Andy Naselli

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The Singing Grammarian

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I recently watched eighteen short videos on elementary Greek grammar:

H. Daniel Zacharias. The Singing Grammarian: Songs and Visual Presentations for Learning New Testament Greek Grammar. Grand Rapids: Kregel, 2011.

The videos aren’t lectures. They’re catchy songs.

Here’s the first one:

Contents

  1. The Greek Alphabet
  2. First Declension
  3. Second Declension
  4. Third Declension
  5. The Article
  6. Present Active Indicative
  7. Present Middle/Passive
  8. Future Active and Middle
  9. Secondary Endings (Imperfect)
  10. Aorist Active and Middle
  11. Liquid Verbs
  12. Passive System
  13. (Plu)Perfect
  14. Imperative
  15. Subjunctive
  16. Infinitives
  17. Participles
  18. Μι Verbs

Endorsements

I struggled memorizing paradigms when I learned Greek. Now as a lecturer I struggle motivating my students to engage in the tedious and mind-numbing work of memorizing
paradigm after paradigm. Well, the good news is, thanks to Danny Zacharias, there is now another option. Zacharias has put together multimedia clips that are visually aesthetic and aurally memorable to help students learn. The fetching graphics and catchy tunes engage more of the senses so that the Greek paradigms stick in the student’s mind more easily and completely. The study of Greek just got a lot easier and a lot more fun.

—Michael F. Bird
Lecturer in Theology and Bible
Crossway College, Brisbane, Australia

The Singing Grammarian is a creative and pedagogically useful tool that will make learning Greek (even more) fun. Music and rhyme are powerful instruments in the aid of memory acquisition and retention, and they are employed with great effect here.

—Constantine R. Campbell
Senior Lecturer in Greek and New Testament
Moore Theological College, Sydney, Australia

How to Use

From the front matter:

These videos in Mov format can be played on many devices. On a Mac or PC, simply use Apple’s free QuickTime player for viewing. For those who want to view the videos on an iPhone, iPod, or iPad, add the videos to your iTunes library and then sync them to your device. Many Android-enabled phones as well Blackberry phones are able to play these files too; just add them to your phone. If your phone is unable to view the files, use a video converter to create a suitable format for your device.

Thoughts

  1. This is a good idea.
  2. The songs are corny, but if they’re catchy and help the paradigms stick, then, hey, whatever works!
  3. A purist’s objection: The songs on subjunctives and infinitives mispronounce some words by not stressing the accented syllables, and it’s not always because the metrical rhyme demands it.
  4. The video on μι verbs has a cartoon of a jiggling woman wearing a short skirt. It’s distracting and unnecessary. Maybe the folks at Kregel will revise that, especially since these MOV files are download-only.

Related:

  1. An interview with Danny Zacharias about these videos
  2. Kenneth Berding, Sing and Learn New Testament Greek: The Easiest Way to Learn Greek Grammar  (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2008).
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Comments

  2. Rats! I made up my own songs to get through Greek, without knowing there was a lucrative market for such a thing. The good news is that it really works. Just as I can’t get some of our lousy choruses out of my mind (“When I fall down you pick me up, when I am dry you fill my cup”), so I’ll never be able to forget my declensions.

  3. Speaking of Greek, or Gothic English, the blurry text that I had to unscramble in order to post my last comment included the term “Weisse”, except the “s” were in the old style, which look like “f”. What is the world coming to when a person has to know ancient English letters just to post on the Internet? Or is this Andy’s way of screening the “hoi polloi”? (I used the Greek so as to avoid offending those people).

  4. Hey Andy, thanks very much for devoting a post to my stuff, much appreciated!

    Of course the songs are corny — I dare anyone to write a Greek grammar song that isn’t corny :-)

    One of the great things about the medium of video is I can go back and update fairly easily, so I have made a note about the pronunciation in the subjunctive and infinitive songs. Thanks.

    On the MI verbs, you’re the only person that has told me Missy dancing was annoying :-) but if I hear other objections maybe I’ll take her out !

    Thanks again!