Biblical Greek Survival Kit
by William D. Mounce
Reviewed by Anna1111
Biblical Greek Survival Kit by William D. Mounce. Audio CD, flashcards, and reference materials. Please purchase from HomeschoolChristian.com's Amazon link or Christian Book Distributors link.
This kit is designed to accompany Basics of Biblical Greek Grammar by the same author. It contains three items: a vocabulary CD, a package of 1000 business card-sized flash cards, and a laminated study guide of four pages/two sheets (similar to the type often seen in college bookstores for advanced mathematics courses, with a listing of all the formulae.)
The vocabulary materials use the dictionary form. (Nouns are followed by the genitive form and article. Adjectives are listed in the form for each gender. Verbs are listed in the first person singular, etc.) Memorizing the words in their dictionary form is very important, since if you don't know the article for the noun, for instance, not only would you not know which article to use when speaking or writing, but also you would not know which form of the adjective to use to match it. When analyzing Greek Biblical text, one must know these things to know which part of the sentence relates to which. (A common example is the verse "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith, and this not of yourselves …" Does the this refer to the grace not being from ourselves, or the faith not being from ourselves? A good understanding of the Greek vocabulary and grammar can help answer such questions.)
The vocabulary CD contains an audio chapter to correspond to each chapter of the text. The author says each vocabulary word in Greek with Erasmian pronunciation in its dictionary form. Then, after a brief pause for the listener to answer, the English word is given. This gives the listener the opportunity both to learn the spoken form of the word, and to do a self-quiz while driving or exercising. The vocabulary is only done in Erasmian pronunciation, not in Modern Greek pronunciation. And, there is not a reverse quiz, in which the student could hear the English and try to recall the Greek.
The Flash cards also give the words in their dictionary form. Each of the first 320 cards is keyed to the chapter in the text in which it is first encountered. It also has a frequency rating, for how often the word is seen in the New Testament, and a card number so that the cards may be kept in order. The additional cards up to 1000 are ordered by frequency. The English meaning may be found on the back of the card, allowing a student to quiz himself on either the English meaning or the Greek word for the English.
The study guide is a complex, rather overwhelming-looking series of most of the charts and rules one needs to memorize for introductory New Testament Greek. It gives a quick-glance reference for many of the questions one might have about which relative pronoun should be used where, or what the nominative singular form of the third declension word "sark" (flesh) is.
Recommendation: This kit will be most useful for the student who benefits from audio or visual flash cards, and thrives on the necessary drill for required memorization. The audio CD's audience will be somewhat limited by the fact that it only uses Erasmian pronunciation, rather than giving a choice, and only gives Greek to English and not English to Greek. A new student might assume that pronunciation is very important in learning a language, but when studying a "dead" language, one does not usually hear and respond to entire sentences. In an academic setting, instead, the professor might say something like, "Mr. Smith, please look at the word angelos [angels/messengers] in verse four, and parse it for us." So, the student would easily understand that one word while only being moderately good at pronunciation. The CD will not need to make one fluent in speaking the vocabulary in conversation (In fact, Greek in this form is never spoken conversationally), but, for an auditory learner may provide a great aid in memorizing the vocabulary. The flash cards will be a help to those students who normally benefit from flash cards for any academic subject, and prefer pre-made ones. The study guide may be kept in a notebook for easy reference and study when one doesn't want to bring along an entire text, but the sheer volume of information may be more overwhelming than helpful to some students. Seeing thirteen columns, each containing eight or more words each just for pronouns, and nearby a chart of twenty-four definite articles may be discouraging for some beginning students.
If what you're looking for is memorization help of the vocabulary of Biblical Greek in an audio or in a visual format, you will find this package helpful.
See more Greek resources on HomeschoolChristian.com's Classical Language Resources page.
HomeschoolChristian.com resources related to this review:
HomeschoolChristian.com's Classical Languages Resource Section
Review of Basics of Biblical Greek Grammar
Review of A Greek Alphabetarion
Review of Basic Greek in 30 Minutes a Day
Review of Greek Hupogrammon
Review of Hey Andrew! Teach Me Some Greek!
Review of Learn New Testament Greek
Review of Mastering New Testament Greek
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