Mike Aubrey May 11, 2009 Greek, Language Learning

The Best Thing I Heard All Day: Learning Greek

The right person is headed in the right direction:

Mounce on Method: Where do we go from here? <- That’s my own title.

I say that he’s the right person, because – let’s face it – Mounce’s grammar is the most used and most influential NT primer in existence. If we want to see natural language learning take off and grow for Hellenistic Greek, having Mounce on our side is probably the best thing we could ask for.

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1

Carl W. Conrad on May 12, 2009 at 5:27 am
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“most used and most influential NT grammar in existence”: on the surface, that has a very superlative ring to it; unfortunately it hardly means it’s the best or that it’s hard to conceive something better. I repeated to a publisher who recently was discussing a potential new NT Greek primer (not done by me, I hasten to note) something I have said many times over the years: “If I were going to teach a course in NT Greek right now and had print copies of Funk’s Beginning-Intermediate Grammar of Hellenistic Greek, I would order a plentiful supply of that book and would look forward to teaching Koine for once with a text with which I’m perfectly happy. I taught Mounce’s primer once and found it very frustrating.

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  Mike Aubrey on May 12, 2009 at 11:07 am
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  I know Carl. But its still true that the book is used in just about every seminary and bible colleges across North America. Even still, I changed “grammar” to “primer” in the quote.
  
  I know how you feel about his primer. I’ve never used it, but I have watched my wife’s frustration over the past year.
  
  But either way, having someone with his influence say that we need to change our language teaching methodology is a very important step forward.
  
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3

Jamie on May 12, 2009 at 10:32 am
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Now if we can just get him to use a good “living” pronunciation.

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  Mike Aubrey on May 12, 2009 at 11:08 am
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  Indeed!
  
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danielandtonya on May 12, 2009 at 3:52 pm
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We must disagree. There is no such thing as “conversational Koine Greek”. It does not exist (anymore).

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6

Seumas on May 13, 2009 at 3:06 pm
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Certainly good to hear Mounce talking this way. The success of his primer in the market probably means he might be able to exercise some clout on the future direction of Greek teaching.

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