NT Greek Pronunciation: Why I'm switching from Erasmian

*Book mentioned in this video*
Kantor: A Short Guide to the Pronunciation of New Testament Greek

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[albertusjung]

I donot have to switch because i never used Erasmian pronunciation. As a child in the 1960 s i learnt Greek, both modern and ecclesiastical, from a Greek Orthodox priest. Thus i learnt to read the Holy Scriptures and other Greek texts with the actual pronunciation, used by Greeks themselves. Basically, at the time of our Blessed Lord and His Apostles, Greek pronunciation was already very close to Later Byzantine and to present-day Greek pronunciation.

[egwpisteuw]

I made the switch to Modern Greek pronunciation years ago. I did it by studying Modern Greek. Learning both forms of Greek has a synergistic effect. Your Koine will be strengthened by exposure to a living form of the language and your Modern will be strengthened by a knowledge of the Ancient language that is the progenitor of the modern language.

[matthewlawson]

I think the best argument for modern pronunciation is that it enables one to listen to the wonderful complete recording of the Koine Greek New Testament by Dr Spiros Zodhiates which he narrates using modern pronunciation. I also believe that using modern pronunciation helps us treat Koine Greek as a living language to be spoken and read naturally rather than as a classical language to be decoded. Modern Greek is a very beautiful language and Koine Greek, when read with modern pronunciation, has that same beauty and rhythm.

[Rightlydividing-wxxb]

Seminary students are being taught 16th century Erasmian manufactured pronunciation.

Inscriptional evidence, Plato's quotation, interchangeable vowel sounds, same spelling errors from 6th century B.C.E. (iotacism), fricatives, aspiration moot by 5th century B.C.E., etc. proves that Historical Greek Pronunciation, HGP is the same from the 6th century B.C.E. to today's Hellenic Greek. The pronunciation manufactured by Erasmus in the early 16th century is clearly documented and even acknowledged by many University level Greek teachers, more and more are acknowledging this fact of HGP- HISTORICAL GREEK PRONUNCIATION.

Bill Mounce has also acknowledged this but continues to teach Erasmian pronunciation because seminary students, etc., have been taught Erasmian.

[ColinHurkett]

When I was first taking Koine Greek in college, the teacher taught Erasmian. I eventually shared some of my new Greek knowledge with my dad, who did not know Greek. After a time he chuckled and said "A lot of these words sound funny".

Exactly! Even someone with no Greek knowledge can recognize the silly sound of Erasmian pronunciation. I wish that I could get behind Erasmian for pedagogical purposes, but I just can't tolerate the silliness of it and so I have also been switching.

Best to you in your journey toward a more natural, authentic sound.

[markmcpherson]

Great video as always. I started learning Modern Greek six months ago and it just naturally influenced my pronunciation so I made the switch from Erasmian. Honestly it felt like Koine made the change from a dead language to a living language for me. I’m a BMA member and in my cohort we have Erasmian, modern and reconstructed speakers and so far there haven’t been any issues.

[glossonauta]

Great video! By the way, there’s a video on my channel that you might like, where you can listen to a complete reading of the First Epistle of John in Greek (with the pronunciation of New Testament Koine Greek, as described by Kantor and Buth).

The title of the mentioned video is: Ἰωάννου Α` [Iōannū I] - Ἀναγινώσκει ὁ Γλωσσοναύτης

[wagbranthenrik]

I've used historical reconstruction-pronunciation for a year now and I like it better than Erasmian. The pronunciation comes much more naturally and it flows nicely and not so choppy as Erasmian often does. I also fin it easier to understand the Greek root of some words in my native language Swedish.

[prestonwilliamson]

This is exciting news! I have been slowly changing over my pronunciation from Erasmian to a Koine Era pronunciation as well. One of the largest benefits I have discovered is actually one with an apologetic bent. So many of the copying errors in the extant manuscripts can be shown to simply be spelling errors when transcribed from an oral reading.

[Ellinisti]

Φίλε, σε συγχαίρω! “Friend, I congratulate you!” May many more follow your stance of switching from an un-Greek sound system to the living historical sounds of “Modern” Greek. A wise decision, indeed! —Philemon Zachariou

[alexandersmith]

I am always willing to learn something new. Looking forward to seeing and hearing the difference between the two.

[druizsr]

There’s a native Greek content maker who goes by, “The Professor with a Bow Tie” who is currently doing a reading of the gospel of John in modern Greek. I find her very helpful!

[annai]

I learned Erasmian many years ago, at a Protestant seminary. I subsequently converted to Greek Orthodoxy. In our Church, the Bible is read and services are done with Modern Greek Pronunciation (the original Biblical text is read, not a Modern Greek Translation). And I subsequently married and my husband is a native speaker of Modern Greek. He can read the Koine Bible nearly as easily as I can read the KJV. And, our daughter is learning Greek - both Modern and Koine - with modern pronunciation. I long ago decided that Erasmian was made up by an Italian who perhaps never met a Greek, nor did he have access to recordings. It makes a lot more sense to me to trust the pronunciation of native speakers, than to try to theorize about how things might have been 2000 years ago. Also Modern Greek pronunciation is useful in Church and social situations.

[jgx]

Just joined Biblical Mastery Academy’s Beginning Greek course and I am SUPER excited to hear we’ll be using modern Greek instead of Erasmian.

[mattfuller]

After learning some Hebrew I’ve noticed just how helpful it is for each letter to have its own sound. Many of my Hebrew vocabulary errors are due to letters having the same sound (or no sound as in aleph and ayin). So I’m going to stick with Erasmian to aid vocabulary acquisition.

[aaronbasch]

I’ve got the New Testament on audio read by Spiros Zodhiates. Very helpful to hear it read by a native Greek, and read with feeling at that.

[DrGazza]

Yeah, I have read that book (and others) and have decided to switch from Erasmian to modern Greek (historical Greek). I have been listening to the Greek NT read in modern Greek by a native speaker.

[sophfieta]

No big deal either way as the focus is on reading both LXX and NT in Greek. Logos Bible software has been helpful as you can select which you want to hear it in for pronunciation. I was quite hung up when I was learning alphabet and it was rough for the first two modules of BMA BG. It’s better now, not perfect but better.

[Skadagisgi]

I am a pronunciation geek, and a few years ago, I switched from Erasmian pronunciation due to the work of scholars like Randall Buth who have been working in reconstructing Koine Greek pronunciation from looking at common spelling mistakes through the ages and other evidences from Koine Greek texts. I now lean more towards the Antiochene Lucian pronunciation, which would pronounce Koine as κυne: (using IPA pronunciation symbols). This is based on a system of pronunication that divides Koine pronunciation into multiple main dialects depending on the region the text is from. The Bible was written mostly (if not completely) by people from the region around Israel and Pisidian Antioch, so the Antiochene dialect of Lucian pronunciation would be the pronunciation to go to. Also, there are problems that come from using modern pronunciation on Koine Greek largely in part due to the greater amount of iotacism in Modern Greek than there actually was in the Levant at the time of Jesus.

[simonrawson]

I saw Stephen Hacker's video a while ago and agreed with that. I switched over a year ago having read C Campbell's book, who had good arguments for modern pronunciation.