Reading Greek: Text (Joint Association of Classical Teachers Greek Course) (Greek Edition) (Pt. 1) (Paperback)

by Joint Association of Classi... (Author), K. J. Dover (Foreword)
Key Phrases: comic poet, Section Eleven, Section Twelve, Sources Demosthenes

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
The JACT Reading Greek Course has been written for beginners in the upper school, at university and in adult education. It aims to enable students to read fifth- and fourth-century Attic Greek, Homer and Herodotus, with some fluency and intelligence in one to two years. The main medium of learning is a continuous, graded Greek text, adapted from original sources.

Product Details

• Paperback: 182 pages
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press (December 29, 1978)
• Language: English, Greek
• ISBN-10: 0521219760
• ISBN-13: 978-0521219761
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.8 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.1 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #547,681 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

67 of 69 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An enjoyable approach to learning Ancient Greek, March 15, 1999

By A Customer

Although I've only been studying the "Reading Greek" course for two and half months, I didn't want to put off recommending it to the motivated self-learner. The books are elegantly and logically laid out, allowing the beginner to gradually accumulate a vocabulary and grammatical knowledge. I hasten to add that by "books" I mean that there are three vital, interconnected components of this course:

1) "Reading Greek" ( Text )

2) "Reading Greek" ( Grammar,Vocabulary & Exercises )

3) "Reading Greek" ( Independent Study Guide )

The first two mentioned should be understood as naturally complementary, but the third is just as important- it contains translations, answers to tests and many valuable ( and often subtle ) points about the language.

Two additional texts are also offered for students who have finished those outlined above:

1) "A World of Heroes" ( featuring excerpts from Homer, Herodotus and Sophocles )

2) "The Intellectual Revolution" ( featuring excerpts from Plato, Euripides and Thucydides ).

As a beginner, I can't vouch for the two volumes just mentioned, however, based on the three books I am familiar with, they should prove to be excellent.

I've worked only a half hour on average per day with this course and feel that I've made significant progress ( I'm sure those who have more time to devote will make phenomonal advances ).

For those who wish to explore the richness of Greek literature, I wholeheartedly recommend this course.

50 of 54 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Difficult and unrewarding, August 22, 2002

By	Julius Caesar "caesargj" (Tennessee) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Reading Greek: Grammar, Vocabulary and Exercises (Joint Association of Classical Teachers Greek Course) (Greek Edition) (Pt.1) (Paperback)

As a graduate student in Classics, I wish I had learned Greek from another source. This textbook is based around the "immersive" idea of "Let the students read as much "real greek" as possible and they'll just...pick it right up!" Yeah, sorry. That might work for spoken languages, but it doesn't for ancient Greek. I've been paying the price for this being my first Greek experience for 7 years now, and I've come across alternative systems that are vastly superior--especially the Athenaze series by Oxford and Hansen and Quinn's classic "Greek: An Intensive Course."

As other reviewers have pointed out, this text teaches you "colorful" vocabulary, but it does so at the expense of very basic forms and syntax. The stories too are extremely difficult and esoteric; instead of tales about farmers and myths, we get insurance fraud and 5th century political and sophistic satire; hardly stories for first-year (or indeed, third-year) students of Greek.

Do yourself a favor--pick up Athenaze or Hansen and Quinn. Let this one rot in the "Bad Idea" bin of history.

38 of 41 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Judge this book by its cover, September 19, 2002

By	Diotima "Mantinea" (Western Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Reading Greek: Grammar, Vocabulary and Exercises (Joint Association of Classical Teachers Greek Course) (Greek Edition) (Pt.1) (Paperback)

It's drab.

You only buy this book because it's the set text for your Greek course. You are part of a captive market. The teachers who wrote the book prescribe the book. There was a perceived need for this book when it was first published in 1978. But it has only been corrected once - in 1979 - and the type has never been reset. Much of the Greek text is in a font so small that it is extremely difficult to discern the diacritics. The headings and sub-headings are all over the place and rarely in bold type. This book (and its companions) ought to be at least re-set by a competent typesetter and preferably revised by an editor who knows the meaning of the term "user-friendly".

And what about the content? The explanations are much too brief and the reference material is difficult to find being, as it is, scattered thoughout the text and poorly indexed. The widespread use of abbreviations and incomplete tables does little to facilitate understanding. The authors brought out "A Guide to the Reading of Greek" in 1989 which is little more than an apology for the original work. (But you will have to buy this addendum as well if you are to make any sense of the course.)

I studied Greek at a university for three years and this book gave me a very poor start. I regret that my tutor chose this book for the course.