Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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68 of 68 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A clear way to learn Ancient Greek, 8 Jan 2004
This is an excellent coursebook, no question about it. Less used than JACT's other Greek publication 'Reading Greek', but I cannot understand why! I previosuly used the 'Reading Greek' Series, but often found myself confused by the new vocab thrown at you, and verbs learnt at random. It also assumes that you already understand concepts such as cases and declensions, the exercises seem unrealted to the text, and numerous other problems.Greek to GCSE has none of these problems! It is such a clear helpful book. It introduces new concepts and points of grammer clearly and helpfully. Then gives short exercises to practice on. Unlike Reading Greek you start off translating short simple sentences and build up to more complex sentences and then translating whole passages inspired by myths and tales of the Greek world such as Aesop's fables and Odysseus adventures with the Cyclops. If you are looking for a book for independently studying Ancient Greek this is an excellent choice. There has never been a point at which I have needed a teacher's clarification on a concept outlined in the book. It also has a clear contents page so if you are confused about something and have to go back and review it, its very simple to find. Another thing which is good about this book is that it is all-in-one, no need for separate grammar, text and study guide, it is all together in one handy place! At the back it even has a separate grammer section as well as English-to-Greek and Greek-to-English of all the vocabulary introduced in the book, along with chapter numbers, it even lists the aorist twice, with the present form of the verb and on its own which is SO helpful. If you had a limited amount of time, this book gives you confidence and clarity to move onto reading and translating pieces of original Greek. As a student of Classics and with no previous knowledge of other languages, it has been immensely helpful. I thoroughly recommend this book!
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38 of 38 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
AT LAST A TEACHER OF GREEK WHO REALLY CAN, 12 Jul 2005
By A Customer
My motivation for learning Greek is to be able to read Plato and the New Testament. Not being a very talented linguist, I have in the course of five years accumulated an expensive pile of well known Greek courses, texts, and tapes. Only two have done me much good. This book is one of them; the other is 'Learn Ancient Greek' by Peter Jones. The contrast between the two could not be greater, although they do both have the overwhelming common advantage of having been written by expert teachers with a sense of humour (Peter Jones is wacky, sardonic, and Pythonesque; John Taylor is dry and subtle.) While LAG is very dynamic and gets into idiomatic Greek very quickly (eg, possessive dative very early on) by finding a very tight critical path through the material, G2GCSE takes the expected slow systematic approach with a shrewd eye as to what will trip up someone like me. LAG on the one hand gives answers to the exercises, but on the other hand the other not. Consequently, I found these two a very good informal partnership--well, at least I can say 'Hello' in Greek and read some Socrates and gospels now. I can also read the menu in the restaurants in Cyprus which impresses the waitresses no end but I don't know what they really think of my 2000-year old antique pronunciation.Book One of this series took me 18 months of self-teaching to complete and covers the following: the verb 'to be'; present tense verbs (not contract); all three noun declensions; definite article; future tense; imperfect tense; aorist 1 and 2; present participle; aorist participle; numerals; expressing time; possessive dative; future participle; and tis/ti, autos, pas, and oudeis. Vocab totals 275 words. The Greek to English sentences are cunningly chosen to exercise the full range of variants, and the English to Greek are designed to push the brain into the next gear but you don't have to do them--but I did and I am a better man for it. The Greek translation passages are well known fables and fascinating slices of less well known history. Try telling the fable of the king of the frogs to a child, and you will suddenly feel the mind of the ancient Greek formed in you coming alive! Quite a shock really.
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27 of 27 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
If you are reading this review, this is the book for you, 28 Nov 2006
I used this book when I learnt Greek for GCSE (from chapter 5 onwards I worked independently). The result: I finished the two hour language exam in 45 minutes. Therefore I would recommend this book to anyone thinking about learning Greek, and any teacher looking for a textbook from which to teach. Every single thing that could possibly come up in the language paper is covered in detail by Greek to GCSE. With full English-Greek and Greek-English vocabularies, grammar, and exercises, it works for both those learning independently and those in a classroom. The layout is clear, grammar is well explained, and new aspects of the language are introduced at appropriate points. Having finished chapter 12, the student will encounter no difficulties in the exam and should be well on his/her way to A-level or University standard Greek. Having used Peter Jones' learn Greek, and the dreaded Reading Greek, I, and some of my classmates, can say that Greek to GCSE is more straightforward, enjoyable, and effective than either of them. Even if you are not taking a GCSE, it is still the best general introduction to the language. This book does what it promises, and then some...
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