Reading Greek Series/Athenaze

[bjeffjohnson]

Greetings everyone, glad to be here...

I'm about half way through JACT's Reading Greek series and into Athenaze Book II. Beautiful stuff. I can see why you classics guys are so gung-ho. I'm at the crudest level and I can't get enough of it. Wish I had started this as a young school boy.

Any tips, experience, strength, hope would be much appreciated from you veterans.

Best,

[Jeff Tirey]

Hi and Welcome to Textkit!

Are you doing much Greek composition? What are your reading goals?

thanks,
Jeff

[BillWood]

Greetings everyone, glad to be here...

I'm about half way through JACT's Reading Greek series and into Athenaze Book II. Beautiful stuff. I can see why you classics guys are so gung-ho. I'm at the crudest level and I can't get enough of it. Wish I had started this as a young school boy.

Any tips, experience, strength, hope would be much appreciated from you veterans.

Best,

I just looked at this VIA amazon dot com, and wondered if you could give me a heads up as to why you like the book series, and if anyone else had any experience with it? I did see in my searching for the book a quote about something missing from it that someone had to add notes to fill in missing ideas or whatever. The reason I ask is I understand the newer teaching methods can be better then the older. Me being a newbie as to getting serious about studying, wants to understand if I should spend the extra dollars or keep going with the on line goodies. From your post it sounds like fun material, so what did you like about it if you have the time. Thanks Bill

[bjeffjohnson]

Best,[/quote]
I just looked at this VIA amazon dot com, and wondered if you could give me a heads up as to why you like the book series, and if anyone else had any experience with it? I did see in my searching for the book a quote about something missing from it that someone had to add notes to fill in missing ideas or whatever. The reason I ask is I understand the newer teaching methods can be better then the older. Me being a newbie as to getting serious about studying, wants to understand if I should spend the extra dollars or keep going with the on line goodies. From your post it sounds like fun material, so what did you like about it if you have the time. Thanks Bill[/quote]

Dear Bill,

All I have to compare the RG series to really is Athenaze without an answer key so bear that it mind. I like that RG has the three starting books that all work together. Also, having the RG Independent Study Guide with key has been good for some of the finer points and for confidence. The other thing, big thing, I think -- is RG is fairly low-key on grammar and heavier on learning by reading (or grammar by reading) and getting a feel for idiomatic stuff which didn't seem to come up much in the other book. Having read into RG for a bit, I was then able to go back to Athenaze and feel like I was really reading it rather than tortuously translating it.

[bjeffjohnson]

Hi and Welcome to Textkit!

Are you doing much Greek composition? What are your reading goals?

thanks,
Jeff

Hi Jeff,

Thanks for the reply! I've been doing the composition exercises as they come up in Reading Greek. Tough, but no pain no gain, eh? I've see the Sidgwick here. Any thoughts welcome. Reading goal is Plato, Xenophon. Daily reading goal -- about four pages per day out of Reading Greek.

[Bedell]

I can't get enough of it. Wish I had started this as a young school boy.

And that in a nutshell is my problem with so much of secondary school education in Britain and Ireland: we are not being educated to enjoy living.

[BillWood]

... The other thing, big thing, I think -- is RG is fairly low-key on grammar and heavier on learning by reading (or grammar by reading) and getting a feel for idiomatic stuff which didn't seem to come up much in the other book. Having read into RG for a bit, I was then able to go back to Athenaze and feel like I was really reading it rather than tortuously translating it.[/quote]

Thanks that makes it maybe worth looking into. A bit busy with a different thread right now : ) Glad you found some good tools there : ) Cheers Bill

[thesaurus]

Those who have used it (myself included) heavily recommend the Italian edition of Athenaze. Of course, this depends on being able to read some Italian. There have been some threads about the differences between the English and Italian editions in the Greek forum, which can provide more information if you're curious. Here's a starting place: viewtopic.php?f=2&t=9530&p=76280&hilit=italian#p76280 (ignore the interim debate about teaching highscool students).

Versio Italica Athenazes discipulis hic valde commendata est ab eis (quorum sum ego) qui hoc libro usi sunt. Clarò, tuâ e scientiâ linguae Italicae legendae proventus pendet. Sunt filia nonnulla apud forum Graecum de discriminibus inter editiones Anglicam Italicamque, quae omnes de hac re te certiorem facere possunt (posco ignoscas controversiam interdum de discipulis cursûs superioris docendis).

In a nutshell: some wily Italians have turned Athenaze into an intuitive and immersive reading course in the style of Lingua Latina. It's natural method is not identical to Lingua Latina, but it shares many of its virtues. Knowing how to read Italian applies only to occasional definitions and to concise end-of-chapter grammar explanations. Depending on how resourceful you are, you could use the course with little to no Italian.

Ut paulùm dicam, vafri Italici nonnulli Athenazen in legendi cursum intuitivum immersivumque modo Orbergiano verterunt. Ejus methodos naturalis est, sed Linguae Latinae adusque simile non est. Quae cum ita sint, ejus virtutes multas habet. Solùm oportet linguam Italicam scire ut definitiones quasdam expositionesque grammaticas, fine capiptulorum positas, legere possis. Si callidus vaferque es, de qua re haud dubito, linguam Italicam paulùm vel etiam haud scire necesse est.