John Dobson - Learn NT Greek

[Bassoonery]

A little project now that we are back in strict lockdown. I did browse the internet for better options, but if my father-in-law's copy of Dobson's NT Greek was good enough for students back in the day, then it might just be good enough for me. The introduction boldly claims that if you do two lessons a day (except Sundays) you'll finish the book in a month! Posting for accountability, and just in case anyone out there wants to share the same challenge...

 

[thomas15]

Hope you stay with it. I want to learn NT greek also.

 

[rlvaughn]

I'm not familiar with this specific book, but best wishes to you in furthering your education.

 

[Bassoonery]

I'm not familiar with this specific book, but best wishes to you in furthering your education.

Thanks. It has mixed reviews but seems to have been a standard introductory text until Mounce became more popular in the 90's. Dobson also has a Hebrew book. If the Greek goes well I might check it out.

 

[Squire Robertsson]

https://www.amazon.com/Learn-Testam...id=1621834796&sprefix=John+Dob,aps,338&sr=8-1
Used hardback as low as 7.63USD +shipping

 

[John of Japan]

A little project now that we are back in strict lockdown. I did browse the internet for better options, but if my father-in-law's copy of Dobson's NT Greek was good enough for students back in the day, then it might just be good enough for me. The introduction boldly claims that if you do two lessons a day (except Sundays) you'll finish the book in a month! Posting for accountability, and just in case anyone out there wants to share the same challenge...

Go for it! I hope you do very well in this endeavor. I teach Greek, and know that your task is challenging, but others have done it before you, and you can do it also. Students sometimes come to me and ask how they can get started on their Greek studies "next semester." I tell them to concentrate on two things until they get to class: the alphabet (upper and lower case) and vocabulary. i tell them that if they know the vocabulary, they can come up with some kind of translation, even a mistaken one, but if they don't know the meaning of the words, they can't do anything.

Your biggest challenge will be the Greek verb system. However, this too can be mastered. What you will need to do is a lot of memorization of the verb paradigms.

Check out the vocabulary review program of Dr. Bill Mounce at: FlashWorks | billmounce.com

 

[Bassoonery]

Go for it! I hope you do very well in this endeavor. I teach Greek, and know that your task is challenging, but others have done it before you, and you can do it also. Students sometimes come to me and ask how they can get started on their Greek studies "next semester." I tell them to concentrate on two things until they get to class: the alphabet (upper and lower case) and vocabulary. i tell them that if they know the vocabulary, they can come up with some kind of translation, even a mistaken one, but if they don't know the meaning of the words, they can't do anything.

Your biggest challenge will be the Greek verb system. However, this too can be mastered. What you will need to do is a lot of memorization of the verb paradigms.

Check out the vocabulary review program of Dr. Bill Mounce at: FlashWorks | billmounce.com

Thanks for the encouragement, it's reassuring to have a real Greek teacher around! I'm keeping up the 2 chapters a day plan so far but it is certainly time-consuming.

I've installed Flashworks now, thanks so much for the suggestion.

 

[asterisktom]

A little project now that we are back in strict lockdown. I did browse the internet for better options, but if my father-in-law's copy of Dobson's NT Greek was good enough for students back in the day, then it might just be good enough for me. The introduction boldly claims that if you do two lessons a day (except Sundays) you'll finish the book in a month! Posting for accountability, and just in case anyone out there wants to share the same challenge...

This advice of mine may or may not be helpful, depending on how you memorize, but when I memorized verb systems back in school I had my cards color-coded with highlighters. Green for future, yellow for aorist, red for imperfect, etc. To this day, when I read the greek in my mind I still "see" the color. So I automatically fix in the tense. This system helps especially if you have some degree of eidetic memory.

Also Vis-Ed vocab cards were really helpful for me. As were those plastic lift-off sheets for practicing your writing of the letters. I forget what they are called.

A worthy endeavor, Stay with it!

 

[John of Japan]

Thanks for the encouragement, it's reassuring to have a real Greek teacher around! I'm keeping up the 2 chapters a day plan so far but it is certainly time-consuming.

I've installed Flashworks now, thanks so much for the suggestion.

Two chapters a day! Wow. That's a tough schedule. We usually meet for a 9 week block three times a week: Mon., Wed., Fri.--for two hours at a time. I usually take my students through a chapter a day, so three a week. In the meantime they have to memorize the vocabulary for each chapter, understand the grammar, and memorize the forms for each chapter. Each day starts out with a quiz on the previous chapter, then I give a test every five chapters.

 

[Bassoonery]

This advice of mine may or may not be helpful, depending on how you memorize, but when I memorized verb systems back in school I had my cards color-coded with highlighters. Green for future, yellow for aorist, red for imperfect, etc. To this day, when I read the greek in my mind I still "see" the color. So I automatically fix in the tense. This system helps especially if you have some degree of eidetic memory.

Also Vis-Ed vocab cards were really helpful for me. As were those plastic lift-off sheets for practicing your writing of the letters. I forget what they are called.

A worthy endeavor, Stay with it!

Thanks! I do indeed use index cards but had not thought to colour-code. Maybe when the grammar gets more systematic. This book takes an inductive approach, hinting at aspects of grammar as it goes along before revealing the bigger picture.

 

[Bassoonery]

Two chapters a day! Wow. That's a tough schedule. We usually meet for a 9 week block three times a week: Mon., Wed., Fri.--for two hours at a time. I usually take my students through a chapter a day, so three a week. In the meantime they have to memorize the vocabulary for each chapter, understand the grammar, and memorize the forms for each chapter. Each day starts out with a quiz on the previous chapter, then I give a test every five chapters.

True - I am following the advice given in the Introduction but I am starting to wonder if it was made in jest! That said, I imagine your students have a bunch of other courses to study during the week. For me, it's just a way of taking advantage of our lockdown situation!

 

[John of Japan]

True - I am following the advice given in the Introduction but I am starting to wonder if it was made in jest! That said, I imagine your students have a bunch of other courses to study during the week. For me, it's just a way of taking advantage of our lockdown situation!

I can understand that.

 

[kathleenmariekg]

First or second edition? Accents or no accents?

 

[kathleenmariekg]

We learn English from more than one book. We have readers, and spelling books, and grammar books, and writing courses and so much more. Dobson was my reading book. Machen was my comp and grammar book. Mounce was my vocabulary course. I used a lot of stuff. I forget the resources that I used for phonics and handwriting.

 

[Bassoonery]

First or second edition? Accents or no accents?

Good question. Mine is a Bible Society print especially for India and it doesn't give any publication details except an ISBN of 81:22131646. I suspect it might be first edition since it doesn't mention a second. No accents.

You're right, especially with a book this old it's important to glean from other sources. I'm getting some oral/aural input from Youtube and have bookmarked a few online resources too. It's early days anyway.

 

[kathleenmariekg]

Youtube has some good stuff, but it can be scattered. If the content creator also has a webpage, sometimes they finished the entire course.

There is a Great Courses Greek that teaches a combination of Koine and other Greek. I have access to it through my library, along with the Mango courses.

There is an Apple Itunes course that I cannot access without any apple devices.

Udemy courses go one sale for $9.99. Dont be scared off by the initial prices. Sign up. Put the courses on your wishlist and let them sit until Udemy sends you and e-mail offering them for $9.99.

I am assuming you have a 1st edition if there are no accents. Both editions have their pros and cons. Newer editions of ancient language texts are not always better in my opinion. I do NOT prefer the newer edition of Machen!!!!!! It is not about needing newer books, but more books. Do not START with too many resources, though! Just be prepared to need to use any many Greek Courses as you have needed English courses.

If you start to struggle, identify WHAT you are struggling with, and look for a resource that teaches that ONE topic. Dobson is immersion and access to immersion is a critical component of language learning. But if you have an analytical or visual brain, you will soon need some grammar charts and explanations pretty quickly.

Good luck! You can do this!

 

[Yeshua1]

We learn English from more than one book. We have readers, and spelling books, and grammar books, and writing courses and so much more. Dobson was my reading book. Machen was my comp and grammar book. Mounce was my vocabulary course. I used a lot of stuff. I forget the resources that I used for phonics and handwriting.

In a practical way how as knowing Bible Greek helped your studies?

 

[kathleenmariekg]

In a practical way how as knowing Bible Greek helped your studies?

I learned enough Greek to know how much that I do not know. I learned that people that know a LOT of Greek might still know very LITTLE, even some modern Greek professors.

 

[John of Japan]

I learned enough Greek to know how much that I do not know. I learned that people that know a LOT of Greek might still know very LITTLE, even some modern Greek professors.

You ain't kidding!

 

[Bassoonery]

In a practical way how as knowing Bible Greek helped your studies?

One motivation for me is wanting to follow arguments properly when authors (or forum posters!) use the biblical languages. I just finished a book that was very Hebrew-heavy and I had to take what the authors said at face value.

It's the same with music - you can only get the most out of a musicology book if you know how to read musical notation, but knowing notation is not essential for being a musician just as knowing Greek is not essential for being a Christian.

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