While the reviewer is anonymous, the blog “is run by a college student… currently aiming for a major in Pre-Seminary Bible and also Mathematics,” and I am assuming that the same college student wrote the review.  (UPDATE: since posting this page, the BLC got a nice email from the no-longer anonymous reviewer: Kevin Madden.  Thanks Kevin, and all the best in your Greek studies.)  In it, the author Kevin states that (s)he has studied Greek with a couple other textbooks, and  that “[b]efore starting Buth’s book, I also was able to give English glosses of all the words in the Greek New Testament that occur twenty-four times or more.”  So the review is not by someone approaching the language for the very first time, but by someone who has what could be called “considerable beginner’s background” in New Testament Greek.  Even so, the author claims:

There is no doubt that I have gained more from going through Buth’s first book than I have from any other resource.

I am not surprised by this evaluation.  I have helped organize two fluency workshops for professors of New Testament Greek that were run by the Biblical Language Center (and am planning another this coming summer).  Not uncommon on the evaluation forms is that participants lament that we did not emphasize enough that they needed to work through Living Koine Greek Introduction Part One and other audio materials the BLC puts out.   Note that these are professors of New Testament Greek who are making such comments.  So if professors find it useful, how much more would a beginning student?

Obviously then, I have no problem agreeing with the reviewer’s conclusion:

If you’re looking for the best way to learn Greek, “Living Koine Greek” is a good place to start. (Emphasis mine)

As mentioned in the previous post, Peter produced the recordings that are now available in Living Biblical Hebrew Selected Readings with 500 Friends. The recordings were a joint venture in which I oversaw the studio production and editing, while Peter funded the project and selected the texts.  It is thanks to Peter that we have recordings of such high quality, professional voices from Israeli radio, that also control the `ayin and Het.

Another venture that developed over the years was the need to see scholarly discussion of pedagogy of biblical languages.  Peter and I worked together to see the “Applied Linguistics for Biblical Languages Group” formed, approved, and continuing to bear fruit at SBL.  Peter was always an encouragement for the ALBL forum and he will be missed.  This year in Chicago, there are plans for a special ALBL dinner in Peter’s memory.

With thanks and blessings for Peter’s influence,

Randall Buth

Peter’s enthusiasm for the biblical languages and seeing them taught using Communicative Language Teaching was obvious to anyone who met him.  His friendship and collaboration with Randall Buth can best be seen in that he helped fund part of the publication costs for Living Biblical Hebrew – Selected Readings with 500 Friends, and that together with Randall he spear-headed the creation of the “Applied Linguistics and Biblical Languages” section at the Society of Biblical Literature annual meetings, which both he and Randall co-chaired.

For those wishing to express condolences, here is the information we have received:

If you would like to send a note, the address is

Louise Burton
2800 Hillsboro Avenue, No. 213
New Hope, Minnesota 55427

Memorial Gifts welcome but not required to the Rochester, Minnesota, branch of  L’Abri Fellowship or to the ALS Society.

For more on Peter Burton’s life and legacy.

Introduction

The basic premise of this paper is as follows: a generative-functional approach to the Biblical Hebrew (BH) nominal (or verbless) clause provides a simple, adequate, linguistic framework. It explains the discontinuities in the data and is able to unite and explain the Lists and ad hoc rules of many theories.

We will find that the neutral core of both a verbless clause and a participial clause is Subject- Predicate in order and that material in front of the Subject is specially marked. Naturally, this will aid any Hebrew reader in interpreting a text. Of course, we will find that the fronted material has been placed there for more than one reason. or in other words, by more than one function.

These results are so promising and valuable for resolving the theoretical contrasts among various Hebrew grammarians that they justify a brief introduction to some general linguistic concepts and terminology.

Free Download of Randall Buth’s article: Word Order in the Verbless Clause (4.8 MB)

Taken from the book, The Verbless Clause in Biblical Hebrew, edited by Cynthia L. Miller, Linguistic Studies in Ancient West Semitic – LSAWS 1 Eisenbrauns, 1999.

The impetus for reviving the speaking of New Testament Greek and becoming fluent in a language which hasn’t been spoken for over 1,500 years is driven by two primary factors.  Some see it as the quickest and most efficient way to grow their own competency in the language, even after years of teaching Greek.  But for most, it is the conviction that the advances in the last fifty years in the fields Applied Linguistics and Second Language Acquisition (the fields that study how one learns other languages in addition to one’s mother tongue) need to be applied to the teaching of biblical languages just as they are with modern languages.  These advances are often summarized under the general title “Communicative Language Teaching.”  These new pedagogies take advantage of the way in which the human brain innately and almost effortlessly internalizes languages, making the learning process easier, faster, and longer lasting.  For the learner, these pedagogies are a win-win-win.

In simple terms, the two cornerstones of Communicative Language Teaching are providing students with comprehensible input (hearing the language just slightly above their current level of comprehension) and the opportunity for oral production (speaking practice as comprehension is being built up).  Regrettably, neither of these have been a part of traditional curricula for the biblical languages with the unfortunate consequence that current teachers of New Testament Greek (and biblical Hebrew) are unable to speak in the language they are teaching.  This in turn precludes them from being able to use Communicative Language Teaching pedagogies that enhance and speed up student learning of the biblical languages.

The advantages of Communicative Language Teaching are numerous: it fits all learning styles, not just the analytical mind; students enjoy it and often describe it as fun, even though the work load is intense; it allows for the internalization the language in addition to learning how to analyze the language; higher levels of language skill become attainable, both within the limited time frames and absolutely in terms of ultimate attainments; and more.  Probably most significant of them all is that it allows for both faster and more advanced reading comprehension, of utmost importance when dealing with Sacred Texts.  FPU faculty Ryan Schellenberg, who attended both last year’s and this year’s workshops, put it this way:  “Since beginning to engage the language this way, I’ve seen that it is possible to read Greek, not merely to translate it. Sounds like a subtle distinction, perhaps, but it’s a much richer experience.”  Another participant concurred, ”I was skeptical but I came away seeing how this improves my reading skills.”  One put it this way: “Before [the workshop] I thought it was a good idea among many, now I think it is a necessary component.”

This is one way in which the workshops are particularly useful. Research into the mechanics of reading is demonstrating how oral fluency is key for advanced reading comprehension. But without anyone in the field of Koine Greek with such fluency, it has not been possible to test or experience. Before dismissing such claims, therefore, we need to see this fluency built up and worked out within the world of New Testament studies, in the same way that it has been tried and tested with modern languages.  It is at these workshops that professors are first able to catch a glimpse of how fluency does indeed enhance their reading comprehension of the Scriptures.  It may only be a glimpse, but already the feedback suggests it holds great promise, as the comments above demonstrate.  What is more, one church leader present at the workshop realized that bringing Koine Greek fluency to New Testament studies is not just about introducing a pedagogical shift, but about impacting lives: “Every workshop makes a big difference in real lives… The program here will impact our church body for years to come…  May God bless you as you teach many to ‘really learn’ the biblical languages which bring us God’s truth” (emphasis by the author).

I realized anew in writing this that in the same way that some who have not invested in learning the biblical languages will downplay the usefulness of learning them (even denigrate it), so it is that all those who doubt the usefulness of becoming fluent in the biblical languages have never tried it.  Nor, to echo a biblical passage, have they believed the testimony of those who have, or are trying to, become fluent.

Including facilitators, there were about 40 total, with participants coming from around the world (Hong Kong, Malawi, Japan, etc.) as well as Canada and USA.  The range of background was actually quite diverse, with some who have only done self-study (mainly using the BLC’s materials) to others who have years of experience teaching Greek.  Some even commented on how having this mix among participants, as well as a range of abilities among facilitators, actually helped one better conceptualize how communicative language teaching can be applied with a diversity of student and instructor ability.

In my opinion, and it was echoed by others, it was BLC’s best workshop to date.  One of the main reasons it was so successful was the high ratio of facilitators to participants.  At times there were 10 facilitators for just under 30 participants.  It allowed for break out groups under the leadership of two facilitators with small groups of five to seven people.  Let me quote one participant’s words on his end-of-workshop evaluation sheet:

We students worked hard; the teachers harder.  I cannot commend enough their enthusiasm, creativity, humor, sensitivity, and energy.  All those qualities, moreover, were contagious.

In addition to what took place during the workshop, reports are beginning to trickle back as to how participation in the workshop continues to have an impact on the participants.  One comment that is echoed by several is how becoming more fluent in speaking improves reading skills .  One put it this way:

I was skeptical, but I came away seeing this improves reading skills.  I have been able to read NT fluently for some time, but reading this week it felt more instant, almost, but not quite like English.

This is nice anecdotal evidence for a paper I am to present at ETS and SBL this coming November on what we know makes for effective reading.

I had been looking for a better method.  I found an APPROACH! 

My grandfather, father, and every Greek student I have ever known were taught by the traditional grammar/translation method.  When I inherited the job of Greek instruction at our Lutheran Bible Institute (Lilongwe, Malawi) I followed the teaching tradition. But I quickly started to feel discouraged. My students were not getting to a practically useful level of competency.  The idea was niggling at me that there must be a better method of teaching Greek.

Isn’t there a better method?

My students are language sponges when it comes to learning a living language.  Couldn’t we tap into that ability somehow?  Maybe auditory learning was the key.  I emphasized fluent reading to my students, “Read, read, & read a phrase until you think the Greek!“  Better, but not great.  I felt like I was teaching musical notation with the promise, “Study hard and someday you’ll hear the music in your head.” The niggling was beginning to hurt.

I heard about BLC and worked through Living Koine – Part One (the picture book).  Part Two went on the back burner as I filled up my time searching for a better method (B-Greek, SLA papers).  Meanwhile, I was also trying to increase my own Greek comprehension (rapid reading, memorization with gestures). I had heard of Total Physical Response and had Asher’s book, Learning Another Language Through Actions sitting on my shelf for a year.

Eureka!

Last week I finally picked it up. Eureka!  I expected to read about a method.  What I was absolutely delighted to find was an APPROACH.  The approach is characterized by using commands to couple language and action.  Read “κάθισον = sit!” and you have faint learning. Hear κάθισον, and obey by sitting, and you have bold-faced learning that instantly enters into long term memory.

Interestingly, one of the key points Asher makes is that production interferes with the painless and efficient reception of meaning.  Hear and obey, but don’t speak.  Let speech spring naturally from internalization.  This came to him together with his eureka moment about language acquisition.

Asher had been using his training in psychology to research language acquisition.  He found that in order for language to be internalized efficiently, new content had to be true, believable, or useful.  He hypothesized that this condition could be fulfilled if cause/effect could be established through hearing and acting.  He and his secretary were the first experiment.  A Japanese friend barked out orders and modelled the action.  They verbally repeated the command and actively obeyed.  But as each new command was uttered, the last one was erased from their minds.

His intuition told him to leave out the production.  No repeating this time.  The Japanese friend gave command after command, making things more complicated.  Within one session, Asher and his secretary were comprehending and obeying commands as complex as, “Run to the window, pick up the book, put it on the desk, then sit on the chair.”  The three of them were amazed at the results, and the Total Physical Response (TPR) approach was born.

More than the Imperative Mood

TPR makes extensive use of commands, but is not limited to teaching the Imperative mood.  Nouns, adjectives, and adverbs can be easily added to commands.  Different moods, tenses and constructions can be embedded in commands and coupled with action,

ἐὰν ἔλθῃ πρὸς ὑμᾶς, δέξασθε αὐτόν

If he comes to you, welcome him!

An added benefit is that vocabulary is added in meaningful chunks, rather than disconnected lists.

This approach is based on an understanding of how efficiently the right hemisphere of the brain can uncritically and instantly comprehend with meaning.  Our right brain receives speech every day and processes voluminous chunks of language with instant comprehension.  That receptive ability is something we can tap into when lessons are aimed at the right brain.  When we play solely to the left brain with explanations, terms, and paradigms, learning slows to a crawl. But Asher does not by any means dismiss instruction directed at the left brain.

Grammar-Translation has a role

In fact he encourages appealing to both hemispheres.  Within a lesson he suggests doing “brainswitching.”  Do something coupling language and movement, or make some other appeal to the right brain (music, manipulating props, observing action).  Then switch to the left brain (explanation of grammar, writing down what was commanded, use of linguistic terms).

In this way, the approach can easily be added to an existing program based on any textbook.  Simply teach some of the upcoming content through right brain activities, and then teach it according to the text.

The hope of comprehension

My desire for improved learning has blossomed into a more confident hope for real comprehension.  Could my students acquire a reading comprehension of Greek?  That makes my four point list of the benefits of studying Greek look stingy.

Probably the biggest obstacle in my case is the competency of the teacher. But I can work on that.  In the meantime, my right brain is swimming with the possibilities. Commands, gestures, storytelling, comics, and more.  I set out to find a better method.  εὕρηκα!  I have found a storehouse of better methods through this APPROACH.  Thank you Dr. Asher.

(uploaded on behalf of Paul Nitz)

The question arises because most in the related academic fields do not currently advocate or practice speaking the language (and we are all greatful for the generations of scholarship in both Biblical Studies and Classics), yet we at BLC and many others claim that fluent speaking will improve reading.

Frequently and repeatedly I’ve told students at our ulpans:
Speaking English will NOT make you a Shakespeare scholar. However, any Shakespeare scholar would be a better Shakespeare scholar than they otherwise would be –if they could speak English fluently.
It’s common sense. The same holds for Greek and Hebrew. Scholarship and analysis is quite different from speaking a language, they are not even comparable, yet there is every reason to speak a language if interested in a literature or in its scholarship. I suspect that a whole generation of scholars who actively spoke the language of their literature would profoundly affect its scholarship, even though most broad basics may not change. Previous generations have laid many solid foundations.

And this generation is going to need to work hard if we want to implement the above. There is a long long way to go, and we will arrive sooner as more would join to help. The next generation will emerge out of this generation’s work.