<< 1 >>
Rating: 
Summary: not terrible, but not great
Review: It's not terrible, but it isn't great (none of the "interactive CD" ones I've seen are). It doesn't substitute for a good book (like Mounce's, which for its shortcomings is still my favorite).Verbal pronunciations are very helpful for not only learning to pronounce the words, but to memorize the vocabulary. Since the biggest obstacle to learning Greek is knowing how English "works", there are helps in this regard. Material covers an entire first year Greek course. However lessons are disappointingly very, very short, as are the "drills" (in other words, a lot of ground is covered in a very short lesson). This is excusable for a textbook that assumes you have a teacher to ask questions to, but is much less excusable for an interactive program that attempts to replace the teacher. I suppose Hildebrandt does this on purpose, but I don't like the end results. On the positive side, the lessons are generally short enough to complete in a single sitting, which for those of us who have short attention spans or not a lot of time, is a good thing. The interface reminds me of Windows 3.1, very simple to use, and anyone who was very new to computers would be able to use the program successfully. It also means that the interface is dated - cheesy window with cheesy icons and very basic navigation. Another disappointment is that "exceptions" to the rules are given too much attention and end up being confusing (I'd rather he stuck with what's "normal" and pick up the exceptions in later lessons once you've had a chance to master the earlier material).
I also have "Greek Tutor", which I thought was going to be a different product, but is actually the exact same thing without the "extra" ebooks. The books that come with Mastering NT Greek are:
Mastering NT Greek Textbook (MNTG) by T. Hildebrandt (basically this is the same thing as the program in PDF format)
MNTG Workbook (basically the drills in PDF format)
MNTG Vocabulary builder (sets of vocabulary words and basic definitions in PDF format)
MNTG Lexicon (basically a brief dictionary written by Hildebrandt in PDF format)
MNTG Workbook Answers (answers to the drills in PDF format) In other words, the ebooks are pretty much throwaway...you're not really getting anything that isn't already incorporated into the electronic lessons, and nothing you'd want to "keep" as a standard reference tool to use in exegesis. My recommendation is to get it if you don't have a teacher and like the interactive experience to keep you going, but supplement it with a textbook (preferably Basics of Biblical Greek by William Mounce). If the drills are too short for you, pick up Mounce's workbook or the "Student's Guide: Essentials of New Testament Greek" workbook by Steven Cox to supplement it.
Rating: 
Summary: What an incredible way of learning NT Greek
Review: This CD had everything I needed for learning first year Greek. A printable textbook (350 pages built in, *pdf), a 250 page workbook, a vocabulary word list down to words used 9x in the New Testament and a complete short lexicon. The interactive program corresponds to the printable textbook beginning with the alphabet and ending with reading John 1-6. The interactive program pronounces the Greek to you and drills you over grammatical forms. The interactive reader for 1 John and John 1-6 make reading Greek fun. With the textbook/workbook and interactive program no need to buy all the book grammars etc. What a savings and the CD-ROM speaks Greek so even if I forgot I could just click the word and it would say it again to me. What a way to learn. Makes Greek fun.
<< 1 >>
| 
