Punctuation and Pronunciation

[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

[Stephen Carlson]

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.

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 ~.

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

[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