Friday, August 27, 2010

My Ancient Greek Introduction



OK, I took Markos' advice and wrote up a small text to practice verbally and to publish as a video on youtube. I hope you enjoy!

Video Caption - Rest your mouse over underlined words for annotations.
Text: “χαίρετε, ὦ φίλοι. ἐγώ εἰμι ἀγνοούμενος ὑμῖν καὶ διὰ τοῦτο ἠθέλησά τινα περὶ ἐμαυτοῦ λέγειν ὑμῖν. ὄνομά μοι Ἰάσων κἀγὼ ἐν Ἰσραὴλ οἰκῶ. ἀναγιγνώσκειν πολλὰ βιβλία φιλῶ καὶ πάντοτε βιβλίον ἔχω ἐν τῇ χειρί μου. οὐ πολὺν χρόνον τὴν ἑλληνικὴν γλῶτταν μεμάθηκα, ἀλλὰ ἐν νῷ ἔχω ἐπιμένειν μανθάνων. ἐλπίζω δι᾿ ὀλίγου παρὰ ὑμῶν ἀπόκρισιν παραλαβεῖν. ἔρρωσθε.”

I am just beginning to internalize Greek. I have pulled some of these words (e.g., ἀγνοούμενος ‘unknown’, ἐπιμένω ‘I continue’, ἀπόκρισις ‘answer, response’) from accessible passages in the Christian scriptures (Ἡ Καινὴ Διαθήκη “The New Testament”) when I wasn’t already aware of the word. I’m also using the Pocket Oxford Classical Greek Dictionary and the software Diogenes to search for new vocabulary.

The pronunciation that I use is Erasmian, since this is what I learned when I was younger. While I have had a lot of experience reading the Christian scriptures in Greek, I put Greek down for several years. Only recently has my interest in the language grown again, and I’ve begun to study Attic. I hope to add more videos as I become more comfortable with what I’m learning, in an attempt to turn passive understanding into some kind of active use of the language.

5 comments:

  1. Very well done, Jason. I understood 95% of what you said the first time I watched it and got the rest after two more more viewings. I like the εν νῳ εχω as a useful phrase for conversation.

    λαλεις ὁμοιος αληθει Ελληνι. ερρωσο.

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  2. Well, I don't think I sound anything like a true Hellene, but it was enjoyable making the video. I should like to get to the point where I can more naturally just let it spill, without planning things ahead. Thanks for the encouragement and reinforcement. :)

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  3. Jason,

    If you are looking for ideas for a video, try paraphrasing a passage from the Greek NT or another Greek work. Don't try to memorize the passage word for word, but try reciting the jist of it. Choose a passage that sort of flows, with some narrative or imperative instead of one that is too abstract. I've been experimenting with this and it is a good way to internalize forms. I leave out many of the particles and change the word order so that I the passage flows naturally from my head. I would love to see what you come up.

    Have you had any other thoughts for videos?

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  4. I've thought about it, but you know it takes me a long time to make a decision about this kind of thing. However, I did buy a new camera yesterday, and it has video and all. I'll be able to take it with me to make short videos wherever I am. Maybe that will increase my gumption. What do you think?

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  5. I think having a portable camera (I don't, at this point. All I have is a web cam) increases your options in terms of using visual aids. You could film someone swinging and a bat while saying βαλλω. You could film some birds and say πετεινα εστιν. Sort of like Rosetta stone. The Ancient Greek videos on You-Tube thus far are all pretty boring in terms of their setting; people sitting in a room in front of a camera. I'm excited to see what you come up.

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