Marty Geist

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Marty Geist
Posts: 3
Joined: November 19th, 2013, 1:32 am

Marty Geist

Post by Marty Geist »

Hi All;
My name is Marty, I have tried to learn Bibical Greek since the early 1980's.. On and off, since then.. With virtually no success.. I have had a problem with memorization, And its not that I can't remember things, But, I have never learned How to "study" and memorize.. So, my brain get all convoluted, after multiple nights of (lets say) Learning the first few verses of John Chapter one.. I get to about verse 5 and My head is spinning and I take some time off, between a few month and a few years.. And so I have to start mostly all over.. I Write each sentence out multiple times a night after doing is for a week or more, and can write it pretty well I do the same thing with verse 2 and then I combine verses one and two.. before going on to verse three, and so on.. I have Multiple Notebooks filled with the first few verse of John chapter One.. I have more Beginning Greek books than most teachers do.. And the one I use for the Study of John is an old Greek Book where the Author wants the Student to Memorize the Book of John from the Greek, Yes, all of it.. And the book is Quite good.. I can't get to it at the present, I am in the Remoldeling phase of my Bedroom and things are piled high everywhere, so things can get finished.. And nothing is accessible..
THANK YOU Marty
RandallButh
Posts: 1105
Joined: May 13th, 2011, 4:01 am

Re: Marty Geist

Post by RandallButh »

Marty, I sympathize with your quest.

The goal of memorizing a gospel in Greek is admirable but it is very difficult to memorize large stretches of text in a language that one has not internalized. It is better to get a fluid core of the language inside you first.

Now something of a wake-up call comes next. Those piles of intro Greek books are not designed to produce an internalized fluent core of the language. They are designed to teach you how to think along Greek lines in English. Students are usually unaware that the authors of those books would most probably not be able to carry on a meaningful conversation in Koine Greek. Imagine, if you will, a situation in which authors of a group of introductory French books were not capable of carrying on a French conversation. What would that say about the efficacy of the French pedagogy? Well, welcome to the irony of Koine Greek studies. There are ways out of this situation, and some of it may have special relevance for you from the sounds of your three-decade experiences. The operative word is 'sound'. In order to read well it helps to hear the language in meaningful contexts where sound is matched to meaning (not English). That allows the brain to build the language into its natural language centers.
Barry Hofstetter
Posts: 2159
Joined: May 6th, 2011, 1:48 pm

Re: Marty Geist

Post by Barry Hofstetter »

If I may add to what Randall has said, I would absolutely not recommend this approach. You need to learn the language before you start memorizing texts. If you cannot take classes locally, there are multiple resources available online for the self-learner that did not exist even a few years ago. One is Michael Halcomb's courses. For a modest tuition, you can take a sequence of courses, just one hour a week, which will go a long way toward your proficiency in the language, and the learning is primarily oral/aural. Or you can do a more traditional approach. Either way, I can guarantee, and your experience bears out, that the approach you are using could only bear fruit with about .001% of the population, and that might be an exaggeration... :o

Here's where you can get more info on Michael's curriculum.

http://www.conversationalkoine.com/p/classes.html
N.E. Barry Hofstetter, M.A., Th.M.
Ph.D. Student U of FL
Instructor of Latin
Jack M. Barrack Hebrew Academy
καὶ σὺ τὸ σὸν ποιήσεις κἀγὼ τὸ ἐμόν. ἆρον τὸ σὸν καὶ ὕπαγε.
Shirley Rollinson
Posts: 415
Joined: June 4th, 2011, 6:19 pm
Location: New Mexico
Contact:

Re: Marty Geist

Post by Shirley Rollinson »

Barry Hofstetter wrote:If I may add to what Randall has said, I would absolutely not recommend this approach. You need to learn the language before you start memorizing texts. If you cannot take classes locally, there are multiple resources available online for the self-learner that did not exist even a few years ago. One is Michael Halcomb's courses. For a modest tuition, you can take a sequence of courses, just one hour a week, which will go a long way toward your proficiency in the language, and the learning is primarily oral/aural. Or you can do a more traditional approach. Either way, I can guarantee, and your experience bears out, that the approach you are using could only bear fruit with about .001% of the population, and that might be an exaggeration... :o

Here's where you can get more info on Michael's curriculum.

http://www.conversationalkoine.com/p/classes.html
Welcome to B-Greek Marty.
I occasionally teach Greek online - and have the Greek courses up on the internet so that anyone can try them for free.
The first course starts here
http://www.drshirley.org/gr201/index.html
You're welcome to try and see if it helps, and contact me with any questions.

There's also a textbook, which you can downlaod for free, here
http://www.drshirley.org/greek/textbook/contents.html

Differrent people learn languages in different ways - if memorization doesn't work for you - try copying a bit a text each day, or reading aloud, or try the Memrize site at
http://www.memrise.com/
http://www.memrise.com/courses/english/greek/ (includes modern Greek courses as well as classical/koine)
http://www.memrise.com/courses/english/classics/
http://www.memrise.com/courses/english/ancient-greek/
Memrize won't teach you much, but it will help you memorize basic vocabulary etc. - and it will remind you to check in and try some every few days.

Also - you might try You-Tube for videos of Greek lessons

All the best with your studies - Do a bit each day, and don't give up - never, never, never give up :-)
Shirley Rollinson
Marty Geist
Posts: 3
Joined: November 19th, 2013, 1:32 am

Re: Marty Geist

Post by Marty Geist »

Hi All;
First, I did try to copy text some each night, maybe I didn't convey that very well.. Which is how I got convulated, as stated above.. Also, the book is not just a memorize the text, but a full Beginning Grammer, that uses the Gospel of John for its basis.. It gives word meanings and syntax and declensions and all the rest of the stuff.. It just uses the Text as a meaning full way to get and Use the Word of God while learning the basics of Greek..You not only learn what the passage says in the origional, but hopefully it can then be used to refute Doctrinal questions, both my own and others.. At least that my hope..
THANK YOU Marty
Marty Geist
Posts: 3
Joined: November 19th, 2013, 1:32 am

Re: Marty Geist

Post by Marty Geist »

Hi All;

I have Just Re-found this page..
My old computer Crashed and I lost all of my Links..
I am going to Re-read what Everyone Posted, and NOT be so Negative..
Thanks to Everyone for the Help and support, and suggestions..
I have been reading since about January the Gospel of John in English, all the way through each week.. (Three chapters a day).. And will continue to do so for the Rest Of the Year, then I will decide what to do next.. This has been a learning experience, all by itself..
THANK YOU Marty
Jonathan Robie
Posts: 4159
Joined: May 5th, 2011, 5:34 pm
Location: Durham, NC
Contact:

Re: Marty Geist

Post by Jonathan Robie »

Welcome back, Marty!
ἐξίσταντο δὲ πάντες καὶ διηποροῦντο, ἄλλος πρὸς ἄλλον λέγοντες, τί θέλει τοῦτο εἶναι;
http://jonathanrobie.biblicalhumanities.org/
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