GR 201 - Beginning Greek
Preparation for the Course
Greek Fonts
Students will need to be able to read, and eventually write, the Greek characters as they appear in web pages and in MSWord doc files. This is particularly true for students in the online section of the class.
There are some help pages which explain about Unicode fonts, and how to set up MSWord to type in Greek.
Go here to see if your computer already has a polytonic (many accents) Greek Unicode font installed. If it does not, please contact me so that I can advise you on how to find and install a suitable font.
If your computer already has a polytonic Greek Unicode font, go ahead and start assigning short-cuts in MSWord for the Greek characters.
The file word-proc02.pdf will tell you how to do this.
If you have time, practice typing the alphabet several times.
Do not bother about all the little accents, nor the marks that look like commas - we will learn about them later.
To be able to read some of the resource web pages properly, you will need the Greek font "SPIonic.ttf" installed on your computer. The SPIonic font is in the Public Domain, and may be downloaded and copied freely.
Go here to download a zip file of SPIonic
Go here for a Keyboard Map of SPIonic
I wrote the resource pages before Unicode was established. It is going to to be quicker to re-write them all in Unicode rather than to try to re-code them. However, the easiest way for you to access them now is to install the SPIonic font.
Alphabet Practice
Chapter 1 of the textbook will introduce you to the letters of the Greek Alphabet, and their approximate pronunciation at the time the New Testament was written.
Start to familiarize yourself with the letters and their sounds - do not worry about the sound of x (like -ch in Scottish loch or German ach), nor the little marks that look like commas over initial vowels, nor the way to write c - we will work on those later.
Go here for Practice Sheet 1
and here for Practice Sheet 2
Print out the Practice sheets for the Alphabet, and practice writing the Alphabet in order - this will help later, when you want to use a Greek Dictionary.
By the start of Week 2 you will be able to write out all the letters in order, and know the sound to make for each one.
The Online Textbook starts at
http://www.drshirley.org/greek/textbook02/index.html.
Go to the pages and print out the Introduction and chapters 1 through 30, Appendices A1 through B1. File them in a three-ring binder. This will become your textbook for the course.
History of Greek
Go here for a full version of the Greek Alphabet, including some archaic letters which had dropped out of use by the time the New Testament was written.
Go here to print out and read a brief history of the Greek Language.
If time permits, try some of the links on the Links Pages for more history of the Greek people and their culture.
Copyright © 1999 Shirley J. Rollinson, all Rights Reserved
