Acquire Hellenistic Greek: Alpha with Angela



Today I added
FreeGreek.online to the Learn Ancient Greek page. The series of videos entitled Alpha with Angela, freely available through YouTube, provides a very competent example of teaching the language using a communicative approach. Of course, as with any video based course, it is not completely communicative given that the user cannot respond in real time, but the viewer is able to see and hear the language being taught to an online “student”.

This provides great support for developing receptive language (listening, reading), which is the focus of most Biblical Greek classes. Other resources will be needed to practice expressive language (speaking, writing).

The pronunciation system is the one used at the Polis Institute. While it does not accurately represent the Greek pronunciation of the hellenist period, it can be argued that it allows easy access to the spelling conventions of the time. Personally, I prefer the reconstructed pronunciation of the period used by Randall Buth and others, but this resource is free and very high quality.


With over 40 videos already posted, there’s plenty here to either get started on the path to acquire Hellenistic Greek or brush up on what you already know.

Epigraphy Page

Ancient Greek resources on the internet are in a constant state of change, with pages moving to new locations and new tools being added from time to time. Over the past few days I have updated the epigraphy page to correct links, update descriptions, and hopefully make the page more useful. Check it out to see what you think.

Upgrade for Greek-Language.com

HomePageScreenShotToday the new code (HTML5 and CSS) behind Greek-Language.com went live. It gives the site a new look and makes it dynamically readjust for the screen size of smartphones and tablets. The blog has had this ability for some time, but the rest of the site got an overhaul over the past few weeks. After many hours of painstaking rewriting, troubleshooting and testing, the new design is complete. I hope you like what you see.

Lesson 27: Pronouns for Direct Conversation (ἐγὼ and σύ)

A few minutes ago I uploaded lesson 27 of my online grammar. There are a couple of reasons this particular lesson is a little unusual.

First, I have not yet uploaded lessons 24-26, so this one is coming out of sequence. I’m doing that simply because this one is much closer to completion than the others, and except for a couple of words that will be unfamiliar, it is quite understandable without having read the three preceding lessons. I have still not added the interactive practice exercises, but I’ll get to that as soon as I can.

Second, those of you who have been using the grammar will notice some clear formatting changes. These are due to the increasing need to make the grammar readable on a smartphone! It’s a bit amazing to me how many people use it that way, but it looks like that’s the wave of the future.

In fact, the entirety of Greek-Language.com is getting a major face-lift this summer, and it’s not just because of smartphones. The basic coding behind much of what’s on the web is quickly becoming obsolete. The net is moving full steam ahead to HTML5 and some serious upgrades to CSS. (If those acronyms are meaningless to you, don’t worry, they are to most people.) Since I wrote the code behind much of what is on the site without the help of any automated web page software, I have serious rewriting to do as HTML4 becomes obsolete. It’s a steep learning curve, but I really enjoy it.

If you notice any mistakes in lesson 27, or if any part of it seems unclear to you, don’t hesitate to point that out as comments below. Challenges from my readers make the grammar better for everyone.

Updates to the Epigraphy Page

Today I updated the epigraphy page at Greek-Language.com to provide references to two books relevant to the topic.

Bradley H. McLean’s 2011 book, An Introduction to Greek Epigraphy of the Hellenistic and Roman Periods from Alexander the Great down to the Reign of Constantine, provides a discussion of the evidence from the period of greatest concern for this website and blog. Craig Cooper’s recent collection of essays (2013), Epigraphy and the Greek Historian, provides discussions of specific inscriptions illustrating the nature of epigraphy and its relevance to the task of the historian.

 

Lexicography/Dictionaries Page

I have made a number of changes to the Lexicography and Dictionaries page at Greek-Language.com. Here are the main ones:

I hope you find these additions helpful.

More Additions to A Comprehensive Bibliography of Hellenistic Greek Linguistics

I have continued to update the bibliography today in a number of ways. There are now more that twice the number of works available for purchase through Amazon.com directly from the bibliography than before. There are also many more articles available either for purchase or for reading online without charge.

To distinguish between articles for a fee and those available without charge, I have devised a consistent convention for linking:

  • For articles available for a fee, I have linked the title of the journal to the site where the fee must be paid.
  • For articles available for reading without charge, I have linked the title of the article to the online text.

I have also added the following book:

I eventually hope to connect all dissertations in the bibliography to University Microfilms for easy purchase, but I have not made much progress on this yet.

I hope you enjoy the improvements.

Additions to A Comprehensive Bibliography of Hellenistic Greek Linguistics

I have added the following items to the Comprehensive Bibliography of Hellenistic Greek Linguistics:

Of course, this bibliography can never be truly comprehensive, contrary to what the title may imply, because the field is not static. As new works appear that fulfill the narrow criteria for inclusion, I add them to make the bibliography as comprehensive as possible.

If you know of works that you think should be included, please recommend them. You can use the “Bibliography” link in the main menu to do that. That link will take you to a page that explains what kinds of works are accepted, and gives you a form to make your recommendation easily.

I hope you enjoy the new additions.