Learning German
I just reached my second language “milestone” of the summer: tonight I took the “final” for Theological German. The word “final” is in quotes for two reasons. First, Peter Bach (our professor) emphasized that it is by no means the “final” test of our German; it is just one more step in the journey. And also, because it was like no other final exam I have ever taken. We were given a German text, a decades-old article about source criticism in Old Testament scholarship, two weeks in advance. We were allowed to translate through it (or “render” it, since there’s no such thing as translation, Peter says) on our own or in groups. We even ran over any questions that we had about this “final” text in the classes leading up to the last day of class. When it came down to go time, we would go around the classroom and would have to spot-render a sentence from the text without looking at our notes. He let us bring our notes to class, though, and look at them briefly before our turn. My final exam sentence?
3. Das in Jüngster Vergangenheit sich durchsetzende Stadium einer geschichtlichen und religionsgeschichtlichen Neuorientierung.
The “3″ refers to the third of three stages of research history according to Kittel (“So hätten wir nach Kittel also drei Stadien der Forschungsgeschichte zu unterscheiden:”). My wooden rendering?
3. The stage asserting in the recent past of a historical and religious-historical re-orientation.
I’m not sure I know what that means, but hey, at least I translated… I mean, rendered it. If I had to guess, I’m thinking the author is referring to some shift in recent scholarship, a reorientation in thinking about religious history and history in general. Perhaps Old Testament history. That was the whole final. I chose to read the German aloud, even though that wasn’t required. Then I said the exact same rendering I wrote just now. That was it. Done. Finis.
Christina pointed out to me that this is the fifth language that I have studied, not including English. It sounds impressive, but it’s not really. I’m only fluent in one language and we’ve already seen in an earlier post how dusty my Greek is, which is my next best language. I’ve also studied Hebrew, Spanish, and French to some extent. In this regard, I feel like I’m a little qualified to assess my learning experience in this German class.
Peter’s approach was to spend a little bit of time on grammar (the first two weeks) and then dive into reading German texts. We did some easy ones to start and then jumped into Helmut Ziefle’s Modern Theological German: A Reader and Dictionary. We were required to purchase a dictionary and April Wilson’s German Quickly: A Grammar for Reading German. April Wilson’s text might be good for a class that is going through her book as an assigned reading, but it was used in our class merely as a reference. As a reference book, Wilson’s book is terrible. I cannot judge the information contained within the book, but it is not easy to use if you want to look up a specific grammatical issue. So I purchased Martin Durrell’s Hammer’s German Grammar and Usage, which I found much more helpful. I decided on the unabridged Oxford Duden German Dictionary. The dictionary is great but since we did not memorize vocabulary, I found it extremely time-consuming to translate through German texts as a beginner. I did find two really stellar websites that helped this handicap: the LEO online German-English dictionary and its companion site Canoo.net for grammar, morphology, inflection, etc. By using the online tools, things went much quicker, giving me more time to think about patterns that I was seeing in grammar and vocabulary.
Many people were skeptical of Peter’s teaching approach from the start of the class. Some people came around. Some people were frustrated with the class. Personally, I am ambivalent about it. I learn well with others and the course was essentially a German reading course with a small, friendly group. We had a grand old time giving our pitiful English renderings of German texts together. I don’t think I have ever had a class that has laughed so much. But I do know there was something missing. I am still operating at a basic level. Sure, I can understand a complicated scholarly German article after spending two weeks on it. But I still need the dictionary and I don’t have verbal forms memorized (except for the easy-to-spot past participle).
The tension is: When you are starting from scratch, how much of one language can you teach people in ten weeks? What should you emphasize? If we spent more time on vocabulary and grammar, I might be ending the class feeling much less confident about being able to conquer “real” German texts. Though the course was lacking in some necessary items, it was a good learning experience for me overall. I learned the basics of German sentence structure, grammar, basic vocabulary, and how to use tools. I may take another German course someday, but for now I’m happy with the result. I’m planning on keeping up with it by reading book reviews from Review of Biblical Literature that are written in German. There is also a German reading group at Fuller that I might start attending. Here’s hoping that I didn’t just flush $1400 down the drain for no apparent reason!
It's all Greek…
It is finished. I have been immersing myself in Greek for the past few days, awaiting the Greek waiver exam (to pass out of the three quarter New Testament Greek requirement at Fuller). I took the exam today. Perhaps it is blasphemous to use Jesus’ last words (as told by John) to describe the completion of the test. But it’s in Greek and the test was on Greek, so there you have it.
It has been four years since I’ve actively used my Greek. I had a pretty good grasp on it in college, with four semesters of study and two as a TA. It is a little hazy these days, but is in the process of resurrecting. In the last 48 hours I have been in a constant state of flux between confidence and panic, excitement and fear. I thought about changing the date of the exam, but I figured that I should just get it over with.
As it turns out, the exam was quite difficult. I did well on vocab, which is what I concentrated on in my studying. And I had three one-sentence translations that were okay. But I didn’t dust off my parsing well enough. There were about 40 words to parse and they weren’t easy. I took too long thinking about them and ran out of time. I left some things blank. I’m often not very good at time management on tests. So I may pass with either a recommendation or requirement that I take the Greek Reading course. It’s something that I’d want to do anyway. The recommendation is left up to the discretion of the grader. I think I may have to study up more and take the test again next quarter. I don’t really mind. Even though the test is finished, as my German professor says, it is not over. Even if I had passed with no errors, it would only be the beginning of my own personal Greek renewal. Here’s to Greek.
Update (9/15/2006): I just opened the envelope to my graded “Greek Waiver Exam 1″ and the results are not good. I understand you’re supposed to make yourself look spiffy and smart on these blogs, but alas, I would like to break with that tradition and be honest. My results show just how rusty I am. I did well on the translation section, good on vocab, but bombed the morphology (the parsing section), and I hardly touched the syntax section when I took it, so that was pretty bleak. The grader determined that I did not pass the exam and should take Beginning Greek; as, indeed, he should have. Well, the thought of sitting in a classroom and going through Mounce’s book for a third time over (the last two were as a student, then a TA… four years ago) just sticks a huge, wicked sharp needle into my oversized balloon of academic joy. Instead, I know that I can adjust my study methods to rock the “Greek Waiver Exam 2″ (The Sequel: Back and Better than Ever). I concentrated more on my GRE this summer than I did the Greek. I am now privy to the secrets of these large exams. I think I can dismantle its challenges by dint of my own intellectual brawn. It’s going to take lots of flashcards for parsing and vocab. I will also try to do at least two translations from the Summer Greek Reader per week with an eye to syntactical functions with the help of Daniel B. Wallace.
The envelope containing my exam results is postmarked 9/8/06, which is exactly four weeks from the time I took the exam. I would like to have the results for the next exam before I register for Winter quarter, which will be between November 14-17. That means I should take the next exam in mid-October and that I have about a month from today to study. I best get crackin’! If I don’t pass this next one free and clear, without any additional requirements to meet for Greek at Fuller, I think I will have to bite the bullet and (ugh) go through a boring intensive of Beginning Greek (or the not-so-boring Greek Reading, if that’s what’s required). But that’s not going to happen. We must think positive thoughts, harness our chi, and bombard our brains with lots of Greek. I’m only sorry (and a bit embarrassed) that Chris had to grade my poor exam, and that Dr. Scholer had to sign off on it. It’ll be better next time. Prepare to be dazzled.
Update (10/6/06): So if I follow my plan from my last update, I would have to take the Waiver exam in the next week. I have hardly been able to study for Greek. Christina started a Masters of Public Health. It is set up for health professionals, so she only goes in for a three-day weekend about once a month. But she is technically a full-time student, and her homework reflects it. She’s also still keeping her full-time job. That means that I have been taking up a lot more work around the apartment, while some of it isn’t getting done by either of us. I’ve barely had time to work on my Fall quarter classes. I have decided not to try to take the exam for next quarter. I really wanted to take Exegetical Methods with Marianne Meye Thompson (which you need the Greek requirement for), but I get the feeling that I’m getting the upscale version of that with her in New Testament Research Methods.
The more I think about it, though, I also do not want to take the Greek intensive next quarter. I would really rather save those units to take the more advanced Greek courses and use the rest of my electives to take NT classes. I hear that this is Donald Hagner’s last year at Fuller pre-retirement and I could take a class with him next quarter on Paul and the Law. There are a couple other classes that I could benefit from taking next quarter too, like my Old Testament exegesis class with Butler (before I forget my Hebrew too much) and Early Church History with Bradley.
So here’s the new plan: After Fall quarter ends, study like mad for Greek during the three weeks of winter break; take the exam just before the Winter quarter begins; pass the exam with flying colors. This way, I can take Exegetical Methods in the Spring quarter with Fuller’s newest NT faculty addition, Love Sechrest. She got her doctorate at Duke, I believe under Mark Goodacre. It would be good to get to know her a bit. I always like getting to know recent PhDs; I’m not sure why that is. I can also take Greek Reading in the Spring quarter this way. I think it’ll work out okay.
still learning how production works…
I had a nice long conversation with my good friend, Matt, the other night. We’re friends from back in high school and he was a groomsman in my wedding. We got to talking about our careers and made some parallels. Matt is in the film industry. He majored in Film at Emerson College, spent a few years in Los Angeles, and now lives in New York City. His lifestyle is such that he never has to apply for a job. Once you’re in the network, you are called upon to join other projects that are starting up. This year, Matt has not had more than two days off at a time, which can be exhausting given the long hours put into each filming project.
All of this work has been in the “production” category and my friend is now looking to jump into his “real career” of directing and writing. So when he takes a much deserved month-long vacation in South America at the end of this year, he will be doing some career soul searching and logistical planning. Now that he knows the production side of the business, he’s going to work on some of his own projects that he will write and direct himself… just short bits that he can use to show off to some companies that may hire him to work on commercials and music videos. Matt’s dream is not to direct music videos, by any means, but it is the next step in the journey. Someday, of course, he would like to do his own films.
“So, do you want to be the next Spielberg?” I asked him. “No. I don’t want to be ‘the next’ anybody.” Matt just wants to be himself and go at his own pace. He sees some people prematurely jumping ahead in their film careers in the NYC scene and he is not impressed. Matt tells me that there are so many people in charge of things that have no idea how film production works. If a person is too eager to jump ahead, they will get in over their heads. His dream is to get to the point where he can work on and promote projects that excite him. “And if that makes me ‘the next’ whatever, then so be it.”
The “jumping ahead” concept resonates with me. There are plenty of people within my own view that seem to be superficially “jumping ahead” in biblical studies. I have no real knowledge of this, I can only judge on appearances. The recent Biblioblogs interview with Peter Head reveals some interesting thoughts in this regard. In the interview, this distinguished textual critic calls “biblioblogging” a fad. He states,
Quickly expressed thoughts do not generally lead to wisdom. And the cultivation of wisdom is what intellectual work is all about. Blogs aren’t self-evidently therefore necessarily bad, just as it is not necessarily bad to give 100 seminarians an outlet for their half-baked ideas.
And continues, by pointing out the marketing aspect of blogs:
Another thing we need to recognise is that blogs are basically a marketing exercise — the blog enables marketing of the person behind it and/or their products. This can be overt (blogger advertises his own books and recommends them) or covert (blogger is seen to be clever or up-to-date), but seems to me to be basically universal.
Biblioblogging, such as I am attempting on kata ton biblon, is perhaps one of those routes used for “jumping ahead” of things. Peter (as he would like to be called) does not denounce biblical studies blogs out of hand so much as he puts them in their place. Indeed, if I’m honest, this is a place for my own half-baked seminarian ideas and it is even a place for me to do some covert marketing of my image. These are not bad things per se, but I don’t want them to consume me. Both talking with Matt, and reading Peter Head’s interview, have reminded me that I should slow down a bit and not worry too much about getting ahead. While some bibliobloggers are doing series on single Greek words in the New Testament, pumping out several detailed blogging posts per week, I have to recognize that that’s not me.
I do want to discuss ideas that interest me on this thing, but I’m more concerned with foundational issues. Right now, I’m interesting in documenting my own journey and what it means to try to become a scholar. If I jump ahead of things and try to be some world class blogging exegete right now, then I will be missing out on some necessary building blocks to my intellectual integrity and character. It is these building blocks that I hope to explore with more depth on this page. In terms of Matt’s career, I am still in the learning-how-production-works phase. And that’s okay.
My So-Called (Seminary) Life…
Ah, the blissful days of Summer! The birds chirping in the air. The calm waves lapping upon the Malibu beaches. The palm trees swaying in the peaceful wind. To break open an irresistible epic novel. To admire the majestic landscape of Southern California on a satisfying hike. If only such things could be the objects of my attention!
Instead, the Summer has been quite taxing. When my friend Kent asked me what I was doing with my Summer and I told him, he said, “Wow. That’s pretty much the most I’ve heard of anybody doing with their Summer.” Kent’s overstatement has certainly felt true during this busy season! I began the Summer with two 2-week “intensives” back to back. The first was Systematic Theology 2 with Dr. Veli-Matti Kärkkäinen and the second was Introduction to Early Judaism with James VanderKam. Incidentally, Dr. Kärkkäinen had assignments due on every day of the two week course. Then, while my second intensive was taking place, Dr. K had three assignments due on the first Friday and a research paper due on the second Friday. Meanwhile, I was frantically reading texts from Second Temple Judaism from the time I got out of class (at noon) until I went to bed. We had a midterm test for the Judaism class on the second Monday and a Final exam on the second Friday. If you followed all that, you would not be surprised to read that I was not readily available to others during this time! (This is not to complain about the classes in themselves, mind you, because they were fantastic otherwise. Dr. VanderKam’s course was especially envigorating.)
Alas, there is some breathing allowed after the first four weeks. But I did not mention that, during these four weeks, I had simultaneously begun a Theological German course at Fuller and a GRE course taught by Kaplan. Not much got done for these classes in the first weeks, so I have been catching up since then. My days are now spent studying high school math, highfalutin vocabulary, and German texts that I marginally understand with a big dictionary sitting next to me. But wait, there’s more! As an undergrad at Messiah, I took two years of Greek and was subsequently a Greek teaching assistant, so I would like to pass out of the required one year of Greek here at Fuller. To do so, I must dust off Greek vocabulary and grammar from the spare bedrooms of my brain and take the test (hopefully before Fall class registration, so I can take a class that requires Greek next quarter). If it is to be accomplished, it is quite urgent and I’m planning on taking it in the next week or so. The GRE will be in early September. Oh, and I almost forgot to mention that I have to do my 10-page research paper for Introduction to Early Judaism by September 15th. Oh where, oh where, has my Summer gone? Seminary took it away from me.
But I know that this is what I’m signing up for, getting on the doctoral studies track. It just helps to articulate it from time to time… and vent. Besides, kata ton biblon wants to know how I feel. It beckons to me for my thoughts and reflections. It is this great void that cries out for completion. And who am I to disappoint my poor, needy blog?
Discussing Hermeneutics with Dr. Spinks
Over on D. Christopher Spink’s blog, Katagrapho, Chris and I have begun a dialogue about anabaptist hermeneutics. It has been very interesting for me, diving right into the thick of things. Indeed, in his words after the last post, “The can of worms is still open and those little boogers are squirming all over the place!” It has been a catalyst for me to attempt to communicate my questions on all kinds of difficult issues. The great thing about blogging, versus writing papers, is that it is done in public rather than isolation. I am “allowed” to post incomplete thoughts and leave unanswered questions. I am permitted to be perplexed. And fellow bloggers can offer helpful correctives or possible alternatives. So if you are interested in becoming perplexed, go have a look at the discussion! I am currently in the process of conjuring up the articulation of further thoughts and will be posting more in the not too distant future.
-
Elsewhere . . .- Blog titles beginning with "A" to "Z" on your reader Mark Goodacre
- Of making many books there is no end Chris Brady
- Free Online: The Liddell-Scott Jones Lexicon S and C
- Does Higher Criticism Attempt to “Destroy the Bible”? II agathos
- Steven J. Friesen and the Identity of Satan’s Throne in Pergamum alan
- Does Higher Criticism Attempt to “Destroy the Bible”? agathos
- Bloomsbury buys Continuum Mark Goodacre
- Imperial America Peter J. Leithart
- C.F.D. Moule on the Birth of the New Testament d. miller
- Responding to Kostenberger (with comparisons to Marshall) Jeremiah
-
As a member of RevGalBlogPals, I am committed to building a supportive online community for women clergy, women church professionals, and women in religious life.
Research assisted by: