A reader writes:
Love your blog. Been reading it daily since 2006. I'm one of your 1.3 million proofreaders. On that note, you wrote: "But Greek? I could tackle the Gospels in the original! I could read Plato and Aristotle as they were meant to be read." Actually, the ancient Greek of Aristotle and Plato is different from the Koine Greek of the New Testament – a more common, street-Greek 600 years younger than Classical Greek.
Would learning one make it easier to learn the other? Absolutely. I'm a Presbyterian minister who learned NT Greek in seminary and wish I retained and used it more, but it is helpful reading some dictionaries, Bible verses, etc. I think knowing Koine Greek helps me with English words, other Romance languages – as would Classical Greek (which I don't read).
Another adds:
Do it! Learn Koine Greek. This is the language of the religious writings that you love. And it's a lot easier than Classical "the more syntax the better" Greek. I went the classical route because it was a required part of my curriculum in Ancient Near Eastern Languages. My knowledge of Greek was directly responsible for getting me the job I've held for the last eleven years (and I hope many more). Why did my bosses-to-be select me? The job involved reading astroparticle physics equations … which had Greek letters in them. Oh well, you take what you can get.
By the way, Coptic is fun too but doesn't pay as well.
I was quite brilliant at learning languages as a kid. Not so much any more, I suspect. Update from a reader:
You've probably already had a few classicists chime in, but your Presbyterian reader is not quite accurate in saying: "Actually, the ancient Greek of Aristotle and Plato is different from the Koine Greek of the New Testament – a more common, street-Greek 600 years younger than Classical Greek."
There are clear differences between classical Attic Greek (the dialect of Plato and Aristotle) and koine, but they are not different languages. The difference is rather (to somewhat simplify) that classical Greek is grammatically complex and in its best literary examples rhetorically flexible and nuanced language, whereas koine Greek is simplified form developed over several hundred years by the demands of incorporating many non-Greek peoples under a common (koine!) language. Any reader of classical Greek can read the New Testament without major difficulties, though the reverse is not true.
As Nietzsche said somewhere, "There’s something fine about the fact that God learned Greek when he wanted to become a writer — and that he did not learn it better."
The Dish 