Steve wrote:If I had to start learning Koine from scratch now, here is the approach I'd take. I'd spent most of my initial time doing some combination of repetitive listening to Greek (modern recordings of ancient texts), speaking along with it, following along with an interlinear, and reading the interlinear. I'd adjust the relative amounts of listening, chorusing, following, reading, etc. based on how familiar a passage was becoming. I'd start off with perhaps 30 to 60 seconds of audio (maybe a few sentences worth), repeatedly cover it until it started to feel familiar. In other words, I could hear it or read it and I'd mostly know what it means. This might take a couple of days or more, and then I'd be reviewing it as well as moving on to the next 30 to 60 seconds or so.
The main resources I'd use at first would be the audio, an interlinear, the actual text, and a nice introductory grammar book. Using a software editing program like Audacity allows very good control over the audio so individual words, phrases, sentences, or short passages can be trivially looped and controlled. If I was spending 30 minutes in an evening on Koine, I'd probably spend 20 to 25 minutes doing some type of listening, reading, etc. and the other 5 to 10 minutes looking at the grammar book. I would NOT spend much effort memorizing things. My focus would be on the repetition of listening, reading, etc. so that what I was hearing and seeing was starting to become more and more familiar. Rather than a traditional approach of memorizing the alphabet and then slowly and painfully trying to pronounce words (likely using the phonemes of your native language), listening to decent audio helps you internalize a consistent pronunciation along with phrasing.
Based on everyone's feedback I think I will revise my plan to be:
1. Learn the alphabet and skim the two grammar's I own: COMPLETE NEW TESTAMENT GREEK (Teach Yourself) by Betts and LEARN NEW TESTAMENT GREEK by Dobson. I already own these and don't want to spend any more money until I have a significant time investment and know I will use the resources.
2. Focus on 1 John, Mark and/or John, 1 verse or chunk at a time, listening and reading repetitively while checking an interlinear but not relying on it too much. The goal will be to get away from the interlinear and into a reader's edition (got the app) ASAP.
3. After working through those texts re-evaluate. If I am bored or struggling with the ambiguity, I will go back to the grammars. If I am enjoying the process and can notice significant progress I will keep chunking up to 300 hours.
4. I will keep revisiting the grammars every once in a while until I'm at a point where I am comfortable working through the exercises in them. (Though I will avoid translation exercises for now).
5. I will count my hours until I reach 500.
I will wait to start until I am alone in the house with a few hours to spare.
RESOURCES:
Complete New Testament Greek by Betts
Learn New Testament Greek by Dobson
The Interlinear Greek New Testament by George Ricker Berry (I may peruse some other interlinears as well)
Greek New Testament Reader App
Daily Dose of Greek (I may edit these videos to just include the reading along with the text, since they are already in chunks, and the video keeps track of when each word is said.)
Audio and Video of Greek New Testament being read aloud with the text. (Youtube has various options)
Ankhi and Premade Decks (I only plan to use this on the back end of the experiment)
I will buy a hardcopy of the NA or UBS and/or a reader's edition once I have a big enough time commitment into the project.