Usefulness of Koine Greek for Modern Greek

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Shirley Rollinson
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Usefulness of Koine Greek for Modern Greek

Post by Shirley Rollinson »

Alex Hopkins wrote:Now watch out for all those who'll either want you to set a broken arm, or teach them philosophy!

Alex Hopkins
Melbourne, Australia
Or deliver a baby - which happened to me when the local hospital called at 3am, saying "Come quickly - there's a Greek lady with a problem delivery - and she only speaks Greek!" - My Modern Greek Dictionary was 20 miles away at the College, and they wanted me to ask if she'd had shots for TB etc. I told them I could ask her if she were lame, paralysed, or had a demon - and I didn't think they wanted me to ask that. So we settled fo "Push now", "Don't push"
RandallButh
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Re: Stephen Carlson

Post by RandallButh »

So how did you say "push" "don't push"? And did she understand?

ὦσον ... μὴ ὤθει
Shirley Rollinson
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Re: Stephen Carlson

Post by Shirley Rollinson »

RandallButh wrote:So how did you say "push" "don't push"? And did she understand?

ὦσον ... μὴ ὤθει
By that time we were several hours into the delivery, she was past understanding anything except that she was hurting, and my grammar was out the window.
I should probably have used something like "σπρωχνε" but if I remembered anything it would have been "βαλλε" - but with lots of gestures.
It's surprising how much one can communicate just with hand and body motions :-)
In spite of it all, the mother delivered a beautiful baby girl, and the doctor offered me the honor of cutting the umbilical cord.
By that time it was about 8am, I'd had no sleep, and I had just about enough time to get home, wash, have breakfast, and drive to the College for another day's teaching.
Moral - don't let the local hospital know you know any foreign languages.
Jonathan Robie
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Re: Stephen Carlson

Post by Jonathan Robie »

Shirley Rollinson wrote:
RandallButh wrote:So how did you say "push" "don't push"? And did she understand?

ὦσον ... μὴ ὤθει
By that time we were several hours into the delivery, she was past understanding anything except that she was hurting, and my grammar was out the window.
I should probably have used something like "σπρωχνε" but if I remembered anything it would have been "βαλλε" - but with lots of gestures.
It's surprising how much one can communicate just with hand and body motions :-)
In spite of it all, the mother delivered a beautiful baby girl, and the doctor offered me the honor of cutting the umbilical cord.
Is this what they mean by the Total Physical Response (TPR) method?

I guess we should all memorize verses like this, just in case ...
ἡ γυνὴ ὅταν τίκτῃ λύπην ἔχει, ὅτι ἦλθεν ἡ ὥρα αὐτῆς· ὅταν δὲ γεννήσῃ τὸ παιδίον, οὐκέτι μνημονεύει τῆς θλίψεως διὰ τὴν χαρὰν ὅτι ἐγεννήθη ἄνθρωπος εἰς τὸν κόσμον.
ἐξίσταντο δὲ πάντες καὶ διηποροῦντο, ἄλλος πρὸς ἄλλον λέγοντες, τί θέλει τοῦτο εἶναι;
http://jonathanrobie.biblicalhumanities.org/
RandallButh
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Joined: May 13th, 2011, 4:01 am

Re: Stephen Carlson

Post by RandallButh »

Jonathan Robie wrote:
Shirley Rollinson wrote:
RandallButh wrote:So how did you say "push" "don't push"? And did she understand?

ὦσον ... μὴ ὤθει
By that time we were several hours into the delivery, she was past understanding anything except that she was hurting, and my grammar was out the window.
I should probably have used something like "σπρωχνε" but if I remembered anything it would have been "βαλλε" - but with lots of gestures.
It's surprising how much one can communicate just with hand and body motions :-)
In spite of it all, the mother delivered a beautiful baby girl, and the doctor offered me the honor of cutting the umbilical cord.
Is this what they mean by the Total Physical Response (TPR) method?

I guess we should all memorize verses like this, just in case
...
Jonathan, since you asked, yes, using ὦσον ... μὴ ὤθει in real communication would cause it to be lodged deep in the brain's networks and is exactly the principle behind Total Physical Response and communicative approaches to language learning. And while rote memory of texts is admirable, I do it myself, it does not have the same effect on automaticity (fluency) in language learning.
Paul-Nitz
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Location: Sussex, Wisconsin

Re: Stephen Carlson

Post by Paul-Nitz »

Shirley Rollinson wrote:It's surprising how much one can communicate just with hand and body motions
Randall Buth wrote:while rote memory of texts is admirable... it does not have the same effect on automaticity (fluency) in language learning.
But, gestures can hugely improve rote memory as a method of internalizing language. It is so simple and such a great improvement over rote memorization that it may be a little hard to believe. A person just has to try it.

See my post here:
viewtopic.php?t=1155&p=5745#p5745
Paul D. Nitz - Lilongwe Malawi
Shirley Rollinson
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Location: New Mexico
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Re: Stephen Carlson

Post by Shirley Rollinson »

Paul-Nitz wrote:
Shirley Rollinson wrote:It's surprising how much one can communicate just with hand and body motions
Randall Buth wrote:while rote memory of texts is admirable... it does not have the same effect on automaticity (fluency) in language learning.
But, gestures can hugely improve rote memory as a method of internalizing language. It is so simple and such a great improvement over rote memorization that it may be a little hard to believe. A person just has to try it.

See my post here:
viewtopic.php?t=1155&p=5745#p5745
For this method applied to the ultimate Japanese-English lessons, see
http://www.stupidvideos.com/video/just_ ... ons/#23275 - phrases for breaking up
http://www.stupidvideos.com/video/just_ ... ons/#47425 - "I have a bad case of diarrhea"
http://www.stupidvideos.com/video/just_ ... ons/#22225 - the mugging

Could someone maybe do some Greek videos like this ?????
(preferably with three Greek chicks)
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