Pronunciation: experience report

Jonathan Robie (74144.2360@compuserve.com)
13 Aug 96 17:02:31 EDT

As a result of the previous discussion on pronunciation, I decided to try using
a more Erasmian pronunciation instead of my modern Greek pronunciation.

There is one great advantage: I can keep unfamiliar words in my head much
better. Suddenly, if I need to look up a word, I can look at it once, then look
it up in the lexicon. That saves me lots of time, since I use the lexicon a lot.
And no more confusing hHMEIS and hUMEIS when quoting from memory! These
advantages have convinced me to keep with the Erasmian pronunciation.

It took only about 1/2 hour to get pretty good at the new pronunciation by
reading aloud. (Of course, nobody has heard this beside me, so I get to be the
judge ;-> ). After a week, I do refer to the key once in a while just to make
sure, but I seem to be pretty solid. It took some work to get the rhythm to
sound good, since all those dipthongs mess up the rhythms used when pronouncing
modern Greek. I still do like the sound of modern Greek.

Jonathan