Re: Classical Languages - Study Group
Posted: Thu Feb 08, 2018 4:54 pm
I've finally decided to take the time to talk a bit about resources. First off, Latin and Ancient Greek.
For Latin, I've found the Lingua Latina per se Illustrata to be invaluable. I used only this (the two volumes and the supplement) and the grammar reference book from some German-based course (Orbis something? Edit: Orbis Romanus) that my wife had in school, and went from 0 to passing the Latinum in Bavaria in two semesters. (And the Stowasser dictionary, but yeah). For reference, the test involves written and oral translation of e.g. Cicero, so it was pretty intense. I attended on translation practice course, but was able to skip the first two courses in which the grammar and structure of the language was taught. So it, followed by a lot of reading and translation practice, has my hearty recommendation.
For Ancient Greek, I had a lot of resources, and a lot of struggle. I started out in undergrad with Ray Summers' Essentials of New Testament Greek. It was ok. In theory, the book has the grammar and vocabulary necessary so that upon finishing it, one can read 1 John unaided - well, I was in undergrad, so that wasn't the case for me. Later, I used the German-base Kantharos, which was the standard university text, and Hellas, which was used at a nearby humanistische Gymnasium. I really thought that Hellas was good methodology.
That said, when I cross-teach Greek sections at the seminary we use Black's Learn to Read New Testament Greek, and students have a really good experience with that. William Mounce's book comes highly recommended, but I've never used it.
I'll speak to dictionaries for Ancient Greek, more classical usage, and Biblical Hebrew in another post.
For Latin, I've found the Lingua Latina per se Illustrata to be invaluable. I used only this (the two volumes and the supplement) and the grammar reference book from some German-based course (Orbis something? Edit: Orbis Romanus) that my wife had in school, and went from 0 to passing the Latinum in Bavaria in two semesters. (And the Stowasser dictionary, but yeah). For reference, the test involves written and oral translation of e.g. Cicero, so it was pretty intense. I attended on translation practice course, but was able to skip the first two courses in which the grammar and structure of the language was taught. So it, followed by a lot of reading and translation practice, has my hearty recommendation.
For Ancient Greek, I had a lot of resources, and a lot of struggle. I started out in undergrad with Ray Summers' Essentials of New Testament Greek. It was ok. In theory, the book has the grammar and vocabulary necessary so that upon finishing it, one can read 1 John unaided - well, I was in undergrad, so that wasn't the case for me. Later, I used the German-base Kantharos, which was the standard university text, and Hellas, which was used at a nearby humanistische Gymnasium. I really thought that Hellas was good methodology.
That said, when I cross-teach Greek sections at the seminary we use Black's Learn to Read New Testament Greek, and students have a really good experience with that. William Mounce's book comes highly recommended, but I've never used it.
I'll speak to dictionaries for Ancient Greek, more classical usage, and Biblical Hebrew in another post.