[B-Greek] Greek NT Audio

Louis Sorenson llsorenson at hotmail.com
Sat Sep 27 16:34:55 EDT 2008


XAIREIN,

I spent this morning deciding that the only way to popularize Dr. Buth's Living Koine was to take the modern beginning grammars and create audio files in the Living Koine dialect.  Mounce's (Zondervan) and Croy's (Wm. B. Eerdmans) are the most widely used.  After deciding I would try to do such a thing (I have been practicing my Living Koine for a number of months), I read the post on b-Greek stating the exact same need.  This is the obvious direction the previous posts are leading us.  Anyone who has read the posts on pronunciation and Greek NT audio texts has to be acutely aware that there are very few Living Koine audio files freely available.  You most probably will not have a teacher (at least in the US) who can pronounce Living Koine.  It's hard to get to Israel for many, especially with the value of the US dollar.  And modern Greek is an attractive alternative.

So what it would take to "change over" pronunciation toward a more accurate historical pronunciation in schools and on-line communities?  A friend who once sold me some insurance said "When people are comfortable, they often need something to push them over to change."  That 'push' or 'lever' is the why and the how will it benefit me? Several things are now in place for such a change to happen:

1) A correct, demonstrated and detailed system has been recreated - Dr. Buth's Living Koine is such a system that represents best how Greek was spoken from 200 b.c. to 200 a.d..  
2) The desire of people to include audio and verbal elements to their language learning. Many people would like to learn ancient Greek using the methodology of Rosetta Stone, living language learning, etc.
3) The internet has provided a need for audio files to be used in Greek pedagogy (many students are not in the presence of their teachers - and may never hear them speak Koine,  unless they are using a live videophone system). 
4) The awareness of people that the present pronunciation system (i.e. Erasmian), is incorrect in both spell-talk and historical pronunciation respects. (i.e. Erasmian correctly represents neither.  The previous discussions on the b-Greek site are evidence of this.

Several things still need to happen:
5) Available and free audio files for teachers to use for the beginning text books which read the vocabulary and exercies in the Living Koine dialect.
6) A path for existing teachers to change. Where do they start? Do they keep using Erasmian in some classes and Living Koine in others?
7) Audio files in Linving Koine of the Greek New Testament - especially the parts that are used in first and second year courses. e.g. 1 John, Mark, Philippians, John, etc.
8) An opportunity to be surrounded by people using the Living Koine (whether in a conference, summer schole, online chat or internet meeting - (My kids are always talking on their gaming sites)
9) The 'push'.  

FYI, David Field's site is currently offline. Also, the Greek NT audio page, while still being updated is in a very rough form at http://www.letsreadgreek.com/resources/greekntaudio.htm 

Louis Sorenson
---------------------------------------------


Susan Jeffers wrote.....

Message: 12
Date: Sat, 27 Sep 2008 11:49:00 -0400
From: Susan Jeffers <susan at read-the-bible.org>
Subject: Re: [B-Greek] Greek NT audio

 
I teach biblical Greek in a completely online environment. Are there any collections of NT passages or whole books read aloud using R. Buth's pronunciation scheme, to which I can link, for my students? If not, is anyone working on recording and posting such? 
 
Keeping NT Greek learning financially affordable is one of my goals, especially in light of the large time investment required :-)  I remain extremely grateful to this b-greek community for the tremendous service y'all provide.....
 
Thanks!
 
Susan Jeffers



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