Is there anyone who might be willing to meet up on Skype to read through the exercises of Greek: An Intensive Course together? I’m currently on Unit IV, but I’ll go back to go over them with anyone who wants to work together from Unit I on. I want to work on reading fluency and tackle head-on the intensity of this textbook.
I’m using Greek: An Intensive Course (twelfth printing, 2011) by Hardy Hansen and Gerald M. Quinn. I found it at Barnes & Noble in Manhattan, so I assume it is readily available, if slightly expensive (cost me $48 plus tax).
Any takers? Please?
Contact me on Skype at the same username (jaihare) or at the email address in my signature.
I could be interested in this. I am a beginner as well. I am putting it off for at least a weak, though. My kids need to be in school first before I can start for real!
William
I don’t Skype, but in case you’re still interested I finished that textbook sometime last year, and I’m currently reviewing it selectively while I work my way through Book I of Herodotus’ Histories as my effort to at least keep my Greek fresh in the midst of myriad other activities. I love H&Q.
If you’d like, we can discuss the text here or via e-mail.
Sorry that I haven’t been on here, guys. I was contacted by Σαῦλος on Skype, which reminded me that I’d opened the thread here. I’m on Skype as jaihare. I think Σαῦλος and I will get started together. We can do group video calls, if anyone else wants to jump in.
I see that other groups are now posting answers to exercises from their textbooks. Maybe we could do that with this course book, too.
How about we open up a thread for the first set of exercises. I’d prefer if no one typed out the exercises themselves, since you’re supposed to own the book in order to participate. What do you think?
Hi, I’m slightly confused by this the intention of the activity; is this meant for people who already have worked through the text and hence in a position to give sample answers, or for those still learning from the text?
We are using vocab and structures that have been presented until the present unit in the book. We are about to have our third meeting on Unit 2’s exercises on page 59. In our last two meetings, we took the sentences from the exercises and ask questions about them, expecting answers that are formed only from the grammar and vocabulary presented until now. The idea is to drill the material orally and get used to using it in spoken form.
For example, this is what I wrote for exercise 2 on page 59:
I assume that the first-person in the drill is the person I’m talking with. Thus, I ask in the second person: πέμψεις. The last question, διὰ τί, is intended only for an advanced person who will be able to answer in a way not attached to this specific sentence. We are using διὰ τί between us (myself and Paul - our third participant had an urgent issue arise that caused him to decide not to participate with us) to get us to use ἵνα and ὅπως clauses, which will actually be presented in the next unit of the book.
We’re going to spend this next meeting (on Tuesday afternoon, at 16:00 local Israel time) going over our own sentences based on this same exercise set. For example, the above exercise is τὸν Ὅμηρον εἰς τὴν ἀγορὰν πέμψω. I will take the structure of this sentence to create several of my own using the vocabulary that we have covered until this point in the textbook. I might say one of the following:
τὸν ἄγγελον εἰς τὸν οἶκον ἐπέμψαμεν. “We sent the messenger into the house.”
τὸν ξένον ἀπὸ τοῦ πολέμου πέμψουσιν. “They will send the stranger away from the war.”
etc.
We will use only vocab and structures that have been introduced in the book until now. The idea is to make sure that we know the structures (pres. ind., fut. ind., aor. ind., impf. ind., etc.) before moving on to the next unit, which will present further structures and more vocabulary.
If someone is just learning from this book for the first time, it will first of all be quite difficult. This is an intensive course and will cover loads of information in each unit. I don’t think it will be good for absolute beginners. It’s more for reviewers who want to cement the material and transform their ability with the language into something more spoken, to begin to use ancient Greek for communication and to turn the language into something useful.
Does this answer your questions well enough? I hope I’ve understood and addressed your concerns.
