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Biblical Hebrew and Koine Greek | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Specific Languages |  | |
| JW Hexaglot Senior Member United States youtube.com/user/egw Joined 6123 days ago 1802 posts - 2011 votes  22 sounds Speaks: English*, German, Spanish, Ancient Greek, French, Biblical Hebrew Studies: Luxembourgish, Dutch, Greek, Italian | Message 9 of 15 24 November 2010 at 8:02pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
Interesting thread. Since I am actively studying both languages, I can give you some first hand knowledge:
For me Hebrew was initially more difficult because of the vowel points, and the right to left directionality. However, after that initial difficulty it is rather easy and straightforward. Koine Greek was initially easy but with the extensive vocabulary (I include here New Testament, Septuagint, Church Fathers, etc.) the complicated case system, and verb tenses, it is significantly more complex and involved than Hebrew.
Modern and Biblical Hebrew are very similar. With a solid base of Biblical Hebrew I can follow Modern Hebrew fairly well--I can see it would be very easy to learn (I have dabbled in a youtube course--Eteacher Hebrew). A question that you did not ask--Modern Greek vs Koine--I also am learning Modern Greek and Koine gives you a really nice base for doing that as well.
From the Protestant standpoint, Greek is always more important. The New Testament contains the paradigm for the Christian Way of life. The Old Testament supports the New but the New has a hegemony over the Old. Thus, as a Protestant, You will spend more time exegeting the New Testament from the Greek compared to the time spent exegeting the Old Testament from the Hebrew. 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||||||||
| CaucusWolf Senior Member United States Joined 5273 days ago 191 posts - 234 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Arabic (Written), Japanese | Message 10 of 15 24 November 2010 at 8:22pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
True, but one cannot deny the connection Aramaic has to the bible. I merely was recommending a language he might find interesting. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| yall Diglot Newbie Italy Joined 5962 days ago 22 posts - 31 votes Speaks: English*, Italian Studies: Latin, French | Message 11 of 15 24 November 2010 at 11:47pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
I am a Catholic seminarian (ie I'm studying to become a priest) studying theology in Rome. I did a semester of Biblical Hebrew last year and am currently doing a semester of New Testament Greek. Personally, I found Hebrew harder to learn.
Well, for a Catholic who is going to study scripture at an advanced level, at least here in Rome, both are needed. With the possible exception of the Gospel of Matthew, the New Testament was all written in Greek originally, so it is obviously important. The Old Testament is a bit more complicated. Most of it was originally written in Hebrew, but there are 7 Old Testament books in Catholic and Orthodox Bibles, as well as parts of two others, which were written in Greek, or for which there are no existent Hebrew texts. For this very reason they were excluded from the canon of the Hebrew Bible. The Protestant Reformers adopted the canon of the Hebrew Bible, so neither Protestants nor Jews recognize these books as scripture. The books are Tobit, Judith, Wisdom, Sirach, Baruch, and 1&2 Maccabees. The two books which are longer in Greek are Esther and Daniel. Catholics and Orthodox have historically relied on the Septuagint (Greek) version of the OT, although contemporary Catholic translations into modern languages make use of both Greek and Hebrew texts. There is also some question as to which is closer to the original text, because the Septuagint is actually older than the Hebrew text (Masoretic) that we have. All that was to say that in the Catholic Church both Koine and Biblical Hebrew are probably equally important for scripture study. Latin is important for other reasons but not really for scripture. 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||||||||
| JW Hexaglot Senior Member United States youtube.com/user/egw Joined 6123 days ago 1802 posts - 2011 votes 22 sounds Speaks: English*, German, Spanish, Ancient Greek, French, Biblical Hebrew Studies: Luxembourgish, Dutch, Greek, Italian | Message 12 of 15 24 November 2010 at 11:57pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
I sometimes compare the Greek NT to the Vulgate to see how the Greek was translated into Latin. That can shed light on words sometimes. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| CaucusWolf Senior Member United States Joined 5273 days ago 191 posts - 234 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Arabic (Written), Japanese | Message 13 of 15 25 November 2010 at 4:02am | IP Logged | ||||||||
I should add that a Aramaic is also spoken by a small group of people as well. So it's not like a dead language. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| YoshiYoshi Senior Member China Joined 5532 days ago 143 posts - 205 votes Speaks: Mandarin* | Message 14 of 15 25 November 2010 at 5:04am | IP Logged | ||||||||
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As far as I'm concerned, Devanagari script (Sanskrit, Hindi, Bengali) just doesn't appeal to me for some reason. And as for Latin, it carries the same prestige and glories as Koine Greek in Europe. Pity I don't plan to learn another language that uses Latin alphabet as well, due to the fact I've already learned 3 languages whose writing system (Latin alphabet) often gives rise to visual fatigue. My grandpa had been working as a Protestant priest before he passed away (of cancer) many years ago, he's proficient in both Koine Greek and Biblical Hebrew, so far I still admire his language talent and dedication to the job. As an agnostic, maybe I'd like to choose between Koine Greek and Biblical Hebrew to cherish the memories of the good old days. But Which? (not both) Koine Greek or Biblical Hebrew? Biblical or Modern Hebrew? I've got to think it over recently. Thanks!
Edit: I forgot to say I've found a suitable series of coursebooks (3 books) that specializes in teaching Biblical Hebrew, it was published by Sì chuān university press. Whereas the situation of Greek coursebook (both Modern and Koine) hasn't yet improved at all. So, if there weren't plenty of learning materials available for related language learners, it would be painful for the learners to study any difficult languages all by themselves. BTW, someone ever told me it's not wise to put aside very popular languages （for example, German or Spanish） and incredibly switch to Hebrew or Greek on a whim. What do you think about it? Thanks again. Edited by YoshiYoshi on 25 November 2010 at 6:20am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| JW Hexaglot Senior Member United States youtube.com/user/egw Joined 6123 days ago 1802 posts - 2011 votes 22 sounds Speaks: English*, German, Spanish, Ancient Greek, French, Biblical Hebrew Studies: Luxembourgish, Dutch, Greek, Italian | Message 15 of 15 25 November 2010 at 10:45pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
I wouldn't do it on a whim because when the luster wears off these languages you will abandon them if you don't have a specific reason for learning them. For me the only reason for learning Greek and Hebrew is for deeper understanding of the Bible and these languages are sine qua non if you really want to enter into any type of serious ministry. 2 persons have voted this message useful |
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