Maybe a better way to say it is the difference between learning to use a
language, and acquiring mastery thereof. The patterns learned in a
cognate language can interfere with acquiring mastery in a target
language, as the mind unconsciously tries to apply consistently the
patterns to similar situations. The cognate effect interferes with the
mastery, not basic learning.
What I’ve learned is that Biblical Hebrew grammar is far different from
even Mishnaic Hebrew. From what I learned, Mishnaic Hebrew is a tense
based language (according to Waltke and O’Connor). Biblical Hebrew
conjugates for neither tense, nor aspect, nor mood, rather
grammaticalizes for concepts that I’ve found in no other language. But
in reaching this realization, I even had to unlearn what I was taught in
class concerning Hebrew. That took me many years and several times
reading Tanakh through cover to cover.
Now I studied Latin, but found it such a useless language that I forgot
almost all that I learned. Not so with koiné Greek, which I use almost
every day.
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