For Justin–
How much time do you have over the next three weeks? Yes, it would have been better to hear of this in January, but that is water under the bridge.

As for translating into English, that is a reasonable expectation though biblical language classes usually teach students to make poor translations because the purpose is to show their recognition of Hebrew/Greek structures and not to communicate in the most natural manner in English.

Several years ago we had a student come for our summer Hebrew who had been dismissed from his Hebrew class early on (‘unfit for Hebrew, which is not for everyone’). He did well and somewhat shocked the teacher when he showed up for the second year Hebrew at his school and showed that he had learned Hebrew without the class the previous year. For more personal comment, please email to support at biblicallanguagecenter.com.

I am a M.Div student at Fuller Seminary in Pasadena, CA. I am 8 weeks into an intensive Hebrew course (8 quarter units). My professor is very gracious and kind, but he teaches in the traditional grammar/translation based system. The whole time I’ve felt like I needed an immersion course where I could read, speak and ‘live’ the language.

Seminary requirements:
My seminary requires that I know how to translate passages of the Hebrew Bible in order to prepare for exegetical courses dealing with interpretation. Obviously this is all based on the goal to preach on Sunday mornings. Thus, there is little emphasis on actually learning how to speak and use the language then there is on learning how to parse and understand nuanced differences in sentences. We use Seow’s book on biblical Hebrew grammar, which is very dry and technical.

My personal struggles with the traditional method:
I have had a difficult time learning Hebrew using the traditional approach. I have made the flashcards, gone to lectures, met with the TA and talked with other students on best practices. However, it has been hard to learn the language on my own and being expected to do advanced technical grammar skills in a matter of weeks. Another obstacle is I have ADHD and am a ‘right brained’ kind of guy who is very energetic, asks a lot of questions, is theatrical and has a hard time fitting into a box or mold. I also have a terrible work ethic when it comes to language. Some due to ADHD and other due to lack of discipline. Nonetheless, my professor has been very gracious and has allowed me to go at my own pace with my TA. In order to pass the class I need to be able to translate a sizable portion of Hebrew for the final exam which is in three weeks.

My TA takes a much more action based language acquisition approach to Hebrew. He first learned it in an upal in Israel, studied it in undergrad and is now a Phd student at Fuller. He emphasizes making audio-visual connections, walking instead of sitting, and visualizing real objects instead of just rote memorization. He is also emphasizes VERY much that speaking and reading are the foundations to learning a language instead of grammar rules which he see’s as secondary. This has helped me to focus on vocabulary and pronunciation, but I still feel I’m missing something. I searched but could not find good resources for learning ancient Hebrew (or Greek) in the natural way we learn languages.

Action based language acquisition pro’s and con’s:
I figured that in order to really learn the language I’d need an immersion program that was more visual and auditory so I could speak and ‘live out’ the language, but also something where I could pick up a Hebrew Bible and read and comprehend it for translation and interpretative purposes for pastoral ministry. That’s when I came across the Biblical Language Center.

I read up on the website and other internet sources on Dr. Asher and I really like the approach. I think this method addresses the right brained processing, audio-visual learning and long term retention needed to actually use the language instead of forgetting everything. I looked into both the summer program in June and July in Israel as well as the textbooks and ‘immersion language lab’ resources you’ve created.

Tension between personal goals and seminary requirements:
My situation is such that I need to do well enough within the traditional system to pass my seminary Hebrew class, but in order to succeed and actually learn it I need to take a non-traditional approach such as the Total Physical Response methodology you utilize. My school would likely require that even if I use another methodology to learn Hebrew, that I must be able to be proficient in translation in order to pass the language and exegetical classes.

I would be interested to know what other seminary students have done who are ‘within the system’ and best practices for learning Hebrew through your methods. I am also interested in knowing if there are any teachers in the L.A. area that could help me with this approach, because there seems to be a shortage of instructors who can teach language with a ‘right brain’ methodology.

What can I do? Please email me at jgottuso@gmail.com. I would very much like to discuss what my options are.

Shalom,
Justin

«…the relative value of speaking and writing for internalization…»

τὸ «on-line chat» ἐστιν τὸ λαλεῖν γράφοντα. πάνυ οφέλιμον οὖν έστιν.

Louis is wondering about how to promote the connection between Greek and meaning.
That isn’t a bad segue into my 3rd (of 4) question:

3. What new resources should be developed that would appeal to the right brain? (Our l-brain resources are legion)

What are your thoughts? Let me explain my thinking on it so far.

a) Simplified texts:
I am thinking that simplified texts could be helpful IF they were written with TPR in mind. “See Spot run…” sort of texts are not necessarily going to lend themselves to TPR. The story should include concrete things and action verbs that can be easily taught via TPR.

b) Pictures.
Illustrated stories might help, but we need again concrete things and actions that are pretty easy to illustrate. If meaning can be conveyed through pictures as Greek is read aloud, I could see this being a good right-brain activity. (I’m toying with a digital flashcard program (Anki) that would show a picture conveying approximate meaning. The flip side would play an audio recording of the word (or phrase) along with parsing and translation.)

c) Gestures.
Reciting Greek with practiced gestures has been a big blessing for my own comprehension. I’m more enthusiastic about this method aftter reading Asher. The web resources about gestures and SLA have only confirmed to me that it is valid and useful. Gestures are interpreted by the right brain and would seem to be a good arrow in a quiver of r-brain methods. Their value goes up exponentially when a person himself does gestures, but even watching a teacher gesture Greek is useful. (When I “gesture” Greek to my students, they automatically start mimicking the gestures as they sit in their desks! Anything that connects physical action and language should be good.)

d) Audio.
Audio resources are great. We have Randall’s excellent productions. I especially like the 1st John “stepped” recording (phrase by phrase, repeated). From my experience with the LAMP method of language acquisition (Brewster) I think mimicry, substitution, production, and substitution drills would be really useful. Living Koine does some of this (maybe more in later lessons I haven’t reached).

Mimicry drills are simply words/phrases with a gap for the student to mimic. This helps tremendously with pronunciation.

Substitution drills ask you to substitute a different word in a sentence. E.g. The tape states the verb, let’s say “παυω. ” Then you hear ημεις and have to produce παυομεν. Or, with nouns:
Tape: διδωμι βιβλιον τῳ ανθρωπῳ. …ανηρ
Learner: (silence for learner to substitute the right form).
Tape: διδωμι βιβλιον τῳ ανδρι.

Production drills are often dialogues or questions with the response missing:
Tape: το ονομα σοι τι εστιν;
Learner: (silence for learner to produce)
Tape: ονομα μοι Παυλος εστιν.

My guess would be that someone who can read Greek with some rate of speed, would only take 5 times to connect meaning to audio, whereas a newb would take 25 times to make that word sound association. Do members of class (1) have to spend the same amount of time to make those audio associations (using TPR) as those people of class 3? Do people who have learned Greek via the Grammar-translation method store the language in their brain the same way people who learn a language by speaking it?

1. We agree regarding the relative value of speaking and writing for internalization. Speaking is more effective and more fun, I think. For ancient and modern languages, I would always start students off with comprehensible input and pushed output. But for an autodidact moving from a grammar-translation knowledge of Greek to a more active knowledge, I think writing can be a decent middle way in the absence of conversation partners.
2. That’s good to know about TPRS.
3. Agreed.
4. Completely agreed on grammar-translation. More time diagramming Greek (in English) won’t get anyone anywhere in terms of internalization. The more Greek I learn by speaking, listening, and writing, the more I wish I hadn’t spent two years learning Greek via grammar-translation.

I’m hoping to make it to SBL this year; we’ll see. I’d love to hear the panel.

ἄρτι νὺν τοῦτο τὸ μικρὸν ποίημα ἐποίησα.

Σάρα ἡ μειδῶσα.

μειδῷς τι σὺ ἐμοί, Σάρα…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zMX7DeOSFPE

χάρις πᾶσιν.