For reference: this book is obviously a (praiseworthy) ambition to have a Greek counterpart to the Lingua Latina Per Se Illustrata[1] by Hans Ørberg.<p>Ørberg's way of teaching Latin is, in my view, excellent because it is based on a
natural view of learning a language: show something, say what its name is, use its
name in simple sentences, work up from there. Each time introducing new words
surrounded by already-known ones and letting the pupil figure it out. All in the target language itself,
exactly how we acquired our mother tongues. Vocabulary is acquired
through repetition, grammar is acquired through "getting a feel for what sounds right".
Using the brain's own mechanisms for deducing meaning and deriving rules.<p>The book is definitely going to need illustrations, just like in LLPSI[2]. Hard to understand what
'πόλις' means per se, but not if I take you up a mountain and point at [3] while saying "πόλις".<p>[1] <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hans_%C3%98rberg" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hans_%C3%98rberg</a><p>[2] <a href="https://blog.nina.coffee/img/lingua-latina.png" rel="nofollow">https://blog.nina.coffee/img/lingua-latina.png</a><p>[3] <a href="https://i.pinimg.com/originals/f5/c3/10/f5c31074eeb418bc51e7de35d729d7ae.jpg" rel="nofollow">https://i.pinimg.com/originals/f5/c3/10/f5c31074eeb418bc51e7...</a>
I am making one for Japanese here : <a href="https://drdru.github.io/stories/intro.html" rel="nofollow">https://drdru.github.io/stories/intro.html</a> . It makes use of emoji and pixel art to illustrate simple stories. The only thing required of the reader is knowledge of Hiragana and Katakana.<p>It reached the HN frontpage a few years ago and I've kept working on it since then. It now contains close to 100 pages (~500 words) and everything has been proofread by a native speaker.
What a surprise! I was always envious that Ørberg's famous book and approach had no counterpart for Ancient Greek. In fact in every bookstore I’ve checked books on learning Latin far outnumber those for Greek, if those exist at all. I learned Greek from Grouton’s <i>From Alpha to Omega</i>, a totally unappetizing book.<p>The reason, I think, for the difference is that, while there’s a robust tradition of using Latin in modern settings and a modernized vocabulary (see the many references given here: <a href="http://blogicarian.blogspot.com/2019/03/argumentum-ad-ignorantiam.html?m=1" rel="nofollow">http://blogicarian.blogspot.com/2019/03/argumentum-ad-ignora...</a>), the same is not true for Greek, which is a pity.<p>If you still have some resolutions to make for 2023 let this post be a sign to pick learning Greek! The book that’s most recommended to start with is Athenaze. Also, you can use the great and friendly community at Textkit (<a href="https://www.textkit.com/greek-latin-forum/" rel="nofollow">https://www.textkit.com/greek-latin-forum/</a>) it also has texts of many good resource books. And there’s also the Perseus Digital Library with the goal of making all Greek material available: <a href="http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/" rel="nofollow">http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/</a>
I was concerned that the Latin title might be a bad sign, but it turns out the main title is Ἡ Ἑλληνικὴ γλῶσσα καθ᾿ αὑτὴν φωτιζομένη and the Latin is only an explanation for people who are familiar with <i>Lingua Latina Per Se Illustrata</i>.
It is worth noting that there is another libre "natural method" book called Salute, Jonathan.<p><a href="https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Salute,_Jonathan" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Salute,_Jonathan</a>!<p>Anyone can translate this into the language they are trying to teach as well. However, it may work best for western european style grammars, I am not sure.
This is clearly riffing on Ørberg's <i>Lingua Latīna per sē illūstrāta</i>, which is a great introductory book to teaching yourself Latin. There are no explanations of anything; you have to deduce the meaning of the Latin phrases using the contextual clues given to you in the form of pictures and maps. And it works well.
I clicked, not really sure what it was about and started reading the first paragraph, armed only with my STEM-derived knowledge of the alphabet and I got it instantly. So it seems to work. Very interesting concept.
Thank you for posting this! I gave myself a pat on the back for being able to get through the first chapter unaided thanks to my A-Level in Greek <i>mumble</i> years ago...
> ποῦ ἐστιν ἡ Κωνσταντινούπολις; ἡ Κωνσταντινούπολίς ἐστιν ἐν τῇ Ἑλλάδι. ἆρα ἡ Κωνσταντινούπολις πόλις Ἑλληνικὴ ἢ Ῥωμαϊκή; ἔστι πόλις καὶ Ἑλληνικὴ καὶ Ῥωμαϊκή.<p>Definitely not the most 21st-century perspective! ('Where is Constantinople? Constantinople is in Greece. Is Constantinople a Greek or a Roman city? It is both a Greek and a Roman city.')<p>Though I guess Ørberg also talks about geography from an ancient perspective, even though he uses place names he expects readers to recognize.
Being a big fan of Ørberg's work (I like to gift <i>Lingua latina per se illustrata</i> to friends), I'll definitely check it out. Having it as an epub is much appreciated !
I can understand the first paragraph just fine. It's been forty years since my year of Classic Greek. I still have the dictionary somewhere, so it seems I could make use of it.
first perhaps insignificant problem: lingua latina per se illustrata is indeed the latin for, paraphrasing here, teaching latin in latin. to borrow from this reference at all, the book should have a comparative title in greek. the first problem with learning greek is getting familiar with the alphabets and their phonetics, a problem almost non-existent with latin since the latin script is very widespread. regardless, i'll take it for a spin. i've had polis' speaking greek as a living language (<a href="https://www.polisjerusalem.org/resource/speaking-ancient-greek-as-a-living-language-3/" rel="nofollow">https://www.polisjerusalem.org/resource/speaking-ancient-gre...</a>) sitting on my shelf but haven't had time to study.
I only did Greek Language Transfer and Duolingo for a couple of months, but some words and even sentences sampled at random do make sense to me. Would you recommend the book to modern Greek learners as reading material?
This is pretty great. I've often wished for the concept of LLPSI in other languages, I'm glad someone is doing it.<p>Also, I should try working through LLPSI again.