I’ve been working on Greek for about three years now, with some breaks for surgeries and other low points for various reasons. I started with Croy’s grammar and switched to Black after I reviewed it and liked it better. I bought Mounce for good measure. After getting great help from Esteban with pronunciation (not the never-used-by-any-Greek-speaking-person Erasmian rules), I tried to spend about 20 minutes a day on the book and then some time on vocabulary. After starting over with Black’s book twice, and dabbling in Dobson, I’ve finished Black, but feel like I don’t know the material very well. I used the workbook for a while, but didn’t use it fully, because I’m a bad person. I’m now taking an online conversational Greek course, but I’m not sure if it’s getting me where I want to go.
So, I’ve spent three years on this and I can read some easier passages and pretty much know what they say, but I don’t understand the intricacies of the grammar or understand it in a way that’s more nuanced than English translations.
Sometimes I want to just leave it here and be satisfied with being able to understand what scholars are writing about in commentaries. I really miss memorizing new Scripture, even though I have my head full with reviewing what I have, and I could do more book reading if I’m not spending as much time on Greek. Or I could go back to the workbook and get to know the material better. But to really be able to read my Greek NT, I would need to spend another three years on this. I probably need another year reviewing Black’s material and going through Mounce for secondary material, and then maybe work on Black’s next book that’s an in-between before going on to Wallace. I think Wallace is asking too much. (Well not him, but you know.) I keep seeing things on why we should learn the Biblical languages, but those are mainly for pastors.
So what would you do? Should I be content with where I am and learn more here and there? Should I keep on spending more time on something I’m not sure I’ll be able to fully utilize, meaning NT exegesis?
I will continue with the conversational course through June or July, keep up with the vocabulary and possibly go back to the workbook for a while, but I just don’t know what my expectations should be, or how much more time I should or want to spend. If you have any opinions, I’d love to hear them.
