I spent a few hours with a student who didn't know Greek. We were working with a diglot. There was a word that was translated as "woman" but he thought that another word was present in the text that seemed to indicate that it could describe her as "dew dropped" or "bottle shaped." After about 15 minutes of looking for a word that could have that meaning I had to ask him for help. He pointed it out, it was T-N-V, or in Greek, τήν, or in English: "the," the definite article in feminine accusative form. Even though the article has some flexibility rather than just "definitizing" a noun, it can't attribute the shapeliness of a woman.
The problem came down to the fact that the student was using an online tool. When he clicked the link to the meaning, it took him to the standard Greek-English lexicon for classical Greek (LSJ), but it took him to the wrong entry. The entry that was given to him contained options for that meaning, but it was the wrong word. Without a knowledge of Greek all that he could do was rely on the tool, but the tool was wrong. At the end of our conversation he agreed that he needed to know Greek to answer the kinds of questions that he raised with the text. If he had known Greek he would of had a different set of questions and the conversation would have gone significantly deeper.
The truth is, I suspect, that students of the Bible who do not know Greek, but rely "on the tools" in reality do not rely on the tools. The tools that we have today are significant, but to make the best of them you really need to have a working knowledge of the language. There are tools that I'm waiting for so that I can make better use of my time for study. But without having a framework for the language, tools that get you into the original texts take much longer. At that point, the text is most likely ignored. On the other hand those who know Greek and Hebrew most likely are aggravated when they cannot see what is laying beneath the translation.
The best analogy might be hanging pictures with a nail gun. It could be done, but a hammer would do the trick. And a nail gun is probably so much overkill that it wouldn't be used. If all I had was a nail gun to hang a picture, I would probably just leave the picture leaning against the wall, or just go get the hammer. But if all you have a is a hammer, then doing construction is significantly difficult. Every job requires a different set of tools.
The student that I met made the most honest observation. He noticed that the questions he was raising about the text could not be answered without knowing the language. Without a basis of the language he couldn't go any further in his study. As students of the Holy Word of God and those who proclaim it to His Church should be searching it to that level, a level that requires a deeper knowledge of the language in which it was written.
