I posted a couple of weeks back about my intended plan of action for learning Greek. My first stage has gone much better than expected so I imagine I will be moving on to stage two in a couple of months. This weekend I’ve looked more closely at quite a few of the Greek grammar books out there and want feedback from anyone who has used any of them before. Please keep in mind that I’ll be using one or more of these books to teach myself and not using them for a class, etc. I really enjoy using Amazon so I’ll just link the two books I’m using right now first, followed by the other grammars that I’m considering, and finally with the one book that I want feedback on the most. Please post PRO and CON for any of the books you have experience with please.
Currently using:
Essential English Grammar
Greek for the Rest of Us
Considering:
Basics of Biblical Greek Grammar (and workbook)
Learn to Read New Testament Greek
Intermediate New Testament Greek
A Graded Reader of Biblical Greek
Greek Grammar Beyond the Basics
It’s Still Greek to Me
I’d really like more feedback on this one. I’m not sure if it makes any use of Greek characters based on the preview at Amazon. I’m really intrigued to use it alongside a more traditional grammar but I don’t know enough about it’s content yet.
Learn New Testament Greek
One last note; this is not a closed list. I’m open to suggestions but I’m trying to narrow my options, not widen them. Also, I’ve really enjoyed Mounce so far so I’m looking for good reasons not to go with him. My original plan is here.
March 30, 2008 at 10:55 pm
Go with Mounce’s Grammar and Workbook.
March 30, 2008 at 11:16 pm
If you’re going to go down a grammar-based path, I think just stick with Mounce. At *most* consider one other grammar text to provide some balance/alternate explanations/exercises whatever. More than that and you are throwing money away. Grab Mounce, grab the workbook, and when you get through both take the moment to evaluate where you’re at, and pick a new direction.
March 30, 2008 at 11:43 pm
I like Learn New Testament Greek for its inductive approach. I’m not a big fan of Mounce. I stopped using LNTG in favor of Athenaze which is for classical Greek but with the same inductive style as LNTG.
Greek Grammar Beyond the Basics is as you probably know more advanced and not really for learning Greek from. But it is really helpful just reading through it. My only complaint is that I wish Wallace would have made his own translation and extremely literal as I think it would have better illustrated some of his points that get lost in the translation process. It might help to go through his verse examples with an interlinear. Just my opinion though.
Also if you have the money you might want to check out Randall Buth’s Greek program “Living Koine Greek”. His method is very different and seems like it would be very effective.
Lastly I’ve heard some good things about Noah Clayton Croy’s grammar but I haven’t used it.
Good luck.
March 31, 2008 at 12:03 am
Does Learn New Testament Greek transliterate all of the Greek, or does it actually use the Greek characters? I previewed it at Amazon and there was no Greek in the initial pages. That’s a deal-breaker for me.
As much as I believe in the system being used by Buth, there is no way I could manage that. I’d prefer immersion but I find myself geographically stunted. I had some friends back in Chicago who were Greek and I find myself wishing I could be back there and pick up the language from them. Unfortunately all they taught me was to appreciate feta.
March 31, 2008 at 7:11 am
Hi Nathan – a few thoughts:
1) Feta is good – especially with marinated olives… mmmm
2) If Mounce is working for you, keep going with it – it is idiosyncratic, but that doesn’t mean it’s not good.
3) Anything by David Alan Black will be useful
4) Wallace is excellent, but, as has been noted, is beyond the level of the introductory stuff
5) I’ve often recorded NT Greek onto mp3/tape to listen to regularly – both vocab and Bible books… you may find this useful on top of listening to pre-recorded versions
6) I find that if I want encouragement about my Greek, I remind myself of how bad I am at German
March 31, 2008 at 7:14 am
It actually uses the Greek characters. If you were looking at the excerpt that part just happens to be the beginning where they are introducing the alphabet. The rest is all Greek.
Buth has a book/audio method. That is what I was referring to. It teaches by pictures and sounds before going into the actual forms of the words and Greek characters. He teaches more in a way so that you can immerse yourself and even speak it eventually.
On http://www.biblicalulpan.org/ go to courses and then check out Greek Demo Lesson.
Bryan
March 31, 2008 at 10:33 am
As Matthew said, anything by Black is great.
March 31, 2008 at 10:40 am
I saw quite a few comments that Black’s book is poorly bound and the pages fall out. It looks pretty good, but based on everyone’s comments I’ll probably stick to my original plan and go with Mounce BBGG & workbook, followed by Wallace’s GGBB. Since it’s only $20 I’ll probably pick up Dobson’s book to try out an inductive method. Thanks for the feedback everyone, blogging about this experience is definitely proving to be helpful.
March 31, 2008 at 1:54 pm
on the contrary, the copy I purchased for my mother was a quality sewn binding. I doubt the pages would fall out for at least 60 years or so – if not longer – for example, my “new” copy of Charles Hodge’s Ephesians commentary printed in 1856. Its in beautiful shape and all the pages are present.
I think the first edition might have been glued – but the second is sewn.
March 31, 2008 at 4:03 pm
Nathan, I’ve gone through:
1. Black uses the actually Greek font. I think the binding is fine. Black is good.
2. Mounce’s Basics of Biblical Greek is now the standard at that level. I recommend it to the beginner.
3. Young’s Intermediate Grammar is exceptional. I really do love his approach. He appears maverick at times, but I love that.
4. Wallace’s Greek Grammar Beyond the Basics is the best at the level right now. He’s quite user-friendly.
5. BDF has been the standard amount academics. It speaks for itself, but it assumes that the user has a good handle on Greek, preferably seminary level and more.
It depends on where you’re in your Greek journey.
6. Zerwick should not be overlooked. And I still find Dana and Mantey useful at some levels. But Wallace is much better.
March 31, 2008 at 4:04 pm
Bryan,
I like Smyth on Classical Greek. Exceptional, I say.
April 3, 2008 at 9:46 pm
One of the advantages of Mounce is the sheer amount of supporting material around it. Also, given that it is perhaps the more commonly used grammar in colleges and seminaries, you will come across many people who have learned Greek with it and might be able to assist you in tough spots.
I have always liked James Allen Hewett’s New Testament Greek: A Beginning and Intermediate Grammar (with its Key to Exercises), but I will admit that the presentation is a little dry. The same is true of N. Clayton Croy’s A Primer of Biblical Greek, but this is the only text that consistently exposes the student to Septuagint Greek (the exercises feature an equal number of sentences selected from the LXX and the NT).
As for the excellent little books by Black, they make for excellent study material after one has completed a full elementary grammar.
April 3, 2008 at 10:56 pm
Thank you for the continued feedback. I’m thinking of grabbing Learn New Testament Greek by Dobson before starting on Mounce. I am going to check my local bookstores to see what is in stock, maybe the seminary bookstore as well. I’ve got plenty of time to look around at this point.
April 11, 2008 at 7:29 pm
[...] 11, 2008 The Plan: Possible Revision Posted by Nathan Stitt under Books, Greek In a previous post I mentioned that I was very interested in Learn New Testament Greek by John Dobson. Well I [...]