Wilding's Greek for Beginners

Rating:
Summary: Warning, Contains Errors
Review: Although a replacement or update for Hanson and Quinn's "Greek an Intensive Course" is desperately needed, this book is not it. This book does have some strong points. These include small, logically ordered, accessible chapters (BUT, see below); clear charts (BUT, see below), and a preference for reading extended passages adapted from Greek authors (cf. H&Q's exercise sentences, which are awful). However there are a number of flaws, which preclude me from recommending this book. First, saving the athematic "Mi" verbs till the last chapter is inexcusable. These verbs are way too important and way too common to be so marginalized. Second, saving the principal parts of verbs until Ch. 21 (11 chapters from the end) is likewise inexcusable. Greek principal parts are also way too important, and are an ongoing problem for students and readers of Greek. They absolutely should not have been left for so late in the book. Students need to drill these from the get go. Lastly, there are factual errors in the text; FORMS ARE MISQUOTED. For the teacher to have to correct the textbook is awkward and a few incorrect forms can give the student the impression that no forms can be securely trusted. Students need to trust they know their forms if they are going to make any progress in the language. For these reasons, as a Greek teacher I reluctantly cannot recommend this text for learning Greek. For the time being, stick with (and it pains me to say this) Hansen and Quinn.

Rating:
Summary: Fine Introduction
Review: Contrary to the listing here, this book is still in print (re-printed fall 1999), but you have to go to British sources for it (Blackwell's I think). I like the way this book gets into the language fast and doesn't hit the student with complex forms off the top. I also don't mind the way Wilding refers back to another book for grammatical forms, as this trains the student to work with grammar books, a very useful skill. I do wish it covered the 'mi' verbs, but I can do this near the course end anyway.

Rating:
Summary: Wilding's Greek for Beginners
Review: Previous review of this text is unfair. I worked through nearly every Greek sentence in this book and found a couple of mistakes. What does "FORMS ARE MISQUOTED" mean? By implication, this text, which is a useful and competent introduction to the language, is dragged through the mud. It is pretty easy to recommend the monster volumes of Hansen and Quinn under the assumption that more is better. I found that students advance to serious reading of Greek quickly and enthusiasitically with this text. What is the problem?