I just bought Zodhiates' Koine Greek New Testament. So you can still get them.
To help me to pronouncing the greek NT. Learning to pronounce the words for me is very, very hard. Every body tells me to use phonics but I can't because I can not hear the changes and I have been that way all of my life (61). My nine year old grand son can use phonics to sound out the words but I cannot. So if any body has any ideas to help me please let me know.
" Which things about pronouncing words are you having difficulty with? " Just pronouncing words in general. For example here are some words from the Basics of Biblical Greek grammar Vocabulary εσχατος, σαββατον, πνευμα. Just looking at these I cannot pronunce them but if I can hear them pronounced over and over I will pick it up.
I am in no way a linguist but I do have a degree in Anthropology and Archaeology. My passion is half of my heritage, Greek. I believe in order to really understand a language you must first understand the people who spoke it. Now I have heard of the 'traditional' British way to pronounce ancient Greek and I feel absolutely no life in it. As for how the Greeks pronounce it, it recieves that life. The Mediterranean people are and always have been a passionate group, so why would the Ancient Greeks have been so harsh in their pronunciation of their words? From what I understand the traditional way to pronounce Ancient Greek today started in the 15-16th century by some Brit because he believed that the Greek words in Latin testify to the 'actuall' way it was spoken. But this went completely against the way the Byzantines had been speaking it for a thousand years before, which is directly taken from Koine, which we all know as deriving from the Attic dialect of Greek. So why is it so many people still stick to this British version, void of life and passion, of pronouncing Ancient Greek over the way the Byzantines pronounced it?
Theories of pronouncing ancient Greek
Posted - 26 Jan 2007 : 17:31:37
