Biblical Hebrew Forum

[K Randolph <kwrandolph AT gmail.com>]

Randall:

On Tue, Oct 4, 2011 at 2:02 AM, Randall Buth <randallbuth AT gmail.com> wrote:

> 2011/10/4 Will Parsons <wbparsons AT alum.mit.edu>
>
> > Karl,
> >
> > On Mon, 3 Oct 2011 12:36:39 -0700, K Randolph <kwrandolph AT gmail.com>
> > wrote:
> > >
> > > I watched the video linked to by the instructor, and all I heard was
> what I understand as modern Hebrew.
> >
>
> maybe it would have helped if he saw it transcribed. by some of Karl's
> definitions, everything that he HEARs is modern Hebrew. you deal with this
> below.
>
> LOL!

To be serious, when I hear people consistently speaking using a syntax where
there is a pronoun followed by a verb in a participle form in the same way
as English uses the present tense verb, it sounds like modern Israeli Hebrew
which has a tense based verbal usage. In Biblical use, it can be used that
way, e.g. Genesis 37:6, Deuteronomy 30:16, but also for the future e.g.
Genesis 19:13, Deuteronomy 3:21, 4:14, 30:18. While I haven’t looked, I
would not be surprised if the participle is also used for the past as well.

My personal understanding in the verses listed above is that the participle
in Hebrew is used more in the nominal sense rather than verbal sense, but
translation into English becomes awkward, so the best way to render those
sentences into English is as verbs.

>
> And the point of this whole discussion, lest it be obscured, is that
> students will learn Shakespearian English much better by using the language
> in real communication than by discussing Shakespeare in Russian. The one
> will have an opportunity to reach 'second-language-user' fluency, while the
> Russian-only speaker will never develop that skill in English. A linguist
> can analyze a language, but to rapidly think and process within the
> language
> they must undergo a long process of communicative language use.
>
> In the following I am assuming long time study by those involved.

The problem for both the Russian who learns only Shakespearian English and
the modern English speaking person, is that both are learning Shakespearian
English as a second language. As such, neither will learn Shakespearian
English as well as a native speaker who lived during Shakespeare’s time.

The question comes up, who can have a better capacity to recognize a forgery
produced by a modern speaker trying to emulate Shakespearian English? The
Russian speaker who knows only Shakespearian English, or the modern speaker
for whom any deviation from Shakespearian English will be unconsciously
familiar to him from modern English?

>
> >
> > --
> > Will Parsons
> >
>
> --
> Randall Buth, PhD
> www.biblicallanguagecenter.com
> Biblical Language Center
> Learn Easily - Progress Further - Remember for Life
>
> Karl W. Randolph.