I have been through the “Basic’s of Biblical Greek” by William Mounce, and I have been reviewing it every day now for quite awhile. But I have yet to learn everything in it to perfection. I was wanting to know if it would be better to keep learning and memorizing every little detail from the Basics until I get it all down, or is it OK and normal to move on with the intentions of some of the finer details falling into place later as I advance? What is your suggestions? And when I do finially move on, what is the best textbook to get after the basics?
My class used Wallace’s “Greek Grammar Beyond the Basics”. It is very good but extremely dry and a little overwhelming so you will want to take it slowly.
I don’t think you need to wait until you know everything perfectly. Just keep on reviewing and practicing as you go (it will happen naturally anyway).
I have a humble suggestion. Take another Begginner Grammar and study it (a bit more casually than you did Mounce). As you do this compare and contrast the views and explanations using Mounce as a reference since you already know it. Do this with a few different beginners till you are familiar with the “trouble spots” in Greek.
Read the New Testament as you do this. You’ll be surprised at the things you run across realizing you missed the full import in the Grammar. Then you can fine tune through “restudy”
After some of this I think you will get all the more from an intermediate Grammar.
I think Geoff’s suggestion is a good one.
Wallace’s book is a great reference book but it is hardly suited to use as your text outside of a class room.
I would get it anyway so that when you are learning e.g. about the article, you can check in Wallace. Then it will not be as dry and tense either.
Actually I have studied a few different grammars, and I came to this forum and asked for a good grammar that makes it easier, and they hooked me up with Mounce. I had some difficulty with the other grammars, they never seemed to be very clear like Mounce is. I do like how Mounce does the Nouns first and then verbs. That really helped me out alot because I was getting confused by the other techniques. I suppose that studying those other grammars first allowed me to come into Mounce’s grammar a little more prepared then someone coming to it never knowing any Greek. Also by being confused about some things from other grammars allowed me to figure out some of those unclear areas which means that I am more likely to remember those things now. I guess it is just a continuous learning process that takes repetition.
