Fluency - Is it heard of?

I want to touch on the issue of fluency a moment. First, check out this blog entry:

http://evepheso.wordpress.com/2009/05/28/daniel-streett-on-learning-greek/

As a disclaimer, I have no intention of calling into question the professors who teach Greek at our seminaries and universities today. I have no such qualifications; and so when I link to this article, I speak purely as a spectator, and not a professional. I'm sure there are people on the referenced blog who possess much better qualifications than I do concerning such matters.

As you've read through earlier articles on this blog, I've mentioned my desire to gain fluency in Biblical Greek, and I'm doing it a number of ways (and I'm starting to see some fruits :D ); so it's no wonder that the referenced entry caught my eye, because I couldn't imagine a Greek professor who couldn't speak the language they taught; yet I can see why this is the default case, as this form of Greek was spoken 2,000 years ago, and doesn't have a written and spoken application today. It's strange, because I gained some fluency in Spanish during high school; of course, I love foreign language, and I took four years. That, and my instructor taught in Spanish at times, and we watched Spanish movies. Do any Greek or Hebrew professors do that? Teach the class in the language? I know at my university, Spanish I is taught in English, but II and III are taught in Spanish.

What I'm keeping an eye out for is stories of people who have gained fluency in Biblical Greek. I'd be interested to hear what it means to them, what it does for them, and just how fluent they are. That is:

Can they speak it?
Can they write in it?
Can they read it?
Do they memorize passages?
Are they involved in Bible translation at all?

For example, I did hear from one friend named Jonathan whom I worked with for a few days, who is going to be a missionary in the East Asian area; there is a man at his home church who brings his Greek translation with him to church, and he likes to translate it in his mind as the passages are read.

If you know anyone who has fluency in Biblical Greek (or Hebrew for that matter), if they can read it--or even write and talk in it fluently--I want to hear from you. If you have any links, I would appreciate those too. Just attach a comment to this entry.

Sola Fie!

Jake