Which Greek ?

[christine in al]

So, I could be cleaning up the school room, or getting things organized fro next week, or even the rest of this year, but I'd more fun to eat peanut butter and jelly crackers and learn about something we won't need for 3 years.

 

I was bummed to learn there are 3 main Ancient Greek Languages is this correct?

 

Are there secular, academic reasons for choosing one over the other? Wow, there sure is alot to this being educated thing.

 

~Christine in Al

[Kim in SouthGa]

:lurk5:

[brehon]

Well, there are 3 main dialects, I guess, of ancient Greek: Koine (the most "recent" - this is the Greek of the NT and was the vernacular of the age), Attic (older and more difficult), and Homeric (the Greek of, well, Homer - as I understand it the hardest to learn). I believe there are other dialects; these 3 are the most often learned. As I understand it (and I fully admit that I could be mistaken) the "versions" of ancient Greek could be compared to the "versions" of English - Saxon v. Chaucerian v. Elizabethan, for instance.

 

I don't know how old your kids are, but there aren't many Greek programs for young(er) kids in Attic or Homeric Greek. I think Galore Park sells one aimed at, um, 10-11 year olds and is working on putting out their own material (geared for the same age range, I believe). There are more resources for younger kids in Koine (Hey, Andrew! Teach Me Some Greek; Elementary Greek to name a couple). Don't let the fact the fact that this is "NT" Greek fool you - this is what people of this time period were speaking and, so, this is what books of the Bible were written in (those that were written in Greek, that is). Koine simply means vernacular. I think both "Hey, Andrew..." and Elementary Greek are secular programs - they may have some NT verses in them for translation practice. Many people learn Koine first and then will learn Attic and/or Homeric Greek. Others reverse the order - Attic, then Koine.

 

I suppose you'd pick which Greek you want your kids to learn based on what your goals are, i.e. read the NT in (one of) the original languages? read Greek plays/texts in the original? read The Iliad and The Odyssey in the original language? And there's no rule that says you must pick only one and stick with it.

[Quad Shot Academy]

I think both "Hey, Andrew..." and Elementary Greek are secular programs - they may have some NT verses in them for translation practice.

 

I agree with all you said in your post, but the above. The entire purpose of Hey Andrew is to read the Bible in Greek. I am not sure about the purpose of Elementary Greek, but it has a lot of Bible translation exercises.

 

Christine, If I was not religious, I would not have my kids learn Greek, I would stick with Latin and do a strong Greek roots program (i.e.: just the vocab, not the grammar.) :)

[abbeyej]

If your student where in college and took a first semester ancient Greek course in a classics department, he would begin with Attic. (If he were at a seminary or in the religious studies department, he would likely begin with Koine.) Beginning with Homeric is almost unheard of. Most people study Attic for 2-3 semesters and then if they choose, they'd take a course on Homer and learn the differences in dialect as they went. (That's actually true of most of the other dialects -- of which there are several. You take Attic, then jump into another course and figure out the differences as you go, hopefully with the help of a good professor.)

 

Someone who has learned Attic will find Koine pretty easy. Someone who has learned Koine will have to do a *little* work to figure out Attic, but they really are very, very similar.

 

For my own kids, we do Koine first. There are a few reasons for this. Availability of resources (for pre college-aged students) is certainly one. Also, when young students learn Koine, they have quite a lot of appropriate, familiar material available for translation in the New Testament. (And I say this even for non-Christian readers. In the West the New Testament *is* very familiar and plays an important role in our culture and literature. While Christians read it as scripture, non-Christians can read it as history / literature / mythology, just as they would any other important text from a belief system that is not their own.) There are other materials available in Koine too (Josephus, for instance), but these lend themselves for younger students because of their very familiarity. It makes them easier to understand as one translates (if one already knows the basic structure of the story of the prodigal son, for instance)... This is in much the same way that many of the translation exercises my younger Latin students get are based on Greek and Roman mythology or familiar episodes of Roman history...

 

When my kids get into later middle school, we'll move on to Attic textbooks (probably Athenaze, though possible JACT's Reading Greek -- I'm not 100% decided, though I have both on hand) which I do not believe they could handle at that age if it weren't for the preparation in Koine (and their strong background in Latin grammar will be helpful too). I do think a motivated high school student with a foundation in Latin grammar (not just an elementary course, but one to two years of high school level work) could probably manage Athenaze (though I wouldn't expect them to do it entirely on their own).

 

I'll leave Homer for college. ;)

[Mama Lynx]

I have to admit, I wasn't sure if we wanted to learn Koine (we are not Christian), but Abbey sold me on it. We are very much enjoying Elementary Greek. It's straightforward, moves in small bites, short lessons.