April 11, 2008
In a previous post I mentioned that I was very interested in Learn New Testament Greek by John Dobson. Well I didn’t get much feedback on the book probably because there are many other grammars that are in common use. As I am half way through Mounce’s Greek for the Rest of Us now, I am looking at purchasing the next wave of Greek grammars. So I did a Google search and came across a site that recommended doing the very thing I’ve been attempting to do already. Namely to start off slowly with the book I’m using now, then use Dobson’s inductive approach to ease myself in a bit more before starting on a grammar proper. So, head to the link below and give it a read through as I’m curious to hear what the rest of you think of their approach. Unless there’s a very compelling reason not to, I’m now officially planning on using Dobson’s book, followed closely by Mounce’s BBGG (and workbook) as demonstrated in the following link:
http://www.pocm.info/good_books_read_greek.htm
Towards the end of their post they mention a book titled Athenaze: An Introduction to Ancient Greek which looks quite interesting when you consider what they recommend. Has anyone ever used it? Incidentally, I’m also going to pick up a copy of The Complete Vocabulary Guide to the Greek New Testament by Warren Trenchard as it looks quite good.
April 11, 2008 at 9:23 pm
I’m taking Greek at the university I attend and we’re using Athenaze. I like it and imagine it would work better for self-paced study than many. Grammar and forms are given in manageable chunks which I found way better than trying to memorize too much right away like I did when I once tried learning on my own (made it to noun declensions before finding they just wouldn’t stick in my memory).
- Just a random stranger.
April 11, 2008 at 9:32 pm
The page you read is spot-on, in my experience. Athenaze is an excellent book to spend time reading. It would probably suck if you used it alone, but it’s great for reading greek. When you’re ready for it, pick it up and read through the passages, do the exercises, and so forth. If you get through all of Athenaze, pick up the JACT book, and read through that too.
Repitition in context really does make a huge difference.
April 11, 2008 at 11:11 pm
I found a post on the B Greek list that echoes the process from the page I linked in my post. He doesn’t mention getting his process from somewhere so I think it is just a coincidence? Here’s the link:
http://lists.ibiblio.org/pipermail/b-greek/2002-June/021529.html
April 12, 2008 at 3:54 pm
I can thoroughly recommend Dobson’s approach, which I used, with Dobson himself as tutor, for learning Hebrew although not Greek. It is a quick way of learning a good basic understanding of the language. If you then want or need to study the finer grammatical details, you need other resources.
April 12, 2008 at 5:23 pm
Nathan, I’ve use Dobson before. I do like his approach. But I think it’s a good decision to keep Mounce nearby.
April 12, 2008 at 7:31 pm
Thanks for the affirmation. I just got back from an afternoon of shopping four bookstores with my dad. I was able to look at Dobson for the first time in person and it looks nice. In the next month I’ll be picking it up, plus Mounce’s books and his vocab cards. Books I got today via trade were a W-H GNT and a synopsis of the gospels in Greek.
I came across some interesting books that I’ll probably post about soon asking for feedback on.
April 12, 2008 at 8:14 pm
Well, I’m glad you’re making the investment or your dad…lol. You will reap of a good harvest indeed.
I was never big on vocab cards though. I don’t think I ever used them.
My recommendation is reading. When you read and read, the vocab thing works itself out. Well, I’m speaking from experience.
But the vocab cards might be the way to go for now.
April 13, 2008 at 8:58 am
I agree with the post in that learning the biblical languages is hard and takes a lot of work - and you have to stay on top of it. The biggest challenge is staying on top of the verb and noun forms but also dealing with all the hapaxs and low frequency words. These can cause one to stumble and sometimes a lot of stumbling can get tiresome.
Be sure to get Wallace too (GGBB).
April 13, 2008 at 2:19 pm
Yep. Wallace is the next purchase after I finish Mounce. If I finish Mounce. I’m trying to stagger the process so that I’m not left with two dozen grammars and no inclination to learn Greek anymore. I’m approaching the Dobson/Mounce combo as my first major endeavor (guessing 1st year greek) which is following my initial introduction by Mounce’s other book mentioned earlier. After that will be my intermediate phase, assuming I stick it out. At that point Wallace and several others fit in to place.
TC, I agree wholeheartedly about the reading. That is why I mentioned Athenaze and am looking for other easy to read Greek works for practice. I’m interested in a holistic approach to where not only can I read the GNT, but also the Septuagint, Apostolic Fathers, maybe Josephus, etc. The primary goal is the GNT of course, but I don’t want to be a one trick pony.
Finally, I tend to have tons of down time throughout the day where I can easily pull out a handful of cards and flip through them. I’m hoping to memorize the vocab quickly, but I’m also going to make a post in a minute about some other vocab resources. I guess I’ll do that now.
April 13, 2008 at 4:44 pm
Oooh… you got the Greek synopsis of the four Gospels?!! Nice! If I was a different person I’d be jealous.
April 13, 2008 at 4:57 pm
I don’t believe it has an ISBN number. It appears to be a 14th printing of A Harmony of the Synoptic Gospels in Greek by Burton and Goodspeed, Chicago Univ Press. It should prove useful (once I can read it).
April 13, 2008 at 7:24 pm
I’ve had my eye on this one for a while now. I’d actually prefer the Greek-English edition, but either way, I can’t afford either. It’s nice to have dreams though.
April 13, 2008 at 8:24 pm
I thought the bookstore had the Gr-En you linked but it was actually the all English version and it was very marked up. That’s when I found the all Greek version which I traded for. Like you, I think the Gr-En looks very nice.
April 14, 2008 at 12:50 am
SQE is great, especially the non-canonical parallels and the Gospel of Thomas in the back.
I’m a bit excited by the promise of a NET Synopsis. Can’t recall if it will be a diglot; here’s hoping.
I really like the HCSB Synopsis for the Greek-impaired. A sort of study edition synopsis.
April 18, 2008 at 11:35 am
You might want to check out what Concordia Seminary has for free on ITunes University. They are offering recordings of a beginning Greek and Hebrew classes. If you get the files either post a message or send me an e-mail. I’ve had to work through some problems in getting them to play properly.
Robert
April 18, 2008 at 3:15 pm
Unfortunately you must have iTunes installed to download those files for free. I am not going to install it anytime soon… Er, my brother’s notebook has iTunes on it so I’ll see if I can get them downloaded on it and then transferred on a flash drive.