Suggestions for Intro-to-Greek course

Hi everyone,

As mentioned in another post, I am taking a 3-week, 5 days/week, 3 hours/day intensive face-to-face Intro to Greek class. I've supplemented my reading with the material from this Mobile Ed GK101: Intro to Biblical Greek course: https://www.logos.com/product/149243/mobile-ed-gk101-introduction-to-biblical-greek. My question is: Is there something incremental to be gained by also consuming the material from what seems a similar course by Bill Mounce titled: "Basics of Biblical Greek Video lectures"? I would consider faster absorption of material as a good return on investment.

A second related question...There seem to be 2 courses with the same title of "Basics of Biblical Greek Video lectures": https://www.logos.com/product/54585/basics-of-biblical-greek-video-lectures AND https://www.logos.com/product/185451/basics-of-biblical-greek-video-lectures. Both are published in 2019, but the latter says: "This updated version of Basics of Biblical Greek Video Lectures". Is the latter one the newer one by Bill Mounce?

Thank you.

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Comments

Christian Alexander

I would not purchase Mounce's work. Here is this keyed to Mounce https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLtWjBsIVZMZqldIL9BImbPEkkU4PQFpYK

Keyed to Duff's text on Greek https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lfMXhthpd5c&list=PLLsORYeo0a66wYX81WQpy8EtEze14vERn

This is good too. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-BfYa4QM2dc&list=PL40D66708671D260F

I know the person who created this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gLe1GhR5l0E&list=PLO3VwXPRtV3yHbCsWoGCxEkBsDoXNkpMq

Let me know what you think.

1Cor10 31

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/1298580#Comment_1298580

I would not purchase Mounce's work. Here is this keyed to Mounce https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLtWjBsIVZMZqldIL9BImbPEkkU4PQFpYK

Keyed to Duff's text on Greek https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lfMXhthpd5c&list=PLLsORYeo0a66wYX81WQpy8EtEze14vERn

This is good too. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-BfYa4QM2dc&list=PL40D66708671D260F

I know the person who created this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gLe1GhR5l0E&list=PLO3VwXPRtV3yHbCsWoGCxEkBsDoXNkpMq

Let me know what you think.

Thank you, Christian, for all these free resources. This is very helpful. Don't know why I didn't think of Google!

I did some googling on my own and I found this: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLPe-EXRYJg2iob0nrBggwIrr56Y1k2WZ2. I seem to have a book by David Alan Black (https://www.sebts.edu/faculty/black/) titled "Learn to Read New Testament Greek". Don't know whether you have any comments on this.

Thank you.

Christian Alexander

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/1298639#Comment_1298639

His book is good. I use it as a great logical continous approach. This is an excellent textbook for learning Greek vocabulary for beginners. less difficult than some others. If you don't know any Koine Greek, this is a nice one to start with. It comes with a complimentary web companion website. It involves using flash cards and the alphabet practice. This book gets you reading rather quickly—in as little as a few weeks—which is why I suggest it. This book is intended for individuals who wish to learn New Testament Greek after covering the fundamentals, mastering the alphabet, and learning the pronunciation by heart, just like we do with English. Even though you could read John earlier, you could not understand now. The method is the same for Futato's Beginning Hebrew textbook.

1Cor10 31

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/1298655#Comment_1298655

His book is good. I use it as a great logical continous approach. This is an excellent textbook for learning Greek vocabulary for beginners. less difficult than some others. If you don't know any Koine Greek, this is a nice one to start with. It comes with a complimentary web companion website. It involves using flash cards and the alphabet practice. This book gets you reading rather quickly—in as little as a few weeks—which is why I suggest it. This book is intended for individuals who wish to learn New Testament Greek after covering the fundamentals, mastering the alphabet, and learning the pronunciation by heart, just like we do with English. Even though you could read John earlier, you could not understand now. The method is the same for Futato's Beginning Hebrew textbook.

Thank you for your comments on David Alan Black's book. I did some quick scanning of the book and my professor's notes, though based on another author's book, is quite similar to that of David Alan Black. So I can review the day's material using David Alan Black's book. So that's cool.

It comes with a complimentary web companion website.

Could you point me to the website. I only see this resource: https://www.logos.com/product/198209/learn-to-read-new-testament-greek-workbook-supplemental-exercises-for-greek-grammar-students.

Even though you could read John earlier, you could not understand now. The method is the same for Futato's Beginning Hebrew textbook.

I have his HB101 Intro to Biblical Hebrew course. Good to know that it is good and similar. Hebrew can wait till I get a grip on Greek.

Thanks a ton Christian.

Christian Alexander

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/1298674#Comment_1298674

I only had 2 semesters of Hebrew after my first 5 semesters of Greek. It was very hard. https://dailydoseofgreek.com/learn/ and https://newtestamentgreekportal.blogspot.com/p/dave-blacks-greek-tools.html

David Thomas

Hi everyone, As mentioned in another post, I am taking a 3-week, 5 days/week, 3 hours/day intensive face-to-face Intro to Greek class.

I would suggest you trust the pedagogy of your face-to-face instructor for these 3 weeks, THEN consider supplements. If he/she chooses a 7 case system, then another author’s presentation of a 5-case system could be confusing. my first time study Greek we started with verb tenses, when I took Greek again in Grad School the text started with verbless clauses. if your teacher believes time is embedded in verb tense, then verbal aspect could cause confusion (or vice versa). There are inductive and deductive methodologlies that are rife to overwhelm in an intensive like you are doing.

1Cor10 31

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/1298712#Comment_1298712

I only had 2 semesters of Hebrew after my first 5 semesters of Greek. It was very hard. https://dailydoseofgreek.com/learn/ and https://newtestamentgreekportal.blogspot.com/p/dave-blacks-greek-tools.html

Thank you Christian. Very helpful. I am doing my version of Flash cards in Excel!

1Cor10 31

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/1298737#Comment_1298737

1Cor10 31">Hi everyone, As mentioned in another post, I am taking a 3-week, 5 days/week, 3 hours/day intensive face-to-face Intro to Greek class.

I would suggest you trust the pedagogy of your face-to-face instructor for these 3 weeks, THEN consider supplements. If he/she chooses a 7 case system, then another author’s presentation of a 5-case system could be confusing. my first time study Greek we started with verb tenses, when I took Greek again in Grad School the text started with verbless clauses. if your teacher believes time is embedded in verb tense, then verbal aspect could cause confusion (or vice versa). There are inductive and deductive methodologies that are rife to overwhelm in an intensive like you are doing.

Great advice, David. Probably because I was following your advice already[:D] Seriously...What I am doing at home is go to the topics that my instructor has covered in David Alan Black's book so as to add the links that I missed while in class. Greek is overwhelming indeed, so repetition helps a great deal. Having done 6 classes so far, I like that there are not many exceptions to the rules, so there is hope of getting a reasonable grip on the language if I keep investing time.

The reason for my question is that, as a teacher myself, I know my style of teaching is not liked by all. Absorption of the material is dependent to some extent on the teacher-student combination. If I teach in a style that is also the way the student learns, then the student loves it. Otherwise, not so much. So the extra resources I had enquired about is more about coming at Greek from a slightly different angle. Maybe, the slightly different take will drive home a few extra points.

MJ. Smith

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/1298743#Comment_1298743

Actually, I have a plan that will make Greek easy. First you commit to learning the holy trinity of languages: Sanskrit, Greek, and Latin. You start with Sanskrit which conventional wisdom says takes 12 years to learn. Then start your Greek - it is very easy by comparison. Then you learn Latin which is child's play ... or at least that is what linguistics/language graduate students say among themselves. [8-|]

Ronald Quick

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/1298750#Comment_1298750

Mounce has his vocabulary words available in audio format. I found this helpful to play over and over while driving to and from work. I learned to recognize the words by their pronounciation as well as reading them. It made learning the vocabulary much easier. Logos does have it available, but I purchased directly from Mounces' website.

https://www.logos.com/product/41556/basics-of-biblical-greek-vocabulary

1Cor10 31

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/1298750#Comment_1298750

Actually, I have a plan that will make Greek easy. First you commit to learning the holy trinity of languages: Sanskrit, Greek, and Latin. You start with Sanskrit which conventional wisdom says takes 12 years to learn. Then start your Greek - it is very easy by comparison. Then you learn Latin which is child's play ... or at least that is what linguistics/language graduate students say among themselves.

If God can guarantee that I will live to 100, I'll follow your plan for sure. Until then...

1Cor10 31

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/1298778#Comment_1298778

Mounce has his vocabulary words available in audio format. I found this helpful to play over and over while driving to and from work. I learned to recognize the words by their pronounciation as well as reading them. It made learning the vocabulary much easier. Logos does have it available, but I purchased directly from Mounces' website.

https://www.logos.com/product/41556/basics-of-biblical-greek-vocabulary

Thank you Ronald. After having just finished the 10th class of Greek, the initial sinking feeling is receding into the background. Now, I think learning pronunciation is the easier part of Greek, I feel. I want to finish the 5 remaining classes and then take stock of where I want to spend my future time to achieve the goals that I wanted to achieve from learning Greek. These 15 classes are just the beginning. I'll probably come back and post a question about how best to achieve my goals once I do some self assessment.