Thank you for this! I'm taking all the help I can get to assist me in teaching a beginners NT Greek class in the first term of 2024 at my church. And also, to help me to get the most I can out of Rob Plummer's Philippians class.
Dec 28, 2022·edited Dec 28, 2022Liked by Timothy Paul Jones
This is exactly what I need. I have lost my ability to read freely, having relied too much on an interlinear. Its like I do these continual head slaps. Read along silently, get a word with the ending I don't immediately recognize, look at the interlinear translation and part of speech, slap my head, continue. I do read well enough the published english interlinear translations have me yelling into the air in certain passages. (I am starting my own substack focusing on evangelism for the developing post-secular world.)
Several years ago, I started doing extensive reading with the old Brenton parallel text LXX. By accident, I realized that a few repetitive sections (e.g. the gifts from the 12 tribes for the dedication of the tabernacle) had lead to me having good comprehension. I started doing my reading in multiple passes and including repetition of paragraphs or passages. My comprehension dramatically increased. I moved from targeting "pages per day" to "time put in per day" and adjusted my pace as to my comprehension level. The details are more than will fit here since I also included listening and following along and speaking along, etc. with audio and an interlinear. But I'm now at a point where I can comfortably read narrative genre materials with decent comprehension. The cool point was when I realized I couldn't recall where or when I learned many words. Over time, I'm finding my comprehension and accuracy are improving.
I've been researching non-traditional learning methods for a decade or so. In one sentence, it's about choosing methods and materials that create brain structures that do what we want. Most Greek students use methods and materials that create brain structures that analyze and translate while in essence thinking in English about Greek with a goal of perfect understanding and avoiding mistakes. It takes different methods to build different brain structures that directly react to Greek which is what reading is. Once I realized reading is not analyzing and translating in my head very quickly but something different, I was able to let go of perfectionism and allow myself to enjoy continuous improvement and the simple joy of seeing a phrase or passage in Greek that simply seemed familiar and made sense. Over time, more and more seems familiar and makes sense as I see it.
I'm not sure how well I explained this in this limited space, but there is much research in a handful of fields that suggests many people we consider prodigies (polyglots, computer gurus, jazz improvisors) are not so much talented and gifted but mavericks and pioneers showing us what is possible if we adopt methods that individually work for us.
Thank you for this! I'm taking all the help I can get to assist me in teaching a beginners NT Greek class in the first term of 2024 at my church. And also, to help me to get the most I can out of Rob Plummer's Philippians class.
What about those of us who haven’t taken any Greek classes? What are your suggestions? Thanks so much!
This is exactly what I need. I have lost my ability to read freely, having relied too much on an interlinear. Its like I do these continual head slaps. Read along silently, get a word with the ending I don't immediately recognize, look at the interlinear translation and part of speech, slap my head, continue. I do read well enough the published english interlinear translations have me yelling into the air in certain passages. (I am starting my own substack focusing on evangelism for the developing post-secular world.)
Several years ago, I started doing extensive reading with the old Brenton parallel text LXX. By accident, I realized that a few repetitive sections (e.g. the gifts from the 12 tribes for the dedication of the tabernacle) had lead to me having good comprehension. I started doing my reading in multiple passes and including repetition of paragraphs or passages. My comprehension dramatically increased. I moved from targeting "pages per day" to "time put in per day" and adjusted my pace as to my comprehension level. The details are more than will fit here since I also included listening and following along and speaking along, etc. with audio and an interlinear. But I'm now at a point where I can comfortably read narrative genre materials with decent comprehension. The cool point was when I realized I couldn't recall where or when I learned many words. Over time, I'm finding my comprehension and accuracy are improving.
I've been researching non-traditional learning methods for a decade or so. In one sentence, it's about choosing methods and materials that create brain structures that do what we want. Most Greek students use methods and materials that create brain structures that analyze and translate while in essence thinking in English about Greek with a goal of perfect understanding and avoiding mistakes. It takes different methods to build different brain structures that directly react to Greek which is what reading is. Once I realized reading is not analyzing and translating in my head very quickly but something different, I was able to let go of perfectionism and allow myself to enjoy continuous improvement and the simple joy of seeing a phrase or passage in Greek that simply seemed familiar and made sense. Over time, more and more seems familiar and makes sense as I see it.
I'm not sure how well I explained this in this limited space, but there is much research in a handful of fields that suggests many people we consider prodigies (polyglots, computer gurus, jazz improvisors) are not so much talented and gifted but mavericks and pioneers showing us what is possible if we adopt methods that individually work for us.
This is great. Thanks!