19-20 CL2705: Intensive Greek

Aim of the course:

The course aims to provide a basic training in the Greek Language, for those with little or no previous experience of Greek. The emphasis is on the acquisition of grammar and syntax and on the development of the ability to analyse the meaning of texts.

Learning outcomes:

Students successfully completing this course will have gained:

A basic understanding of the structure and grammatical terminology of the Greek Language, including a range of basic morphological and syntactical features
The ability to work out the meaning of simple texts in Attic Greek and translate them into English
The ability to make efficient use of Greek dictionaries and other reference books in dealing with original texts
The ability to pursue study of Greek at a higher level.
Course content:

The following grammatical features will be covered: finite forms of Greek verbs in the active and middle voice, present, imperfect and aorist indicative and imperative and future indicative; present, aorist and future active and middle participle and infinitive; contract verbs; some important irregular verbs; the strong and weak aorist; nouns and adjectives of all three declensions; syntactifal features will include participial and passive constructions. The course will also cover the general principles of the nominal and verbal system, in particular the main functions of the cases and tense and aspect in the verb.

Teaching and learning methods:

3 hours’ teaching per week. Students will be asked to prepare passages from the handbook, to participate in class and to submit written exercises on a regular basis.

Assessment:

2-hour exam in May-June (50%). The exam must include: a passage of continuous Greek prose for unprepared translation into English with the aid of a dictionary and questions of morphology and syntax. The passage must be in Attic dialect but may be set from a classical, Hellenistic or Byzantine source. Minor adaptations and/or glosses are allowed at the examiner’s discretion.
Best 4 out of 5 in class tests taken during the two teaching terms count for 50% of the final mark.


INSTRUCTIONS ON HOW TO USE GREEK FONTS

http://www.typegreek.com/
http://www.typegreek.com/alphabet.key/

Instructions for installing and typing ancient Greek (with accents)

For Mac:
http://www.dramata.com/Ancient%20polytonic%20Greek%20on%20Macintosh.pdf
For Windows:
http://www.dramata.com/Ancient%20polytonic%20Greek%20in%20Windows.pdf


Windows:
How to Configure MS Windows (Vista 7 and later) for Greek Typing
http://www.teknia.com/freegreekfont/unicode-windows

Macs (Mountain Lion):
http://support.apple.com/kb/PH10713

Earlier versions of OSX:
http://support.apple.com/kb/PH3826
http://support.apple.com/kb/PH6800


Finally, there is a more technically advanced resource from Digital Classicist:
http://wiki.digitalclassicist.org/Greek_Keyboards_%28Unicode%29