired)
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