Thursday, January 05, 2006

My Big, Fat, Greek Self-Study Program

Just today in the carpool we were talking about how you could find out all kinds of stuff about yourself and others. So imagine the irony of someone actually doing that very thing and leaving me a comment about it.

William Dicks dug up an old post from the B-Greek list where I saw fit to share a little of the wealth I had gained from the beginnings of my Greek studies. Was that really two years ago?

Not much has changed, unfortunately. I still know just a few vocabulary words and I still use it mostly when the urge hits me. My hope when I started was the mere persistence would eventually pay off. I tried studying vocabulary. I tried just reading passages of scripture. I tried several books, websites, etc. Turns out that even I'm not that persistent.

And there's something particularly difficult about trying to learn Greek by yourself. It's not like you can get a lot of practice, or even find a standard proununciation for heaven's sake!

I figured I would do better in a class, because I could ask questions, and get answers that might take much longer for me to answer on my own (and maybe never, in the case of a language like Greek). I've wanted to take a class for awhile, but it just didn't fit the schedule.

But that's all about to change. I'm pleased to say that I'm going to start "Baby Greek" on Jan 23 at the Bible Church of Little Rock. I'm excited--I'll have the same teacher I had this past semester for Practical Apologetics. Should be good.

This is the book we're using. I've never heard of it, and know nothing about it, but I found a remaindered copy for slightly over half of the new price.

I still think Gentium is far and away the best Greek font, and I'd still be happy to help anyone who'd like help tracking down a cheap copy of the Greek New Testament.

[Oh, and William, re: that Branson link--we try not to talk about those guys at our family reunions. :) ]

4 comments:

Kim said...

I hope it goes well with you, Matt. I wish I could join you in your Greek studies! I have a lot of trouble studying languages alone; one really needs the accountability.

Jeremy Weaver said...

We've just started something similar at our Church. My brother, the infamous Pastor Steve Weaver, has a pretty good knowledge of greek, so he is sort of leading us through Summers book right now. It's still mostly a self-study type situation, but it's good to have someone you can ask questions.

Daniel said...

I started teaching a Greek class at our church, but found that the students (college age students!) routinely failed to do the homework. The "class" didn't last very long.

Matt Gumm said...

Thanks for the encouragement, everyone. Also, I guess I know who to call if I need some help.