Finch wrote:Are there any online resources, then, for attempting this sort of thing? Translating from one language to the other seems to be the best option thus far, and as I'm only starting Greek, I'll probably be doing G->L much more than L->G at first. Not that there's anything wrong with that.
pster wrote:Here is a three way French-Greek-Latin dictionary:
http://www.amazon.fr/Lexicon-dictionnaire-Latin-Français-Grec-Jean-Michel-Fontanier/dp/275350752X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1304711817&sr=8-1
gfross wrote:Now, with regard to learning to read in non-modern Greek (Homeric through Byzantine), I haven't been able to find any printed materials of the quality of Hans Ørberg's. Many texts follow the outdated pedagogical tradition of a short text (not connected discourse), a small vocabulary list, grammatical explanations, perhaps one or two exercises dealing with the declension or conjugation of pertinent parts of speech, and two translation exercises (Greek-English, English-Greek). Those I have seen have to be supplemented by exercises prepared by the instructor of the course.
Here's what we need for Greek:
η μεν Κρητη εστι νησος, η δε Ελλας εστι πατριδα. η Κρητη εστι εν θαλασσᾳ και ο Ροδος. ο γαρ Ροδος εστι νησος. ο τε Λεσβοσ νησος εστι και ο Ροδοσ. ο μεν Ροδος εστι μεγαλοσ, ουκ εστι μεγαλοσ ο Λεσβος.
Or something like that (with tighter vocabulary control--I've got three particles going. Ugh). But a lot more. Like 300 pages more.
cb wrote:hi markos, have a look at the genders of the islands Ῥόδος and Λέσβος, double-check your use of πατρίς and also check your dative ending of θάλασσα (for this last point you may want to look at my summary of the history of the 1st decl endings here, pgs 8-10: http://www.freewebs.com/mhninaeide/pharrnotes.pdf )
i agree that an immersive book in attic would be great. i remember a fellow aussie wrote about this somewhere on the net, trying to find the article... here it is, the first link on this page: http://jeltzz.com/essays.html
cheers, chad
Sinister Petrus wrote:Here's what we need for Greek:
η μεν Κρητη εστι νησος, η δε Ελλας εστι πατριδα. η Κρητη εστι εν θαλασσᾳ και ο Ροδος. ο γαρ Ροδος εστι νησος. ο τε Λεσβοσ νησος εστι και ο Ροδοσ. ο μεν Ροδος εστι μεγαλοσ, ουκ εστι μεγαλοσ ο Λεσβος.
NateD26 wrote:[T]his is far too repetitive to be anything close to genuine Greek.
Sinister Petrus wrote:The idea behind the repetition is to drill in how εστι(ν) works. So that you never forget how. Ever. After, say, fifty sentences of this sort of thing, μεν... δε... is also clear (if you see μεν, δε is one to be ready for). If you see ο/η/το, εστι(ν) is the verb. If you see οι/αι/τα/ο και ο/κτλ, εισι(ν) is your verb. Pay attention to the reading—and there should be lots of it—and you'll not make (many) mistakes in reading. My poorly written sample is probably not even 1% of what a first chapter would include.
Sinister Petrus wrote:I'll bet all the tea in China that your university text had a large portion of its text in English. I'll bet that amount again that the grammar, save for a few examples, was wholly in English. Classical language textbooks, save for a isolated examples, are at least a century behind modern language teaching techniques. I love my Latin and Greek teachers, but they were teaching memorization of paradigms/grammar rules as the key. I hold them in high esteem, but their instruction didn't teach me to read Greek and Latin as such. I did learn to decode them. Vast amounts of basic, comprehensible beginner Latin taught me how to read.
Sinister Petrus wrote:(I assume based on your dim view of immersion techniques that) You managed to learn how to read Plato by memorizing vocabulary lists and paradigms. Good for you. Seriously. Just realize that you are in a very small minority. I have no clue how I'm going to get to Plato without some serious pre-reading of Greek. I suspect the majority of language learners are like me (if my reading in second language acquisition theory and personal, albeit anecdotal, experience are the norm).
NateD26 wrote:1. A neuter plural subject takes a singular verb. weird rule but it took me a while to get used to it.
2. How many connected sentences with the copula included do you have in mind to appear in the first
chapter? Every sentence? Just a few on the first page? Doesn't the concept of how it works become
clear after a while?
Sinister Petrus wrote:Back on topic, I've been thinking about learning Latin and Greek at the same time. The more I think about it, the less I think it is a possible (or necessarily desirable) thing. Are Latin and Greek even that much alike?
Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 49 guests