From: Trevor & Julie Peterson (spedrson@netzero.net)
Date: Fri Dec 15 2000 - 14:27:14 EST
It's been quite some time since I've posted on this list, but I've still
tried to maintain a casual contact. That would be a bit of irrelevant
personal matter, except that the reason for my prolonged silence is
primarily the lack of time I've had, which relates at least indirectly to my
present inquiry. I'm currently studying Semitic languages, and the issue
recently came up in discussion of the pros and cons for learning Modern
Hebrew as a scholar of Biblical Hebrew. Of course, there are some unique
issues that probably would not translate to the Biblical Greek world, such
as the weight of current biblical scholarship written in Modern Hebrew and
what seems to be a general trend toward Modern Hebrew pronunciation among
biblical scholars. But at least one issue would probably be in common
between the two, which is what brings me here with a question.
One argument presented for learning Modern Hebrew is that it is a current,
living language and as such affords an opportunity for interaction with a
language community. This is of course a critical factor in modern language
learning but usually doesn't play as much of a role in the way classical
languages are taught. But I would think there should at least be some
comparable merit to learning Modern Greek, even if one's desire is not to
become an expert conversationalist in the language, because any living
interaction would help in the learning process. Now, the related issue to
which I've already alluded in Hebrew is that of pronunciation. From what I
could find in the archives, it looks like this was discussed in 1996, but at
the time it was acknowledged that a four-year gap since whatever discussion
had gone before (pre-archives, so I can't go back that far) warranted a
revival. Unless I've missed some later discussion (which is entirely
possible, and if I have, I would appreciate someone pointing me to the
relevant section of the archives), perhaps every four years is a decent
pattern, and it might be time to take up the issue once again.
So . . . having said all that, here's my question: What do you think are
the pros and cons of learning Modern Greek either prior or subsequent to
learning Biblical Greek, specifically as a means to the end of better
familiarity in working with Biblical Greek? (In other words, I'm not as
interested in the independent merits of learning Modern Greek for its own
sake, although I wouldn't necessarily rule them out of the discussion.) And
on a related note, what do you think would be the advantages or
disadvantages to learning Biblical Greek with Modern pronunciation? I would
personally appreciate correlation to the parallel questions pertaining to
Biblical/Modern Hebrew, but I suppose that's something that should be kept
to a minimum or off-list.
Thanks,
Trevor Peterson
CUA/Semitics
_____NetZero Free Internet Access and Email______
http://www.netzero.net/download/index.html
---
B-Greek home page: http://metalab.unc.edu/bgreek
You are currently subscribed to b-greek as: [jwrobie@mindspring.com]
To unsubscribe, forward this message to leave-b-greek-327Q@franklin.oit.unc.edu
To subscribe, send a message to subscribe-b-greek@franklin.oit.unc.edu
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.4 : Sat Apr 20 2002 - 15:36:44 EDT