Biblical Greek: This is better than a reader's edition.
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- Опубліковано 6 лют 2025
- If you want to read biblical Greek, will you be better off learning vocabulary or getting a reader's edition? The answer will vary from one person to another, but there are pros and cons of each if you're serious about reading the Greek New Testament. In this video, we'll look at those pros and cons. Perhaps you can guess which I'll recommend?
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I finished the MNTG Basic course a few weeks ago after having 6 semesters of Greek in seminary. This is by far the best system I have encountered. I had put down Greek for nearly 25 years when I started with Darryl this February. I am now reading through 1 John - all 5 chapters - with virtually no help from resources. I read the Greek for my devotion time. I love this so much it has partially replaced one of my longstanding hobbies (weightlifting). The community is SO helpful. I cannot endorse this enough!
Great to hear, Andy! Replacing muscle building by building mental muscle! Love it! You're a joy!
I'd prefer the MNTG system. I am enrolled in the course for almost a month and I can now read 1 John without any help devotionally. Praise be unto God!
As a student and teacher of NT Greek, I agree with this 98%. This is almost exactly what I do. After hearing your comments, I'm thinking about how to do actually do a class like this (starting from zero Greek).
Let me know what you end up implementing! I"m curious!
I don't make too many comments on youtube, but I feel it necessary with the challenge that is before us now. Turn off the "other" and focus on what is most important. God's Word. MNTG is an amazing thing, and Darryl is simply awesome when it comes to this system of learning. Start Now!
Well said! Thanks for your support Allen! I really appreciate it!
Thanks for encouraging us to learn the Biblical Greek words. I appreciate all of your videos and support.
Thanks for watching!
I've got a system now. I use a Tyndale and an Interlinear. When I get stuck on the Tyndale, I revert to the interlinear. I'm right around kindergarten level Greek now. Very glad I found this channel. It's been super helpful.
Thanks for sharing! I'd love to help you more. Did you see mntg.me/live?
@@bma I have! I've been sending people your way.
Thank you so much!
Darryl, I appreciate your insight on this, but I have to say that I have found using a reader's edition helps keep me motivated to read. Trying to memorize individual isolated words without any context can frankly become very boring and intimidating. Once you have learned a basic vocabulary in doing beginning Greek, the reader's edition helps motivate you to keep reading continously while learning new words in context. Also, I think I have a fairly large English vocabulary but I didn't learn it by reading a dictionary. I acquired it by actually reading and learning new words in context. Thirdly, you seem to assume that there are only two speeds of reading: fast and painfully slowly. I find that I read somewhere in between. I can read very quickly in English, but sometimes in doing so I miss some subtle points in the text. Reading more slowly in Greek can force me to consider things that I might have missed if I went too fast. Not only that, but I sometimes have wondered when I thought I was able to read a passage pretty quickly whether it is because I was remembering the English or really understanding the Greek. I think any way that works for a person to motivate them to actually keep reading is the best method for them.
Thanks for your comments Jim! In my experience, learning vocabulary is boring when you don't actually read the words you learn. But learning the words, then reading them is very motivating (as you can perhaps glean from some of the comments here). Having said that, we're all different, so if it doesn't work for you, by all means use a Reader's Edition if it helps! Regarding reading speed - I agree - my concern is not so much with the speed of reading, but with reading comprehension. Keep making steady progress!
I am three weeks into your approach. After memorizing vocabulary, it's like the text is waiting for me. My initial effort is slow but recognizing the vocabulary gives me the ability to read some verses smoothly. Thanks.
Very good! Keep it up! It's amazing what just learning vocab will do for your ability to actually read! I love this!
I'm on the MNTG programme and use both a reader's edition and a plain GNT. I find that when I read using a plain GNT because I'm spending more time in the text (w/o having to look at vocabulary helps) I notice more things in the passage. Furthermore, when I read a tricky word, I'm usually able to use the context (because I've learned the vocabulary before:)) to help me figure out the meaning. I find that this helps with my learning. When I use a reader's edition and come to a tricky word because the vocabulary is just below the text, I quickly glance to the bottom, which can sometimes short circuit my learning. This momentary glance can also disrupt my concentration with the GNT.
Thanks Yuk! You are a great encouragement!
I use an app called Anki, it is very helpful as well. I think you are right that learning the vocabulary first is a better approach, and I find it less painful. How important is knowing the pronunciation in learning vocabulary? Can you comment on this?
There are at least three different methods of pronounciation in use. I think that you must choose one and be consistent. That is, always pronounce it the same paying careful attention to accents. This will help fix the word in your mind. If you pronounce it one way today, it will be a bit more of a burden to remember the word if you pronounce it differently tomorrow. I find it especially helps on long words.
Thanks J Ho! Pronunciation is more important in some texts than others. I agree with Ronald - consistency is important. If your main goal is to read the text devotionally, pronunciation is helpful, but not vital to comprehension. Of course it will differ from one person to another to some extent based on learning styles, etc.
That’s a good point. Pronunciation is important for vocabulary acquisition. Thanks for the reminder!
Thank you for your helpful videos. I am returning to Koine Greek after nearly forty years! I am just getting started, and expect that it will be challenging, but after learning to read Japanese, 5000 Greek words doesn't seem like all that much. One thing I know is that spaced repetition has helped me to learn many words. I may try that flashcard app you mentioned.
James Newville, the scope of Japanese vocabulary in terms of its symbols is legendary. This should be much easier, imho.
Good to hear you're getting back into it! Learning biblical Greek is a great thing to do in later years when you have a little more time. Keep us posted!
@@bma Well, I haven't reached the point yet when I have even a little more time!
I love MNTG! Great professor/teacher and excellent program. I could not have learned Biblical Greek on my own. So thankful for the opportunity to learn and associate with other members in the group.
Thank you Tim! You bring me joy as a student!
One other benefit I might mention...Most reader’s edition either don’t have a textual apparatus or one that is so limited as to be virtually worthless. And in my humble opinion, some of these are exegetically significant. The Tyndale reader’s edition, for example, has hundreds of differences between itself and the NA28-not to mention the vast bulk of later minuscules. Of course that won’t matter to some people, but it’s hard for me to imagine that anyone with high view of scripture would not want to know the precise words of the Greek New Testament.
Great point! Thanks Stephen!
How do personally add flashcards to Flashcards Deluxe?
P.s. I would say to use both approaches, Vocab + Reader til you reach full mastery. Work on it everyday, in every way, til its seared into your brain for life without delay!
P.P.S. I love you like a brother in Christ, the anointed Hamachiak! All your hard work has been such a blessing in my journey.
THANK YOU!
You're welcome! Thanks for your support!
As I have recently started Milestone 1 of the MNTG program, I am choosing to incorporate both my reader's edition and vocabulary memorization in my process. As I start a new week, I am reading that portion of Scripture (such as 1 John 1) in the reader's edition several times to get a feel for the flow of the passage and to identify which words are new or need refreshing. Then throughout the week, I am doing my vocabulary memorizations based on the Flashcards Deluxe deck for that week. By the end of the week then, I have a good level of confidence in my ability to read the passage with little to no external aids.
Thanks Frank! This is a good way to use a Reader's' Edition - as a temporary help. How much are you using the words at the bottom?
@@bma So far, not very many, just a couple of the new verbs. And the good news is each of them in the apparatus appears as a vocabulary word in the deck for this week so they will be second nature soon enough.
I also learn the vocabulary first. Before I begin to read a chapter of a book, I first look up all the words that I dont know from that chapter and then I learn them. For this work I use an app called GreekKit, this app lets me create a vacabulary list of each chapter of a particular book. Then I just copy and paste those words into Anki.
Thank you so much for the information you give us. It is a great help.
You're welcome! Thanks for watching and commenting!
After many years of reading with computer software to see the definition and parsing by hovering the mouse over the greek word, I finally started memorizing with MNTG. I can now read about 10 books of the NT without using that feature OR the words in the Reader's edition. One question is, how often do we intend to read the Greek NT? Perhaps if we just do it once, or are concerned with just the text we preach on, the Reader's may work fine. But if you want to read a book several times, or once a year for the rest of your life, the investment in learning vocabulary is well worth the time. I will probably always use a reader's edition for the Septuagint or the Church Fathers. After all, if I want to remember more than 10,000 additional words beyond the NT for the Septuagint, I will go ahead and learn all 15,000 or so in Hebrew.
Also, using a Reader's edition in a verse with three or four under 30 words, I can hardly keep them in mind while figuring out a verse, let alone reading and rereading a paragraph. Simple once I memorize the vocabulary.
This is great feedback! Thank you Ronald!
I don't normally use a reader's edition, however I did pick up Goodrich & Lukaszewski's Reader's Greek New Testament (3rd ed.), as that is the only edition I am aware of that matches the Greek text underlying the NIV2011. I found this useful when preparing for bible studies with people who used the NIV2011, as some of the textual choices in it are very...eclectic!
Very true! I think I have the second edition of that one.
Very good information! Thanks!
You’re welcome!
Very good. Thanks
You're welcome
I can see your argument against readers editions, but also must be careful not to let the perfect (or even better) become the enemy of the good. Sure it would be better to know all the vocabulary, knowing some and using readers edition may be better than not reading the Greek New Testament at all.
Perhaps. Though a little knowledge is often just enough to be dangerous, so while having the ability to use a Reader's Edition is good, it is never a good end point.