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				Punctuation and Pronunciation
				Posted: December 31st, 2011, 6:00 am
				by Rita Ho
				I attended the first lesson of Greek and have read Chapter 1-4 of "Basics of Biblical Greek" written by William D. Mounce.  Two questions appeared in my mind:
1. Sign: What is the meaning of the sign “~”?  How does it use?
2. Pronunciation: How to pronounce  Ίσραήλ? “Is ra el” or “Yos ra el”?  I am not sure towards the proper sound of ι as the word’s first letter. 
Thank you and look forward to having the reply.
La Cha Sha
			 
			
					
				Re: Punctuation and Pronunciation
				Posted: January 1st, 2012, 8:59 am
				by Stephen Carlson
				Rita Ho wrote:I attended the first lesson of Greek and have read Chapter 1-4 of "Basics of Biblical Greek" written by William D. Mounce.  Two questions appeared in my mind:
Welcome to learning Greek.  I taught from that book last year, so I've got a copy I can check.
Rita Ho wrote:I1. Sign: What is the meaning of the sign “~”?  How does it use?
I'm not exactly sure what you're referring to (a page number would help), but ~ is one of the two common forms for writing a circumflex accent.  Mounce's textbook uses the other form (p. 13), so it may be unfamiliar to you.  The difference is merely one of appearance.  I prefer to the simple curve, not the squiggle ~.
Rita Ho wrote:I2. Pronunciation: How to pronounce  Ίσραήλ? “Is ra el” or “Yos ra el”?  I am not sure towards the proper sound of ι as the word’s first letter. 
The first option is preferable.
Stephen
 
			 
			
					
				Re: Punctuation and Pronunciation
				Posted: January 3rd, 2012, 11:40 am
				by Rita Ho
				"Thank you, Stephen."
Yes, your reply is true.  From today's lession, I learned that my current teacher incline to use the "~" as the circumflex that its form is not the same as the Mounce's book.
Thanks.
Rita