TheologyThoughts

Thanks to Carl Conrad who called attention to this on the b-Greek list (who in turn got it from Rodney Decker):

http://tinyurl.com/ksj5h5

The students I encounter at seminary admire the skills of their few
classmates who are able to utilize the biblical languages (especially
Hebrew). Sometimes the student who acquires the needed tools is
looked upon by his fellows as a special someone, especially gifted in
language acquisition. Language teachers on the other hand know that
there are few, truly gifted students. Those who are successful (i.e.
actually use the biblical languages) are those who diligently labor at
building those skills. While these students are not more gifted in
learning the language, they are more willing to work through the
frustrations that come with studying any non-native tongue."

This reminds me of an admonition that I read when I first started grad
school in the "Confy Guide for New Grad Students at Harvard." It went
something like this: "You may have imagined that most graduate
students at Harvard are geniuses. In fact only a tiny percentage are
geniuses; most are students of somewhat better than average
intelligence who work hard and maximize the opportunities which they
encounter.

Good advice for the study of any ancient language. I think I might resume my study of Sahidic Coptic!