Learning Ancient Greek as a Spoken Language

I have been meaning ever since I got back from SBL to blog about some fantastic books that have been published by the Conversational Koine Institute and GlossaHouse. But then I saw these:

One of the most impressive items that I saw at SBL this year, and purchased there, is their Speak Koine Greek: A Conversational Phrasebook. It is exactly what it sounds like – a phrase book for ancient Koine that resembles the format and contents that you would expect if you’ve ever used any foreign language phrasebook before in your life.

That in itself would be something great. But the best part is that they manage to put together the phrasebook using the kinds of everyday phrases one would hope, and yet to do so drawing them explicitly from ancient sources, and providing references to those sources. I took a photo to give you a glimpse of a couple of the pages:

This is so great precisely because it makes such a natural connection between ancient and modern language – unlike the images of text that prompted me to finally post this review. And so I recommend that anyone who teaches, or is trying to learn, New Testament Greek ought to buy Speak Koine Greek: A Conversational Phrasebook. And do check out the other resources that Michael Halcomb and his colleagues have been working on, too!