The Big Idea
My attempt at merging vocab building, memory palaces, and comprehensible input for learning the 50 most frequent words in Koine Greek using actual phrases from Scripture.
Info
This project inspired by Athenaze, David Bester’s Tiered reader of 1 John and the concepts of memory palaces and comprehensible input.
Thesis
Biblical Languages are only useful if they actually serve the preservation, love, meditation and reading of God’s word. If they become weapons or means of thinking you know more than, or are closer to God because of them, then they have turned into a vice.
Thesis
There is a difference between acquisition of the language as a speaker and knowledge about the language as a scholar. Learning about the language should not be the main point. Just like learning about the Bible is not the same as reading and meditation on the text itself.
Thesis
Time in the language with comprehensible input is how you actually acquire a mastery of the language.
Thesis
However, only using comprehensible input without any formal grammar or other structured learning can be overwhelming and frustrating. Technical knowledge should serve to support, clarify, focus and sharpen the fundamental practice of comprehensible reading, speaking, listening and writing.
Thesis
There are two types of language learning that are beneficial in different ways. Language acquisition is to obtain a subconscious feel for the language. Language learning or knowledge is to work on conscious retention of useful information about the language.
Thesis
Focused time in the language without direct switching to your mother tongue is far more productive than constant back and forth. Thesis Language that is contextualized in a digestible manner is far more memorable than atomized lists and charts.
Thesis
The more variety in modalities of associations (visual, auditory, tactile, etc.) also increases the memorability of language.
Thesis
Well structured learning should help ladder in new content while strengthening, extending, and solidifying older content. The whole tree should grow together rather than feel like trying to scrape together endless grains of sand. Think about how many pages of a traditional grammar need to be read before you have a basic working understanding of how a simple sentence looks and feels.
Thesis
Use the cycle of oratio, meditatio and tentatio from 119 as base Thesis Memory of vocabulary with some context is more meaningful than endless lists. At the end of the day what use is a well memorized list of glosses if you can’t identify the forms you find in the text easily or well.
Thesis
The goal of learning to read should not only be painstaking translation. If you are able to read with comprehension at spoken speed, you will have automated many of the basic language recognition skills that will make it far easier to identify finer details that need attention in translation beyond just the basic structures of the language.
Thesis
At every level of learning you should be working on something that is directly meaningful and useful. Big long term goals are good but will quickly feel unattainable. Rather at every stage you should be reading and understanding and using what you have now. Learn words that are in a favorite Bible verse or story. Or learn words that are connected to parts of the Bible you are familiar with. Or learn prayers or phrases that are personally and devotionally meaningful. If what you are learning is not going to be useful and engaging in your life you will forget it quickly.
Thesis
Familiarity with meaningful phrases and sentences trump extensive and “complete” exposure to granular grammatical information.
Thesis
As many ways of creating context for your mind to remember is better. Speaking while reading helps create auditory context. Writing help creates tactile context. Seeing words in real phrases and sentences creates textual context. Connecting meaningful phrases and verses you already know in your mother tongue to the original text helps create conceptual context. Praying or singing can create devotional context. Etc
Goal
This should be a learning ramp to remembering the 50 most common words in Greek. As well as memorizing the Lord’s Prayer in Greek.
Outcome: be able to pray the Lord’s Prayer in Greek. And be comfortable with the 50 most common words of the NT using real phrases from 1 John.
Timeframe: 40 days. In 5 days a week chunks for 8 weeks
Method
- Open time in prayer.
- Selection from 119 inductively learn the Oratio, Meditatio, Tentatio cycle.
- Introduce section of Lord’s Prayer.
- Compose one ten station memory palace a week with ten stations. Total of eight palaces and 80 stations. 57 words in the Lord’s Prayer in Greek. 23 left over to fill in with the rest of the needed words. Need to see if that will cover all 50 or not. We will see.
- After prayer open with visual introduction of words like in the tired reader
- Introduce words in sets of three that kind of have some kind of connection with each other
- So like a noun, verb, prep/other
- Start with three to four word phrases that are easy to understand.
- Introduce any other new words. So proper nouns are a good option.
- Copy write each phrase
- Once you’ve seen something twice the third time add complexity
- Very short grammatical explanation of something from voelz. Like one or two paragraphs tops and one chart if applicable
- Have some kind of other circle or highlight activity to go back through once first read of phrases and grammar explanation
- Close with praying full Lord’s Prayer in Greek up to that point introduced until praying the whole thing.
Considerations for Vocab Introduction
- Start by introducing the 50 most frequent words that are found in the Lord’s Prayer as the main vocabulary focus.
- Then move on to the rest
- As much of the text in Greek as possible but also give ramp ins for people who have no clue
Greek Prayers to consider
- Lord’s Prayer in Greek Shorter in Luke 11 Longer in Matthew 6
- Gloria patri in Greek
- Gloria in excelsis deo in Greek
Other prayers
- Collect for the word
- Psalm 1 on meditation
- Selections from psalm 119
Other Potential Memory Texts
- Learn all main Bible refs from Luther’s small catechism in Greek
- Learn creed in Greek Ten Commandments from Septuagint
- Step one collect Greek texts that line up with small catechism ⁃ Ten Commandments ⁃ Lord’s Prayer ⁃ Creed ⁃ Baptism ⁃ Confession ⁃ Communion
Texts
Lord’s prayer Matt 6:9b-13
Πάτερ ἡμῶν ὁ ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς·
ἁγιασθήτω τὸ ὄνομά σου·
10 ἐλθέτω ἡ βασιλεία σου·
γενηθήτω τὸ θέλημά σου,
ὡς ἐν οὐρανῷ καὶ ἐπὶ γῆς·
11 τὸν ἄρτον ἡμῶν τὸν ἐπιούσιον δὸς ἡμῖν σήμερον·
12 καὶ ἄφες ἡμῖν τὰ ὀφειλήματα ἡμῶν,
ὡς καὶ ἡμεῖς ἀφήκαμεν τοῖς ὀφειλέταις ἡμῶν·
13 καὶ μὴ εἰσενέγκῃς ἡμᾶς εἰς πειρασμόν,
ἀλλὰ ῥῦσαι ἡμᾶς ἀπὸ τοῦ πονηρoῦ.
Aland, Kurt, et al. Novum Testamentum Graece. 28th Edition, Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, 2012, p. Mt 6:9–13.
Organize resources as follows
short intro on grammatical concept for a word taken from voelz
40 full sentence occurrences of it from John
Word Introductions
Week 1 -
ὁ, ἡ, τό|the|
θεός, οῦ, ὁ|God|
Ἰησοῦς, οῦ, ὁ|Jesus, Joshua|
Χριστός, οῦ, ὁ|Anointed, Christ|
πατήρ, πατρός, ὁ|father|
πνεῦμα, τος, τό|spirit; breath|
υἱός, οῦ, ὁ|son|
Week 2 -
κύριος, ου, ὁ|Lord|
ἐν|in (with D)|
εἰς|to; in (with A)|
ἐκ, ἐξ|from, out of (with G)|
αὐτός, ή, ὁ|he; self|
Week 3 -
ἄνθρωπος, ου, ὁ|man|
ἐγώ||ἡμεῖς, ἡμῶν|I, we|
εἰμί|I am; be|
σύ||ὑμεῖς, ὑμῶν|you, you all|
ἦν|he was|
λέγω|say|
Week 4 -
πρός|towards; near, at, by (with A)|
ἀπό|from, away from (with G)|
γάρ|for|
καί|and|
δέ|however, but|
ἀκούω|hear|
Week 5 -
||ἀλλά|but, however|
Week 6 -
Week 7 -
Week 8 -
||οὐ, οὐκ, οὐχ|no|
||οὗτος, αὕτη, τοῦτο|this|
||ὅς, ἥ, ὅ|who, which|
||ὅτι|that|
||πᾶς, πᾶσα, πᾶν|all|
||μή|not|
||ἐπί|on (with G, D, A); on the account of (with D); against (with A)|
||ἔχω|have|
||γίνομαι|to happen, become|
||διά|through (with G); for, therefore (with A)|
||ἵνα|in order that; that|
||ἔρχομαι|come, go|
||ποιέω|make, do|
||τὶς, τί|who, which, what|
||τις, τι|someone, something|
||ὡς|as, like|
||εἰ|if|
||οὖν|so, therefore|
||κατά|against, with (with G); according to, by, at (with A)|
||μετά|with (with G); after (with A)|
||πολύς, πολλή, πολύ|many|
||δίδωμι|give|
||ἡμέρα, ας, ἡ|day|
|εἷς, μία, ἕν|one; first|
οραω