How do you pronounce the New Testament?

[ktm5124]

A lot of people read the New Testament in Modern Greek, yet there is this thing called Koine Greek... I think that this is my main point of confusion. I am interested to know what are the differences between Modern and Koine Greek, and how much we know about the pronunciation of Koine Greek. I can state this best as three separate questions:

• 1. What are the pronunciation differences between Koine Greek and Modern Greek?
  2. Had the iotacism already taken place by the time the New Testament was written? Had rough breathing already become obsolete?
  3. Which pronunciation is favored when reading the New Testament?

[C. S. Bartholomew]

• 3. Which pronunciation is favored when reading the New Testament?

How you speak depends on where you're from. Koine like English was spoken in many places isolated from each other by land and sea. Attempts to improve on Erasmus are legion. Erasmus is still widely used. I see no compelling reason to abandon it. I have heard all the arguments against it. None of them are compelling. I have also noticed that no two Koine Greek aficionados talk alike.

[ktm5124]

How nice to find a champion of Erasmian pronunciation. That is what I learned, and that is what I still use. Could you point to any prominent churches or scholars that still use Erasmian pronunciation when reading aloud the New Testament?

[C. S. Bartholomew]

How nice to find a champion of Erasmian pronunciation. That is what I learned, and that is what I still use. Could you point to any prominent churches or scholars that still use Erasmian pronunciation when reading aloud the New Testament?

I suspect but that Erasmian pronunciation is very entrenched since it is used in the majority of English language reference works on NT Greek. The question of accuracy is moot. I hear Koine English spoken every day on the streets. There is no standard Koine English, the Russians don't sound like the Vietnamese, the East Indians don't sound like the Egyptians. If this is true in the age of Cinema, TV and internet, then what would it have been like in Mediterranean world in the first century? Peter was identified by his Galilean accent. I have noticed that NYC has accents based on neighborhood. A fellow I meet periodically walking on beach is from Brooklyn and he doesn't sound anything like a woman from a Italian NYC neighborhood. Neither of them sound like a friend of mine from Long Island.

The whole concept that you can nail down what language sounded like by looking at textual variants overlooks the fact that your only looking at the behavior of a single Koine language user separated geographically and temporally from the author of the text. The attempt to reconstruct the true sound of the Koine faces many insurmountable obstacles. It is a lost cause. There will always be promoters of lost causes who will attract a band of enthusiasts as their disciples.

[Timothée]

We can focus either on what we don’t know or on what we know. First, we can endlessly list aspects that are really obscure to us. Not only about pronunciation but also about ancient literature and ancient culture and life in general. We can choose not to pronounce at all because we cannot attain the exact original. We don’t know what was the difference in pronunciation we would’ve heard between Luke and Paul reading their writings. Likewise, we cannot understanding everything no matter how we read. Therefore we can choose not to read at all.

We can alternatively concentrate on our knowledge. We know the approximate way to pronounce ancient Greek, in different times and even in different places, even though we’ll never know many details with no recordings. We can also feel quite sure that we understand a great deal of what different writers meant, even though some smaller and also bigger details in their texts will remain debatable.

The choice is yours. I know which one of these paths I follow.

[ktm5124]

We can focus either on what we don’t know or on what we know. First, we can endlessly list aspects that are really obscure to us. Not only about pronunciation but also about ancient literature and ancient culture and life in general. We can choose not to pronounce at all because we cannot attain the exact original. We don’t know what was the difference in pronunciation we would’ve heard between Luke and Paul reading their writings. Likewise, we cannot understanding everything no matter how we read. Therefore we can choose not to read at all.

We can alternatively concentrate on our knowledge. We know the approximate way to pronounce ancient Greek, in different times and even in different places, even though we’ll never know many details with no recordings. We can also feel quite sure that we understand a great deal of what different writers meant, even though some smaller and also bigger details in their texts will remain debatable.

The choice is yours. I know which one of these paths I follow.

May I ask how you pronounce the New Testament? Erasmian? Modern Greek? something else?

[C. S. Bartholomew]

There appears to be some correlation between promoting "restored" koine pronunciation and second language methodology. Second language methods involve speaking the language in small group settings where mutual comprehension dictates some standard way of speaking. The standard adopted by the small group is only viable within the group. If you want to speak koine and be comprehended outside the group you need to go mainstream, what ever that is. Most of us do not have opportunities to speak greek in a group setting of any sort.

My observations in the previous posts were focused on the whole idea of restored pronunciation. The question I raised is "Restored to WHAT?" Perhaps we could make an attempt to restore the koine of Alexandria in the fourth century since we have some evidence in mss. But please, don't expect us to take this project seriously. F. Blass thought it was hopeless. Erasmus didn't succeed in his quest for restoration but he did succeed in setting a standard that was used in the west for a long time.

[demetri]

For Koine, Prof Rico:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wDE-7z66OHg

Bearing in mind you are close to modern, but not quite.
Otherwise, I use the horrid Erasmusian scheme.