Customer Reviews

Mastering New Testament Greek on CD-ROM: An Interactive Guide for Beginners (Greek Edition)

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

As an instructor I cut my teeth on Machen and for several years taught using Mounce but this combination of CD and printable texts has really unleashed my students. I like how the verb is introduced first so within 4 lessons students can already start with sentences having verbs and nouns enough to begin with. My students don't feel pressure that they have to copy everything said in class down or try to figure out a phonetic way of writing what was pronounced in clas as they know that the program will pronounce it for them with the click of a mouse.
They really liked saving money buying one CD which has all the textbooks, workbooks, lexicon and a vocabulary builder all in one. The interactive part is an overlap with a program called Greek Tutor but this CD goes far beyond that.
As an instructor I contacted Baker Book House and they made available to me all the PowerPoint slides to teach MNTG to my class. That has saved so much time rather than writing everything on the overhead or board now its just projected in an instant and I didn't have to develop any of them.
The workbook works well having a place for student names with each excercise. I have my students do about 1.5 chapters a week and they like the foldunders which give them the answer on 10-15 examples before they have to try it on their own. There is also an instructor's key provided but the student answer key has all the evens...unfortunately too many of my students used that.
One thing I liked as we draw near to finishing second semester is the Vocab Builder which takes them beyond the first year and introduces a vocabulary building list that will last them the rest of their lives. It comes both in interactive format pronouncing the words and also in a text format similar to Trenchard/Warren's word list. The complete lexicon also takes them beyond second year although I encourage them to think about getting into BibleWorks or BibleWindows.
Not sure whether the program would work for a totally independent situation but it sure works great in the classroom. My students loved it and it gave me the resources that made it easy to teach. Those pre-made PowerPoints saved me tons of class prep time!
Perhaps what I like best is its $32 price tag for basically everything my students needed for first year Greek. Actually I only got through 1 John 1-5 so I directed them over the summer to work through Hildebrandt's easy reader for John 1-5 and also to hit the vocab builder down to about 700 words. If they do that they'll be ready when they come back for second year.
The students are more tech savy than I am and they liked all having all the resources available whenever they wanted them. The scores have gone up in my class as I've used quizzes from previous years and the students are getting and enjoying the materials better than before. I've also been able to move a little more quickly as they have the resources if they don't get it in class.
Greek's still hard for many and I wish there was a purple pill to make it easy but this is the next best thing.

Dr. Hildebrandt made this program so students would not have to pay $100 or more on textbooks. It is a common misconception that this program is meant to make you a scholar of New Testament Greek. In actuality, it is not. It is meant to give you a foundation to work off of - there is so much more to learn! Therefore, you should not expect the world of this program. You get the basics you need for further study, but, for what it is, this program is tremendous. And, as a professor, I could not ask for anyone better than Dr. Hildebrandt.

This CD makes learning Greek a joy. I have taught Greek for several years using standard texts (Mounce, Machen...) with my students paying nearly $100 for books, workbooks, supplements etc. This CD built off the old Greek Tutor program adds a complete textbook (350 pages) and a workbook (250 pages) with about 10 pages of tons of drills going way beyond the original Tutor program including short/long translations (usually 25 per chapter) and parsings, vocabulary drills and a mixing it up section as well as fold-unders which are solved parsings/translations which the students can use to get their feet wet in new material (usually about 20 parsings/translations per chapter already solved). The students can print and reprint the exercises as desired. Rather than purchasing 4-5 books its all on the CD. What a savings! There is also a vocabulary builder which goes down to all the words used 9x and more in the NT. The brief lexicon has every word in the Gk. New Testament with a brief definition saving an initial investment in DBAG until the second year. The textbook has an English-Greek lexicon and a one page summary of each chapter giving the students quick resources to review with.
Best of all is the interactive part where the computer speaks Greek so students can drill themselves with interactive exercises and go over and over it until they get it in an interactive environment. Many I have known have gotten the CD and taught themselves Greek even passing Seminary entrance exams after using these materials. Everything one needs for first year Greek is on this CD and more. The whole text of 1 John and John 1-5 is formatted in an interactive way so that when a word is click it is pronounced, translated, parsed and even the page in DBAG is given. This easy reading format helps students into reading without being overwhelmed reinforcing the grammar learned earlier. Hildebrandt's web site even has downloadable mp3's that students can get to listen to their vocabulary when jogging or for commuters on the road. All in all I've been very pleased and it is the best thing currently on the market and saved each students $30-40 and more.
For faculty Hildebrandt also offers free of charge Powerpoint presentations that go over all the content of the etextbook and eworkbook.
This CD made the difference for many of my students!

This program has been a life saver for me. I'm preparing to take a Greek exam. I got the program and it helped me to review the basic syntax. Having the pronunciations available just a click away helped cement the words into my hearing as well as my sight.

The 350 page textbook was very useful and I was able to use it while commuting by train to work each day. I followed up doing the written exercises from the 250 page workbook. These excercises were different and much more extensive than the interactive program itself. The "Foldunder" section gives you fifteen well worked out examples with answers so you have some good models to work through before attempting the excercises themselves (there is an answer key for all the even ones which is also very helpful when puzzling over a translation or parsing).

I can see where the combination of the textbook and the workbook together would work very well in a course and were a good combination for my review. The textbook I should say has a quick review summary of each chapter in 2 pages which made it very quick to refresh. The interactive excercises pushed me with having to spell words out in Greek either with or mercifully without the accents.

What was also very helpful was the easy-reader which allowed me to read 1 John and John 1-5 simply clicking on any word to have it parsed, translated and pronounced. With these eleven chapter under my belt I was ready for the exam.
Don't overlook the vocab builder (both interactive and text formats, I really like having both). The program also helped me resurrect my vocabulary. It allows you to go all the way down to the words used 9x and more. There is also a lexicon in about 80 pages that covers every word in the NT with a short definition.

I guess what I find really handy is having all of these resources packaged together. Before I had to buy a textbook, then a workbook, Metzger's Word List and then drop the big one for BAGD. Still need BAGD or BibleWorks or something but this has all the basics for first year.

I also found Hildebrandt's website at Gordon College where I discovered *.mp3's for downloading audio Greek for 1 John and the vocabulary builder which I can load on my ipod. It's free and very helpful to learn to listen instead of always being in "read" mode. I also discovered a host of articles on the Imperative, conditional structures, participles and Burton's complete grammar there. It's for free! What a find!

In short this program helped me successfully prepare for a comp. over first year Greek. Great for quick review and to be honest I wish I had had all these helpful ways of learning when I learned Greek the first time.

This CD makes learning Greek a joy. I have taught Greek for several years using standard texts (Mounce, Machen...) with my students paying nearly $100 for books, workbooks, supplements etc. This CD built off the old Greek Tutor program adds a complete textbook (350 pages) and a workbook (250 pages) with about 10 pages of tons of drills going way beyond the original Tutor program including short/long translations (usually 25 per chapter) and parsings, vocabulary drills and a mixing it up section as well as fold-unders which are solved parsings/translations which the students can use to get their feet wet in new material (usually about 20 parsings/translations per chapter already solved). The students can print and reprint the exercises as desired. Rather than purchasing 4-5 books its all on the CD. What a savings! There is also a vocabulary builder which goes down to all the words used 9x and more in the NT. The brief lexicon has every word in the Gk. New Testament with a brief definition saving an initial investment in DBAG until the second year. The textbook has an English-Greek lexicon and a one page summary of each chapter giving the students quick resources to review with.
Best of all is the interactive part where the computer speaks Greek so students can drill themselves with interactive exercises and go over and over it until they get it in an interactive environment. Many I have known have gotten the CD and taught themselves Greek even passing Seminary entrance exams after using these materials. Everything one needs for first year Greek is on this CD and more. The whole text of 1 John and John 1-5 is formatted in an interactive way so that when a word is click it is pronounced, translated, parsed and even the page in DBAG is given. This easy reading format helps students into reading without being overwhelmed reinforcing the grammar learned earlier. Hildebrandt's web site even has downloadable mp3's that students can get to listen to their vocabulary when jogging or for commuters on the road. All in all I've been very pleased and it is the best thing currently on the market and saved each students $30-40 and more.
For faculty Hildebrandt also offers free of charge Powerpoint presentations that go over all the content of the etextbook and eworkbook. Check out his online site for a ton of free books and mp3's you can use--1 John to Mozart. Really helpful.
This CD made the difference for many of my students!

Seems to be a great way to learn Greek. There are a few typos in the program, and accents are not explained very well. I had to go to other resources to understand this area.

I guess when looking at the product, perhaps at some point in time they would let potential customers know this will not work on newer systems. Just ought a new laptop with windows 7 a 64 bit system and low and behold I get the product and on the back of the box-a sticker saying it will not work with a 64 bit version of windows. Would be nice to know in the future. It is not like we are just buying things onlinbe as the way it was marked, if I went to a Christian bookstore, perhaps seeing that sticker on the back and perhaps would not have bought it. Of course, you just tend to trust that they would let you know this when making an online purchase-thanks, the sticker performed just as it said it would-it would not. Just somehow in the product description on the website might let us know this before purchasing. Christian does not mean we can sale things that do not work.

I am a homeschool mom. I have bought other programs geared for children and adults. I don't think there is a better value for your dollar for learning beginner Koine Greek. If the interactive CD with the added ebooks and vocabulary builder weren't enough, you can also search online for Mastering New Testament Greek MP3 free downloads for all 28 chapters of vocabulary words spoken in Greek and English. He also has some scripture reading and vacabulary builder available in free MP3 downloads. I also really like his clear pronunciation of the Greek. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Dr. Hildebrandt.

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)

You're not really getting anything that isn't already incorporated into the electronic lessons.

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.