The Mounce Greek program in Accordance

[Ryan Stumpf]

Hey people,

 

I'm considering the Mounce Greek products to increase my minimal greek skills.

 

Can anyone recommend the program? Strengths or weaknesses?

 

What about the videos? Aren't the available on youtube?

 

Are his dictionaries worth buying if I plan on buying a lexicon (BDAG)?

 

 

Basically, is it worth spending money on Mounce for Accordance, or should I spend my Accordance money on other modules? What does Accordance add to the Mounce text? I've read the advertisements and some reviews, but want to hear from actual users of this software.

 

 

Thanks for your time and consideration.

 

 

 

Note: I took first year Greek years ago and have a textbook I liked, but its a paper copy.

[Julia Falling]

Ryan – I've not used the program, but we used Mounce's text (2nd ed.) in school. It's excellent.

 

His Analytical Lexicon is still the go-to place to get the principle parts of verbs (see screen shot). Yes, you can find the info in BDAG, but it's not as clearly presented. I did use half-index cards for vocab, and it made making them easier. I still use the lexicon, but, admittedly, not as much as BDAG and Louw & Nida at this point.

 

 

The morphology helps you to understand why and how the forms change the way they do, and has charts that are very helpful. I'm one who wants to know that stuff. Some don't care. I've used it mostly for reference at this point, but would benefit by reading it cover to cover.

 

 

Some of Mounce's lectures are available here. Some are full lectures, most are overviews. That will give you an idea as to whether the complete program is what you're looking for. There are some other useful resources at Teknia, so take the time to explore the site. I downloaded this, printed the two pages, placed them back-to-back and laminated them together. I still use that handy guide!

 

I was very impressed and pleased with BBG. I expressed my enthusiasm for the book to the Greek 1 prof – she said she doesn't know how they taught any Greek at all before it was published considering the materials that were available at the time.

 

I think you really can do first year Greek on your own. After that, you would greatly benefit from a classroom. There is no substitute for having a knowledgeable instructor for questions and classmates for discussion (e.g. Just what use of the genitive is this?). I love the language. I'm still learning and studying and hope to do so for the rest of my life.

 

[Abram K-J]

Ryan--part of it depends on how you think you'll learn best. If you're comfortable being in front of a computer a lot and have the funds, then go for Mounce in Accordance. But if you are conscious of "screen time," and/or want to save money for other cool Greek stuff in Accordance (like diagrams or syntax, which would be good next steps after a first year grammar), then maybe learning Greek initially with a print textbook (of Mounce) could be a good way to go.